How Do Drop Shippers and Small Businesses Use Freight Forwarding?

Whether you’re a dropshipper looking for reliable sales fulfilment, or a small business looking to increase the efficiency of your deliveries – perhaps even expanding abroad – you may have come across the term “freight forwarder”. But how do you use a freight forwarder, and what benefits do they offer?

We’re here to answer that question. At Allegro Freight Forwarding, we have a combined experience of over forty years in providing the best forwarding services for hassle-free shipping for SMEs across the UK. We have put together this article to help explain what freight forwarding is, for drop shippers and small businesses, how it works with logistics, and the advantages it can give to you and your customers.

If you’re a drop shipper or small business owner in need of freight forwarding, feel free to get in touch with a member of the team today.

To begin, it is important to understand what a freight forwarder is and what it can do for you. A freight forwarder is a company that manages the shipment of goods for other companies, including dropshippers and small businesses.

The management process typically includes receiving goods from their source, choosing a mode of freight transportation, and delivering it to the port of call. There can also be many additional steps along the way, such as co-ordinating different shipping methods to streamline the process or customs compliance when crossing international borders.

A freight forwarder ensures the journey of your shipments is as smooth and secure as possible. Good freight forwarders can also offer customs compliancy without the need to go to an external broker.

Freight forwarding can help drop shippers specifically because it pulls upon numerous channels for shipping of goods. This means it is less restricted by the origin of the goods, allowing dropshippers to easily sell a variety of items from and to almost anywhere in the world.

At Allegro Freight Forwarding, we offer excellent multimodal freight services suitable for dropshippers, small businesses, and more. We help to integrate customs compliance into the journey, and also offer additional services like warehousing and logistics support to give you an easy, hassle-free experience.

Start making the most of Allegro’s service offerings today. Check out our information page for more details or contact a member of the team to get started!

While freight forwarding takes up a significant portion of the journey that a shipment takes, both in time and in steps, another key element of the supply chain is logistics.

Logistics providers will handle the details surrounding your shipment. This includes:

• Warehousing
• Stock reports
• Distribution
• Last-mile logistics

A lot of these steps are needed during the transportation of freight, such as storing the goods once they reach their port. To get the product into the hands of the buyer, distribution and last-mile logistics are also needed.

As one can’t fulfil your order without the other, it can be best to combine logistics and freight forwarding; this integration makes things easier from an administration point of view while also including the potential for cost reductions and faster deliveries.

There are many benefits for dropshippers and small business owners from using a freight forwarder. These can include reduced costs, less administration time, and many more, but the specific benefits will depend on what type of business you are running.

By making use of a freight forwarding service you can streamline the operations of your business and deliveries. This allows you to grow and manage your business without the need to micromanage every aspect of shipping.

If you’re a dropshipper, you will have your own set of obstacles to face when delivering your goods. This can include organisational issues, with goods coming from multiple sources and warehouses being delivered to the same location.

Using a freight forwarder solves this issue by utilising a network of trusted shippers, haulers, and local agents. This streamlines the process, using management processes and technologies to ensure a timely delivery across the board.

The key advantages of using a freight forwarder for a dropshipper are:

• Stress-free shipment of different kinds of goods.
• Easier order fulfilment.
• Opportunities for quicker timescales.
• Reduced costs.

Small businesses looking to transport their assets, either internationally or domestically within the UK, will often run into challenges. These problems arise due to delays in transportation, mismanaged freight modes, or any other number of things that can slow down the process.

By utilising a freight forwarder, the management of this delivery process is handed off to someone with the knowledge and connections to provide the smoothest experience and best timeline for your delivery. This allows you to get on with the important task of growing and managing your business, while your customers can enjoy fast and reliable order fulfilment.

The key advantages of using a freight forwarder for a small business are:

• Reduced administration time.
• Faster fulfilment.
• Reduced costs.
• Secure and reliable delivery.

Find out about the extra benefits of a good forwarder with our article on customs compliance. >

Link to “What is Customs Compliance With Freight Forwarding?”

The differences for import and export primarily come about due to the different countries involved. For example the UK Trade Tariff contains specific comparisons with customs processes in the EU, while other countries may by covered by the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) or have a specific tariff-rate quota (TRQ).

With Allegro Freight Forwarding’s seamless end-to-end supply chain management, you won’t even notice a difference between import and export. Simply provide us with your specifications and we can find a solution for you.

Integrate your logistics and freight forwarding suppliers by using the services offered by the Allegro group. We provide comprehensive cover that includes storage, shipping, customs compliance, warehousing, packing, picking, and distribution. We can take your product all the way from company to customer, with supply chains that conclude at port or door.

With an end-to-end system, you can relax without having to worry about complications with customs or other regulatory compliance. An all-in-one solution comes with a full understanding of your goods and their requirements across all stages of their journey, asking minimum input for exemplary output.