Shipping costs can be a significant expense for consumers and businesses. Many people do not have an understanding of the factors that contribute to these costs. Due to this they may have unrealistic expectations of how much shipping should or will cost. For small businesses, these costs must be known and understood for appropriate decision-making. Let’s look at 10 of the factors that may affect your shipping costs.

Supply chain mapping is one of the best secret weapons a business can utilize to ensure an effective, efficient, and resilient supply chain. A business’s supply chain is arguably the most important part of your business, without it your product never gets to your customers and no amount of sales and marketing can fix that.

For the day-to-day consumer, the path that products take to get to them is somewhat of a mystery most of the time. They don’t really need to know the ins and outs of a product’s supply chain. So when someone decides to start a business selling a product, there are gaps that need to be filled. One of these unknowns is the concept of a customs broker, among other things. Let’s clarify what a customs broker is, what they do, and factors to decide if one is required and if so which one to choose.

One of the biggest misconceptions that small businesses make is thinking they should be able to instinctively know how to set up and manage their supply chain. Nothing could be further from the truth.