Shipping is one of retailers’ biggest pressure points. In Linnworks’ State of Commerce Ops 2026 report, around 40% of mid-market retailers cited shipping cost inflation as a top fulfillment challenge, more than a third struggled to manage delivery times, and about a third pointed to data accuracy and visibility across systems and partners.

No matter how much you pride yourself on the quality and reliability of your service, it’s often not plain sailing.

From geopolitics to bad weather, from rising costs to simple human error, there are a lot of obstacles to navigate to keep customers satisfied. And when your shipping strategy drifts off course, it can have major ripple effects on your customers, your business, and your reputation.

Here, we’ll look at some of the most common shipping problems faced by ecommerce businesses and how to address them for more efficient delivery times, lower shipping costs, better returns and exchanges, and stronger inventory management.

The impact of shipping problems on retailers

Most world trade by volume moves by sea, so disruption at key routes and ports can ripple through global supply chains. Canal restrictions, port strikes, extreme weather, and changes in trade policy can all delay goods and raise costs.

As a retailer, there’s not much you can do about those events, but they can hit your business and customers in several ways:

Inventory issues: Supply chain problems can seriously disrupt inventory management. You or your suppliers may find yourselves unexpectedly out of stock, with key products on backorder.

Increased costs: Whether goods are delayed, lost, wrong, or damaged, retailers take on the added costs of returns, replacements, and other shipping charges.

Reputational damage: It’s not just revenue. Shipping problems can cost your business its good name. If customers aren’t happy with how you fulfill their orders, you can easily lose them to the competition. When deliveries fall short of expectations, they’re often not shy about saying so on social media or review sites.

The impact of shipping problems on customers

Lost trust: When customers buy from you, it’s a show of trust. When your delivery service breaks down, even if it’s out of your hands, you can lose that trust and their business.

Inconvenience: Shipping problems can seriously put customers out. They may be waiting on an important or time-sensitive delivery, such as a delayed birthday present, a medicine, or a critical business product that’s out of stock. Or perhaps they’ve arranged their schedule around the expected delivery time.

Extra expense: Shipping issues also hit customers in the pocket. A problem with their purchase can mean paying for the return or exchange. International customers can also face unexpected customs duties on top of what they’ve already paid, especially since the end of the U.S. de minimis exemption for low-value imports.

As much as possible, you want to avoid shipping problems. But they will happen. When they do, how do you limit the impact on your customers and your business?

Let’s look at 8 of the most common problems and how you can reduce their impact, keep your business running smoothly, and keep your customers satisfied.

Delayed shipments

Delivery delays are a pain for your customers, whatever the reason shipments get stuck in transit. And if it’s you, the retailer, who is waiting on a delayed shipment from a supplier, it can affect your whole customer base.

It doesn’t matter to your customers whether a port strike or a simple scheduling error is responsible. What matters is how you limit avoidable delays, how you handle them, and how you reduce the fallout when they’re unavoidable.

How to reduce delayed shipments

Diversify your options: Build a broad portfolio of shipping partners. This gives you flexibility to change routes and keeps you covered through busy seasons and unexpected logjams.

How Linnworks helps: Our platform gives you access to a network of major shipping carriers, including UPS, DHL, FedEx, and many more.

Provide tracking: Use tracking technology to improve your supply chain visibility. It gives you and your customers clarity on the status of shipments and when to expect delivery.

For the full set of causes and nine prevention tactics, see our guide to preventing ecommerce shipping delays.

Damaged goods

Is there anything worse than opening a long-awaited or much-needed package to find the product you paid for is faulty or broken? Damaged goods is one of the most common shipping complaints, and it’s expensive for retailers in replacements, returns, and lost trust.

How to reduce damaged goods

Implement good packing protocols: Make sure handling and logistics partners are up to speed on best practices, and invest in training your handling staff. Design clear procedures for packing and anticipate potential damage risks.

How Linnworks helps: Linnworks intelligent packing assignment helps ensure effective packing methods.

Use high-quality materials: Use the most secure and most appropriate packaging for the goods you’re sending.

Catch damaged warehouse stock: Use warehouse management with quality control checks, to make sure no damaged goods leave the warehouse.

Lost shipments

There is something worse than damaged goods: not knowing where on earth your goods are.

Whether you’re the customer or the retailer, when an expected shipment seems to have vanished without a trace, it can leave you feeling helpless.

Depending on the carrier, you might be able to track your parcel, at least some of the way. But even when tracking is an option, items often fall between the cracks, and you’re left taking a leap of faith that the delivery will arrive on time, or at all.

You can see a parcel has left the warehouse, and then… nothing. International shipments are particularly susceptible, often seeming to fall into a black hole once they leave the dispatch country.

The result is often starting from scratch: sending out a replacement, but not until enough time has passed to be sure the item is truly lost. That’s an extra cost for you and an extra delay for your customer, with frustration all around.

How to reduce lost shipments

Provide live order tracking: Tracking that updates as a parcel moves reassures customers and cuts “where is my order?” inquiries. Make tracking links easy to find in confirmation and dispatch emails.

Offer shipping insurance: Give your business and your customers peace of mind with coverage for lost items. Quick, easy reimbursement and replacement can go a long way to keeping customers happy.

Incorrect shipments

Picking errors can happen for a whole host of reasons: disorganized warehouses, undertrained staff, or simple human error.

Mistakes happen, but the result for your customer is the same, and this one is on you. The upside is that it means you can do something about it. Incorrect shipments are largely avoidable, and with care, attention, and good shipping protocols, you can reduce the risk.

How to reduce incorrect shipments

Upgrade your warehouse tech: Order verification technology, like a barcoding inventory management system, helps limit mispicks.

Double-check your packing: Systematic double-checking is the only way to be sure that what goes into the box is exactly what the customer expects.

Improve your complaint handling: Have good customer service systems for responding to complaints, so you can limit and repair reputational damage. Make it easy for customers to get in touch and to request and receive a prompt exchange.

High shipping costs

Customers understand that last-minute orders and quick deliveries come at a premium. But even standard shipping costs keep climbing, thanks to inflation and disruption in global supply chains, and carriers can raise prices to cover their own increases. The result can be charges that put customers off.

For how to prepare for peak surcharges, see our peak season ecommerce guide.

The real danger, especially for overseas customers, is that shipping and handling costs put them off buying from you in the first place. Retailers feel it too: in Linnworks’ State of Commerce Ops 2026 report, shipping cost inflation was among the challenges retailers cited most often, at around 40%. There are things you can do to reduce the expense for you and your customers.

How to reduce shipping costs

Outsource your shipping: A third-party logistics company (3PL) can help you keep costs low and take on some of the administrative burden of handling your own shipping, especially if you’re a small business.

How Linnworks helps: Linnworks shipping management helps you compare carriers and find the best balance of cost, quality, and reliability.

Optimize your packaging: Use the right size packaging for each parcel, and use the carrier’s own materials if they’re provided. It’s good for your budget and the environment, and many customers care about both.

Automate your shipping processes: Platforms like Linnworks can help you compare shipping rates and weigh your options, so you can quickly identify cost-effective shipping methods.

Backorders and inventory issues

Forecasting your stock needs and ordering what you need, when you need it, is a challenge, especially after the supply chain upheaval of recent years. If you’re juggling multiple warehouses or selling through more than one channel, stock management can quickly get chaotic, leading to stockouts, delays, and unhappy customers. See our guide to backorders for how to handle them.

The scale of the visibility gap is clear in Linnworks’ State of Commerce Ops 2026 report: only about a third of retailers (33.2% in the UK and 37.2% in the US) reported excellent inventory visibility across channels and warehouses.

How to reduce inventory issues

Automate your inventory management: Linnworks lets you centralize your inventory management so you know what stock is where. That helps you avoid the shock of overselling and leaving customers waiting, or worse, sending them to a competitor.

Be transparent: Customers want to see what you have in stock before they buy, and to know when out-of-stock items will return. Inventory visibility is a great way to build customer trust and loyalty.

Returns and reverse logistics

Satisfying customers who are already dissatisfied is a challenge. They know they’ll have to go through the dispatch process again, and they have to trust that it will go better this time.

A well-run reverse logistics system is vital, so customers can return goods without too much effort or cost.

How to improve returns

Make your policy clear: Give customers a clear, concise return and refund policy, so they know what they’re entitled to and how to go about it. Here’s a done-for-you returns template if you need one. Keep in mind that different returns laws may apply in different countries.

Offer free returns: If you can manage it, consider offering free returns, covering the postage and replacement costs. It can pay off in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Automate returns and exchanges: Self-service returns and exchanges are easier for you and your customers. The less effort involved, the better, and it gives customers a sense of control that helps the experience.

Tech stack challenges

Many small retailers still rely on manual processes and spreadsheets for shipping management, which makes human error and delays more likely.

For your ecommerce business to grow sustainably, you need a connected tech stack with the visibility and automation to handle shipping problems big and small.

How to fix your tech stack

Ditch the spreadsheets: Replace outdated inventory and order management with forecasting software, so you’re better positioned to know what lies ahead.

Invest in a shipping management system: Software that can integrate and automate your shipping processes is a worthwhile investment. Platforms like Linnworks help you simplify shipping workflows, improving inventory management, packaging, routing, and costs.

Navigate your shipping problems with Linnworks

There’s no such thing as problem-free shipping. Ecommerce retailers will always be at the mercy of shifting currents beyond their control. But with a good shipping management system, your business can avoid the worst, manage the rest, and keep customers on board.

Linnworks shipping management helps you:

• Automate shipping workflows to save time and reduce errors
• Compare carriers so you can find the best option for each delivery
• Choose the right service for each order based on cost and speed
• Keep customers informed from dispatch to delivery

Request a demo to find out how Linnworks can make your shipping smoother.