Forward Shipment

What is a forward shipment?

Forward shipment is the standard direction of shipping in ecommerce — from the merchant's origin warehouse to the buyer's delivery address. It is distinguished from reverse shipment (buyer to merchant) and RTO (failed-delivery return).

Every order begins as a forward shipment. If the delivery succeeds, the forward shipment is the only courier event in the order lifecycle. If the delivery fails, the shipment converts to RTO. If the buyer requests a return after delivery, a new reverse shipment is created.

Forward shipping cost components

A forward shipping cost in India typically comprises:

1. Base forward charge: zone-and-weight slab from the courier rate card
2. Fuel surcharge: typically 6-12% on top of base, variable by month
3. COD fee (if applicable): higher of fixed minimum or percentage of order value
4. GST: 18% on the shipping component
5. Insurance (optional): 0.1-0.4% of order value for high-AOV parcels

Forward-only metrics worth tracking

• First-attempt delivery rate — % of forwards delivered on attempt 1 (target: 85%+)
• Forward SLA hit rate — % of forwards delivered within promised TAT (target: 92%+)
• Forward damage rate — % of forwards arriving damaged (target: <0.5%)

Why forward operations matter

Forward shipment quality drives downstream cost. A weak forward operation produces more NDRs, more RTOs, more damaged returns, and more support tickets. Investing in forward excellence (correct addresses, right courier allocation, proper packaging, slot-confirmed delivery) is the single highest-leverage area in D2C logistics.

Related terms

• Reverse Pickup
• RTO
• Volumetric Weight

In ShipyBox

ShipyBox's forward operations stack includes AI courier allocation, address quality scoring, and slot-confirmed delivery for high-AOV parcels. See Courier Allocation for how forward routing decisions are made.