What is Air freight?

For a small Shopify store, air freight is usually the fallback when you run low on a bestseller and cannot wait for a slow sea shipment. It costs more per unit but gets stock on shelf fast, which can be cheaper than a stockout if the item sells well and margins allow for it.

Use air freight sparingly and plan ahead to avoid needing it. If you keep ordering by air every time, that is a sign your reorder points are set too late or your supplier's lead time is longer than you are accounting for.

Example

A candle store normally ships 2000 units by sea freight from its supplier, taking 35 days and costing $0.20 per unit in freight. They sell out early and need 300 units fast, so they pay for air freight at $1.50 per unit, arriving in 6 days. The air shipment costs $450 instead of $60 by sea, but it prevents about three weeks of lost sales on their top candle scent.

Common mistakes

• Treating air freight as a normal reorder method instead of an emergency option.
• Forgetting to add the higher freight cost into the landed cost per unit when pricing or checking margin.
• Not fixing the root cause, like a reorder point set too close to the supplier's real lead time.

Air freight and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf calculates order-by dates from each supplier's lead time, so you can spot low stock early and order with standard shipping instead of paying for last-minute air freight.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Lead time · Transit time · Reorder point · Stockout · Freight cost per unit

Full inventory glossary

FAQ