Lettre Suivie: The Ideal Shipping Method for Your Small Parcels

As a professional seller, do you ship jewelry, small accessories, or even ready-to-wear clothing? Are standard parcels far too large for your items, and are you looking for low-cost packaging that still delivers a great delivery experience? Lettre Suivie for mailbox delivery is the ideal shipping method for e-commerce sellers who want to save money while guaranteeing smooth delivery. Parcel shipping is affordable, starting at €1.15 for envelopes weighing 0 to 20g, and Sendcloud, the number one parcel shipping solution in Europe, offers this delivery option to every e-commerce site directly from the interface. Here is our new article covering everything you need to know about the benefits of Lettre Suivie for professionals. Enjoy the read.

What is Lettre Suivie for professionals?

In the world of shipping, small parcels usually refer to items weighing less than 30 kg. But with the growth of e-commerce in France, more and more businesses - small, medium, and large alike - are looking for shipping methods that are compact and offer optimal tracking. If this applies to you, the innovative service offered by La Poste through Lettre Suivie is your best asset for sending small items. With Lettre Suivie, La Poste handles the transport, delivery, and tracking of your parcels under 3 cm thick and under 3 kg within France. In under 48 hours, your shipments reach your end customers' mailboxes. Lettre Suivie works in France as well as in the overseas departments and territories, Andorra, and Monaco. However, be aware that the allowed parcel weight and delivery times vary depending on the country. For example, outside France, La Poste allows shipments under 2 kg, with delivery taking around 3 days.

Delivery conditions for professionals

Within France:

• 3 kg max.

• 2-day delivery (estimated)

• Length + width + thickness = 100 cm

• Online tracking

• Under 3 cm thick

• Ready-to-post packaging (optional)

• International:

  • 2 kg max.

  • 3 to 7 days delivery (estimated)

  • Length + width + thickness = 90 cm

  • Online tracking

  • Under 3 cm thick

  • Ready-to-post packaging (optional)

  • Lettre Suivie for all your professional shipments

    Lettre Suivie is a fast La Poste service. In under 48 hours within mainland France, your parcel is delivered to your customer's mailbox. And on your end, there is no more need to wait at the counter, you can simply drop your item into a La Poste mailbox. Lettre Suivie is also easy to deliver, since the mail carrier places it directly in the mailbox, which means no signature is required from the recipient. Finally, this service is fully trackable: thanks to the tracking number, your customers can follow their shipments from pickup to delivery.

    Lettre Suivie for every e-commerce seller

    As an e-commerce seller, you do not always ship large parcels. Sometimes you only have small items to send. This is the case for jewelry, cosmetics or hair care products, or ready-to-wear accessories. Lettre Suivie is perfect for this type of parcel because its price is unbeatable, with delivery just as fast as Colissimo. What's more, with this La Poste service, you get access to parcel geolocation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    Flexible postage options

    For e-commerce sellers who handle their own postage, here are the three available methods:

    Access to the service via the 20-gram Lettre Suivie stamp

    For parcels under 100 g, you can buy Lettre Suivie 20g postage stamps (sold in packs of 5) online or at the post office. These stamps combine both the postage (to stick on the packaging) and the barcode with the tracking number (to keep so you can track your shipment).

    Buying labels at a self-service kiosk

    If you need to weigh your parcel, head to the self-service kiosk at the post office and select the Lettre Suivie service. The price will vary depending on the destination and the weight of your parcel. The kiosk prints two labels to stick on your parcel and will also print a receipt with the tracking number.

    Access via the "Mon timbre en ligne" service

    La Poste keeps innovating and lets you print your Lettre Suivie labels directly from your computer using the dedicated service on the La Poste website. Once the labels are stuck on, all you need to do is drop your parcel in a mailbox, and it will be picked up by the mail carrier at the next collection. For e-commerce sellers who want to hand off postage to Sendcloud, nothing could be simpler with Lettre Suivie: the entire ordering and shipping process is handled by the platform, you just print the recipient's address and the postage.

    The benefits of Lettre Suivie

    1. Mailbox delivery, just like a regular letter. Within 48 hours, the mail is in your customer's mailbox

    2. A signature-free shipping method, so your recipient does not need to worry about being home at delivery time

    3. A price that adjusts based on the weight and destination of your parcel

    4. A very affordable rate: around €1.15 per shipment for a 20 g letter, and only €4.50 per shipment for a parcel weighing 500 g

    5. Online tracking for your parcels, so your customers know about their shipment's progress almost in real time

    6. You choose the packaging. La Poste offers ready-to-post shipments, but you can also prepare your own boxes

    7. You maintain an ethical image for your business, since your shipments are carbon neutral

    8. What types of packaging work for a Lettre Suivie?

       La Poste's ready-to-post packaging is perfect if you do not have the resources and/or the desire to prepare your parcels in-house. You stick on the right label and drop your parcels in the nearest mailbox. Be careful though. Even for small parcels, packaging matters, both for your brand image and for protecting your items and absorbing shocks during transport. Your item needs to arrive in excellent condition at its destination. Remember to adapt your packaging each time based on the product being shipped.

       Lettre Suivie and Sendcloud

       Sendcloud offers the Lettre Suivie method (also known as tracked mail) to meet a major demand from e-commerce sellers for shipping small parcels. Since September 2016, the company has continued to record strong growth in the French market and keeps developing new partnerships to always offer an innovative and intuitive solution for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses. With more than 500 active customers, the solution offers features unlike anything else on the market, since it is one of the only ones to offer an external interface that connects and communicates automatically with all e-commerce systems and marketplaces (PrestaShop, Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Amazon, eBay, etc.).

       By adding Lettre Suivie to its offering, Sendcloud strengthens its position as a leader in France and reinforces its ambition to build a unified national and European shipping network that fully meets the needs of e-commerce sellers. From the first to the last mile, integrating the Lettre Suivie method into the Sendcloud interface will allow small and medium-sized businesses to ship their parcels in a format with many advantages (pricing, traceability) for letters under 3 cm thick and under 3 kg.

       "The French e-commerce market today is quite significantly segmented, with the travel sector accounting for 32% of purchases (sale of services), followed by clothing (10%). Small and medium-sized businesses in the retail sector, and particularly in ready-to-wear, therefore have a real need for a low-cost delivery method for small shipments, while still having the guarantee of a reliable delivery rate and optimal tracking through a trustworthy carrier."

       The e-commerce sector overall continues to grow, generating around 80 billion euros in revenue in 2017, with 57% of internet users intending to buy clothing. The conversion rate for the fashion sector is well ahead on desktop (+2.03% versus 1.34% on average for other sectors). This points to significant business growth potential for Sendcloud, which plans to expand its carrier portfolio as well as develop new features on its interface.

       The Lettre Suivie delivery method is already available on the Sendcloud interface and can be activated the same way, in the solution's Settings. Once e-commerce sellers have obtained a prepaid postage contract from La Poste, the Sendcloud team will support them in setting up this method. For more information about Lettre Suivie, feel free to contact us here.

       And if you are ready to send your first parcel with Sendcloud, open a free account and get started!