Finding the right shipping service for your ecommerce business is like finding the right romantic partner. Look at their strengths, weaknesses, and experience. Do they complement you? Are their morals in sync with yours? Were they raised in a similar home environment? Okay, maybe that’s not the best analogy—but choosing a shipping service does require deep thought and analysis of your needs. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of six questions that should guide your decision-making process.
1. How much is it going to cost you?
Your shipping costs will be influenced by the weight, volume and distance of your products. You need to know how much each individual product weighs, what its dimensions are, and how far it has to travel. You’ll also need to find out how many products you want shipped at a time. All of these factors can affect your shipping costs significantly!
2. How quickly do you need to ship your products?
A big part of your shipping strategy is deciding how quickly you need to ship your products. Is it okay if they arrive in one week? One day?
- Expedited shipping is more expensive than standard shipping, as it involves going through additional processes and taking up more resources at the warehouse. If you’re looking for a quick turnaround time, that’s what expedited services are for! Just be aware that express delivery services can cost significantly more than standard ground service like UPS and FedEx Ground.
- The faster you want your product out there in the world (and into eager hands), the more likely it will be that customers will choose an alternative option when faced with longer wait times from slower shipping methods like USPS Parcel Post or USPS Priority Mail Express International™.
3. Are you able to ship internationally?
If you plan on selling internationally, you’ll need to make sure that your chosen shipping service is able to ship internationally.
Some services will offer international shipping as an add-on or feature that can be purchased separately, while others may require you to sign up for a separate package or subscription with them. There are also services that only offer domestic shipping and then allow users to manually set up additional accounts with different countries so they can get specific rates on their own—this is helpful if multiple people in your business are taking care of shipping domestically and internationally (for example: one person takes care of all domestic orders and another takes care of all international orders).
4. What kind of packaging will you be using
The type of packaging you use is important, because it can affect your shipping costs. Not only does the size and weight of your item determine how much it will cost to ship, but also the kind of packaging affects how much it costs. For example, if you’re shipping fragile items via air freight from Europe to Australia in December, it may be more expensive than if you were sending them in July.
Similarly, depending on who your customer is and what their expectations are about receiving goods from overseas companies like yours (or for that matter whether they even know about where things come from), they may place varying demands on how well-protected their goods need to be during transit. They may also have different expectations regarding delivery time frames or other aspects regarding returns policy which could impact what type of packaging works best for them as well
5. What kind of tracking and transparency do you want to offer customers?
The shipping method you choose will affect the tracking and transparency that’s available to your customers. Here are a few factors to consider:
- What kind of shipping options do you want to offer? If you’re selling a heavy or bulky product, for example, you may need door-to-door pickup or delivery. For lighter items like clothing or electronics, sending out multiple packages at once could be the most cost-effective option.
- Do customers need to know when their order has been shipped? Some companies prioritize delivering orders as quickly as possible while giving little information about when they’ll arrive; others want their customers to know exactly where their purchase is in transit at all times so they can plan accordingly (for example, knowing which package has gone missing could help some buyers avoid making another purchase in case it gets lost). Which approach is right for your brand?
- How transparent do you want to be with your customers’ experiences with your product? Transparency is important because it allows consumers to trust in what they’re buying—and if they don’t trust that there was an honest process involved from start to finish, it might make them doubt whether purchasing from your site again would be worth their time and money!
6. What kind of support do you want from the shipping service?
Shipping services with good customer service are more likely to help you out if there’s a problem with your order. You can ask them questions, and they’ll be happy to answer them. They’re also more likely to give you detailed information about your shipments, including when it was sent and where it is right now.
If you’re just starting out, it might be easier for you to use a shipping service that offers their own tracking system because many ecommerce platforms don’t have this feature built in yet. In this case, your customers won’t need any extra software installed on their computers or mobile devices—they’ll be able to track the shipment directly from their accounts on Amazon or eBay (for example).
Choosing a shipping service is tricky but these 8 will get you started
Before you choose a shipping platform to go alongside your ecommerce store, you’ll want to think about the needs of your business. Do you need something that integrates with a marketplace like Amazon or eBay? Or will something more barebones suffice? How much do you want to spend per month or per shipment? What carriers do you tend to use most often, and how many different types of fulfillment options are available in your area? With so many options available on the market, it’s important to take a look at what each platform has to offer—and how it matches up with the needs of your business. We’ve put together this list of our favorite platforms for online merchants. Hopefully, this research-intensive guide can help save time and make your decision easier!
FedEx
FedEx is one of the most trusted names in the shipping industry, but you may not know about their free online tools for ecommerce merchants.
The FedEx Ship Manager tool allows you to track shipments and print labels from your computer or mobile device. You can also use it to create shipping profiles so you don’t have to enter information about each shipment every time.
You get access to this tool when you sign up for a free 30-day trial of FedEx Shipping Software, which also includes access to FedEx Rate Finder and other handy tools (it will cost $9.95/month after that).
UPS
UPS is another well-known name in the shipping biz. They also offer a huge suite of tools to help you ship more efficiently.
The UPS API and Web Tools allow you to integrate shipping rates with your own ecommerce store, while their UPS Rate Quick Reference Guide will show you how much it’ll cost to ship just about any package from any place on Earth (depending on its size and weight).
ShipStation
has powerful features and integrations if you are running an Amazon FBA business or selling on several different channels. The downside of this platform is that it’s a little more expensive than other options.
ShipStation is a powerful platform for ecommerce merchants. It’s more expensive than some of its competitors but has powerful features and integrations. If you’re running an Amazon FBA business or selling on several different channels, the cost can be worth it.
ShipStation integrates with Amazon FBA, Shopify and other popular platforms. You can also use their advanced features to customize the way your packages are labeled, shipped and tracked through the platform.
ShipStation offers free trials so there’s no risk in trying it out yourself!
Shippo
Shippo is a less-expensive alternative to ShipStation, with many of the same features, including multiple carrier and fulfillment options.
It also has a free plan that allows you to send 50 shipments per month and provides basic tracking information. This makes it more affordable than some other options and allows you to test out the system before committing to a paid plan.
Easyship
Easyship is another low cost alternative to ShipStation. They’re particularly good for new businesses who want to try multiple carriers and see which ones work best for them, or if you just need a simple platform that can handle standard shipping services like UPS, FedEx, USPS and more.
Zonos
Zonos lets your customers choose their favorite international carrier and provides low rates for duties, taxes, and delivery to over 200 countries worldwide.
This allows you to offer the option of multiple carriers on your website, helping to increase sales. The rates for duties, taxes, and delivery are all provided upfront so that there’s no need for your customers to pay extra costs when they receive their package in the mail.
Ordoro
Ordoro is a shipping platform that integrates with almost every major ecommerce platform. It has some inventory management features and a free trial.
With this integration, you can manage your orders directly in the Ordoro dashboard, pick and pack your orders, print labels, or send them out for delivery. You can also choose from over 150 international carriers to ship your products to customers around the world. One downside of Ordoro’s integration is that there are no native multi-carrier options available yet (even though they’re working on it). This means that you’ll have to manually select each carrier when creating an order instead of having one button click do it for you like other platforms offer.
ShipperHQ
ShipperHQ has been around for 10 years and has a ton of integrations available for big platforms like Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce— plus they’re easy to work with if you run a smaller store using an open-source platform like WooCommerce or Prestashop.
Their rates are low (4-10 cents per label) and there’s no minimum order volume required to get started. Additionally, ShipperHQ will refund your first $250 in postage costs if you sign up within 30 days of signing up for an account.
Conclusion
We’ve covered a lot of ground here. But, it’s important to know that this is only the beginning of what you need to know about shipping and fulfillment. You can use these tips as a guide, but ultimately, you should choose the shipping service that best suits your needs. With so many options out there (and more coming all the time), there’s sure to be one that fits just right!
Every ecommerce shipping company has their own strengths and weaknesses, which is why it’s important to do your research before choosing one. We hope this article has given you a good overview of the top 10 options for ecommerce businesses like yours. If you want more tips on how to get started with your online store, check out our blog!
