To achieve a good running of your eCommerce, it is important to take care of the shipping management to ensure that the product reaches the customer in good condition and on time, a key factor for the satisfaction of your customers is high and repeat purchase in your eCommerce.
Taking care of the shipping management of our eCommerce will help us, therefore, to build customer loyalty and attract potential customers, as well as increase the reputation of our eCommerce. In fact, 70% of consumers recognize that they have supported a company with a good delivery service, according to Shopify data, so it is important to use tools that help us manage our eCommerce shipments.
The process of shipping a product begins when the customer buys a product online and adds a place for shipping or pickup, and ends when the product arrives at its final destination, involving along the way route planning, preparation, transportation, tracking, etc.
The different steps of the order process are:
1. Order receipt: the customer places an order and the company receives the order details.
2. Verification of the order: the order is confirmed to be correct and details are finalized.
3. Order preparation: the product is properly packaged.
4. Shipment and delivery of the order: the order goes from the logistics center to the final destination.
5. Verification of the delivery: the corresponding documentation is signed to confirm that the order has been delivered correctly.
In order to optimize the management and shipping of eCommerce orders, it is necessary to have at our disposal technologies and tools specialized in logistics and everything required to ensure that the shipment arrives in perfect condition to our customer.
From Planet, we recommend the Sendcloud tool, for being a tool that covers the shipping process in a complete and automated way, some of the functions available from the platform's interface are:
- Automation of the shipping process
- Mass printing of shipping labels
- Manual shipping label creation
- Real-time tracking and tracing of orders
- Organization of internal logistics
- Contact with shippers
- Automatic refunds and returns
- Incident management
- Customization of services to adapt them to your brand
- Creation of intelligent shipping rules
- Data analysis
However, there are many tools available to manage shipments and perform more specific functions. Here are a few tools recommended by Shopify that can be very useful in managing your shipments.
Packaging tools
Product packaging is essential for shipments and serves both to protect your product and to give it added value, presenting a careful packaging in relation to the values and style of your brand.
Some packaging providers are Uline, Papermart, Fast-Pack or eBay, although you can also use local packaging companies.
For the best packaging companies, Shopify recommends FedEx - Best Practices, UPS - Best Practices and USPS Domestic- Best Practices.
Tools to manage eCommerce shipments
There are different options to select the courier for your products, but in the case of having a Shopify store, we recommend the Shopify Shipping tool, which allows you to make domestic and international shipments easily.
To use Shopify Shipping you need to know the different options available for your shipments, analyzing the different carriers, the rules and regulations of each country, shipping costs, tracking options and shipping insurance, etc.
Tools to calculate shipping rates
For a correct management of your shipments it is necessary to know the shipping costs and fees, which differ depending on the company that manages the shipment and parameters such as weight, size, country of origin and destination, etc.
To calculate these costs and rates you can use tools such as FedEx - Shipping Calculator, UPS - Shipping Calculator and USPS - Shipping Calculator.
Tools for package labels
On the other hand, to optimize the creation of labels for your packages and avoid writing origin and destination addresses by hand, you can use the Shopify Order Pinter tool, a free tool available in Shopify for shipping management, which allows you to print shipping labels as well as invoices and receipts.
In addition, there are other tools available that can help you print labels such as Stamps.com, Shippo, ShippingEasy and ShipRobot.
Order Tracking Tools
You can also track your orders with tools like AfterShip, which also allows you to send email notifications about the status of the shipment to your customers and display the tracking directly in eCommerce.
Now you know some tools that will be useful in managing your eCommerce shipments, do you dare to try them?