What is Shipping Software?
Shipping software is a tool designed to automate and streamline the shipping process. It helps businesses manage their shipping operations, from carrier selection and label printing to tracking shipments and handling returns.
What Are the Core Benefits and Features of Shipping Software?
Carrier Selection
Shipping software integrates with multiple carriers, allowing businesses to compare rates, services, and delivery times. This enables them to choose the most cost-effective and reliable shipping options for each order.
Label Printing
It simplifies the creation and printing of shipping labels, reducing manual entry errors and saving time. Businesses can print labels in bulk, directly from their order management systems.
Tracking Shipments
Real-time tracking features provide both businesses and customers with up-to-date information on the status and location of shipments. Automated tracking updates and notifications improve transparency and customer satisfaction.
Handling Returns
Efficient return management is a key component of shipping software. It streamlines the returns process by generating return labels, tracking returned items, and integrating with inventory management systems to update stock levels.
Order Management
Shipping software often includes order management functionalities, ensuring seamless coordination between orders received, processed, and shipped. It consolidates information from various sales channels into a single platform for easier management.
Shipping Automation
By automating repetitive tasks, shipping software reduces the need for manual intervention. This includes automating shipping rules, customs documentation, and compliance checks, which minimises errors and speeds up the shipping process.
Cost Optimisation
Through features like rate comparison and bulk shipping discounts, shipping software helps businesses optimise their shipping costs. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that ship large volumes of products.
Reporting and Analytics
Advanced reporting and analytics provide insights into shipping performance, costs, and trends. This data aids businesses in making informed strategic decisions to improve their shipping operations.
Scalability
As businesses grow, shipping software scales with them, accommodating increased shipment volumes without compromising efficiency. It supports businesses in expanding their operations and reaching new markets.
Top Shipping Software Providers for Enterprise Businesses
Despatch Cloud offers a robust and centralised shipping management platform that seamlessly integrates with your existing order management system. This integration ensures a smooth, efficient workflow from order receipt to final delivery, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.
Key Features
- Centralised Shipping Management: Despatch Cloud provides a single platform to manage all your shipping operations. This centralised approach enhances visibility and control over the entire shipping process, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
- 150+ Courier Integrations: With integrations to over 150 courier services globally, Despatch Cloud offers unparalleled flexibility and choice. Businesses can easily compare rates and services to select the most cost-effective and reliable shipping options for each order.
- Comprehensive Shipping Rules System: The platform includes a sophisticated shipping rules system, allowing businesses to automate and customise shipping processes based on specific criteria such as order weight, destination, and carrier preferences. This ensures optimal efficiency and cost savings.
- Automated Returns: Efficiently manage returns with automated processes that generate return labels and track returned items. This feature simplifies the returns process, improving customer satisfaction and inventory management.
- Real-Time Tracking: Keep customers informed with real-time tracking information. Automated notifications provide up-to-date shipment statuses, enhancing transparency and customer trust.
- Built-In Email Builder: Despatch Cloud includes a built-in email builder for creating personalised, on-brand tracking updates. This tool allows businesses to design custom email templates that match their branding, ensuring consistent and professional communication with customers.
- International Shipping Support: Despatch Cloud supports international shipping, including customs documentation and compliance checks. This feature ensures smooth and efficient cross-border shipments, expanding your market reach.
Unique Selling Proposition
Despatch Cloud’s unique selling proposition lies in its extensive courier integrations, user-friendly interface, and flagship features that cater to the diverse needs of businesses. From comprehensive integration capabilities and sophisticated shipping rules to personalised customer communication and efficient returns management, Despatch Cloud offers a complete solution designed to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Pricing
Understanding that every business has unique needs and budgets, Despatch Cloud offers flexible pricing plans designed to accommodate various business sizes. Whether you are a small eCommerce startup or a large enterprise, Despatch Cloud provides scalable solutions that grow with your business, ensuring you only pay for what you need.
ShipStation is a premier shipping management solution that optimises eCommerce and order fulfilment processes for businesses of all sizes. By leveraging advanced technology and extensive integrations, ShipStation simplifies shipping operations, enhances efficiency, and delivers exceptional customer experiences.
Key Features
- Find the Lowest Shipping Rate: ShipStation provides access to corporate rates from top carriers, allowing you to find and save the lowest shipping rates for parcels of various sizes and destinations. This feature ensures that your shipping costs are optimised.
- Brand Your Shipping: ShipStation enhances your brand by offering custom email templates, packing slips, branded tracking pages, SMS tracking updates, and a branded returns portal. These features help create a consistent and professional customer experience that extends beyond delivery.
- Automation and Batching: ShipStation significantly reduces manual work by automating shipping and order fulfilment processes. The platform allows you to tag orders, manage multi-package and split shipments, automate shipping tasks, and utilise scan-based workflows. Additionally, you can bulk print labels for up to 500 orders at once, streamlining your operations.
- Integrations: ShipStation integrates seamlessly with over 100 sales channels, marketplaces, ERPs, CRMs, and IMSs. This extensive integration ensures that all your shipping operations are synchronised with your sales channels, providing a unified workflow.
- Comprehensive Order Tracking: ShipStation keeps you on top of your logistics with tools to track in-transit shipments, manage inventory levels, view multi-channel shipping analytics, and create end-of-day forms. Their mobile app also ensures you stay connected and informed from anywhere.
Unique Selling Proposition
ShipStation offers one of the world’s most integrated shipping and fulfilment platform. It supports seamless eCommerce integration with multiple carriers and selling channels, including industry giants like Amazon, eBay, and Shopify. This extensive integration ensures a cohesive and efficient shipping operation, no matter where you sell or how you ship.
Pricing
ShipStation offers flexible pricing plans to cater to various business sizes and needs:
- Startup: £25/month, 500 shipments/month, 3 users, £0.05/shipment fee
- Accelerate (Most Popular): £75/month, 3,000 shipments/month, 5 users, £0.04/shipment fee
- Scale: £175/month, 10,000 shipments/month, 10 users, £0.03/shipment fee
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for 10,000+ shipments/month, 10+ users
All plans come with a free trial, no commitment, and no credit card required.
ShipHero is a comprehensive order fulfilment and inventory management platform designed to streamline your logistics and enhance operational efficiency. By integrating advanced technology with seamless eCommerce connectivity, ShipHero simplifies complex workflows, allowing businesses to scale efficiently and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Key Features
- Orders & Returns Management: Easily manage orders and returns with one-click integrations to major eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Loop. The system supports seamless store integrations, order tracking, and shipment notifications, streamlining the entire order lifecycle.
- Automation Rules: ShipHero enhances efficiency with features like smart warehouse routing, shipping method mapping, and address validation, ensuring accurate and speedy order processing with minimal manual intervention.
- Inventory Management: ShipHero keeps inventory accurate with multi-warehouse order allocation, purchase orders, receiving, re-ordering, replenishment level settings, cycle counting, kitting, logs, and putaway processes, ensuring synchronization with sales channels.
- Mobile Pick & Pack: ShipHero’s mobile pick and pack solution, with its intuitive iOS interface and barcode scanning, reduces error rates by 99.9%. It includes optimised pick routes, automatic batch creation, and real-time tracking for faster, more accurate picking.
- Rate Shopping: Save on postage with ShipHero’s real-time rate shopping feature. The platform integrates with multiple carriers, enabling you to compare rates and choose the cheapest option for each shipment. This ensures you always get the best deal, reducing shipping costs.
- Comprehensive Reporting: ShipHero provides built-in reporting features that cover all aspects of your operations. From Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and picker/packer efficiency to inventory and sales reports, ShipHero’s reporting tools give you valuable insights to optimise your business performance.
Unique Selling Proposition
ShipHero stands out with its seamless integration capabilities and advanced automation features. The platform’s extensive eCommerce integrations and real-time rate shopping ensure that your operations are not only streamlined but also cost-effective. ShipHero’s focus on efficiency and accuracy, from order processing to inventory management, makes it an ideal solution for businesses looking to scale and enhance their logistics operations.
Pricing
ShipHero’s pricing is tailored to the needs of each business, with quotes based on monthly order volume. To get a customised quote, you need to fill out a form on their website, specifying your order volume. This ensures that you receive a pricing plan that best suits your business requirements.
Easyship is a leading shipping software solution designed to streamline both domestic and international shipping for enterprise eCommerce businesses. With its robust integration capabilities, Easyship allows you to connect your online store, sync products, and start shipping within minutes. By offering advanced shipping features, transparent duty and tax calculations, and a user-friendly interface, Easyship ensures your shipping processes are efficient and cost-effective, enabling you to focus on growing your business.
Key Features
Seamless Integration: Easily connect your eCommerce store to Easyship and synchronise your products swiftly, simplifying your shipping setup.
Extensive Shipping Options: Access over 250 shipping solutions, enabling you to choose the most suitable options for your shipping requirements.
Duty and Tax Calculation: Gain transparency with clear calculations of taxes and duties viewable from your Easyship dashboard or presented to customers during checkout.
Simplified International Shipping: Automatically generate all essential international shipping documents for smooth customs clearance, reducing administrative hassle.
Real-Time Shipping Rates: Utilise a free rate comparison tool to compare shipping rates from major couriers such as UPS, USPS, and FedEx, potentially saving up to 91% on shipping costs.
Shipping Automation: Customise and automate your shipping processes using intuitive rules tailored to your business needs, enhancing efficiency.
Automatic Tracking Updates: Keep customers informed with timely email notifications and branded tracking pages that provide real-time updates on shipment status.
Shipping Insurance: Enjoy comprehensive coverage up to $10,000 USD to safeguard shipments against damage, loss, and theft, ensuring peace of mind.
24/7 Customer Support: Access dedicated support around the clock to ensure timely delivery of your shipments and receive assistance whenever required.
Unique Selling Proposition
Easyship’s unique selling proposition lies in its ability to simplify international shipping through transparent duty and tax calculations. By automatically generating all necessary international documents and providing a clear view of taxes and duties, Easyship removes the complexity and stress associated with global shipping. This transparency ensures that both businesses and their customers are fully informed about shipping costs, improving overall satisfaction and efficiency.
Pricing
Easyship offers a flexible pricing model to cater to businesses of all sizes.
- Free Plan: Available for up to 50 orders per month with limited functionality.
- Paid Plans: Start at £29 per month, including a 14-day free trial to explore the full capabilities of the platform.
By offering a range of plans, Easyship ensures that businesses can choose the option that best fits their shipping needs and budget, while still enjoying the platform’s comprehensive features and benefits.
Sendcloud is Europe’s leading shipping software, designed to streamline and automate the entire shipping process for eCommerce businesses. Trusted by over 23,000 businesses, Sendcloud offers a comprehensive suite of features to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance the overall delivery experience for customers. With a focus on multi-carrier shipping and a user-friendly interface, Sendcloud simplifies shipping management, allowing businesses to scale with ease.
Key Features
- Multi-Carrier Shipping: Connect with over 100 carriers using pre-negotiated rates or your own contracts, and easily ship to new markets by activating carriers in a few clicks and automating customs documents.
- Automated Label Creation: Centralise orders and print labels with one click, reducing manual tasks and speeding up the shipping process. Save time with custom automation rules tailored to your business needs.
- Tracking and Notifications: Improve customer experience with proactive email and SMS tracking notifications and customise tracking updates to match your brand and encourage cross-selling.
- Return Management: Automate returns with a customer-friendly self-service portal and keep customers informed on the status of their returns with email updates.
- Picking and Packing: Streamline picking and packing processes with customised picking lists and error checks, reducing errors and increasing efficiency.
- Post-Purchase Experience: Provide real-time branded tracking to reduce customer service inquiries and handle delivery delays, supported by a speedy claims process with full cost coverage, including return and reshipping expenses.
Unique Selling Proposition
Sendcloud stands out with its strong focus on European carriers and its ability to provide a seamless, automated shipping experience. By offering a vast network of service points and the capability to integrate easily with major sales channels, Sendcloud ensures that businesses can quickly expand their shipping capacity and improve their operational efficiency.
Pricing
Sendcloud offers a flexible pricing model to accommodate businesses of all sizes:
- Free Plan: Ship with Sendcloud’s discounted rates, up to 2 integrations, and up to 50 labels per month.
- Paid Plans: Start at £18 per month, with additional features and higher label limits based on the selected plan.
- Enterprise Plans: Custom pricing based on specific needs, including WMS/ERP/marketplace integration, cross-border shipping networks, and premium support.
With a 14-day free trial for premium plans and unlimited time on the Free plan, Sendcloud provides an accessible way for businesses to start optimising their shipping processes immediately.
The best shipping software for your enterprise will depend on your specific needs, such as the volume of shipments, integration requirements, and budget. Here are some enterprise specific considerations when shopping for shipping software:
Scalability
Ensure the software can handle your current shipment volume and scale with your business growth.
Integration Capabilities
Look for software that easily integrates with your existing eCommerce platforms, order management systems, and ERPs.
Automation Features
Consider software with robust automation rules to reduce manual tasks and improve efficiency.
Multi-Carrier Support
Opt for solutions that provide access to multiple carriers, including international options, with competitive rates.
Customisation Options
Check if the software allows for customisable tracking pages, email notifications, and branding to enhance customer experience.
Return Management
Ensure the software offers a seamless and automated return process to maintain customer satisfaction.
Cost Efficiency
Evaluate the pricing plans and potential savings on shipping rates to ensure it fits within your budget.
Analytics and Reporting
Look for comprehensive reporting features to gain insights into shipping performance and make data-driven decisions.
Customer Support
Consider the level of support offered, including onboarding assistance and ongoing technical support.
User-Friendly Interface
Consider the level of support offered, including onboarding assistance and ongoing technical support.
Conclusion
Selecting the right shipping software is crucial for any enterprise businesses aiming to enhance efficiency, scalability, and customer satisfaction. Whether you’re looking for extensive courier integrations, robust warehouse management, or seamless international shipping, there’s a solution tailored to your needs. From Despatch Cloud’s comprehensive integration capabilities to ShipStation’s cost-effective plans, ShipHero’s warehouse management prowess, Easyship’s international shipping ease, and Sendcloud’s user-friendly European focus, each software offers distinct advantages. Evaluate your specific requirements to choose the platform that will best support your shipping operations and secure business growth.
Ready to optimise your shipping operations?
Try Despatch Cloud’s shipping software today and see how it can enhance your efficiency and customer satisfaction. Start your free trial now and take the first step towards a more streamlined shipping process!