The best shipping softwares compared

What is Shipping Software?

Shipping software, also known as shipping platform, assists companies in coordinating their outgoing shipments to customers and makes the corresponding processes more efficient. Typical features of such tools include comparisons of freight prices, bulk processing of shipments, the printing of shipment information as well as custom tracking and confirmation notifications. Following an outgoing shipment, users can also use the shipping software to manage returns and documents. Shipping software is often integrated with e-commerce platforms and fleet management software. Note: Shipping software should not be confused with transport management software or shipping management software. The latter primarily focuses on optimizing transport loads and routes. Supply chain suites also focus on different tasks. Their application area covers the entire supply chain process. Nevertheless, transport management software and supply chain suites are often also referred to as shipping software.

Good shipping software brings the following features or benefits, among others:

• Provision of labels for the shipping of products - invoices can sometimes also be created via corresponding programs.
• Shipping software provides order management tools that allow companies to monitor their shipments in real time.
• It opens up integrations for e-commerce platforms and other important programs related to shipping.
• It allows incoming shipping orders to be managed in various ways.
• It enables automated comparison of rates from different shipping companies.
• It sometimes offers shipping discounts based on the number of orders.

These are popular shipping software

• Sendcloud
• shipcloud
• LetMeShip
• Hive
• byrd
• ShippyPro
• Shippo
• Pulpo WMS
• Pirate Ship
• ShippingEasy

Why should you use Shipping Software?

As the number of online buyers increases daily and with it the competition among webshops is continuously rising, companies cannot afford to fall behind in the efficiency of their shipping processes. An important factor here is that customers often abandon their purchase at checkout because they do not find the right shipping conditions. Particularly disadvantageous here are a shipping price that is too high, a shipping duration that is too long and deficits in terms of the scope of shipping or the regional shipping radius. On the other hand, companies greatly increase their chances of making a sale when they offer the shipping options preferred by their own target group at low prices and deliver their products comfortably to any conceivable point. With shipping software, companies ideally achieve exactly this and save both money and time.

1. Save Money: Shipping software sometimes offers high discounts to retailers and e-commerce websites. This is an important argument given to retailers to encourage them to choose such a digital shipping solution. Different programs offer different discounts - while some software might allow up to 50 orders per month to be shipped for free, others can benefit from substantial discounts on high-volume shipments. Before deciding on a software, consider how many shipments are made per month.
2. Save Time: Companies that regularly, perhaps even daily, ship products, need to determine the shipping costs for each order by adding the weight and dimensions of each product and then calculating how much it costs to ship it to a particular location. Manually calculating the shipping costs for each order can be very time-consuming. Shipping software, on the other hand, automatically calculates the costs and shows customers the best shipping options. This saves time for companies and always offers the cheapest option, saving money again. Furthermore, buyers are likely to reward particularly cheap shipments with further purchases.

What does Shipping Software Cost?

The costs that interested parties must calculate for shipping software cannot, of course, be stated as a lump sum. The price range is actually very wide: there are completely free applications and others for which you have to pay 100 euros per month and more. Many providers tailor their bundles individually to their customers and therefore do not provide a price table. Those who work with fixed costs not only have widely differing prices, but also often use different billing models. For example, a shipping platform can be purchased once, rented as on a SaaS basis, and/or paid for according to shipment volume. All companies can find the right provider or tariff on the market, that's for sure. However, one should first look less at the price and rather determine the shipping software according to the required range of functions. Companies with small shipping volumes can certainly be satisfied with a slim free solution. Large e-commerce businesses, however, always need more for a real economization of their shipping processes. The advantage is that many providers initially offer their systems as a demo or test version. So there is the possibility to try out whether the shipping software suits your own requirements. In practice, it quickly becomes clear what price a service is really worth.

What types of shipping software are there?

• Multi-Carrier Shipping Software: Multi-carrier shipping tools allow shippers to choose between different transportation companies. With such a software, companies can compare rates, transit times, and arrival speeds for each individual freight company and ultimately choose the most efficient shipping option. This type of software is typically used by merchants with a high volume of shipments.
• E-Commerce Shipping Software: E-commerce shipping solutions can be integrated via online marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay, or shop systems. They offer similar options to multi-carrier systems and can help sellers, among other things, use customer purchase decisions to get better shipping strategies. If consumers consistently choose two-day shipping, then sellers can use this data to optimize their service around the two-day shipping time.
• Freight Broker Software: Companies that deal with the sale and transport of freight should consider freight broker software. This software helps such companies manage loads, communicate with shippers, schedule drivers, and invoice customers.

Who typically uses shipping software?

• E-commerce Websites: E-commerce shops can greatly benefit from shipping software. It helps to avoid cart abandonment and optimize the final stages of the purchase cycle. Shipping software further provides discounts for e-commerce websites that ship a high volume of products. This enables these sites to get very good shipping rates and pass the conditions on to their customers.
• Logistics Service Providers: Logistic service providers have a symbiotic relationship with e-commerce websites. Shipping services, such as DHL, FedEx or UPS, provide particularly large e-commerce companies, such as Amazon, with an optimized supply chain, while the e-commerce companies provide the logistics providers with the customers, thereby increasing their turnover. An efficient logistics provider provides excellent service and shipping analyses that show that orders were sent and received on time. Shipping software helps these companies to efficiently provide such services.
• Retailers: While it's becoming increasingly interesting for e-commerce players in retail to connect with external logistics providers for storing goods and shipping customer orders, some retailers still opt for the ship-from-store method. Here, shipping is done directly from the store. Since the success of this method naturally depends on the product being available in the store, it is important to integrate the warehouse with a shipping software solution that knows whether all or enough goods are available. Shipping software helps retailers track and manage inventory so that customer demand can always be appropriately met.

What important features can shipping software have?

• Creation of shipping labels: Every company that ships products must ensure that the goods comply with shipping regulations. With a tool for creating specific shipping labels, businesses can meet these requirements and save time and money.
• Order management tools: Order management tools can help both customers and companies track and manage shipping orders. If customers return their orders or change the address, the order management automatically informs the responsible parties and appropriate adjustments are also largely automated.
• Rate Management: Good shipping software offers rate discounts to companies. These discounts can sometimes be 50 percent and more. As a result, companies can offer their customers better shipping rates, increasing the likelihood they will complete their order and buy again and again.
• Reporting Tools: An important function of shipping software is reporting. Using the shipping history, users can visualize key metrics that show, for example, where most shipments go and how much each shipment costs. This can influence important decisions, such as setting up shipping centers in areas with high shipment traffic. Forecast models can also be set up on the basis of such reports to make predictions, for example, about how much shipping will likely cost the company in the future.
• Direct Shipping Capabilities: Direct shipping refers to the shipping of products that are not available in a retail company's stores. Instead, these goods are delivered by external logistics providers directly to the buyer without a detour. This saves businesses a lot of time and money, as they do not need to maintain a large warehouse themselves. Shipping software offers seamless handling for direct shipping and can greatly facilitate orders between businesses and third-party providers.