As online shopping rises in popularity, it's now more important than ever for eCommerce stores to automate shipping strategies with a transportation management system.(TMS). Consumers are growing accustomed to the fast, free, and reliable shipping services that they receive from companies like Amazon Prime, and are expecting the same caliber of efficiency from every online store that they purchase from. Nothing screams “I’m never shopping here again” like a missing package or one that takes ages for a customer to receive.
Some of the biggest pains companies experience when trying to find the best shipping solutions are reducing their shipping costs on diverse parcel and enhancing the post-purchase customer experience. Nowadays, these issues are difficult to solve unless businesses invest in SaaS shipping solutions. Platforms that optimize shipping strategies give companies a competitive advantage by reducing costs, increasing profit margins and minimizing stress through logistics automation and intelligence. An example of a transportation management system that helps businesses achieve these goals is ShipHawk.
ShipHawk’s software helps businesses automate their shipping strategies so that they may streamline and scale their operations. Some key components of ShipHawk’s software include:
The process of rate shopping is a time-consuming and inefficient method of finding the cheapest shipping option for businesses that ship in high volume. The opportunity costs become even higher when you realize that you could be spending this time working to improve other important aspects of your business (the company website, inventory, or customer retention strategies). Furthermore, singly sourcing a carrier may not always provide the most economical pricing for businesses that sell a range of diverse products.
ShipHawk’s multi-carrier rating allows businesses to access their diverse carrier network, which offers a wide variety of carrier and service options. Businesses have access to 250+ parcel, LTL, and white glove carrier options, and can add their own if they aren’t on the list. ShipHawk also provides discounted and pre-negotiated rates, as well as the ability to instantly access previously negotiated rates. The software provides automated decisioning that knows how to sort your products by dimensional weight, volume, density, and freight class to provide you with the lowest possible price point for each shipment.
Most online stores still utilize single carrier options for their shipments, and therefore must send their customers to the carriers to get tracking updates. With shipping software like ShipHawk, customers can receive consistent on-brand shipment tracking. This removes the need to integrate each carrier’s tracking service or send customers to a 3rd party carrier website to find out where their packages are located. By providing customers with real-time shipment data and tracking, business are able to reduce both the amount of tracking inquiries and customer support calls.
One of the most important features of a TMS is the ability to monitor and track carrier performance to provide businesses with the data they need to inform and improve their shipping strategy. With ShipHawk, businesses receive real-time data on their shipments, which increases visibility and transparency. This allows them to make informed decisions regarding carrier type and usage. Understanding your margin implications highlights lapses in performance and can pinpoint weaknesses in your shipping strategy and display opportunities for operational movements.