According to Statista, parcel shipping will rise to 256 billion units yearly by 2027. As the e-commerce landscape continues to gain momentum, the demand for parcel shipping is set to rise. This surge in shipping has significant challenges concerning constrained delivery capacity, delays, and consistent pressure to maintain a positive customer experience. At the same time, delivery costs are skyrocketing, driven by increasing fuel costs and labor shortages. Online retailers require the right tools to optimize transportation and reduce costs. To tackle these issues effectively, online retailers need the right tools – a Multi-Carrier Shipping software being one of the most powerful – to optimize transportation operations and reduce costs.
To navigate the complex challenges of an e-commerce landscape, companies are turning to transportation management software (TMS) or warehouse management software (WMS); however, not all these tools have the relevant features you need to streamline shipping operations, hence, it’s essential to choose the right platform.
The ideal 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) multi-carrier shipping platform can help you optimize your shipping functions. From enhancing shipping strategies and carrier selection to improving delivery performance and minimizing shipping costs, creating a more personalized customer experience, the best multi-carrier shipping solution allows your business to increase ROI and grow exponentially.
What is a Multi-Carrier Shipping Solution? Definition and Benefits
A multi-carrier shipping software is an end-to-end, dedicated platform that optimizes the shipping processes for e-commerce merchants. Rather than relying on a single provider, it integrates various carriers and services to allow retailers to compare costs, select the most affordable shipping options, generate labels, track shipments, and manage other workflow elements.
With the e-commerce market rapidly growing and evolving, companies should consider choosing a reliable 3PL multi-carrier shipping solution, offering the flexibility and scalability to help them stay ahead of the curve. It allows for faster, cost-effective deliveries, decreases the risk of service challenges, and gives customers more choices at checkout.
As businesses scale, a 3PL multi-carrier shipping platform for e-commerce is a competitive necessity for saving time and resources while aiming at other aspects of growth.
Key Features of an Effective Multi-Carrier Shipping Platform
With the ever-changing needs of today’s customers in the fast-paced e-commerce environment, the multi-carrier delivery solution is an indispensable tool for any business looking to streamline their shipping processes, minimize errors, and boost overall performance while reducing costs.
Here are the top essential features of a multi-carrier shipping platform, making it an integral part to elevate your business game.
- Automated Carrier Selection: One of the profound benefits of shipping software is that it can select the optimal carrier option for each shipment on its own. The platform compares all the vital aspects, such as cost, destination, package weight, dimensions, and expected delivery times through automation and selects the most ideal option. This automation boosts decision-making, reduces human errors, and ensures businesses receive the best shipping value with the least effort.
- Improved Delivery Performance: Smooth and timely delivery will not just save you money but also elevate the customers’ experience. Multi-carrier shipping software can improve overall delivery performance by picking the most effective shipping options, which means modest delays, timely and precise deliveries, and enhanced customer experience.
- Decision Making: Its robust reporting and analytics feature make multi-carrier shipping software an ultimate solution. This insightful feature provides detailed insights about carrier performance, shipping costs, and delivery times across different time zones and services. Knowing this critical information is useful in making informed, valuable decisions for the organization, optimizing your shipping strategy, and the crux.
- Ultimate Customization and Flexibility Capabilities: No two businesses can be alike, nor their shipping requirements. A complete multi-carrier shipping platform offers customization and flexibility capabilities, allowing merchants to customize shipping rules, preferences, or workflows to complement their specific logistics needs, offering a personalized shipping experience.
Key Differences Between Single-Carrier and Multi-Carrier Shipping Platforms
As your shipping approach can have a drastic impact on your bottom line and customer experience, deciding between a single carrier or multi-carrier strategy is a crucial decision that can make or break your business game.
Single Carrier Management: This approach relies on a single carrier for all your shipping requirements, which involves both domestic and international needs. It essentially involves a contractual agreement but lacks flexibility, service options, service quality and risk management capabilities.
Multi-Carrier Management: This approach means you can use multiple shipping carriers to manage deliveries. You get a choice to choose carriers depending on cost, speed, destinations, or other factors. With this strategy, you can achieve better rates, enhance delivery performance.
Single Carrier vs Multi-Carrier Shipping: Key Differences Explained
| Facets | Single-Carrier Shipping | Multi-Carrier Shipping |
| Flexibility | Limited to the services and capabilities of one carrier. | Wide range of carrier options; choose options based on delivery needs and preferences. |
| Affordability | Limited negotiation capabilities on rates due to reliance on a single provider. | Access to competitive rates due to multiple carrier options. |
| Risk Management | Higher risk due to dependency on one carrier’s reliability. | Multiple carrier options mean reduced risk and more reliable backup options. |
| Footprint and reach | Restricted to the geographical footprint of one carrier. | Broader coverage with various carriers’ global reach. |
| Service variety | Limited services due to a single carrier’s offerings. | Access to diverse services from different carriers. |
| Customization | Limited customization capabilities. | Highly customizable to meet specific shipping requirements. |
| Dependability | Restricted by the carrier’s limitations and performance | Improved reliability through diversified delivery options and backup options. |
| Scalability | May struggle to meet growing order volumes and demand surges. | Scales with your business, adapting to volume changes and new markets. |
| Operational Efficiency | One process flow, but limited optimization capabilities. | Optimized and automated operations through integrated multi-carrier shipping software. |
| Customer Satisfaction | Restricted by the carrier’s delivery speed and service quality. | Improved customer satisfaction, thanks to efficient delivery options, precision, and more features. |
Top Benefits of ShipRelax: The All-in-One Multi-Carrier Shipping Solution
ShipRelax is a highly dynamic, cost-effective, flexible, and customizable 3PL multi-carrier delivery management system aimed at smoothing shipping processes, improving efficiency, and overall delivery performance. Let’s discover the incredible advantages of using ShipRelax in detail:
- Minimized Shipping Costs: Shipping costs are one of the major but expensive parts of e-commerce businesses, especially when fuel prices and labor costs keep fluctuating. A multi-carrier system like ShipRelax offers incredible features to align your shipping functions, such as negotiated carrier discounts, volume-based pricing, and AI-enabled rate shopping algorithms. This will eventually allow e-commerce businesses to minimize shipping spend while maintaining service quality.
- Efficient and Correct Deliveries: Approx. 70% of customers expect two-day shipping or faster, and nearly half will abandon a cart if the estimated delivery time exceeds. Our multi-carrier software meets these unexpected demands with features like expedited shipping choices from diverse carriers. Businesses can choose carriers offering the shortest transit times for each destination. Moreover, using predictive analytics and real-time carrier performance data helps achieve faster estimated delivery dates.
- Eliminates or Diminishes Human Errors: Manual shipping processes are not just time-consuming, but often lead to human errors. A multi-carrier software comes to the rescue as it automates repetitive and detail-sensitive tasks such as data entry, address validation, and label generation, essentially diminishing human errors.
With our multi-carrier shipping platform, automation takes the centre stage, and you can ensure:
- Consistent, error-free shipping information.
- Avoid expensive mistakes like inaccurate addresses, mismatched shipping labels, etc.
- Avoid fulfillment delays and returns due to human errors
Advanced multi-carrier shipping solutions like ShipRelax come with error detection and correction features that identify inconsistencies and potential issues in real time, enabling businesses to resolve issues before they impact the shipping process.
Conclusion:
ShipRelax is a one-of-a-kind multi-carrier shipping solution, giving customers more delivery choices, securing better rates, and quickly adapting to today’s rapidly evolving shipping challenges. It can seamlessly integrate with your existing tech stack and connect efficiently with major couriers, inventory management systems, order platforms, and more.
Partnering with multiple carriers like ShipRelax is key to meeting ever-increasing customer expectations, navigating shipping complexities, and ensuring streamlined and compliant cross-border shipping operations. Knowing your business needs is crucial when evaluating a shipping platform.
