July 22, 2013
ShipStation is a web-based solution that streamlines carrier label printing, has some order management features and helps online retailers with do-it-yourself shipping processes. Now, ShipStation is integrating with Shipwire to make it easier for e‑commerce sellers that want to outsource some or all of their order fulfillment to Shipwire. ShipStation will be a new option to help customers that need to manage orders between customer-managed locations and Shipwire facilities.
The integration is still in development. You can learn more about ShipStation and sign up for the wait list to be notified when the integration is released.
Recently we also had a chance to chat with ShipStation’s VP Marketing, Robert, to get a few questions answered about their platform and the shipping space.
Holidays are coming up – what are your 3 tips for getting holiday shipping right?
- Shipping Solution – Once you come up with the idea, it’s fairly easy to create a marketing plan and scheduling it ahead of time so that you’re ready for the holiday season & sales. Once it comes time to fulfill all those orders, however, you don’t want to be the one who has to copy and paste all those addresses into your carrier’s website, print each label out one-at-a-time, then print your packing slips, and then move onto the next order. Finding the shipping solution that’s perfect for your business and getting it set up and running smoothly should be something you do now so you have more time to cater to your customers or make additional products (if you happen to have handmade or custom-ordered products) when the holiday season goes into full swing.
- Practice – A busy day or period of shipping is really not that different than an important sporting event. Just as it’s critical that athletes practice before their big games, you should set aside some time to practice for your big shipping days. This might mean doing some simple things like making sure you know the maximum shipments you can get out in an hour or even just making sure your carriers and other supporting team members are ready to support you during the holidays.
- Inventory – Make sure you do inventory checks early enough before your busy time to be able to make any corrections/adjustments and get any low stock items replenished. If you have historical data, now is also a good time to look at sales prior to the holiday season and what percentage they went up during the busy season. Remember that the holidays will also likely be busy for your various suppliers, so make sure you are ahead of the game and totally understand their turn times for getting you more merchandise. Don’t forget about the packing materials and boxes that you’ll need to send out all these orders if you are doing it all yourself!
What is ShipStation and what features do your customers love?
ShipStation is a web-based shipping software that streamlines the shipping process for online retailers. We automatically import orders from the most popular shopping carts and marketplaces, and handle everything from batch label creation to returns and customer communication.
ShipStation has a focus on multi-channel merchants; where do you see multi-channel ecommerce going in the future?
The future is multi-channel ecommerce. It’s not enough anymore to just sell on your own website or just on eBay. In order to get through the noise, it’s imperative that you open yourself up to as many people as possible with your own unique voice. Multi-channel ecommerce will continue to be a sound strategy for ecommerce retailers of all sizes as well as those who also have brick and mortar stores. Consumers’ taste towards when and how they want to shop will continue to evolve and change. It’s in anticipation of, and reaction to these continual changes that new marketplaces and shopping platforms will be developed. Merchants must (at the very least) experiment with these new venues to ensure that they are reaching as many target customers as possible.
See the ShipStation fulfillment integration page to sign up for the waitlist.