Three reasons to consider an enterprise-level shipping solution
The need to keep up with the growth of retail ecommerce sales (which is predicted to more than double between 2015 and 2020) is putting a huge strain on shipping operations.
If you are struggling to manage this growth, meet customer expectations and lower costs, it may be time for you to consider upgrading to a solution that can optimize your shipping workflow across your enterprise organization.
Enterprise shipping software provides global, scalable and customizable multi-carrier systems that help businesses save time and money while providing an excellent level of customer service – without disrupting your current workflow.
Here are three reasons it may be time for you to consider upgrading your shipping solution.
1. Multiple shipping stations or locations
If you have a warehouse with multiple shipping workstations, or if you have multiple warehouse locations, you need a shipping solution that will help standardize and optimize processes across the organization. It is every shipping manager’s goal to provide a consistent level of service to customers and to meet customer-mandated shipping requirements (like the use of a specific carrier, service or payment method). This puts the burden on you, the shipper, to have the systems in place to produce the labels, documents and communications your customers demand consistently, over time and regardless of the experience level of the workers in your warehouse.
2. Moderate-to-high levels of daily parcel shipments
Organizations with moderate-to-high levels of daily shipments (150+ per day) have an opportunity to reduce costs when using shipping software that provides easy access to multiple carriers. Some businesses make the mistake of only using free carrier software in their warehouse. Unfortunately, this limits the choices you have and does not allow for real-time rate shopping. Using a multi-carrier shipping solution that supports rate shopping gives you the independence, data and visibility you need to make the right choices for transportation and services based on the needs of your customers and your company. It also gives you the information you need to negotiate rates and accessorial fees with carriers, which can provide significant savings.
ShipWorks Bonus: Best Rate is a feature included in the ShipWorks Enterprise Plan that allows warehouse staff to compare shipping rates between multiple carriers for specific packages. Once turned on, shipping rates for all available carriers will appear on screen to help easily identify the lowest cost. Best Rate can be set up using “Filters” to automatically appear on specific product attributes (such as box size or weight) or for specific shipping elements (shipping zone/location or delivery time).
3. Complex product mix
If your business ships packages of different sizes, weights and shapes it can be quite challenging to identify the optimal carrier and service for every package over a large number of shipments. Having an enterprise-level shipping solution that offers powerful automation rules allows you to define guidelines and set defaults for virtually any shipping task – such as choosing a pre-defined carrier or mail class based on the package weight size, contents or delivery requirements. These shipping rules mean that you can take the decision-making burden off employees by programming it into the software. This can be especially important if you employ part-time or seasonal employees.
At ShipWorks, we understand the challenges your enterprise business faces. And, with ShipWorks Enterprise we’ve created one of the most robust feature sets available in any shipping software. ShipWorks fits right into your current shipping workflow. Visit www.shipworks.com/enterprise to learn more about our Workforce Management Tools, time-saving Automation Rules, infinite customization options and unparalleled customer support.