While your shopping cart service may be doing a lot, there are still some things that it might not be delivering on in full. Ask any other busy e-retailer, and one of the biggest grievances you will typically hear involves the sorting and processing of orders for fulfillment and the lack of a good system that incorporates all the necessary shipper accounts.
In fact, lots of retailers commonly find themselves manually copying and pasting information to and from their order screen into their shipper accounts, spending far too much time with the fulfillment process.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for many retailers, as is found in forums and complaint boards. But don’t expect your shopping cart to provide you with a viable solution any time soon. Rather, you’ll have to think outside of the box on this one. That’s where shipping software comes in. Here are five things it does that your shopping cart simply doesn’t.
Real Time Carrier Rate Options
While the carriers don’t allow you ticker rates, shipping software lets you easily click and compare. This nifty loophole in the rules can help you find the best rate in just seconds. If you are shipping many items of common weight and dimension, you will be able to easily decide which carrier is best suited for your needs.
Discount Shipping Integration
Most shipping software providers connect you to at least some form of discount shipping. Some, like TrueShip Shipping software also have built-in discounts that get you commercial shipper rates on USPS Priority Mail. Look around when trying to find the right solution, you’d be surprised at how much you stand to save off shipping.
Dual Use Label/Invoice in Single System
The pick and pack process can really be time consuming. But if you use a one-system method, you can improve accuracy and reduce this fulfillment time exponentially. With dual use labels, you can generate the label, invoice and packing list on one sheet of paper. Peel and stick the label, and slide in the invoice and packing list for faster processing.
Cloud Storage/Recovery/Monitoring for Orders
Newer cloud-based systems are letting you store your orders and preferences in the cloud. This means that you can easily access them from anywhere at any time. If your computer crashes, this will be a life saver. Or if you just want to check up on sales while on vacation, it’s very useful.
Instant Customer Updates for All Processed Orders
Finally, imagine being able to import all your orders. Then sort them in minutes. Lastly, after you have processed and shipped them, you can update your customers with the push of one button.
With all the time that you will be saving, you will wonder why you ever did it the old way again. It’s kind of like that same feeling you get when you buy a new smartphone… it’s difficult to ponder how you ever used the old phone after the fact.