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Your online store is an essential part of your business. You want to ensure the entire online experience is easy and streamlined for your customers. You already have an eCommerce platform that makes it easy to sell your goods, but shouldn’t it be just as easy to ship them?

eCommerce shipping is an integral part of your success. Getting the product from your warehouse to the customer is essential to the process. It’s the point where a customer finally experiences your product in person. However, eCommerce shipping is also a significant expense.

At FlagShip, we are all about finding ways to save you time and money and give your customers an outstanding shipping experience. To know what makes eCommerce shipping the best it can be, here is everything you need to know about what to look for in a shipping provider to deliver that first-class experience to your clients.

What Is eCommerce Shipping?

eCommerce shipping is key to your online success. It’s about moving from the online order to getting your product to your customer’s home. It sounds simple, but there is a massive amount of logistics.

You have to ensure a process for order receiving, processing, and fulfillment. On top of that, the customer expects shipping to be fast, affordable, and on time. If it does not meet these parameters, you may see abandoned carts and decreased conversions.

As a small business, you will want to find the right partner to make your shipping manageable, affordable, and fast.

Which Is the Best Delivery Partner for eCommerce?

You want a competitive advantage—eCommerce shipping is one of them. According to research, extra costs such as shipping are one of the leading reasons shoppers abandon their carts. Fast and affordable shipping has therefore become an important part of the online shopping experience.

You want a trusted shipping partner that can give your business access to competitive shipping rates and reliable services. So, which eCommerce shipping companies can you trust, and what should you look for?

Four areas can help differentiate your shipping experience: price, flexible delivery options, reliability, and seamless software integration. Here’s why they matter.

Cost of Shipping

This one goes without saying. Customers want affordable delivery options, while your business needs to keep shipping expenses manageable.

Shipping costs are not a one-size-fits-all approach. The cost of each order varies depending on factors like package dimensions and weight, the destination, and the service provider. You can give your customers options by displaying real-time carrier rates at checkout.

At FlagShip, we can automatically pull real-time rates from multiple carriers, allowing your customers to choose from available shipping rates. We give you access to volume discounts that are typically reserved for higher-volume shippers. These discounts can save you up to 70% on your shipping costs.

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur in a small town or running an international business from one of Canada’s urban centres, FlagShip makes it easy to compare rates and services for domestic and international shipments.

Flexible Shipping Options

Customers may have different priorities when choosing how they want to receive an order. Some may prefer a lower-cost option, while others may prioritize faster delivery.

If you have a brick-and-mortar location for your eCommerce business, you may also be able to offer free in-store pickup for local customers. This option can help reduce shipping costs while giving nearby customers another convenient way to receive their orders.

Faster delivery services are another option to consider. In Canada, Purolator offers a range of delivery services for businesses. It’s one of the reasons Purolator is one of our trusted shipping carriers.

Reliability and Tracking

Order completion and customer satisfaction are important considerations in eCommerce shipping. Customers want to know that their package is on the way and when they can expect it to arrive.

That’s why shipment tracking is an important feature when evaluating eCommerce shipping companies.

Giving both your business and your customers access to shipment tracking can provide greater visibility into the delivery process and make it easier to monitor the status of an order.

Seamless Integration With Your eCommerce Platform

Whichever eCommerce platform you choose for your online store, consider whether it can integrate with your shipping solution.

FlagShip offers integration options for platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, and PrestaShop.

Integration can allow your online store to provide customers with shipping quotes during the checkout process while simplifying shipping tasks for your business.

Beyond comparing prices, you may also want shipping software that helps process shipments, generate shipping labels, schedule eligible pickups, and manage your shipments.

FlagShip’s eCommerce integrations are designed to help bring these shipping tasks into your existing online sales workflow.

Choosing FlagShip for Your eCommerce Shipping

When you connect your eCommerce website with FlagShip, you can provide shipping rates to your customers and simplify the process of organizing and preparing your orders for shipment.

Depending on your eCommerce platform, you can connect your online store to your free FlagShip account and use the available integration to bring order information into the FlagShip online shipping system.

This allows you to combine the convenience of your eCommerce platform with FlagShip’s multi-carrier shipping solution, helping you compare available courier services and manage your eCommerce shipments.