Jan 17, 2022 | Blog, Fulfillment, Warehouse Management Software
By: Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO of ShipHero
At a glance, selling on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and others seems like a golden ticket for new and growing eCommerce businesses. The idea of selling products on the biggest marketplaces in the world should, in theory, increase your sales and grow your company. But there’s always something brands overlook when it comes to selling on marketplaces: order fulfillment.
How can you fulfill orders across multiple marketplaces that have their own shipping policies or customer expectations? With disparate data coming in from so many systems, it can be tough to fulfill orders and ensure you have enough inventory for all of them.
Marketplace fulfillment comes with its fair share of drawbacks that you should be familiar with before finalizing your decision. Fortunately, eCommerce brands can overcome these challenges with some help. There’s a reason almost 90% of Fortune 500 businesses are using 3PL providers instead to fulfill their orders.
The issues with marketplace fulfillment
eCommerce marketplaces have lowered the barrier of entry for new brands and contributed to the eCommerce industry’s rapid growth. However, the model isn’t flawless. Here are some of the most common problems eCommerce brands face with marketplace fulfillment:
No direct integrations with marketplaces
As your brand grows, integrations are vital to maintaining a seamless workflow. However, switching between different platforms to obtain crucial information is time-exhaustive and inefficient, inviting delays and possible errors.
Additionally, direct integrations are vital for streamlining fulfillment operations – they’re necessary to gain real-time order information and update inventory data according to recent orders.
Hard to sync inventory data between multiple marketplaces
Many sellers list their products on multiple marketplaces to reach a wider audience. However, this practice makes it difficult to sync your inventory data. If orders are fulfilled at different marketplaces, you’re prone to losing track of inventory counts, leading to shortages or overstocking.
Lack of centralized data to see which channels are performing best
Performance monitoring is critical for growing eCommerce brands; you need to identify areas of improvement and learn from your successes. Unfortunately, eCommerce marketplaces don’t offer centralized data, including key performance analytics and fulfillment insights.
Without the correct data, it’s challenging to monitor your brand’s success or lack thereof. Additionally, having access to meaningful insights helps brands streamline their marketing and customer support efforts.
Multiple fulfillment methods make it difficult to keep track of orders
Many eCommerce brands offer customers multiple fulfillment options, including various delivery options (including overnight and 2-day delivery), order pick-up, or mail-order delivery.
Unfortunately, the more options you offer, the more difficult keeping track of orders becomes. For example, if customers have arranged to pick the order up, you’ll have to keep track of whether the order was picked or if there’s been a rescheduling.
Hard to meet Amazon’s stringent requirements for Prime shipping
Amazon’s latest Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) option seems to offer eCommerce merchants the best of two worlds – you get access to the exclusive Prime label but retain autonomy over your fulfillment operations.
Unfortunately, while SFP fulfillment is an excellent idea, in theory, Amazon’s stringent requirements make it challenging to qualify for the program. To maintain the exclusive SFP status, your Prime trial orders must have a cancellation rate of less than 1%, a minimum 99% on-time rate, and all orders placed before 2 pm have to be fulfilled and shipped on the same day.
How to improve marketplace fulfillment
While marketplace fulfillment comes with its fair share of drawbacks, you can streamline and optimize the fulfillment process with some help.
Leverage software that integrates with multiple marketplaces
Merchants can integrate advanced inventory and warehouse management system software with marketplaces to organize all relevant data, analytics, and insights in one place.
The right fulfillment software gives you access to order details in real-time, helps monitor sales and performance metrics, and reliably monitor inventory levels and forecast demand.
Work with a 3PL that offers fast shipping speeds
Meeting the shipping expectations of modern consumers is increasingly difficult, but third-party logistics providers help you provide expedited shipping options without incurring high costs.
Given that 43% of abandoned carts are due to high shipping charges, and 54% of consumers under 25 declared same-day delivery as their top purchase driver, growing eCommerce brands need to step up their logistics game.
Make use of distributed inventory to cut down on shipping costs
Distributing inventory across multiple, strategically-placed fulfillment centers helps eCommerce brands simultaneously provide faster shipping times and reduce last-mile delivery costs. This is because, with a distributed inventory, you can ship products to customers from the fulfillment centers closest to them.
How ShipHero improves marketplace fulfillment
ShipHero’s leading warehouse management solution and fulfillment services help growing eCommerce brands optimize marketplace fulfillment. Our fully integrated system syncs your inventory and eCommerce store data, and you can set automation rules to streamline tedious processes.
ShipHero helps eCommerce brands grow sustainably with our:
Done-for-you fulfillment services for multiple marketplaces
ShipHero’s outsourced fulfillment services take the pressure of order fulfillment off your hands, so you can focus on growing your store. We’ll manage your inventory, pick and pack orders (and ship them, too), and take care of reverse logistics regardless of how many marketplaces you’re selling on.
Thanks to ShipHero’s leading warehouse management system and team of fulfillment experts, fast-growing eCommerce brands like yours can keep up with evolving consumer expectations. With our network of distributed fulfillment centers, you can offer customers 2-day and overnight delivery options without incurring high last-mile delivery costs.
Our highly trained workforce and advanced software collectively minimize pick and pack errors, reducing wrong order requests and protecting your bottom line.
Multiple marketplace integrations
Whether you’ve partnered with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, or another marketplace, ShipHero’s warehouse management system integrates directly with your marketplace and centralizes all the relevant information.
You can view inventory data in real-time, access team reports, view order history, and access key information like actual shipping costs for each order, all from one central dashboard.
Easy returns management
Your returns process dramatically impacts customer loyalty, and you don’t need to take our word for it. A report revealed that a positive return experience affects brand loyalty in 95% of online customers, and over 65% of online shoppers consult a brand’s return policy before making a purchase.
To meet consumer expectations and help our eCommerce partners secure customer loyalty, ShipHero offers done-for-you returns management and reverse logistics services. ShipHero integrates with your marketplace and manages returns as they come in, preventing delays and improving customer retention.
Conclusion
Marketplace fulfillment comes with its fair share of drawbacks, including a lack of integrations, disorganized data, analytics, and stringent requirements to qualify for more recognized fulfillment programs.
Thus, many growing eCommerce brands partner with ShipHero to overcome these challenges and optimize their marketplace fulfillment. With ShipHero, online retailers can offer expedited shipping times, minimize pick and pack errors, manage returns easily, and centralize their real-time inventory and order data.
Optimize your marketplace fulfillment with ShipHero today.
Schedule a meeting today with our experts to learn more about our inventory management and shipping software built for eCommerce brands & 3PLs looking to run their best warehouse and how ShipHero works to ensure that organizations invest in the solutions that match their needs, to improve productivity, revenue, and success.
Click HERE to Schedule a Meeting Today
Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO
ShipHero
About the author: Aaron Rubin is the Founder & CEO of ShipHero. He is responsible for planning and executing the overall vision and strategy of the organization. Rubin’s greatest strengths are leadership, change management, strategic planning and a passion for progression. He is known for having his finger on the pulse of ShipHero’s major initiatives, his entrepreneurial spirit, and keen business acumen. His leadership of ShipHero is grounded in providing excellent customer service that drives improved business operations. His passion for ShipHero comes from the culture and his ability to have an impact on the lives of employees, customers, partners, and investors.
Follow Aaron on Twitter & LinkedIn.
Jan 17, 2022 | Blog, Fulfillment
By: Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO of ShipHero
When your eCommerce brand is in its early stages, manually logging data into spreadsheets and using label printers is good enough. It’s enough to manage your inventory and stay updated with your fulfillment needs.
But then your brand starts growing rapidly, and the volume of orders surges. Suddenly, static spreadsheets and manual printing aren’t good enough. Your eCommerce store deserves more than manual data logging and printing.
The Issues with Spreadsheets & Label Printers
Spreadsheets and label printers aren’t practical choices for fast-growing eCommerce brands, and here’s why.
They’re time-consuming & rely on manual labor
Spreadsheets don’t update automatically – you have to manually input inventory data, order data and other relevant information. Not only is this time-consuming, but it also means that if the sheets aren’t frequently up-to-date, you’ll be viewing outdated information.
Managing your inventory becomes difficult if you’re viewing outdated inventory information, including incorrect inventory levels or valuation. Your team is more likely to make mistakes.
Can’t be automated
When filling large volumes of orders, manually printing each label is inefficient and delays the packaging process. Unfortunately, standalone label printers don’t come with automation functionality.
Additionally, spreadsheets lack automation capabilities, too – they don’t automatically update themselves with real-time data. This means that, unless the information is frequently updated, you won’t have access to the most recent data.
Prone to errors
Humans make mistakes, and even the most experienced logistics teams aren’t safe from making the occasional typo. Unfortunately, when it comes to data as vital as your inventory, mistakes can cost you significantly.
Inaccurate inventory levels could lead to overstocking or shortages. Additionally, a wrong label could lead to wrong order complaints, inviting return costs, and return expenses.
Don’t integrate with your eCommerce store
Because spreadsheets can’t integrate with your eCommerce store, the data has to be manually inputted into the sheets. Moreover, the data doesn’t sync either, so if your sheets indicate a product shortage, you won’t know immediately.
Not knowing when you’re understocked prevents eCommerce merchants from removing the product listing on time. Thus, customers may order the item, and you’ll have to delay or cancel the order. Either way, you’re left with unhappy customers.
Since label printers don’t integrate with your eCommerce store either, you miss out on the benefits that an integrated process has to offer. You don’t get automated printouts with labels that have the relevant order details, including customer data, the required items, and the delivery address. Instead, your workforce has to manually pull the information off your site and use it accordingly.
Reporting is a mess
What orders were shipped today? What’s your current inventory value? You’ll need to have multiple spreadsheets for different reporting purposes, and making sense of the disparate data becomes tedious.
If you’re dealing with a large amount of data at scale, inefficient reporting delays fulfillment processes and invites errors.
How to Go Beyond Spreadsheets & Label Printers
As your eCommerce brand continues to grow, you don’t have to limit yourself to spreadsheets and label printers. There are more efficient, effective methods that require less manual work.
Use warehouse management software (WMS)
Warehouse management software is the most effective tool for organizing your eCommerce fulfillment data and streamlining your logistics. The software seamlessly integrates with your eCommerce store and provides real-time analytics – you’re no longer limited to static data from spreadsheets.
With WMS, eCommerce merchants can pull up real-time inventory valuation, monitor live inventory levels, and view today’s order history all from one centralized dashboard.
Work with a 3PL
Third-party logistics providers take order fulfillment troubles off your hands, including managing and updating inventory data. Leading 3PLs don’t rely on spreadsheets or label printers – they have their own software that syncs your data and streamlines fulfillment operations.
Make use of mobile software
Your logistics team is constantly on the go, whether they’re picking products from the warehouse or shipping them off with your carrier. Mobile logistics software equips your workforce with real-time data that they can use to verify orders and track inventory data, streamlining their workflow and reducing pick and pack errors.
Leverage automation
Advanced warehouse and inventory management software allows eCommerce merchants to set automation rules to perform tasks in response to “triggers.” For example, when a customer’s order is verified, your store-integrated WMS can automatically generate picking tickets to optimize your team’s workflow.
Additionally, fulfillment software can automatically notify eCommerce merchants of decreasing inventory levels if the stock falls below a given amount. You can also set automated reorder points to ensure you never face shortages or suffer from overstocking.
Use data to determine what needs to be improved
Access to real-time, organized analytics helps you focus on what the statistics indicate, instead of being bogged down by an overwhelming amount of disparate data.
With the right warehouse management software, you can access relevant data and analytics and identify problem areas.
Is your store’s return rate unusually high? Were there more packing errors this month than in the previous year? Do you have some dead-weight items that are driving up your warehousing costs?
These are just a few questions that shipping software can bring to your attention.
How ShipHero Improves Fulfillment Operations
ShipHero is a leading warehouse management software and fulfillment provider, catering to some of the fastest-growing DTC eCommerce brands. We streamline your fulfillment operations with:
Done-for-you fulfillment services
You can outsource your entire order fulfillment process to ShipHero – we’ll manage your inventory, organize data and analytics, take care of the shipping and even manage returns.
ShipHero Fulfillment is the top choice for eCommerce brands that want to focus on growing sustainably while knowing their logistics are in good hands.
Distributed inventory
You can split your inventory across ShipHero’s nationwide network of fulfillment centers to reduce delivery times and costs. When a customer places an order, it’s picked, packed, and shipped from the nearest center, minimizing travel time and fuel costs.
Worried that a distributed inventory might complicate inventory tracking and order data? Don’t be – ShipHero’s leading warehouse management software syncs all the data, and you can access real-time insights from your ShipHero dashboard.
Mobile pick & pack
ShipHero’s pick and pack teams are “mobile-powered” – which means they use smartphone devices to guarantee accurate picking and packing. The ShipHero Mobile App lets logistics personnel scan barcodes to ensure the correct items are shipped, and you can access customer information to guarantee orders are sent to the right location.
Conclusion
Spreadsheets and label printers are inefficient tools for logging and managing data. As your brand continues to grow, your workforce will struggle to keep data up-to-date and track inventory analytics.
A warehouse management software solution like ShipHero integrates with your eCommerce platform or marketplace, syncing all your relevant data and making it accessible from a single, centralized dashboard. Additionally, our mobile-powered workforce picks and packs orders with minimal errors or mistakes.
Your business deserves more than spreadsheets & label printers. So upgrade now with ShipHero.
Schedule a meeting today with our experts to learn more about our WMS built for eCommerce brands & 3PLs looking to run their best warehouse and how ShipHero works to ensure that organizations invest in the solutions that match their needs, to improve productivity, revenue, and success.
Click HERE to Schedule a Meeting Today
Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO
ShipHero
About the author: Aaron Rubin is the Founder & CEO of ShipHero. He is responsible for planning and executing the overall vision and strategy of the organization. Rubin’s greatest strengths are leadership, change management, strategic planning and a passion for progression. He is known for having his finger on the pulse of ShipHero’s major initiatives, his entrepreneurial spirit, and keen business acumen. His leadership of ShipHero is grounded in providing excellent customer service that drives improved business operations. His passion for ShipHero comes from the culture and his ability to have an impact on the lives of employees, customers, partners, and investors.
Follow Aaron on Twitter & LinkedIn.
Jan 17, 2022 | Blog, Fulfillment, Warehouse Management Software
By: Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO of ShipHero
The holiday season is over (at least for now), and you’re probably taking stock of your business’ performance. You’re examining revenue, profit and loss spreadsheets and hopefully, spending some time to debrief on everything that happened in the last few months (and maybe even, the last few years).
There’s a few things you might see as you pour through this data.
- You over- or undersold products due to inaccurate inventory numbers.
- Your pick/pack error rate skyrocketed during your busiest time of year.
- You don’t have any data to analyze because the person who updates your spreadsheets took a much-deserved vacation, and isn’t caught up yet.
These are just a handful of observations you might make – do they sound familiar?
Here’s the dirty secret no one may be willing to tell you – any of these problems, in fact ALL of these problems can be solved by doing one thing – adopting and implementing a robust shipping software platform with inventory and order management features.
Hope you weren’t expecting a flashier answer. Let’s talk a little bit about what shipping software might do for you and your business; how to know it’s time to switch from your current solution (or that you even need one to begin with); and what type of results you can expect if you switch.
Why Shipping Software?
Typically, emerging or rapidly growing brands use one of two systems when they start shipping products: they manage their own inventory, shipping and returns via spreadsheets or Google Sheets and buy a label printer; or they work with a cheap solution that can at least print labels for them without a lot of manual entry.
Some larger eCommerce brands may even try to build their own solution by using different tools to manage inventory, manage orders and manage shipping.
Here’s what happens if you do any of these:
- Your data is never right. Ask any of your competitors. When you’re not using systems that talk to each other automatically, there’s no way for your inventory to sync based on orders, returns or putaway.
At ShipHero, we’ve actually had multiple brands tell us this when they switched from a different solution to ShipHero.
“A main reason we switched from our old solution was the ability to get accurate inventory counts. Our inventory was always off, and it was extremely frustrating.”
– Alex Lewkowict, COO & Founder, Black Wolf Nation Skin Care
“Before, we might have had 1,000 units of size ‘medium’ somewhere in the warehouse, but we had no way of knowing how many were available to pickers … Now, we can finally track everything.”
– Jake Rajsky, VP, American Tall
Are you noticing a pattern?
- You have a lack of visibility into your process, your warehouse and your inventory. Want an up-to-the-minute snapshot of what’s happening with the inventory in your warehouse? Not available. Want to know how many packages you’ve shipped today? Sorry. How about a report of what inventory you can expect to receive tomorrow? Nope.
With a basic labeling software, these types of reports just aren’t available. In most cases, it will probably take you most of the day, and interfacing with a lot of different people to get the info you want.
At ShipHero, all of your inventory data, order information and shipment statuses are housed in one cloud-based system. Running a report is a few clicks of the mouse. You can even set-up automatic reports that will run on a set schedule and get delivered to your inbox.
- You’re ready to grow, but your system can’t handle it. Known in the biz as scaling, this is also one of the biggest complaints ShipHero hears about other vendors.
There is a tipping point where your current solution (or non-solution) will actually prevent you from growing. It’s normally once you hit an annual revenue of approximately $5 million. At that point, all the spreadsheets in the world aren’t going to get the job done.
“If you’re working out of your garage with your spouse, maybe use ShipStation. If you’re growing, use ShipHero,” Josh Bartholomew, DFTBA.com’s Warehouse Manager told us. He said that once DFTBA hit a certain revenue amount and number of orders, ShipStation just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
How to Know It’s Time To Switch
Aside from some of the big red flags mentioned above, there are a few other clues that it’s time to either switch your shipping software provider or time to get one altogether.
- Your shipments are always late.
- Your inventory is never right.
- Only one or two people in your organization know how to use the system you currently have; and it’s nearly impossible to train others.
- Your pickers are taking too much time to pick orders.
- Your shipping carrier rates are out of control.
Here’s what all of the reasons above have in common: no visibility. You can’t fix what you can’t see, and with an inadequate solution, you can’t see anything.
What to Expect When You Switch
It seems a little redundant, but the exact opposite of all the challenges listed in the last section is the first thing you can expect once you’ve switched solutions. Shipments will go out on time; inventory counts will be right; you’ll be able to train new employees on the system with ease; your pick/pack efficiency will increase; and your carrier rates will drop.
And here’s why – a true solution alleviates your issues, it doesn’t give you more.
You can also expect more peace of mind. Knowing that your systems are working as intended means that you don’t have to worry about them.
Here are some other intended (unintended) consequences:
- You’ll know where to find answers. If something isn’t adding up, it’ll no longer be a question of where to find the information to solve the problem. Troubleshooting will be so much easier.
- You’ll be able to plan ahead. Having the data you need when you need it will make it easier to understand the current state of your business, which will in turn make it easier to understand where your business is headed.
- You’ll have a partner to work with. The best vendors do more than sell you a product or solution; they partner with you. They help you get the most out of their product, which makes you more successful.
- You’ll have support. A vendor’s support team should be an added bonus when implementing a new solution. You can lean on them; it’s what they’re there for.
One More Ugly Truth
You already know this, but not all solutions are created equal. At ShipHero, we’d love to think that our competitors could deliver on all the promises we outlined above. But we know they can’t.
That’s why if you’re looking to switch to a shipping software on steroids, your only choice is ShipHero. Our shipping software offers everything above and more.
>h2>What ShipHero Delivers
Let’s take these points one at a time.
- ShipHero reduces mis-picks and mis-ships by 99.9%.
- ShipHero increases your picking efficiency by 3x.
- ShipHero reduces your warehouse costs by 35%.
- ShipHero has an outstanding Client Support Team that regularly gets rave reviews on platforms like the Shopify App Store, G2 and Capterra.
- ShipHero offers carrier rate shopping which gives you the best rate when you ship.
- On top of ShipHero’s stellar Client Support Team, we also maintain a robust library of knowledge base articles and product videos so you can always find the answer you need.
- ShipHero was ranked the #1 Shipping Software on the G2 Momentum Grid Report (Fall 2021).
- ShipHero serves more than 10% of Shopify plus stores globally.
- ShipHero has over 100 million packages shipped.
- ShipHero has more than $10 billion in shipped orders.
- ShipHero offers one-click integrations with the biggest carriers and online marketplaces in the eCommerce space.
- ShipHero has a dedicated Implementation Team that has perfected the onboarding process. They’ll have you up and shipping in 4-6 weeks. For more details about ShipHero’s implementation process, please click HERE.
When you become a ShipHero client, you get more than software. You get a proven solution that has helped emerging brands, eCommerce powerhouses and 3PLs all manage their warehouses with ease and efficiency.
You also get our Client Support Team which is dedicated to your success everyday. In fact, we have 3x the number of Support Team members as Sales Team members.
Obviously, we think ShipHero is the best solution for emerging brands looking for a shipping software on steroids. Our new Essential Plan with a low rate of $499/month is the perfect starting point for brands that are just starting to gain momentum. And the best part is, as you grow, ShipHero grows with you. You won’t need to look for a new solution once you get “too big.”
At ShipHero, we’re here for too big, big and big enough – and all the eCommerce brands in between.
For more information about switching to ShipHero, click HERE.
If you’re ready to schedule a call with one of our Software Experts, click HERE.
Aaron Rubin, Founder & CEO
ShipHero
About the author: Aaron Rubin is the Founder & CEO of ShipHero. He is responsible for planning and executing the overall vision and strategy of the organization. Rubin’s greatest strengths are leadership, change management, strategic planning and a passion for progression. He is known for having his finger on the pulse of ShipHero’s major initiatives, his entrepreneurial spirit, and keen business acumen. His leadership of ShipHero is grounded in providing excellent customer service that drives improved business operations. His passion for ShipHero comes from the culture and his ability to have an impact on the lives of employees, customers, partners, and investors.
Follow Aaron on Twitter & LinkedIn.
