Jan 7, 2025 | newsroom
Expansion of Existing Partnership Enables Brands Using ShipHero
to Ship Using Veho Directly From Their Own Facilities
New York, NY, January 7, 2025 – Veho, the tech company that’s become one of the largest delivery networks in America, and ShipHero, the leading shipping and logistics platform, today announced that ShipHero’s more than 5,000 e-commerce brands and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) can now ship their parcels through Veho out of their own distribution centers.
This is an expansion of an existing, nearly three-year partnership during which ShipHero clients could only leverage Veho for parcels fulfilled by ShipHero itself. All of ShipHero’s WMS clients can now take advantage of Veho’s premium delivery services.
The expansion of this partnership is noteworthy because ShipHero is one of the most popular warehouse management system platforms for businesses to ship their products, while Veho is now one of the largest delivery providers in America.
Veho’s tech-enabled, premium delivery experience enables brands to offer 2-3 day delivery across 44 markets covering 105 million Americans, delivery seven days per week, as well as industry-leading 99% on-time delivery and 4.9 out of 5 stars customer satisfaction score. Veho’s approach has the potential to reduce shipping-related costs by approximately 35% while increasing customer lifetime value by 51%, enabling brands to gain a return on their shipping spend.
“Thousands of e-commerce companies rely on ShipHero for fulfillment and warehouse management, so Veho is proud that those brands will be able to provide their customers Veho’s fast delivery and elevated experience directly from their own warehouses going forward,” said Veho CEO Itamar Zur. “By combining customer obsession, the latest technology, and operational expertise, Veho provides a delivery experience that customers rave about and is proven to reduce shipping costs, as well as increase customer value. We’re eager to show ShipHero and its clients what Veho can do for their business.”
ShipHero was founded in 2013 to create a fully comprehensive Warehouse Management Software for e-commerce brands and 3PLs. Now, ShipHero is a complete Warehouse Operating System that powers high-performing warehouses and enables growth at scale for its clients. Part of ShipHero’s added value is creating and maintaining strong partnerships with key players in DTC fulfillment, including Veho.
“Veho’s technology-driven approach and unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction perfectly align with ShipHero’s mission to revolutionize e-commerce,” said Aaron Rubin, CEO at ShipHero. “This expanded partnership enables us to offer our customers a more comprehensive suite of solutions, empowering them to exceed customer expectations and achieve sustained growth in peak season and beyond.”
Veho’s technology platform and delivery network enable some of America’s leading retail and e-commerce brands to get packages to customers faster and better than legacy carriers. Veho allows consumers to control when, where, and how their packages are delivered, provide specific delivery instructions, communicate with their delivery driver-partner, and use GPS, AI, and machine learning to ensure packages are delivered as consumers expect, and every delivery is better than the last.
About Veho
Veho is a next-generation delivery platform, turning shipping from a cost center into a value driver. By combining purpose-built technology, customer experience obsession, and a scalable delivery network, Veho enables brands to offer an Amazon-level delivery experience that measurably improves their bottom line. The industry-leading results speak for themselves: 99% on-time delivery, 4.9/5 customer satisfaction score, 71% fewer delivery-related refunds, and a 41% increase in customer lifetime value. Now one of America’s largest delivery platforms, Veho serves 105 million Americans across 44 markets–and growing. Learn why leading brands, including Sephora, Zara, Lululemon, Saks, and Macy’s, trust Veho to drive a return on their delivery experience at shipveho.com
About ShipHero
ShipHero is a US-based provider of cloud-based e-commerce fulfillment solutions that give online retailers and third-party logistics providers the tools to ship more efficiently anywhere in the world. With more than 5,000 customers located around the globe, ShipHero robust Warehouse Management System (WMS) allows them to truly understand their complete costs and use the data to make informed, cost-effective decisions. Some notable customers include Universal Music Group, Hush, and Canadian Tire. Additionally, 10% of all Shopify+ orders globally are processed through ShipHero.
Media Contacts:
Veho: Evan Wagner, Evan.Wagner@shipveho.com or veho@escalatepr.com
ShipHero: Megan Sullivan, megan.sullivan@shiphero.com or media@shiphero.com
Apr 15, 2022 | Blog
By: Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., COO at ShipHero
Landed cost is perhaps the most immovable of all eCommerce prices. Expenses like shipping, taxes, duty/import fees all must be paid and all impact brands’ bottom line. It all adds up to make a $5 pair of shoes $70 in the store.
Any chance eCommerce brands shipping from Canada have to move the needle on landed cost has to be considered. That’s where Section 321 comes in. While it’s not a new law to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a recent increase from $200 USD per person per day to $800 USD per person per day has completely changed the equation for ShipHero’s Fulfillment clients and other eCommerce brands shipping from Canada.
Section 321 Explained
Let’s start with a quick explanation. Section 321 allows individual consumers to buy and ship up to $800 USD/per day from Canada to the United States. And it allows the items to be imported and shipped with NO duty fees (taxes).
What this means for eCommerce brands is that their goods ship – duty-free – to U.S. consumers as long as individual orders total $800 USD/day or less.
Section 321 works if importing goods from Canada into the United States. Because of ShipHero’s late-2021 acquisition of warehouses in Canada, ShipHero Fulfillment is now offering Section 321 from Canada.
How Section 321 Works
Section 321 has allowed ShipHero Fulfillment to leverage our newly expanded presence in Canada. With new options like zone skipping, we’re further exploring how to get products across the border and to consumers quickly.
One concern of brands is that importing goods to Canada will lead to shipping delays and poor customer service. However, there is almost no lag time between receiving goods in Canada versus receiving them in the United States.
Here’s why:
- Goods are imported to Canada.
- These goods are then sent to one or both of ShipHero’s Canadian warehouses in Toronto or Vancouver.
- Goods are received and checked into inventory so that customers can order.
- A customer places an order and ShipHero picks, packs and labels the package with a domestic shipping label same day.
- The same day, that package is placed on a truck and sent across the border into the U.S.
- The packages are delivered to the domestic carrier network of choice (i.e. UPS, USPS, FedEx).
- The package continues its journey through the U.S. and to the customer’s door.
There’s no room for delay. Whether your products are accepted into the U.S. or Canada, the time to receive them and put them away in the warehouse is the same. Why not send your goods just a little bit further north and go duty free?
How eCommerce Brands Can Save Money
The real cost savings for brands doesn’t actually come from Section 321, but as a benefit from importing goods to Canada. Canada has generous Free Trade Agreements and offers all brands that import foreign products to Canada the ability to enroll in duty deferral or duty drawback programs.
These programs either waive or reimburse the duty fee a brand has to pay to import their goods.
What kind of money are we really talking about? Here’s an example:
Import to Canada
-
- One pair of shoes imported from China to Canada
- Value for Duty: $12.00
- Duty Rate 18%: $2.16
- $2.16 Savings (for just 1 pair of shoes!) Using Duty Drawback or Duty Deferral
Imagine how the savings add up once you start importing 100 pairs of shoes or 500. While the duty rate for shoes is 18%, rates on other products can range as high as 20-25%. This type of savings is almost unheard of and it directly impacts your brand’s bottom line.
How ShipHero Fulfillment Makes Section 321 Possible
So, here’s the best part for eCommerce brands, large and small, that want to adopt the Section 321 model – ShipHero Fulfillment does all the work. Our team works with clients to establish the best duty elimination or duty drawback program for them and that’s it. We make the process simple to set up.
We also work with brands to get their products from Canadian ports to our warehouses in Toronto and Vancouver.
Not only do brands get the outstanding client service they’re used to, but now, ShipHero Fulfillment is helping to directly impact their revenue by making it easier to import and ship products duty free.
Global shipping options and dependency will continue to evolve as brands look for cheaper and more efficient ways to do business. Section 321 with ShipHero Fulfillment Canada is the first step in this new global shipping chain.
If you’re new to ShipHero Fulfillment, please schedule a meeting today with our experts to learn more about how we can help you get your orders picked, packed and delivered with our fulfillment service. No setup fees, simply pay as you go. 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
Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., COO
About the author: Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., is the COO of ShipHero. She is responsible for planning and executing the overall operational, legal, managerial and administrative procedures, reporting structures and operational controls of the organization. Barnett’s greatest strengths are leadership, risk mitigation, change management and a passion for business transformation.
She is known for her expertise in delivering operational excellence and an ability to provide guidance and mitigating risk. Her leadership of ShipHero is grounded in a servant mentality, always doing the right thing for our stakeholders. Her passion for ShipHero comes from the ability to drive operational excellence throughout the organization impacting the lives of our employees, customers, and partners.
Follow Maggie on Twitter & LinkedIn.
Disclaimer: This post is solely for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Programs are regulated and approved by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and are subject to change.
Nov 12, 2024 | Blog
The holiday season is here, and finding gifts that match the drive and creativity of clients, business partners, and teams can feel like a tall order. At ShipHero, we know quality and innovation are key, especially for the leaders and pioneers we’re privileged to work with. That’s why we’ve handpicked a selection of standout items from our trusted partners. Whether you’re looking to surprise someone with a touch of luxury or make their life a little healthier, our guide is here to help you find the perfect match.
Campfire Cycling – Surly Preamble Flat Bar
Adventure Awaits with This Versatile Bike
The Surly Preamble Flat Bar is a must-have for the adventurer at heart. This steel-framed marvel offers quality and affordability, ideal for smooth rides and not-so-smooth roads. Designed with durability in mind, it’s perfect for regular commuters or those embarking on their first backpacking trip. Gift the freedom of the open road this holiday season.
Discover the Surly Preamble Flat Bar
Hush – Iced Bamboo Cooling Sheet and Pillowcase Set
Reclaim Rest with the Ultimate Cooling Sheets
Help someone you care about beat insomnia and anxiety with Hush’s Iced Bamboo Cooling Sheets. Made from sustainably sourced bamboo, these sheets are soft, anti-bacterial, and perfect for hot sleepers. They wick away heat and sweat, ensuring a clean and comfortable night’s sleep. Give the gift of serene slumber with Hush’s innovative bedding.
Check out Hush Sheets
Natura Market – Holiday Gift Shop
Healthy, Thoughtful Gifts for Every Diet
Natura Market’s Holiday Gift Shop takes the guesswork out of finding unique, diet-friendly treats and thoughtful gifts for health-conscious friends, clients, and colleagues. With carefully curated options that suit any lifestyle, their selection of nutritious, on-trend products ensures that each gift feels special and intentional—perfect for spreading holiday cheer without compromising quality.
Visit Natura Market’s Gift Shop
Red Land Cotton – Basic Sheet Set
Elevate Any Bedroom with Timeless Elegance
Red Land Cotton brings you heirloom-quality bedding crafted from 100% cotton grown on their family farm in Alabama. These sheets offer a crisp, cool, percale experience that promises a heavenly sleep night after night. Proudly made in the USA, they are perfect for those who appreciate craftsmanship and sustainability. Treat someone to this luxurious bedding set—they’ll thank you every morning!
Explore the Basic Sheet Set
This holiday season, make your gifts as memorable as the relationships you’ve built. At ShipHero, we’re here to help you thrive during peak season with a WMS solution designed to keep everything running like clockwork—so you can focus on what truly matters. Let’s set your business up for an extraordinary 2025 filled with growth, success, and seamless logistics.
Make this your most rewarding holiday season yet.
Schedule a Call Today
Oct 9, 2024 | 3PL Warehouse Management, Blog, Warehouse Operations
In today’s competitive market, efficient warehouse operations can be the difference between scaling up or falling behind. Whether you’re a 3PL, a brand managing your fulfillment in-house, or a brand relying on a fulfillment partner, optimizing warehouse performance isn’t extravagant—it’s necessary to stay competitive, profitable, and ready for the busiest seasons. This guide will walk you through key areas to evaluate and practical steps to streamline operations, cut costs, and maximize efficiency.
Identify Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Before you can improve, you need to measure. The first step in improving your warehouse operations is understanding the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that matter most.
- For 3PLs: Focus on on-time shipping, cost per order, inventory accuracy, and warehouse utilization to keep clients satisfied and control costs.
- For Brands:
-
- With In-House Fulfillment: Prioritize order fulfillment cycle time, picking accuracy, and labor productivity to ensure smooth operations and timely deliveries.
- With Outsourced Fulfillment: Keep a close eye on your 3PL’s service-level agreements (SLAs), inventory visibility, and shipping accuracy.
Monitoring these KPIs helps you stay ahead of potential issues, ensure customer satisfaction and reduce operational expenses—especially as peak seasons approach.
How Efficient Is Your Order Fulfillment?
Once you’ve identified your KPIs, it’s time to dig into order fulfillment efficiency. Efficient order processing is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and staying competitive.
- For 3PLs: Streamlining your fulfillment processes helps retain and attract clients.
- For Brands:
- With In-House Fulfillment: Faster picking and packing mean faster deliveries, improving customer satisfaction.
- With Outsourcing: Ensure your 3PL meets expected order turnaround times to avoid customer frustration.
By refining your order fulfillment processes, you can minimize costly bottlenecks and improve your ability to scale when demand is high, such as during the holiday rush.
Maximizing Your Warehouse Space
Is your warehouse space working for you or against you? Proper space utilization can help you cut costs and improve efficiency.
- For 3PLs: Maximize storage to lower the cost per order and ensure you get the most out of your space.
- For Brands:
- With In-House Fulfillment: Keep fast-moving products accessible and avoid dead stock to streamline operations.
- With Outsourcing: Ensure your 3PL is using space efficiently, as poor organization can increase costs.
Leveraging a Warehouse Management System (WMS) like ShipHero can help you better organize your inventory, ensure faster retrieval and optimize space usage.
Are Your Inventory Counts Accurate?
After optimizing your space, the next focus should be on inventory accuracy and turnover rates. Inventory accuracy can make or break your fulfillment operation. Miscounts lead to delays, customer complaints, and lost revenue.
- For 3PLs: Inaccurate inventory counts can cause delays and upset clients.
- For Brands
-
- With In-House Fulfillment: Stockouts or overstocks hurt customer satisfaction and tie up capital.
- With Outsourcing: Make sure your 3PL provides transparent, accurate reporting.
Quick Tip: Monitoring inventory turnover rates gives insight into how quickly products move through your warehouse. A high turnover rate indicates a healthy operation, while slow-moving items waste resources.
Assess Warehouse Labor Productivity
With inventory accuracy under control, the next key step is to evaluate labor productivity. Is your workforce operating at its best? Tracking labor productivity will help uncover inefficiencies.
- For 3PLs: Measuring labor efficiency helps you control costs and meet client expectations.
- For Brands:
-
- With In-House Fulfillment: Productivity tracking helps you pinpoint areas for improvement.
- With Outsourcing: Evaluate how effectively your 3PL workforce manages your orders.
In many cases, introducing automation tools, such as robotics, can increase throughput while reducing errors, helping you scale your operation without adding staff.
Leverage Technology to Boost Performance
Technology is your best friend when it comes to warehouse optimization. To truly supercharge your warehouse, you must embrace it.
- For 3PLs: Use WMS like ShipHero to manage operations for multiple clients, provide real-time data, and improve order accuracy.
- For Brands:
- With In-House Fulfillment: Leverage ShipHero’s WMS to get full visibility into your warehouse operations and stay on top of inventory management.
- With Outsourcing: Make sure your 3PL uses advanced technology, such as RFID and AI-powered sorting systems, to reduce errors and speed up workflows.
The right tools reduce costly mistakes and ensure your operation remains future-proof.
Is Customer Satisfaction Driving Your Metrics?
No matter how well your warehouse runs, customer satisfaction is the true measure of success.
- For 3PLs: On-time shipping and order accuracy help secure long-term client contracts.
- For Brands:
- With In-House Fulfillment: Accurate, timely deliveries directly impact customer loyalty and retention.
- With Outsourcing: Hold your 3PL to the same standards your brand promises customers.
Prioritizing customer satisfaction helps build trust, essential for encouraging repeat business and sustaining your brand’s growth.
Conduct Regular Performance Audits
Even the best-run warehouses can benefit from regular performance audits. Don’t let inefficiencies go unnoticed—regular performance audits help catch potential bottlenecks before they become problems.
- For 3PLs: Conduct quarterly audits to stay ahead of client expectations.
- For Brands:
- With In-House Fulfillment: Audit before and after peak seasons to ensure readiness.
- With Outsourcing: Regularly review your 3PL’s performance to ensure they meet expectations.
Did You Know? Regular audits are crucial to continuously improving your operations and avoiding costly issues down the line.
Find the Right Fulfillment Partner
Having the right fulfillment partner can make a big difference. ShipHero offers comprehensive solutions to ensure your warehouse operates efficiently, whether you manage your fulfillment or work with a 3PL. ShipHero technology is designed to streamline operations, cut costs, and support 3PLs and in-house brands as they handle complex fulfillment.
Ready to See the Savings?
Optimizing your warehouse performance is essential for staying competitive. Now that you know what metrics to track and how to improve, it’s time to put your warehouse operations to the test.
Run our Savings Calculator today to see how much you could optimize and save!
Apr 16, 2024 | Fixed and Features
Welcome to the monthly ShipHero Fixes & Features email. Our Product Team has been working hard to bring several new and impactful fixes and features to life.
New Features for March 2024
Prevent Partially Picked Orders from Shipping
There is a new setting that you can enable – Require an order to be fully picked before shipping.
(Screenshot from https://app.shiphero.com/dashboard/settings/app)
When enabled, if an order is not fully picked, a message will be displayed when the tote is scanned and the order will not be able to be shipped.
Early Access – RateShop+
Have you tried RateShop+ yet? It’s the newest way to get the cheapest rates with the best service level based on your parameters! Plus, we’ve added extra features like weighting different methods and carriers. Do you get cashback on your credit card when you use carriers like USPS, FedEx, or UPS? You can capitalize on this kind of incentive by weighting these carriers, ensuring they are always the cheapest method for specific service levels.
Find out more about RateShop+ in our Knowledge Base. The feature is currently available to all current WMS clients for free!
New Fixes for March 2024
- Fixed an issue where an error appeared when scanning Packing Slips during Packing
- Fixed an issue with “sh-hospital” command during Packing
- Fixed an issue where some orders were not marked as fulfilled in Amazon
- Fixed an issue where Hold Until was not removed after expiring
- Fixed an issue where Allocated quantity was taking Tote Picks quantities into account
- Fixed an issue where HeroBoard Picker and Packer CSV Reports were empty
- Fixed an issue with Barcodes exceeding 25 characters not being supported
- Fixed an issue with Tote filter not working as expected in the Manage Orders Page
- Fixed an issue with the Cost of Goods Report not finishing processing
- Fixed an issue where RateShop was not working as expected on Brand accounts
- Fixed an issue where products were not showing up in the Replenishment Report
- Fixed an issue with Inventory Backup not working as expected for some accounts
- Fixed an issue where the first Shopify variant created was duplicated when imported
- Fixed an issue in Mobile where the Clear Lock was not working as expected
Mar 13, 2024 | Fixed and Features
Welcome to the monthly ShipHero Fixes & Features email. Our Product Team has been working hard to bring several new and impactful fixes and features to life.
New Features for February 2024
Early Access – Rate Shop+
Have you tried RateShop+ yet? It’s the newest way to get the cheapest rates with the best service level based on your parameters! Plus, we’ve added extra features like weighting different methods and carriers. Do you get cashback on your credit card when you use carriers like USPS, FedEx, or UPS? You can capitalize on this kind of incentive by weighting these carriers, ensuring they are always the cheapest method for specific service levels.
Find out more about RateShop+ in our Knowledge Base. The feature is currently available to all current WMS clients for free!
A little announcement!
ShipHero’s Software Customer Support Team has been recognized as a Finalist for the Customer Service Department of the Year by the Stevie Awards. We are so excited to share this news with you. Awards will be given out next month, however, there is still time for us to gain some momentum in the People’s Choice category! By clicking below you can cast your vote for ShipHero. Thank you for your support.
Vote for ShipHero here!
New Fixes for February 2024
- Fixed an issue where products were not showing up in the Replenishment Report
- Fixed an issue from Purchase Orders where ‘Receive as expected’ was not working (Timing out)
- Fixed an issue from Wholesale showing the error ‘force_shipment_id’ only supported for return print labels
- Fixed an issue with Work Orders having Inventory discrepancies for assembly SKU
- Fixed an issue where the Packer report was timing out
- Fixed an issue where FedEx was failing to generate a return
- Fixed an issue where the inventory location was not deducting from the correct location in Wholesale
- Fixed an issue with PostHero where Delivered orders were not showing up as Delivered
- Fixed an issue with Bulk Ship where Wholesales labels were added to bulk ship batch PDFs
- Fixed an issue that when counting an unexpected SKU, we were not assigning the bin
- Fixed an issue with Wholesale where the Shipped quantity was shown as 0 on Reports
- Fixed an issue from Bulk Edit that when Downloading Products CSV some fields were empty
Jan 15, 2024 | Fixed and Features
Welcome to the monthly ShipHero Fixes & Features email. Our Product Team has been working hard to bring several new and impactful fixes and features to life.
See ya later 2023! Hello to 2024!
Another Peak Season in the Books!
Just like your teams, ShipHero was busy during Peak keeping everything running as smoothly as possible! We have big plans and big updates coming for 2024, but we also wanted to share some of the awesome stats we saw during Peak 2023!
- 26% more packages shipped this year than 2022
- 11,206,478 labels generated (4.3/second)
- 25,043,577 units picked into a tote (9.6/second)
- 165,709 bulk ship batches
- 0 downtime
Big Changes Coming in Customer Support
We wanted to let you know that we also got some big, positive changes happening in Customer Support for 2024 that we know you’ll love! We’ll be sharing more details soon, so stay tuned!
New Fixes for December 2023
- Fixed an issue in the orders dashboard that was showing all warehouses when filtering it by specific
- Fixed an issue with CSV upload getting stuck
- Fixed an issue where Passport was showing an error of weight cannot be less than 0.01
- Fixed an issue with Passport where we were sending incorrect quantity information about shipments
- Fixed an issue where Wholesales labels were added to bulk ship batch PDFs
- Fixed an issue when shipping kits some components were still showing as allocated after the shipment
- Fixed an issue with Manifest taking a long time to create
- Fixed an issue where the tracking url was not working for Shippo BTS
- Fixed an issue where customers could not create returns for orders with SKUs that do not exist in ShipHero
- Fixed an issue with Workflow Orders where Customization could not be completed
- Fixed an issue with 3PL Billing where some ad-hocs were zeroed out after recalculating a bill
- Fixed an issue with WooCommerce where we were pushing the correct quantity, but the store was showing a different amount
- Fixed an issue with Returns where Refunds were not saved and causing double refunds
- Fixed an issue from the Hero Board where “Live Shipping Board” was not showing some Pickers or Packers
Feb 13, 2024 | Fixed and Features
Welcome to the monthly ShipHero Fixes & Features email. Our Product Team has been working hard to bring several new and impactful fixes and features to life.
New Features for January 2024
Rate Shop+
Have you heard about one of our newest features, Rate Shop+? Gain more control over the shipping methods you use when calculating the cheapest method to use.
This includes:
- Defining which methods should be included in the calculation
- Setting a rating factor for each method
- Setting a maximum delivery time for each method
This feature is currently available by reaching out to the Customer Support team. We’re offering a 30-day trial to those interested in trying it out. Reach out to your Account Team today!
Lot Details in Inventory Change Log
We now record and show lot details as part of the inventory change log. Ask your Account Team for more details.
New Fixes for January 2024
- Fixed an issue where 3PL accounts were not recognizing the Lot tracking flag on the Child accounts
- Fixed an issue where Product were not being marked as a kit when the components were being added by CSV
- Fixed an issue where line items were not displaying on Shipping DOT
- Fixed an issue for WooCommerce stores where we were not sending “completed” status when shipped in ShipHero
- Fixed an issue with NZPost where we were sending customs doc as null
- Fixed an issue with FedEx International printing 0 cost label
- Fixed an issue where Instagram & Facebook orders were being auto fulfilled
- Fixed an issue where Low Stock Notification was not triggered
- Fixed an issue where we were not removing the correct amount of products with partially picked orders
- Fixed an issue where Transfer Order was Timing Out when Auto-Adding all Products from Primary Warehouse
- Fixed an issue with Shopify where Line Items fulfilled outside ShipHero were marked as canceled in SH
- Fixed an issue where USPS labels were printing with bad format for orders shipped to military addresses APO/FPO/DPO
- Fixed an issue with Purchase Orders where Auto Adding products was not working
- Fixed an issue with Shipped Items V2 report not showing all data
- Fixed an issue with Shopify POS with Build Kits not deducting inventory from components
Jan 25, 2021 | Blog, The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel
ShipHero recently launched The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel to help 3PLs understand what capabilities and service offerings they need to implement in order to be successful and to help online retailers and brands choose which 3PL is right for them by allowing them to ‘check the boxes’.
The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel listed a set of twelve (12) capabilities that fulfillment providers and logistics companies should implement to continually delight their customers and push themselves towards greater success and innovation.
The twelve capabilities are:
- 2-Day Delivery
- Same Day Shipping
- At the Box Personalization
- Designed for Returns
- Sustainable Fulfillment
- Resilient Shipping
- Distributed Fulfillment
- Data Now
- Automation
- Scale Up and Out
- Integration Stack
- Professional Services
In this article, we will be diving into the Capability #4: Designed for Returns.
And be sure to stay tuned for future articles as we deep-dive into each capability.
Capability #4: Designed for Returns
Brands and retailers today focus a majority of their efforts on capturing the attention of their customers and closing the sale, collectively spending millions on advertising, social media campaigns, and a sleek, sexy website custom-fitted with a smooth online checkout process. But, what about after the sale?
If that hard-earned customer decides to return your product, which happens about 30% of the time on average, then faces a subpar return experience… well, that customer loyalty goes down the drain right alongside all those advertising dollars burned to get their business.
Plain and simple, customers have come to expect a quick and easy return process. Can’t you just hear them shout “It’s 2021! why can’t this be easier?!” into the ear of your poor customer service rep? That’s why a growing number of businesses, led by Amazon and Walmart eCommerce, have taken the customer-centric approach by offering generous return policies and a frictionless return process.
While this may leave your customers happy, product returns can have an immense impact on conversion rates, on increasing costs, and on complications to your inventory management… without the right returns strategy in place, that is. So how can you offer the return experience your customers have come to expect, without causing serious damage to your margins?
Frictionless Returns
Retailers and brands that outsource their fulfillment need to choose a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that is fully-equipped and ready to offer frictionless returns. So, what does that look like?
The key to frictionless exchanges and returns is automation, paired with generous return policies and clear-cut rules for restocking and inventory management. At ShipHero specifically, we paired with Returnly so that our brands and retailers can offer a seamless, self-service online return experience, complete with a Returns Center and Returnly Credit. Here’s how we make it happen.
Automation
Returnly helps Shiphero users create a fully branded, self-serve return center, complete with all the necessary automation and policy controls to reduce operating costs and give customers all the options they want upfront.
Returnly Credit
Slow refunds make online returns stressful, but online retailers certainly aren’t willing to take the risk of the returned item being unsellable before issuing refunds. So while customers wait, a lengthy refund process with a lack of visibility over refund status could make your customers lose trust in your business. That’s why we offer Returnly Credit.
If a shopper opts for a refund, Returnly offers an instant credit to shop your site while the return is processed. And when you save the sale, Returnly pays for the order so your customer gets the right item before returning the wrong one, completely risk free. This decreases your shipping time and increases the return experience for the customer.
Convert Returns to Repurchases
ShipHero and Returnly seamlessly transfer data to manage and track the return process within ShipHero’s platform. This improved data integration with Returnly makes returns seamless for you and the customer, better positions you to convert returns into repurchases, and saves time and revenue for your business.
Designed for Returns is the capability that can truly make the difference when it comes to customer loyalty and repeat business. So if you are a brand or retailer outsourcing to a 3PL, ensure that they offer a frictionless return process to delight your customers. And if you are a 3PL, having a well-executed return strategy is the best way to handle the ever-growing number of product returns.
Learn more about ShipHero’s industry-leading warehouse management software.
Apr 6, 2021 | Blog, The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel
ShipHero recently launched The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel to help 3PLs understand what capabilities and service offerings they need to implement in order to be successful and to help online retailers and brands choose which 3PL is right for them by allowing them to ‘check the boxes’.
The Fulfillment Innovation Wheel listed a set of twelve (12) capabilities that fulfillment providers and logistics companies should implement to continually delight their customers and push themselves towards greater success and innovation.
The twelve capabilities are:
- 2-Day Delivery
- Same Day Shipping
- At the Box Personalization
- Designed for Returns
- Sustainable Fulfillment
- Resilient Shipping
- Distributed Fulfillment
- Data Now
- Automation
- Scale Up and Out
- Integration Stack
- Professional Services
In this article, we will be diving into Capability #8: Data Now.
And be sure to stay tuned for future articles as we deep-dive into each capability.
Capability #8: Data Now
It’s Your Data, and You Need it Now!
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the data reporting and insights that will make or break your business. Business operations and logistics enjoys the rather large benefit of being highly calculable, and therefore predictable.
Of course with the infrequent exception, building a resilient and optimized supply chain is made possible through accurate data collection, in-depth analysis and reporting, and intelligent predictions to beat the competition.
In this article, we’ll dive into:
- How to create the right data reports,
- How you can build a robust data pipeline, and
- How to use those insights to make intelligent decisions
Analysis & Reporting
Your warehouse operations can be broken down into four disciplines: Inventory Management, Operations, Shipments, and Production Efficiency.
Inventory Management involves keeping your product in stock, replenishing when you’re out, handling stale inventory and more. Reporting asks how you can do this more efficiently and with less waste.
Operations is the day-to-day functioning of the warehouse, such as getting products safely delivered out of the warehouse (i.e., the pick-pack-ship process); it is also managing errors or mis-picks as well as FEFO/FIFO workflows. Reporting allows you to optimize warehouse capacity.
Shipments is the process of delivering packages from the warehouse to your customers door in the cheapest and most time-effective manner. Reporting helps you see where you spend too much or take too much time.
Production Efficiency is the performance of your employees, if they are adhering to policies, how quickly they can perform their task, etc. Reporting helps you increase productivity and identify rockstars.
Key Performance Indicators
The goal of your reporting should explicitly improve certain aspects within each of the four disciplines, commonly referred to as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A KPI is a very specific data point that your business will track and set SMART goals against.
For example, Time to Deliver is a very specific data point that your company can track to see the health of their Shipments processes. By measuring the duration between the product leaving the warehouse and arriving at the customer for each order, you will be able to understand how your business compares to the competition and customer expectations.
You should also set SMART goals for each KPI to continually improve your supply chain. SMART goals are:
- Specific, (e.g., Decrease Time to deliver)
- Measurable, (e.g., by .5 days)
- Attainable, (e.g., don’t set the goal at 8 hours)
- Relevant, (e.g., do your customers care about delivery time?)
- Time-Bound (e.g., by Q1 of 2022)
Understand every element of your warehouse at work by setting KPIs that have tangible benefits to your business, whether it’s reduced costs, increased efficiency, or improved customer experience.
Reference below for a non-exhaustive list of reports that ShipHero typically creates for their customers:
Inventory Management
- Inventory Change Log – Every inventory change is logged. Know what changed, why, when and by whom.
- Inventory Value Report – Review the total quantity and value of your inventory, right now, or by each month.
- Cost of Goods Report – Understand the product profitability across any given date period.
- Inventory Variance Report – Understand the actual quantity amounts of your inventory by any given date period.
- Sales by SKU Report – Quickly view product sales in each of your warehouses, with estimated time to sell based on historical sales velocity.
- Stale Inventory Report – Need to know the slow movers? Quickly identify products that might be sitting around and what to do about it.
Warehouse Operations
- Replenishment Report – Quickly identify inventory bins that are running low or are empty and replenish products.
- Serial Number Report – Individual products can be set to require a serial number log when shipped.
- Lots Report – Track inventory lots and expiration. Manage FEFO & FIFO workflows.
- Packer Error Report – Mistakes happen, no one is perfect. Just… Understand why they’re happening.
Shipments
- Shipments Report – Every shipping label, for every order, showing shipping cost and shipping charges.
- Shipped Items Report – Filter in detail what items have been shipping across orders.
Production Efficiency
- Picker Report – Every pick is logged. Review daily performance, including the number of unique items picked.
- Packer Report – Just as important to picking, know how your shipping team is performing.
Data Collection
Once you set your KPIs and important data points, you must now collect the right information to accurately track progress towards your goals. Many companies use software tools to automatically track and analyze KPI progress, but many startups implement manual counting and calculating on an Excel spreadsheet to yield the same results.
To begin building a robust data pipeline, you should ask the question “what do I need to know?” for each KPI.
In the Time to Deliver example, you need to know when the package was shipped out and when the package was delivered. But for the complete picture, you should also track how much the journey cost, who the carrier was, if there was any delay, etc. to be able to identify root causes of problems and create plans to improve the number going forward.
This may sound simple at first, but as your order complexity and business processes start to grow, finding automated solutions for KPI tracking and optimization is necessary. That’s why many companies turn to ShipHero’s WMS that gives powerful reporting capabilities with a simple click of the button.
Intelligent Decisions
Data analysis and reporting not only tells the current health and progress of your organization, but should also be used to make future-forward and long-term choices. This of course comes with a level of risk, depending on the quality of information.
In the example of Time to Deliver, if you determine that your product deliveries are arriving too late or over-budget, and you want to meet the 2-day delivery standard, then you can use reporting to make better inventory distribution decisions, like relocating inventory to closer warehouses.
Make sure you are getting the right reports into the hand of the right decision-makers so they can make the right choices. Nothing should be left to chance.
Wrap It Up
The amount of reports you can generate is virtually endless, so make sure you are starting with your SMART goals in mind. From there, ask yourself “what do I need to know” for each KPI and start collecting those data points. After the reports and KPIs are tracked, ensure your management team has proper visibility to be able to make intelligent business decisions.
Does your business have the right tools in place to offer affordable and sustainable 2-day delivery? If not, then you may find it hard to compete in the future, especially as more and more people elect for eco-friendly businesses with the same suite of capabilities.
If you’re already working with a fulfillment provider or 3PL, make sure that they’re well-equipped for the task. If not, maybe it’s time for a switch.
Our customers love that ShipHero can offer 2-day ground delivery anywhere in the contiguous United States at simple and transparent pricing. We attribute this success on the Fulfillment Innovation Wheel to Capability #8: Data Now.
Stay tuned next as we cover Capability #2: Same Day Shipping! It’s my data, and I need it now! ShipHero.
Learn more about ShipHero’s industry-leading warehouse management software.
