Multi-Carrier Shipping Software: Definition, Features and Benefits

Shopping online is the new normal. As a result, customers expect businesses to ship their orders fast. As an online brand, this requires you to partner with multiple carriers to meet customer expectations and satisfy them.

However, the manual approach to dealing with each carrier individually is inefficient. This strategy becomes more complicated as your business grows and you partner with more shipping companies. Multi-carrier shipping software comes in to streamline the shipping process for your business. This software does everything from helping you shop for the best shipping rates to automating label generation and tracking customer packages. 

This article provides a primer on multi-carrier shipping software and its key features. If you are considering a choice between multi-carrier and single-carrier solutions, we will also highlight the former’s benefits and advantages. Read on for more enlightenment on how to streamline your online business’s shipping function.

What Is Multi-Carrier Shipping Software?

Multi-carrier shipping software enables businesses to optimize product shipping for maximum efficiency. The software simplifies some of the processes of this important function, including comparing shipping rates, tracking packages, verifying recipient addresses, label generation, and returns management. 

Modern multi-carrier shipping systems will also include analytics and reporting capabilities to help businesses better understand their shipping operations.

The primary purpose of integrating this technology with e-commerce business systems is to boost the efficiency of the shipping process, help businesses save on costs, and enhance the customer experience to maximize satisfaction.

Key Features of Multi-Carrier Shipping Software

The best multi-carrier shipping software boasts the following key features, which help transform the shipping operations of the brands that implement it.

Multiple Carrier Integration

The name says it all. The top feature of multi-carrier shipping software is integration with multiple carriers, allowing businesses to access the services of these companies from a centralized place.

As the introduction details, dealing with multiple carriers is a hectic process that complicates order shipping for your business. With this software, with just the click of a button, you can see shipping options offered by different carriers and determine which is most appropriate for your business needs.

Full Shipping Automation

Shipping a product domestically or internationally involves various steps, which, if not managed efficiently, can lead to delays that affect the customer experience and increase costs for your business.

With global multi-carrier shipping software, the entire process can be fully automated, from order importation to label generation, rate shipping and carrier selection, compliance checks, and even pickup scheduling.

Seamless Package Tracking

End-to-end package tracking is another standout feature built into most multi-carrier shipping systems. Once orders are processed and ready to ship, the software automatically sends the tracking numbers to customers to help them monitor the shipments. The technology will also update the same in your business order management system.

The software tracks packages in real time and notifies your business of new updates. Customers also receive notifications at each key milestone on a shipment’s journey.

Reporting and Analyzing

The reporting and analyzing capabilities of multi-carrier shipping systems allow businesses to generate reports on various elements, such as their shipping performance, costs, delivery times, and carrier reliability. These reports help companies gain insights that are essential in optimizing future shipping strategies.

Benefits of Multi-Carrier Shipping Software

Implementing software that consolidates all carriers and shipping activities brings numerous benefits to your business, including the following.

Optimize Shipping Performance

A brand’s shipping performance is gauged by the efficiency of the individual processes that make product shipping possible. With a reliable multi-carrier shipping system, you can achieve the following and enhance your business’s shipping performance.

• Save shipping time: This shipping software helps businesses save time and make the process more efficient by automating and streamlining the various steps involved in shipping a product. Data derived from the software’s reporting tools is also vital for route optimization and helps select the fastest carriers to ensure orders are delivered to customers faster.
• Reduce human error: The shipping process is automated, so manual work is eliminated, which helps reduce human error when inputting customer and carrier data.
• Ease international shipping: The shipping software also helps with customs documentation, compliance, and carrier selection, enabling businesses to ship more conveniently to international destinations.

Lower Shipping Cost 

Most e-commerce multi-carrier shipping software is designed to include a carrier quote comparison tool that quickly populates quotes from various shipping companies and recommends the most affordable rate. Businesses using such software can compare rates without the hassle of checking multiple carrier websites and significantly reduce their shipping costs.

Because of such software’s automation capabilities, businesses can also lower their labor costs by maintaining agile teams without being overburdened by manual tasks in the shipping process.

Improve Shipment Tracking

Multi-carrier parcel shipping software also simplifies shipment tracking, allowing your business and customers to easily track packages from end to end in real-time. It is worth noting that the software works better with other one-stop shipment tracking software when businesses need to track a large volume of orders or require customized tracking services.

Enhance Customer Experience

More than just a streamlined shipping process, your business needs to prioritize customers’ satisfaction with your brand and how it delivers their orders. Implementing this software helps to enhance the customer experience by ensuring they enjoy a faster shipping process, have access to reliable tracking services, and receive real-time tracking updates on the whereabouts of their packages.

Why Choose a Multi-Carrier Shipping Solution Over Single-Carrier?

Product shipping is crucial for success in running an online business. For this reason, you must select a shipping solution that fits your brand and gives you many options. The following are some reasons why you should consider a multi-carrier shipping solution over its single-carrier alternative.

• Cost savings: With a multi-carrier shipping solution, your business can compare shipping rates across various carriers before settling on a cost-effective option. Access to several logistics providers also lets you negotiate shipping rates more convincingly since you are better informed.
• Flexibility and scalability: Single-carrier shipping solutions limit you to only the services they offer. But, with multi-carrier solutions, you can explore a more comprehensive service catalog to find one that suits your business and customers’ shipping needs. These shipping solutions are also more adaptable to volume increases as you scale your business.
• Improved delivery performance: Your business can significantly improve its delivery performance when working with multi-carrier solutions, which are more reliable and have a wider coverage than single-carriers.
• Enhance customer experience: Access to multiple carrier companies lets you choose from a multitude of faster delivery options, which helps to delight customers who want goods delivered to them in the shortest time possible. Most multi-carrier shipping solutions also come integrated with track-and-trace tools that boost shipping visibility and enhance the customer experience. 
• Operational efficiency: Centralized management of all carriers and the shipping processes helps to boost your company’s operational efficiency. The automation capabilities of multi-carrier shipping solutions also enhance efficiency.
• Risk mitigation: When you use single-carrier solutions, all your eggs are in one basket. The effects of strikes, surcharges, capacity shortages, and other shipping inconveniences can adversely affect your business. Multi-carrier solutions allow you to spread this risk and always have other options you can turn to.
• Global reach: If you want to expand your business globally, multi-carrier shipping solutions provide you with multiple international shipping options compared to single-carriers that may be limited to a particular region.
• Regulatory compliance: Managing the complexities of international shipping, such as compliance with customs regulations and calculation of duties and taxes, is simpler when using multi-carrier shipping solutions by leveraging carriers with expertise in specific regions.

Conclusion

Shipping customer orders does not need to be a complicated operation that takes up all your valuable time. With multi-carrier shipping software, online businesses can better manage their shipping processes, ensure successful delivery, and provide customers with an exceptional experience.

TrackingMore is a reliable multi-carrier shipment tracking solution that easily integrates with your business system, allowing you to manage all your shipments from an intuitive dashboard. Give it a try today to enhance your in-house operational efficiency and provide customers with reliable shipment tracking service across 1000+ carriers.