What is Multi-Carrier Shipping?
Single carrier shipping relies on a single carrier/freight to meet all your shipping requirements. On the contrary, multi-carrier shipping uses varied carrier mixes to streamline your shipment. Rather than depending on only one carrier to ship your entire order, it uses regional and national carriers to ship packages to customers.
Multi-carrier shipping compares various carriers’ benefits and quotes. After comparison, it finds the most suitable carrier choice that meets your specific shipping requirements. It is efficient enough to elevate your logistics to an enhanced level. When compared to single-carrier shipping, multi-carrier saves money and time. Hence, customers’ needs are fulfilled, and they might consider buying again from the particular shipping service.
When using multi-carrier shipping, data input directly takes place from the Order Management system.
Difference between a Single Carrier and Multi-Carrier Shipping
| Single carrier shipping | Multi-carrier shipping |
|---|---|
| It depends on using a business’ private fleet or a private contract with a single carrier. | It uses a network of carriers to achieve the shipping requirements of a business. |
| Large firms use it with bigger fleets to upkeep their processes, and small firms use it without the need to upkeep a multi-carrier service. | It provides various benefits to those businesses that need flexibility in shipping services that a single carrier can’t offer. |
Features of Multi-Carrier Shipping
Quick delivery times
Multi-shipping allows you to pick up the carrier that provides the quickest delivery facility. With the help of a multi-carrier shipping-based software solution, you can access an effective network of the carrier. This allows you to compare the services of different carriers from a single place.
For instance, a carrier may provide a better option for fulfilling the local shipments (like local parcel carriers) than a carrier that excels in global shipments based on the destination and the product.
Decreases shipping expenses
Evaluating rates enables you to pick a shipping carrier that best suits your business. You can easily pick a shipping carrier that provides the cheapest shipping prices. Moreover, multi-carrier shipping software offers substantial discounts on shipping labels and decreases shipping expenses.
Streamlines international shipping
You are guaranteed that your packages follow the compliance criteria and go across customs through several clicks with the multi-shipping carrier facility. Global carriers in the network ensure your business can pick the most economical shipping labels.
Reduces human error
Choosing a reliable shipping carrier over other available options helps automate some manual processes. Cutting down on manual labor ensures you can focus on tasks that matter without the hassles of shipping process errors.
Benefits of Multi-Carrier Shipping
Here are the significant benefits of Multi-Carrier Shipping.
Keep up with rising e-commerce demand
Each year, the e-commerce industry is marking substantial growth. By 2022, e-commerce acquisitions are expected to reach $5.5 trillion. The pandemic encouraged massive development in this industry, and the change is expected to continue in the future.
Your business should be equipped to handle high shipping volumes considering this massive growth. The use of multiple carriers assists businesses in effectively matching the speed of the increasing shipping requirement while also providing flexibility to scale and make changes when needed.
Customers always expect quick, reliable, and affordable delivery of their orders, which has increased with the growth of the e-commerce industry. A wide range of shipping methods gives customers flexibility and options in choosing a cost-effective shipping carrier.
Directly compare shipping performance
You can compare shipping performance based on the following aspects of your existing shipping carrier.
- How many packages of your order are shipped on time?
- Do customers receive packages in good condition?
- Does the shipping carrier provide a guarantee regarding delivery dates?
- Can you control your shipping carriers if you want to solve a specific issue?
- Multiple carriers allow you to pick only the most suitable and reliable carrier to meet your business’ shipping needs.
- Make sure you compare several shipping carriers before finalizing one.
Increased efficiency and reduced costs
A business will avoid using a shipping carrier service if it charges higher shipping expenses. Especially for businesses developing at a slower pace, the shipping cost must be within their budget. Multi-shipping carrier solutions can significantly decrease the expense of your business’ shipping processes by letting you select prices. The price selection will depend on the destination, point of origin, package weight, and speed.
The regional carriers are observing significant development owing to the trustworthy delivery assurance. Using various shipping carrier services lets you easily compare the pricing options to check the most suitable one. Consequently, the information can provide a business with reasonable shipping rates.
Mitigate risks
Using a single carrier shipping means all the packages will be in a single basket. Partnering with multiple shipping carriers reduces dissatisfied customers’ by mitigating risks from unforeseen circumstances.
When these e-commerce firms’ warehouses depend on only a single carrier, they risk losing the capability to select an efficient shipping approach. For instance, logistics managers may need to make tough choices while using a single carrier. Specifically, they may have to pay higher if they want fast speed or compromise the delivery deadline to benefit from a shipping rate deduction on bulk orders.
Businesses that depend on a single carrier to manage their shipping service risk terminating their operations when the carrier encounters an outage. But, using a multi-shipping carrier service ensures continuity of the business operation.
Increased returns flexibility
If businesses go through the pricing options of multiple carriers, they can choose the most competitive one based on returns. Not every business sells returnable goods. Finding a shipping carrier that specifically outshines by providing return flexibility is essential for several businesses.
B2B customers might need their packages delivered using their preferred carrier. The multi-carrier solution can fulfill these requests. On the other hand, single carrier services cannot fulfill such requests. Moreover, a single carrier may penalize you for any modifications in the shipping service. Therefore, working with multiple carriers allows your businesses to fulfill customers’ shipping expectations.
Less prone to disruptions
When using a single carrier solution, the shipping process gets affected if that carrier experiences disruptions, delays, or other common transportation issues. But when using a multi-carrier shipping solution, this risk is mitigated. Moreover, it can solve a particular issue using proactive switching. Consequently, multi-carrier shipping provides efficient and flexible shipping services.
What is Multi-Carrier Shipping Software?
Multi-carrier shipping software is the technology working in the backend to facilitate the shipping of e-commerce orders from a single place. Comparing prices through each carrier’s website is laborious and time-consuming. A multi-carrier software can be synchronized to a business’ online store to access real-time order details automatically, compare the carrier’s prices, and consolidate all the shipping data in one dashboard.
In this software, you simply need to input the package’s weight, size, and destination. Based on these inputs, it compares rates and other vital details. The next step is to buy and print labels, including shipping insurance, perform order tracking, and more. As your business grows, multi-carrier shipping software helps save time, and money and lets you focus more on building your business.
- Benefits of multi-carrier shipping software:
- Enhances customer satisfaction
- Helps you choose from a broad range of shipping firms and services to fulfill targets.
- Allows carriers’ comparison and thus helps you to find better rates for faster delivery.
- Clients and customers can benefit from the multi-carrier shipping software’s transparency.
Important Features Every Multi-Carrier Shipping Software Needs
To explore the benefits of multi-carrier shipping software, here are a few important features to consider:
Shipping labels
One of the vital features of multi-carrier shipping software is to print the proper shipping labels for particular e-commerce orders. Before printing these labels, the tasks involved are comparing and buying. No need to reach a post office or access shipping carriers’ websites for order delivery. You only need a reason behind shipping and a quality printer.
This software also supports an option to automatically create return labels, although customers do not use those labels. This option assures customers that the buying process from the particular e-commerce store will be easy and flawless.
Multi-carrier support
Each new software boasts a learning curve. Quick, trustworthy support is inevitable when searching for a multi-carrier software solution for an e-commerce business. Well-informed human support can carefully go through each process and thus help you reap the maximum benefits of the software.
You may want to understand the specific requirements of a shipping carrier or analyze an integration problem. For both these cases, a trustworthy support team helps you at each step of the order’s fulfillment process.
Automation potential
Automation increases the efficiency of multi-carrier shipping software. After you set the metrics, the software can work automatically by following the rules. Regardless of your choice of the shipping carrier, the software’s automation functionalities can save your preferences.
So whether you have a preferred carrier or always want to select the cheapest shipping option every time, you can simply save those preferences using the software’s shipping automation features.
Specifically, many of the best multi-carrier shipping software allows you to configure ‘if-then’ shipping label generation guidelines. These guidelines depend on factors like order weight, quantity, SKU, destination, etc. For example, let’s say an e-commerce store sells trousers, you can define the automation rules to ensure the trousers shipped to a particular zip code always get consigned to a particular carrier.
Conclusion
A multi-shipping carrier ensures you get the maximum benefit from your investment in the shipping process. It allows you to compare the shipping performance of different shipping carriers and choose the most suitable one. Without paying excess, you get the most reliable and cost-effective shipping solution.
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FAQs
Why is multi-carrier shipping a winning strategy?
The following points justify the reason behind multi-carrier shipping being considered a winning strategy:
- You can choose the best shipping carrier depending on the fastest shipping, cheapest rate, and other parameters to ensure the lowest expense to the business.
- Offering various shipping carrier options at checkout improves the customer shipment experience and thus the sales.
- When the market conditions swiftly change, a multi-carrier shipping solution can adapt accordingly.
Why should you have a multi-carrier shipping strategy?
The following reasons justify the need for a multi-carrier shipping strategy:
i. Access to various carrier features – Various shipping carrier options help you to choose the one that takes the least shipping time, charges low, and offers a superb customer experience.
ii. Cost-effective – A multi-carrier shipping approach allows you to negotiate costs. Hence, you can close the deal at the cheapest possible rate for every order.
What is the difference between a courier and a carrier?
A carrier transports goods over long distances, whereas couriers ship items regionally. Carriers typically use bigger trucks and appoint a team of drivers to accomplish deliveries, whereas couriers typically use their vehicles. Carriers mostly transport large packages at once, whereas couriers transport smaller shipments. Carriers typically don’t offer door-to-door service, while couriers do. Although carriers take longer to ship packages, they are less expensive than couriers.
What is the difference between shipper and carrier?
The individual or company who is the owner or supplier of commodities is known as a ‘Shipper’ (also referred to as a consignor). A carrier is an individual or company that transports goods and is accountable for any probable loss of the goods throughout transportation. The shipper commissions the carrier to ship the goods. The carrier physically transports the goods and is referred to as the transportation establishment.
How do multi-shipping carriers offer solutions during contingencies?
Shipping carriers face the daunting task of managing huge volumes of packages during the Christmas season or other peak seasons. It is even more difficult for a single carrier to manage an overload of orders and deliver packages on time.
It is challenging for a single shipping carrier to manage massive volumes of orders during festive seasons and deliver them timely. The use of multiple carriers streamlines your order shipment for different regions and also ensures on-time delivery. If the workers of one carrier are on leave, the other team can help to fulfill your shipments with zero delays. Hence, multi-carrier shipping offers business immunity against contingencies and ensures it runs flawlessly.
