Looking for a 3PL? Ask These 6 Questions to Find The Perfect Partner

(This is a guest post from our friends over at ShipStation, leading web-based shipping solution that helps ecommerce retailers import, organize, and ship orders quickly and easily—wherever you sell, however you ship)

According to ShipStation’s latest Last Touch report, 83% of consumers are less likely to re-purchase from a retailer after a negative delivery or shipping experience. 

With more customers shopping online than ever before, it is even more important to ensure your products are being shipped effectively and in a timely manner. Sometimes that means outsourcing and hiring a 3PL, or Third Party Logistics provider. 3PL’s are a great way to scale your business because they take part or all of your shipping processes in their own warehouse so you can focus on other business operations.  

Finding the right 3PL is extremely important since they are your customer’s last touch with your brand, which can ultimately make or break their satisfaction. There are many things to consider when searching for a 3PL to meet your needs.

Best Shipping Software for eCommerce Sellers

As your order volume grows, shipping becomes both time-consuming and costly for online sellers. But, fast and accurate delivery is crucial to your customer experience. If you don’t offer fast and affordable rates, potential customers will decide to buy from someone else. 

Needing an easier way to process online orders, many sellers turn to shipping software solutions to help with daily tasks like coordinating carriers, printing labels, and managing their returns process. 

Top 5 Order Management Systems

(This post was originally published on April 1, 2015. We’ve updated it for accuracy and completeness.)

As your sales increase, your manual order processing can begin to break down. You take too long to enter data, you’re prone to critical errors like shipping to the wrong address, and you can’t easily track orders for customers.  

At this point, your online business is ready for an order management system (OMS), or software built to help you centralize your order processing across sales channels and fulfillment methods. It automates your workflows and helps you control your customer experience. 

However, there’s no shortage of order management software available today. To help you narrow down your choices, we compare the top 5 order management systems for you.

6 Strategies to Ship in a Sustainable Way

(This is a guest post from our friends over at Arka, provider of custom and sustainable packaging supplies.)

You can attest to the fact that e-commerce and online shopping has become the norm in recent days. With about 600 million orders being mailed each day into the U.S alone.

Without much ado, anyone can make a purchase online and have it shipped right to the comfort of their home without having to move an inch. Unfortunately, as with most recent improvements, this upsurge has also taken its toll on the environment.

While environmental consequences are almost inevitable, e-commerce businesses can take steps into ensuring that they fulfill their customers’ orders while ensuring that their processes are also environmentally friendly—for Arka, sustainable packaging and shipping is the hallmark of their operations.

With more people becoming conscious of the environmental impact of our daily activities, businesses need to find a way to fulfill their social responsibility by adopting sustainable practices in their operations.

How to Implement Same-day Shipping for eCommerce

Can your customers rely on your shipping processes? How often do you miss a date or ship the wrong item?

A negative shipping experience can have an irreparable impact on your relationship with customers. 84% of consumers say that they won’t return to a brand after just one poor delivery experience. It’s evident that a good shipping experience is vital for customer retention.

If you haven’t already, consider improving your online fulfillment processes. You can start by learning from EasyCare Inc and how they instituted same-day shipping for their equine business.