BigCommerce Shipping

Overview

BigCommerce Shipping is a shipping solution provided by the digital storefront service provider BigCommerce. It allows eCommerce businesses who run their online store through the BigCommerce platform to ship items directly from the platform without the need to switch between multiple services. In this article, we discuss what BigCommerce Shipping is, how it works, and how it helps businesses. 

What is BigCommerce Shipping

BigCommerce Shipping is a solution provided by BigCommerce to enable eCommerce store owners to create shipments from within the platform.

It allows businesses to create labels, manage orders and track shipments from the same platform with the help of its pre-integrated carriers that can be used to ship items based on predefined parameters.

How does BigCommerce Shipping work?

BigCommerce Shipping is a multi-carrier shipping software that can be used to create shipments with any of its three integrated shipping partners.

Once created, businesses can manage and track all their shipments through the same platform without the need to switch to carrier platforms or other services that allow tracking and monitoring of shipments.

What are the pricing options available with BigCommerce Shipping?

BigCommerce Shipping allows businesses to charge for shipping in three different ways. These include flat or fixed rates, table rates and real-time rates. Here we discuss what these different rating options mean and how they work. 

1. Flat/Fixed Rate Shipping

The flat rate shipping option allows businesses to charge a fixed amount or percentage of the order value as the shipping charge. This allows businesses to provide shipping rates to customers easily without the need for complicated calculations or feeding determinants. 

2. Table Rate Shipping

Table rate shipping allows businesses to enter specific parameters into the system which decide the rate of shipping for a product. These parameters may include the weight, dimensions and destination of the product. Such parameters can be used in different permutations & combinations to decide the final cost of shipping of the product.

3. Real-time Shipping Rates

The real-time shipping rates allow businesses to leverage the quoting engine of carrier partners to generate live quotes based on a number of different factors such as size, weight, type, destination and value of the product. This option automatically calculates the cost of shipping a product directly through the carrier's engine.

How to calculate the cost of shipping with BigCommerce Shipping?

BigCommerce Shipping allows businesses to feed parameters into the BigCommerce Shipping platform to calculate the cost of shipping products. Here we discuss how the cost of shipping is calculated for different options.

1. Calculating the cost for Fixed Rate Shipping

For fixed-rate options, businesses can either choose to charge a fixed amount to their customers or decide a percentage figure of the cart value as the cost of shipping for products.

When businesses choose the latter, the BigCommerce platform automatically calculates the cost of shipping based on the parameter entered by the user and charges a fixed (%) of the cart value as shipping cost from customers.

2. Calculating the cost for Table Rate Shipping

When calculating shipping cost using Table Rates, businesses need to enter different parameters into the platform that can then be used to decide what the cost of shipping a product would be.

Based on predefined parameters, the BigCommerce Shipping solution automatically calculates the cost of shipping without the need for individual analysis for every order.

3. Calculating the cost for Real-time Shipping Rates

For real-time shipping rates, eCommerce store owners simply need to turn on the option and the rest will be done by the carrier and the BigCommerce Shipping platform. The rates are calculated on the end of the carrier based on different parameters and are fetched by the BigCommerce Shipping platform in real-time.

List of carriers supported by BigCommerce Shipping

BigCommerce Shipping currently supports 3 different carriers to help businesses ship products domestically and internationally. Here is a list of carriers supported by BigCommerce Shipping.

1. FedEx

FedEx is a leading international shipping and logistics company that allows businesses to ship products to over 220 countries and territories. It employs over 600,000 people worldwide and processes an average of 12.5 million shipments every single day.

It offers freight services, international delivery solutions, shipping for specialized items, customs clearance solutions, distribution and last-mile delivery services to businesses. 

2. USPS

USPS is a popular shipping and postage service provider that allows businesses to ship products in domestic and international markets. It employs over 600,000 people. It allows businesses to generate compliant labels, track orders and provide shipping for special items. 

3. UPS

UPS is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. It employs more than 500,000 people and processes an average of 4.7 billion packages annually. It is the largest shipping company in the world in terms of revenue and allows businesses to reach 220+ countries and territories. It offers several shipping solutions to businesses including bulk shipping, cross-border shipping, freight services, reverse logistics.

Benefits of BigCommerce Shipping

BigCommerce Shipping allows businesses to leverage its capabilities to help businesses smoothen their shipping operations. Here we discuss how BigCommerce Shipping benefits businesses. 

1. Faster shipping

Through BigCommerce Shipping businesses can improve the speed of shipping operations. As the service is a part of the digital storefront platform, it allows businesses to quickly create orders and generate shipping labels from within the platform without the need to switch between different services and carrier platforms. 

2. Cost-effectiveness

Since businesses are able to use a single platform for their website operations and shipping services, they are able to save on the cost of operations. This allows businesses to streamline processes which reduces the time as well as money needed for executive shipping operations.

3. Improve accuracy

BigCommerce Shipping pulls information directly from the orders received, making the process more accurate as there remains no need to re-enter information in a different portal. This allows order and customers information to be precise virtually every time. 

How can businesses use BigCommerce Shipping?

Ecommerce stores are able to use BigCommerce Shipping for their shipping operations as a multi-carrier management tool and an order management system. It allows businesses to create shipments, track them and perform a variety of functions from a single dashboard.

The BigCommerce solution is a fast and accurate service for businesses that use BigCommerce for running their online store. 

Final thoughts

BigCommerce Shipping is a great tool for businesses that already have an eCommerce store built with the BigCommerce platform, allowing them the convenience of shipping their products directly from the platform.

This eliminates the need for businesses to switch to a different platform for shipping their items and improves the shipping experience for both the business as well as the customers.