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Introduction
As an ecommerce business, it becomes difficult to handle the shipping, marketing, and customer service by yourself. Even when you use shipping services from a courier company, order management and serviceability can impact the time and effort required.
As your order volumes begin to scale, using services from a singular carrier may not be enough. This is when shipping solutions like EasyShip and EasyPost can make a huge difference.
But, then choosing a shipping solution becomes a hassle. With the variety of options available in the market, each software and platform has its approach to make the ecommerce order fulfillment process easier.
You need to find one that suits your operational and financial needs. In this blog, we will compare two popular discount shipping platforms, EasyShip and EasyPost, so that you can make the right choice for your business.
About EasyShip
EasyShip is a platform used by businesses to manage their shipping operations. It was established in the year 2015 in the city of New York, where it is currently headquartered.
The company helps business owners reach customers in over 220 nations around the world, while the platform itself is used by enterprises in over 27 nations.
EasyShip is a popular shipping software provider Its platform is being used by over 100,000 businesses worldwide. Apart from its software solution, it operates 50 warehouses, offers 250 shipping-related solutions, and generates 3.2 labels each second.
Here is a list of EasyShip’s top offerings:
1) Shipping Management Dashboard
Order management can be quite a disaster without the right centralized dashboard. EasyShip comes with a shipping management dashboard that allows you to track and manage your order through a single window. This will also allow you to view your orders from multiple carriers in a single window and enhance the WISMO resolution process of your platform.
2) Exclusive Discounts
One of the key highlights of EasyShip’s service is that it can provide discounted shipping rates on reputed and global carriers. These discounts will significantly impact the bottom line of your business as they allow you to save a ton on shipping costs.
3) Branding Suite
A branded experience is integral to cultivating a brand image in the market. To assist with this, the EasyShip software allows you to insert branding in your post-purchase experience. This allows you to improve the brand perception in the market and brand image.
4) EasyShip Collect
EasyShip Collect is a unique shipping service that supports product inventors and manufacturers that crowd-fund their orders. This provides the backers access to customize their shipping process according to their convenience.
Features of EasyShip
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EasyShip offers more than 250 shipping-related solutions and services to choose from.
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It enables businesses to display the cost of shipping a product and the approximate delivery time when the customer is at the checkout page.
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It allows businesses to create branded pages for tracking orders to help improve the post-purchase experience.
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It allows businesses to retrieve instant shipping quotes from partners.
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It helps generate and print shipping labels for orders.
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It allows businesses to split as well as merge different shipments.
Pros:
EasyShip is an affordable shipping software and works well for small-scale businesses.
Cons:
EasyShip’s platform does not allow corrections to previously created orders. Therefore, if incorrect information is created by mistake, the user must create a different order entirely.
About EasyPost
EasyPost is a multi-carrier shipping management platform for eCommerce. It was founded in 2012 in San Francisco. The company allows its eCommerce clients to reach customers in over 200 countries worldwide. It has a network of over 100 integrated shipping partners.
Since its inception, EasyPost has been used to create over 1 billion shipments. The platform is known to offer heavy discounts on shipping. It also offers flexible APIs to suit the needs of different types of clients.
Here’s the list of EasyPost’s top offerings
1) Discounted Shipping
The key feature of EasyPost is that it allows you to send shipments at discounted rates. These rates cannot be availed directly from the carrier as the EasyPost platform has its own shipping rates with each carrier. This makes the platform ideal for customers looking for discounted shipping to save on these costs.
2) Shipping and Label Generation API
EasyPost has an API that allows you to generate shipping labels and manifest courier requests with the carrier automatically. This will automate the process in the background and allow you to keep your order fulfillment process free from manual errors.
3) Smart Rate API
The SmartRate API allows you to confirm and view the shipping rates before you book a shipment. This becomes crucial while booking ecommerce shipments as you can not only display these rates to the customers but also offer customizable shipping options according to the customer’s preference.
4) Address Verification API
One of the most common reasons for an RTO is a wrong address. To rectify this issue, the EasyPost platform comes with an Address Verification API that enables you to verify a customer address and correct any mistakes before an order is shipped.
Features of EasyPost
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EasyPost allows businesses to manage orders across multiple carriers, helping compare offerings from different partners in real time.
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It allows businesses to enhance the post-purchase for their customers through custom-branded pages and notifications.
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It allows businesses to verify the buyer's address before sending a shipment to ensure successful delivery.
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It offers unique insurance coverage for 0.5% of the stated value of the product.
Pros:
The platform is a low-cost solution and offers significant discounts on shipping costs.
Cons:
The platform does not offer in-depth reporting and analytics on shipping performance.
Alternatives to EasyShip and EasyPost
Shipping platforms that provide exclusive discounts are always in demand. However, a cheaper shipping option may not always be the best one. That is why it is better to have some options in the bag in case you EasyPost or EasyShip might not be the right choice for your business. Here are some of the most popular alternatives to EasyShip and EasyPost.
1) ClickPost
ClickPost is an intelligent shipping platform that uses artificial intelligence to automate your shipping process. Along with that, the software focuses on adding features to your platform that will enhance the post-purchase experience of your customer. Thus, the software takes a holistic approach to improve the order fulfillment process.
2) ShipRocket
If you have low order volumes, a shipping aggregator might be a better choice. Shipping aggregators provide flat-rate shipping that will allow you to save on shipping costs along with vital services like scheduled pickups, notifications, and multi-carrier integration.
3) AfterShip
AfterShip is another great option for businesses looking to enhance their entire order fulfillment process. The software has a dedicated returns service that allows you to establish a seamless returns process on your platform.
Along with this, the software has a considerable carrier library (900 shipping carriers) that allows you to expand to new customer bases without going through multiple integration processes. The only drawback that pushes customers towards AfterShip Competitors and Alternatives is that its Estimated Delivery Date feature is not available for all carriers.
Conclusion
Shipping cost is one of the significant expenses an ecommerce business has to bear. That is why shipping platforms that provide special discounts on courier services from reputed carriers are in demand.
However, you will have to factor in many variables other than the discount and the cost before making the right choice for a fulfillment partner.
EasyShip and EasyPost are a few of the most discount shipping platforms in the market. EasyShip is an ideal platform for those who are looking for order management features along with discounts, while EasyPost is perfect for businesses that want to focus on the shipping aspect.
FAQs
1) What carriers can you use when working with EasyPost and EasyShip?
EasyShip and EasyPost both provide separate discounts on carriers in their library. EasyShip can provide discounts on shipping services from DHL, Flat Express, USPS, UPS, Aramex, etc. On the other hand, EasyPost has 100+ courier partners that include carriers like FedEx, DHL, Amazon, LaserShip, Asendia, etc.
2) Can I reduce my RTOs with EasyShip or EasyPost?
EasyShip does not take specific measures to reduce your RTOs. However, it does provide order management features that allow you to streamline the order fulfillment process so that you can reduce the RTOs due to manual entry errors.
On the other hand, EasyPost comes with an address validation API that allows you to verify the validity of the address submitted by the customer. This is one of the key features of EasyPost that can have a significant impact on your RTO numbers.
3) Which is a better option from EasyShip, EasyPost and ClickPost?
EasyShip and EasyPost are discount shipping platforms that provide affordable, quality shipping and order fulfillment services. This software makes it easier to scale your order volumes and expand into newer geographies.
However, the marketing thumb rule dictates that the customer experience should be the topmost priority of every business. That is why these platforms may not be the right choice when you are looking to build a brand.
This is where AI-enabled software like ClickPost will become a much better fulfillment partner. As this software focuses on the shipping and shopping experience, you are more likely to develop a better brand image.