1) Introduction of Shipping API and Plugins for WooCommerce
A shipping API integration allows WooCommerce store owners to display various shipping functionalities like multi-carrier shipping, delivery date prediction, shipping rate calculator, bulk shipping, and many more right on their stores. These shipping plugins enable online shops to streamline the very complicated and knotty affair of ecommerce shipping.
WooCommerce is the world’s largest open-source plugin that allows any WordPress website to turn into an ecommerce shop. The shopping innovation brought on by WooCommerce has led many reputable logistics and shipping firms to come up with shipping APIs. These APIs once integrated with a WooCommerce store work as a middleman between customers and courier companies, relaying valuable information and generating customer satisfaction.
2) Top 10 Best Shipping APIs and Plugins for WooCommerce [2024 Updated List]
Online commerce is heavily dependent on fast and accurate shipping. Shipping APIs and plugins guarantee WooCommerce businesses easy shipping, timely delivery, and a lot more. WooCommerce Plugins are all over the market and honestly, it can be a little confusing. For that reason, we have researched and picked the best shipping plugins for WooCommerce.
2.1) ClickPost Shipping Plugin For Woocommerce
ClickPost is a SaaS company providing end-to-end logistics and fulfillment solutions for online stores. ClickPost brings all-around shipping solutions for WooCommerce stores like estimated delivery date predictions, multi-carrier shipping, email and phone notifications to customers.
You can also choose a branded tracking page with your store’s logo, colours, graphics, social media feed and a handful of other amazing features for brand building and customer engagement. With ClickPost API, your store can ship domestically and internationally with over 150 carriers. The same ClickPost plugin can also be used to manage product returns and other customer queries via a self-serve returns portal.
2.2) WooCommerce Shipping Extensions
Shipstation integration with WooCommerce brings merchants one step closer to their customers with easy shipping mechanisms that can be carried out by several well-known carriers like UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc.
Using ShipStation you can ship within the US, Canada, UK. It offers cheap shipping rates comparable to bulk shipment rates offered by bigwigs like USPS. With ShipStation WooCommerce stores can digitally print labels for every shipment.
2.3) EasyPost API Plugin For Ecommerce
EasyPost plugin allows WooCommerce stores to source shipping rates directly from the FedEx, UPS, Canada Post and USPS carriers. If you already have an account with EasyPost as well as all of these carriers that you want to use for shipping, you can also apply for special discounted shipping rates. This plugin is helpful for ecommerce ventures using these particular shipping carriers regularly to deliver products.
2.4) Order Delivery Date Woocommerce Shipping Integration
This plugin is much more advanced than the Estimated Delivery Date prediction customers are normally used to. It allows WooCommerce stores to set the delivery dates and times of a product by hours.
Customers can choose “As soon as possible” deliveries or choose their own delivery date and time. WooCommerce store owners can also mention holidays or days on which they don’t deliver right on the product page or order total page. Customers can also reschedule deliveries if they like.
2.5) Conditional Shipping and Payments Woocommerce Plugin
With the Conditional Shipping and Payments plugin by WooCommerce online businesses can set domestic and global rules on product shipping methods, payment gateways, shipping destinations. Ecommerce companies can also restrict shipping options based on order volume, item category, cart volume.
They can choose which items are available for Free shipping and which are not. It allows WooCommerce stores to configure every aspect of cart and order visibility. Coupons, discounts and bonuses can also be made available to loyalty customers with a single click.
2.6) Table Rate for WooCommerce by Flexible Shipping
Table Rate for WooCommerce can be installed like any other WordPress integration in your WooCommerce store. This nifty plugin calculates shipping costs based on order weight and cart total.
It allows store owners to customize a lot of shipping minutiae like availability of COD payments, auto-enabling insurance on cart total of a certain amount, etc. The PRO version lets businesses display different shipping costs for orders of different sizes, classes, types, etc. It can also enable Time of Day or Day of Week discounts and shipping methods.
2.7) Yith Best API for WooCommerce
The Yith WooCommerce plugin brings professionalism and ease of order management to WooCommerce stores by introducing transparent order tracking. With Yith Order Tracking for WooCommerce, you can reach customers all across the world with 90+ supported carriers. It increases brand credibility by providing real-time order status tracking functionality to WooCommerce stores.
Sellers can choose to change the theme of the page and allow language localization based on a customer’s destination postcode. It can be used on desktops/laptops or mobile phones. Integrating an order tracking system to your Woo shop will keep WISMO calls (Where Is My Order?) at bay and keep customers informed.
2.8) AfterShip Woocommerce Shipment Plugin
Aftership is a shipment tracking platform that allows ecommerce stores to manage customer expectations and deliver orders promptly. Along with tracking shipments and sending order status notifications to sellers & customers, Aftership provides excellent customer care support.
It also issues detailed performance reports for ecommerce stores and carriers. With AfterShip it’s possible to track and measure the quality of shipping service and identify any blind spots or opportunities of improvement.
2.9) Weight-Based WooCommerce Shipping
For Woocommerce store owners who want to define shipping prices based on order total, cart volume and subtotal, the weight-based shipping plugin is the best. With this highly flexible plugin, you can allow flat rates on some items and destinations and introduce progressive pricing on others. With the Plus/Premium version you can also calculate shipping rates based on shipping classes or labels. This plugin can also be used to offer Free Shipping on a certain cart total, subtotal or order volume.
2.10) Shippo Shipping Woocommerce Plugin
Shippo’s WooCommerce API makes order fulfillment super easy. The plugin imports order information from all WooCommerce to a unified platform automatically. You can then print and customize shipping labels, compare shipping prices across all available carriers before selecting the one to fulfill the order.
Shippo provides unbelievable discounts on retail shipping. WooCommerce stores can add insurance to all large shipments with Shippo and include packing and return labels with all their shipments. The best thing, is you can sign up for free and see if you like their services.
3) How to Choose the Best Shipping API & Plugins for WooCommerce?
Now that you’ve read about the best WooCommerce shipping plugins, you will find some more suitable for your business than others. However, there are 2 features that you should always look out for when selecting a shipping plugin for your WooCommerce shop.
3.1) Serviceability
The point of installing a shipping plugin is not only to ease the shipping process but also to reach a wider consumer market. A shipping plugin should offer you great serviceability above all. Depending on where you market your products, this could mean an immense international network, greater Pincode access at home or multiple courier integrations.
3.2) Dependability
A shipping plugin works just like a logistics partner. An ecommerce store needs to work with someone they can trust and depend on. In shipping, this means flexibility around order pickup and drop-off, address change, unavailability of customers. As in life, so in shipping, things have the potential to go wrong at the last minute. Make sure you use a plugin that lets you handle such scenarios without skipping a beat.
4) What are the Key Benefits of Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce?
Shipping is one of the most complicated parts of fulfilling an order. Although the demand for superfast, Amazon-like delivery is on the rise, customers seldom think about what goes on after an order has been placed. All they want is to receive their orders as uneventfully as possible.
To ensure that customers remain happy during the post-purchase journey online retailers need the help of such shipping plugins and APIs. All of the plugins listed above, order delivery date, weight-based shipping, order tracking, flat rate shipping, etc., sort out several aspects of the shipping process. As a result of which, online shops can process orders quickly, offer lower shipping costs or even free shipping and faster deliveries to their customers. An ecommerce store is only successful if its customers feel valued by it.
5) Final Conclusion
Shipping plugins are necessary if WooCommerce stores want to focus their energies on manufacturing, selling, advertising, and scaling up, rather than spend time on logistics. These plugins also help businesses scale up quickly and keep providing quality services even when order volumes quadruple. We hope this list of the best shipping APIs will help you choose the best one for your WooCommerce store.