Exploring 13 Types of Shipping APIs for Streamlined Logistics

Introduction

Have you ever thought about how you get the instant order confirmation message in your inbox when you hit the buy button and how you get the step-by-step tracking updates on the eCommerce website?

That’s the magic of a Shipping API. 

API stands for Application Programming Interface. A shipping API is a specific set of programming codes that help different platforms communicate and send data to each other. Think of it as a middleman that enables data sharing among multiple dashboards. This carrier API is usually integrated with the eCommerce store system. As a result, merchants can speed up the entire shipping process and reduce human involvement, which is often error-prone. This ultimately results in significant cost savings. 

However, order confirmation and tracking are only two of the many aspects a shipping API handles. In this post, we are going to mention the top 13 different types of shipping APIs that you must consider to level up your shipping capabilities and business operations. 

Ready to dive in! Let’s start. 

Top 13 Different Types of Shipping APIs for eCommerce Companies

Shipping API integrations have been revolutionary when it comes to e commerce platforms and supply chain optimisation. REST APIs are most commonly used in management systems, like warehouse management systems or inventory management systems. These Shipping API integrations can help ecommerce businesses perform basic tasks like generate shipping labels, tracking shipments and shipping data, compare shipping rates, and even address validation.

They can even be helpful when it comes to international shipping, aiding in customs clearance and tracking international shipments. The best part of how shipping apis work is that they can integrate with your existing systems and seamlessly made part of your shipping operations and delivery process. Here is a detailed list of various shipping apis:

1. Recommendation API

Just as you need different tools to perform different tasks, each shipment needs a specific shipping company to fulfill it efficiently. You might want to evaluate the most cost effective shipping options. Or you need a particular carrier especially to handle time-sensitive goods and another logistics provider that specializes in fragile & heavy item delivery. 

Likewise, if you’re facing high RTO% (Return-to-origin), you need a shipping provider expert to reduce failed delivery numbers and improve delivery rates. But the problem is how you will choose the right shipping company for every order you receive. 

Here, the recommendation API takes center stage. It comes pre-integrated with numerous carriers across the world. Based on the parameters set and business requirements designated in accordance with certain key features, it fetches the most suitable carrier company. 

Benefits: 

• Improved delivery rates

• Enhanced customer experience 

• Optimized shipping process 

2. Order Creation API

Suppose a customer has placed orders for three items and opted for the next-day delivery option. Not only that, you also have other existing orders that need to be dispatched as soon as possible. No matter how much manpower you invest, it’ll be nearly impossible to send each order within the given timeframe. 

But order creation API has made it possible. As soon as a customer places an order, this API gathers shipment details, drop information, and pickup information. Then it generates AWB numbers and helps you create shipping labels to manifest orders without any time wasted. 

Benefits: 

• Faster order processing 

• Higher delivery adherence rate

• Reduction of errors like creating two shipping labels with the same consignment number

3. Order Tracking API

If you’re an avid shopper, you will know the excitement level one has until he receives the order in his hand. The same happens with customers. After hitting the buy button, they usually remain anxious and the anxiety level doubles down when they purchase from a brand for the first time. They want to stay updated with every step in the shipping process. 

However, manually updating each customer at every milestone is a challenging task. To solve this problem, a shipment tracking API comes in. This shipment tracking API adds tracking & shipping capabilities directly to your eCommerce website, allowing e-commerce customers to monitor orders on their own. 

Typically, this tracking API uses a polling method to retrieve tracking statuses from carriers’ databases and displays them in a consolidated manner in the backend of the system. 

Additional Note: The term that is often related to shipment tracking API is tracking Webhook. A tracking webhook automatically sends the statuses to the webhook endpoint without the need for constant polling. You can further use this information to send automated updates to shoppers. 

Benefits: 

• Lesser shipment errors

• Reduced WISMO queries

• Improved customer experience

• Fewer stuck and delayed shipments

4. Serviceability API

A serviceability API helps you find out whether a particular pin code and drop location is serviceable by any of your operating carriers. At the same time, it fetches a long list of serviceable carriers for a pickup and drop-off zip code, so you can tie up with a suitable carrier and improve the chances of delivery rates. 

Most of the time, brands add a serviceability widget on the product pages. When customers enter their zip codes, it immediately shows whether the product will be deliverable to their addresses and displays multiple shipping options depending on the available carriers. 

Benefits: 

• Accurate delivery operations

• Reduced number of failed deliveries

• Better carrier allocation 

5. Edit Order API

Oftentimes, businesses need to edit the manifested orders due to reasons like customer requests, order details correction or stock level change. 

While editing already manifested orders seems pretty challenging, it can be easily pulled off with an edit order API. With this type of API, you can easily modify specific details of a shipment. All you have to do is define the particular field you want to change in that targeted shipment and send the request. Within seconds, it'll update the order with the latest information. 

Benefits: 

• Flexibility for shoppers

• Delivery error deduction 

• Reduced RTO% 

6. NDR API

No matter how hard you try, you’ll surely face failed delivery cases due to any reasons, be it incorrect address, customer unavailability, or customer rejection. When such failed deliveries occur, this NDR management API retrieves those data and categorizes them into issue-specific buckets. 

Next, it sends a specific set of questions to seek responses from customers. Once it gets particular responses, it again sends them to the delivery agents, all without zero manual intervention. 

Failed deliveries occur → The API categorizes issues → Sends queries to customers → Fetches responses → coordinates with delivery agents → Helps in redelivery 

Benefits: 

• Lower RTO%

• improved post-purchase experience 

• Enhanced delivery rate

• Optimized delivery costs 

7. EDD API

When customers place online orders, they always check when exactly they will receive them. It’s the main thing that mostly influences their buying decisions. 

With the help of an EDD API, you can display the real-time expected delivery date on the product and checkout pages. This type of API mainly considers the shipment lifecycle that will occur between the pickup and drop-off pin codes and uses its own algorithm to predict the promised delivery dates. Most display multiple shipping options during checkout, along with their associated costs and respective delivery dates.

This not only helps in customers’ buying decisions but also boosts their trust in your brand. 

Benefits: 

• Improved conversion rate

• Optimized checkout experience

• Enhanced brand loyalty

8. Cancellation API

Customers often make impulsive buys and later regret them. Not only that, most of the time, they place incorrect orders and realize that after the checkout. All of these boil down to order cancellation. Other common reasons behind order cancellation are delayed deliveries, discovering better deals somewhere else, poor customer communication, and so on. 

Well, manually canceling this type of order is a bit tricky. The chances are these orders have been already manifested or are in the “out-for-delivery” phase. However, with an order cancellation API,  you can automatically cancel these manifested orders with a simple API call for a faster reverse journey. 

Benefits: 

• Faster return process

• Reduced delays associated with order cancellation 

9. Proof of Delivery API

Those days are gone when delivery agents used to gather customer signatures on paper as a confirmation of delivery. This process was not only time-consuming but was also difficult to track. Now, brands have adopted a digital POD method and thanks to the POD API, it presents all proofs of delivery in a unified manner via a PDF. To leverage this proof of delivery API, you’ll have to input the AWB number for the API call.  

Benefits: 

• Elimination of fraud deliveries

• Easy access to delivery confirmations 

10. Pickup Request API

Pickup Request APIs allow customers or businesses to check pickup availability, schedule a carrier company to pick up an order and cancel a pickup request. In addition, they also allow e-commerce business owners to modify and update pickup details. 

Benefits: 

• Simplification of the pickup process

• Improved flexibility for customers 

11. Customer Feedback API

Contacting customers after a failed delivery is non-negotiable to understand the reasons behind those failures and improve the delivery rate. The customer feedback API makes this process easier. 

Based on the reasons for these unsuccessful deliveries, it sends them specific surveys. Once customers provide feedback like updated delivery dates or addresses, it retrieves that information and collates it on a centralized dashboard for better analysis. 

Benefits: 

• Automated feedback collection

• Reduced RTO%

• Improved customer satisfaction

12. Returns Management API & Webhook

Returns are a nightmare for businesses that often shake businesses’ bottom lines. However, with a proper return management mechanism at your disposal, you can turn these negative experiences into positive ones. A returns management API facilitates this process to a great extent. With it, you can provide customers with a self-serve returns portal where they can easily request returns, review the returns requests, accept/reject them, and initiate returns. 

Likewise, with a returns management webhook, you can send on-time returns and refund updates to shoppers and reduce the WISMR calls. 

Benefits: 

• Streamlined returns management 

• Improved shopping experience

• Enhanced brand loyalty

• Better customer retention rate 

13. Reporting API

The reporting API helps businesses keep track of all shipment activities happening throughout the day. These include shipment status, tracking details, delivery attempts, delivery exceptions, and more. With the help of these reports, you can better supervise the entire delivery operations and create better strategies. 

Benefits: 

• Improved delivery efficiency

• Better decision-making process

Make Shipping a Breeze with ClickPost’s Shipping APIs

ClickPost is an AI and data-first logistics intelligence platform that offers a bunch of shipping APIs to tackle the entire logistics ecosystem. ClickPost’s APIs are super easy to use and follow the JSON format for API calls and data handling. Brands like PUMA, Adidas, Kapiva, Nykaa, and Sugar use ClickPost’s shipping APIs to improve their shipping process.

Wondering what is so special about ClickPost’s shipping APIs? Let’s explore:

• ClickPost’s multi-carrier shipping APIs come pre-integrated with 500+ logistics companies across the globe, making shipment manifestation easier than ever before. 

• Its allocation API uses an ML algorithm to fetch the most suitable carrier for your e-commerce business. It has a proven track record of reducing delivery lead times by 31% for businesses. 

• To help e-commerce business owners monitor shipments and improve customers’ shopping experience, this shipping software offers a comprehensive shipment tracking API and tracking webhook. While the pull API helps retrieve data from carriers’ dashboards, the tracking webhook automatically sends shipment updates each time a carrier passes a milestone. 

At the same time, it considers different channels to send personalized delivery updates to shoppers and offers them a branded tracking page to reduce frequent WISMO calls. ClickPost can reduce WISMO calls by 80%. 

• ClickPost’s shipping software lets you add a zip code widget on the product page to help customers figure out whether a particular location is serviceable. 

• The delivery dates fetched by the Clickpost EDD API have a >92% adherence rate. 

• Its NDR management API offered by the ClickPost shipping software decreases failed delivery reports by 30%.

• ClickPost’s Returns management API is well-known for turning returns into exchanges and improving customers’ post-purchase experience. 

• This shipping platform also offers other types of APIs like pickup request API, cancellation API, and customer feedback API to handle the entire logistics process. 

Final Words!

If you want to improve your shipping process and provide shoppers with an unforgettable experience, you can’t ignore adding the right shipping API to your tech stack. As you saw, shipping APIs not only improve the mechanism but also speed up the shipping process. If you take a look at the other side of the coin, it also optimizes your shipping costs by reducing manpower and delivery loopholes, ultimately leading to substantial cost savings. 

So, if you’re looking for top-notch shipping APIs, book a demo for ClickPost to know exactly how it can level up the entire shipping game.