Shipping Labels for Your eCommerce Store
Wondering how to print shipping labels for your eCommerce store? This article will tell you how to get your packages in the hands of your customers.
Before the internet changed the retail landscape forever, shipping out orders was a lot more straightforward. Business owners would take their packages to the post office, where they would handle weighing packages, addresses, and shipping labels.Now, things are a little bit more complicated. The good news is that you have a few more options so that you can make the best decisions for your business.
There are online options that handle everything for you, all you have to do is print the labels. Shipping rates are basically how much you’ll be paying to send your orders on their way, and shipping labels are what those rates are printed on. Online shipping label generators can take care of the calculation of shipping rates and allow you to either print your labels yourself or get them printed.
There are a few different options for getting your shipping labels squared away, and in this article, we’re going to cover your three different options.
Shipping Labels Through Carrier
This is the first option, and probably the one you thought of initially. Each of the three main carriers you’ll likely be working with (if you aren’t already), USPS, UPS, and FedEx, all have their shipping label generators.
The USPS shipping label creator is super intuitive, making it a great option if you’re not worrying about a high volume of packages and want to handle things that way. USPS is a fantastic carrier to use if you’re just starting in eCommerce or if you’re a seasoned veteran. Their wide reach and accessibility make them the go-to choice for many merchants for good reason.
The FedEx ship manager has a label creator that is great if you’re shipping through FedEx. FedEx is great if you’re a larger merchant who is focused on shipping internationally or using their air transportation since that is something they’re so renowned for, but FedEx also offers lots of benefits for domestic shippers (like speed and great tracking).
UPS offers a shipping label generator that caters to their shippers’ needs. If you’re an eCommerce merchant who ships smaller packages domestically, they are a great option. UPS has an unparalleled tracking system and domestic ground transportation.
Shipping Labels From Your eCommerce Platform
Depending on your eCommerce store structure, the easiest option might be to print your shipping labels directly through your store platform. That might be a marketplace or a cart, and many of the leading sales channels offer methods to print shipping labels.
Your sales channel already has the information needed to print the labels, such as your customer’s address, product weight, and your shipping address. They’re often already integrated with shipping carriers, which makes that process smooth.
However, if you’re a merchant who is already selling on more than one sales channel, this isn’t going to be your best bet. Having to log in to each channel and manage your shipping that way is not a scalable practice.
Order Management Software
Last but certainly not least, you can use shipping software providers to handle the entire process. SmartShyp is an order management software (OMS) that handles your order management and shipping needs.
From managing your orders, organizing your information, managing product weights, automatically calculating the best rates from each carrier (essentially doing your rate shopping for you), and generating your shipping labels, SmartShyp can handle it all.
On top of that, SmartShyp can even get you a discount on rates. We get as much as 70% off retail rates, and we pass that on to our users. Get in touch with us and schedule a live demo to see if SmartShyp is a good fit for your business.
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