Key points:

• Shipping on Shopify can be complex and expensive, especially for international shipments and growing businesses
• Common challenges include high costs, intricate paperwork, and inefficient workflows
• Easyship offers a platform that integrates with Shopify to streamline shipping, reduce costs, and simplify international complexities. It provides features like real-time rates, automated documentation, and multi-carrier management

Running a successful online store on Shopify requires mastering many aspects, and shipping is a crucial one. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, navigating the complexities of shipping can be complex and ultimately limit growth.

A global analysis of Shopify stores by Statista, showed that 93% of Shopify stores shipped products manually, while only 7% drop-shipped via a third-party service. This underscores the demand for innovative solutions to overcome the wide ranges of challenges shipping on Shopify can cause.

This step-by-step guide, specifically tailored for scaling Shopify stores, explores the complexities of Shopify shipping. Offering insights into common challenges for growing stores and effective strategies to optimize your operations today.

How Does Shipping Work on Shopify?

For any online business, mastering the art of shipping is crucial. Shopify offers built-in functionalities to navigate this crucial aspect, but for businesses with growing demands, without a flexible shipping solution, it can feel like navigating a complex maze.

This guide unravels the intricacies of Shopify shipping, offering strategies and solutions to optimize your operations and set your eCommerce business on a growth trajectory. At its core, Shopify provides basic shipping tools to get you started. You can:

Define Shipping Zones: 

Shopify empowers you to create shipping zones, essentially groupings of countries, states, or even zip codes. This allows you to assign specific a shipping cost and method to each zone, catering to different customer segments and geographical realities.

Imagine offering an expedited shipping label within your own state while setting more economical options for international deliveries. By defining zones, you can personalize shipping options and costs, ensuring fairness and transparency for your customers.

Offer Flat Rates: 

For businesses offering products with consistent weight and size, flat rates can be a convenient solution. Set a fixed price for shipping, regardless of the customer's location or order weight.

This approach simplifies the checkout process and offers you and your customers predictability. However, keep in mind that a flat rate might not be the most cost-effective for heavier items or international shipments, where distance and weight play a significant role.

Calculate Real-Time Rates: 

Integrate with major carriers like USPS, UPS, Canada Post and DHL Express to unlock real-time shipping rates. This means your customers see accurate shipping costs at checkout based on their specific location, the weight of their order, and the chosen shipping method.

This level of transparency builds trust and empowers customers to make informed decisions about their purchases. While it requires more setup compared to flat rates, real-time rates offer a more flexible and potentially cost-effective approach, especially for businesses with diverse product offerings.

Print Shipping Labels: 

Shopify's native shipping functionality allows you to generate shipping labels directly from your admin panel for domestic shipments. This eliminates the need for manual label creation, saving you valuable time and effort. Simply select the chosen carrier, enter the details, buy, and print shipping labels – you're ready to ship!

While this feature is convenient for basic domestic shipping needs, it might not be suitable for international shipments or high-volume businesses requiring additional functionalities like customs documentation and bulk label generation.

Top Challenges of Shopify Shipping:

While Shopify offers built-in shipping tools, navigating complexities like high costs, international intricacies, and inefficient workflows can be overwhelming for growing businesses. Discover how Easyship tackles these challenges head-on, unlocking a smoother and more efficient shipping experience.

Impact of High Shipping Costs:

For ambitious eCommerce entrepreneurs, soaring shipping costs can be a major pain point, impacting profitability and customer satisfaction. Here's a deeper dive into this challenge and how Easyship helps overcome it:

• Reduced Profit Margins: Every dollar spent on shipping eats into your profits, making it harder to price products competitively and maintain healthy margins
• Price Sensitivity: Customers are increasingly cost-conscious, and high shipping costs can deter them from completing purchases or encourage them to seek out competitors with lower shipping rates
• Abandoned Carts: When confronted with unexpectedly high shipping costs at checkout, customers often abandon their carts, leading to lost sales and missed opportunities
• Negative Customer Perception: High shipping costs can create a negative perception of your brand, making you seem less competitive or customer-friendly

Easyship's Strategies to Combat High Shipping Costs:

• Competitive Rates: Easyship leverages its extensive network of couriers to provide competitive rates, often lower than those offered by individual carriers directly. This translates to significant cost savings for your business.
• Dynamic Pricing Rules: Utilize dynamic pricing rules within Easyship to automatically offer customers the most cost-effective shipping options based on their location, order weight, and other factors.
• Discounted Programs: Explore discounted shipping programs offered by specific couriers through Easyship's partnerships.

Complex Shipping Processes Slowing Scaling:

As your business scales, managing efficient shipping operations can become a key challenge. Gone are the days of simple flat rates and manual label generation. Here's how the complexity escalates:

• Order Management: Imagine handling hundreds of orders daily, each with varying weights, destinations, and customer requirements. Manually processing each order, calculating costs, and generating labels becomes a time-consuming, error-prone nightmare
• Multi-Carrier Chaos: Partnering with multiple carriers to cater to diverse customer needs brings its own set of challenges. Negotiating rates, comparing services, and managing accounts across different platforms for the best shipping solution can overwhelm even the most organized team
• International Limitations: Expanding your reach globally adds layers of complexity. Customs documentation, duty calculations, and navigating varying regulations across countries require specialized knowledge and meticulous attention to detail
• Complex Tracking: Keeping track of shipments across different carriers and destinations can be a logistical labyrinth. Manually searching for updates, providing customer support, and resolving tracking issues consume valuable resources

Easyship Solutions Designed for Scaling Stores

• Bulk Processing & Automation: Process hundreds of orders in seconds with bulk actions and automate repetitive tasks like label generation and shipment booking
• Multi-Carrier Management: Access discounted rates from a vast network of carriers, compare services at a glance, and manage all accounts from a single platform
• International Expertise: Easyship simplifies global shipping with automated customs documentation, duty calculations, and landed cost displays for customers
• Centralized Tracking: Monitor all shipments across carriers and destinations in a single dashboard, keeping you and your customers informed

Difficulty Shipping Internationally:

Expanding your reach beyond domestic borders is exciting, but international shipping can quickly become a complex maze. MQL businesses often encounter numerous challenges when venturing into the global space, making it a significant pain point:

• Customs Documentation Confusion: The paperwork involved in international shipping can be daunting. Each country has its own regulations and requirements, and deciphering the necessary forms, invoices, and declarations can be overwhelming. Mistakes or omissions can lead to delays, fines, and frustrated customers.
• Duty & Tax Calculations Conundrum: Accurately calculating customs duties and taxes adds another layer of complexity. Understanding which rates apply based on the product, its value, and the destination country requires careful research and expertise. Underestimating costs can impact your profit margins, while overestimating them can deter customers.
• Carrier Confusion & Cost Comparisons: Choosing the right international carrier can be overwhelming. Different carriers offer diverse service levels, transit times, and pricing structures. Comparing options to find the best fit for your specific needs and budget can be a time-consuming task.

How Easyship Makes International Shipping Easy:

• Customs Documentation Experts: Eliminate paperwork hassles with Easyship's automated customs document generation and expert guidance
• Duty & Tax Calculations: Gain accurate estimates of duties and taxes upfront to avoid hidden costs and price transparency
• Carrier Comparison and Selection: Easily compare rates and services from a vast network of international carriers to find the perfect fit for your all your package sizes
• Discounted Rates and Cost Savings: Leverage Easyship's partnerships to access exclusive discounts and cost-effective solutions for international shipping

Difficulty Choosing the Right Shipping Carrier:

Selecting the optimal shipping carrier for your business can feel like navigating a minefield. With a multitude of options, each presenting its own set of rates, transit times, and service nuances, the decision can be overwhelming. Let's explore the challenges you might encounter and how Easyship can help you overcome them:

• Opaque Pricing: Comparing carrier rates directly can be time-consuming and confusing, often lacking transparency in additional fees and surcharges
• Limited Negotiation Power: Smaller businesses often lack the leverage to negotiate competitive rates with major carriers
• Conflicting Service Levels: Different carriers offer varying levels of reliability, speed, and tracking capabilities, making it difficult to choose the right fit for your specific needs
• Limited International Expertise: Expanding globally requires navigating complex regulations and customs procedures, adding another layer of complexity when you ship packages

Easyship Multi-Carrier Shipping Solution:

• Transparent Rate Comparisons: Access instant quotes from a diverse network of carriers, presented clearly alongside all applicable fees and taxes
• Discounted Rates & Exclusive Programs: Leverage Easyship's buying power to access exclusive discounts and programs, often exceeding individual carrier offers
• Customizable Shipping Rules: Set up automated rules to select the ideal carrier based on weight, destination, budget, and desired service level when you ship orders
• International Shipping Simplified: Handle customs documentation, duty calculations,print labels and landed cost estimates seamlessly with Easyship's expert guidance

Easyship Shopify Integration

Connecting Easyship to your Shopify account is a breeze, unlocking a world of benefits that go beyond basic shipping functionalities. With just a few simple steps, you can transform your shipping operations and create a seamless experience for both you and your customers.

• Display live shipping rates at checkout: Improving customer experience and transparency
• Automatically sync orders: From Shopify to the Easyship app for efficient fulfillment
• Customize: Generate branded shipping labels and packing slips within Easyship, saving time and effort
• Automatic Order Sync: Forget about manually transferring orders. Easyship automatically fetches new orders from your Shopify store, eliminating errors and saving you time
• Bulk Processing: Manage multiple orders at once with powerful bulk tools for label generation, shipment booking, and more
• Custom Order Statuses: Create custom order statuses within Easyship to reflect your specific fulfillment workflow
• Multi-Carrier Label Printing: Print shipping labels from various carriers directly within Easyship, eliminating the need to juggle multiple platforms

Easyship: Designed for Scaling Shopify Stores

Easyship goes beyond just offering shipping solutions. It provides a platform specifically designed to help businesses scale their operations efficiently. By streamlining processes, reducing costs, and offering valuable insights, Easyship empowers you to focus on what matters most: growing your business and delighting your customers.

Ready to take your Shopify shipping to the next level? Start your free Easyship account today and experience the difference!

Find the Cheapest Shipping Rates with Easyship

Easyship is the top shipping and logistics company working with a network of over 250 couriers worldwide. This has put us in a position to negotiate some of the best shipping discounts with leading couriers, and we can help you reduce your shipping expenses by up to 91%.Some of our major discounts include the following:

We also offer a range of easy-to-use shipping tools, to help streamline your shipping experience and delight your buyers. Popular features include:

• Comparison Tool: With our courier comparison tool, you can compare the different shipping services offered by each courier, allowing you to choose your cheapest way to ship based on other factors, not just the cost
• Insurance: To help keep your packages safe in transit, Easyship offers you insurance up to $10000
• Tracking: From custom-branded tracking emails to automatic message alerts, Easyship helps you maintain package visibility with your buyers throughout the delivery process
• Shipping Rate Calculator: You can use our shipping rate calculator to compare shipping rates from different carriers