Two of the largest components of your e-commerce business are order fulfillment and delivery, which can both be a challenge. When searching for a new fulfillment service, business owners can be overwhelmed at the number of options and it can be a daunting task to pick one. If you’re on the hunt for a fulfillment service that can help your business, ShipHero is a great option that offers a wide variety of features to help your business succeed.
About ShipHero
ShipHero’s founders, Aaron and Nicholas, were “tired of e-commerce shipping software that sucked.” They started ShipHero in 2013 and have been making constant improvements to the service that have made it into one of the best options for many business owners. The founders wanted everything to be simplified instead of having to manage spreadsheets and follow vague rules, so they created a streamlined process with certain automated features that can be tweaked to fit specific business owners’ needs.
ShipHero is unique in that the software and management tools needed are all online. Everything is cloud based and works on desktops and mobile devices. Most users of other fulfillment services have to at least keep a paper trail of some records, but there is no need for any papers with ShipHero. Instead, every step of the fulfillment process including shipping, picking, packing, warehouse processes, and inventory management is digital and accessible from anywhere.
How it Works
Letting ShipHero fulfill your orders is easy – users mail their products to ShipHero and the service takes it from there. Once the inventory arrives, ShipHero’s software runs algorithms to conduct sales forecasting and analyze sales history to determine which of its distribution centers inventory should go to. Many other fulfillment services require users to determine this themselves and ship specific amounts of inventory to various centers, but ShipHero distributes products themselves if requested. When orders are placed, ShipHero routes inventory to the best warehouse and then uses a variety of carriers to transport packages to customers. Of course, users can choose the warehouses themselves if they wish.
Users don’t have to worry about printing labels either, as ShipHero does it for them in one click. ShipHero also offers bulk label printing and compatibility with .csv uploads and other technicalities.
ShipHero has become a respected fulfillment service and has formed partnerships and integrations with major “experts” including ShopifyPlus, FedEx Cross Border, Shippo, Order Desk, Returnly, and many more. These integrations simplify difficult tasks such as shipping, inventory forecasting, packaging, analytics, automation, and returns, meaning your products get delivered to your customers in a faster manner.
ShipHero utilizes product SKUs to seamlessly track everything across the stores you have connected, and refunds can be processed and issued on the platform regardless what sales channel the product was sold from.
While most fulfillment services always outsource shipping, ShipHero offers its services and products to businesses that prefer to ship themselves, too. This includes inventory tracking, order management, mobile pick and pack, improved shipping tools, and returns management software.
ShipHero also has a specialized software plan for third party logistics (3PL) fulfillment, which includes a 3PL customer portal as well as special billing management and finder listing capabilities.
Users have reported that downtime due to technical issues is rare and that ShipHero has greatly saved them time through the automated features.
Pricing
ShipHero offers various services and software plans tailored to each business’s requirements. Outsourced shipping and fulfillment services ensure that orders are processed and delivered without any of the exorbitant overhead costs that some other fulfillment services have. ShipHero will pick, pack, and ship orders with prices starting at $5.58 per package – no hidden fees.
Many fulfillment services are not very transparent about the rates, but ShipHero guarantees a single rate fee throughout the continental U.S., which includes every part of the process including the picking, packing, packaging, and postage. There are no hidden fees and the pricing is simple – choose your plan and pay for your users. ShipHero users are charged per account, and plans start at $499/month, which includes 2 users.
ShipHero allows 10 stores to be connected for free, and each store over 10 will cost an extra $29 per month. While ShipHero does not offer a free trial, users who are not satisfied with the service are offered a 30-day money back guarantee.
Training, Setup, and Help
ShipHero also offers one-on-one training and setup walkthroughs. This can be virtual, but ShipHero also provides onsite training for users who feel that would be a better way to learn. Users who opt for basic plans get free setup, whereas users with advanced plans (including 3PL plans) pay an unspecified setup fee since these are more complex accounts. Many other fulfillment services require users to call a customer service center for help, which directs users to different representatives instead of a single contact. Other services also provide minimal interpersonal training and instead offer virtual modules and training PDFs, which can oftentimes be less-than-helpful. The one-on-one, personal interactions make the ShipHero processes easier.
ShipHero’s setup process is unique in that it takes an average of a week to get up and running, depending on users’ current fulfillment processes, what plan is chosen, and exactly what users are looking for through ShipHero’s features and offerings. Many other order fulfillment services boast that users are able to get started within minutes, but these normally do not offer the dedication of the company to help with setup.
Two of the three software plans include an account manager as one of the features. All software plans receive the set up and training as well as 7 days a week, 365 days a year email support. Overall, ShipHero is one of the best options if you are in need of a fulfillment service that is fully automated and does much of the hard work for you.