Plan, procure, execute, & track transportation for every shipment across your supply chain & logistics operations
A SaaS solution to help grow your business by achieving 100% perfect order execution at high volumes
Increase vehicle capacity utilization and customer promise adherence
Grow your business with omnichannel presence and automated pickups
Consolidate shipments for hub to hub movement across land and air
Real-time customer communications and collect accurate PODs
Orchestrate logistics operations with multiple 3rd party carriers
Achieve cost effective, scalable, sustainable, and customer centric deliveries
Orchestrate all your cross-border logistics operations with ease
Improve address accuracy, ensure first-attempt delivery success, reduce costs and boost customer experience
Gain end-to-end shipment visibility, get proactive alerts, and send customers live tracking links
Grow business in a dynamic world and manage operations across First, Middle & Last mile
Delight customers by seamlessly managing store and online orders across own fleet and 3rd party
Reduce freight costs & get end to end visibility across shipments
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According to Statista, by 2026, the global parcels shipped will be 266 billion, and global retail e-commerce sales will stand at a whopping USD 8.1 trillion. This means that logistics and supply chain stakeholders are in for a huge influx of orders while the market keeps getting disrupted and customer demands keep increasing. This also means more aggressive adoption of 3PL partners and courier aggregators.
While the market becomes more competitive and the demand for online delivery volumes grows, the retailers, eCommerce providers, and D2C brands feel more pressurized to scale logistics operations cost-efficiently and to deliver across rapidly evolving consumer expectations.
While investing in maintaining and managing own fleet comes with certain benefits when it comes to delivering across stringent delivery SLAs, all the while maintaining a healthy bottom line, outsourcing the delivery operations via courier aggregators emerges as a better solution. 90% of Fortune 500 companies turn to 3PL providers for scaling their supply chain and logistics functions. Further, 66% of business leaders increased their logistics outsourcing budget in 2021.
Here, we explore how a courier aggregator helps scale delivery operations, the key considerations to keep in mind while choosing a courier aggregator, and how an intelligent 3PL management platform can help get the best results.
A courier aggregator platform helps businesses collaborate with multiple delivery partners and manage multiple 3PLs for pickup/delivery tasks via a unified dashboard. They can communicate with multiple stakeholders, leverage in-built AI-based intelligent routines for auto-allocation of orders, and ensure highest levels of profitability and efficiency at minimum cost.
A courier aggregator platform allows businesses to manage all their shipments, logistics service providers (LSPs), operations, billings & invoicing, claims, etc., from a single dashboard-like interface. Thus, businesses need not work with multiple different software or devices to manage their courier operations and can also have access to data insights for every courier delivery component and service provider.
3PL service providers/carriers/partners are companies that handle end-to-end logistics operations for some other companies. This includes warehouse management, transportation, storage, and delivery of goods. Due to service expertise and a broader reach, 3PL companies facilitate e-commerce firms to reach their end customers at reduced costs and within shorter time durations.
These 3PL service providers might or might not have dedicated/self-owned assets, such as vehicles, riders, or facilities, such as warehouses, dark stores, distribution centers, etc.
In short, a 3PL provider employs the necessary assets in the form of drivers and vehicles to enable logistics operations. This transportation of goods could be done to a destination warehouse, a pick-up need, or even final doorstep delivery.
A courier aggregator software is an automated and intelligent platform that allows you to monitor and manage the entire spectrum of 3PL activities via a single interface. Simply put, courier aggregators are companies that help e-commerce and business with quick and easy access integration with multiple 3PL carrier partners.
As businesses continue to scale and grow, they require improved order management to seamlessly handle the increased flow of incoming orders. Moreover, e-Commerce businesses regularly have to deal with a large number of returned orders.
The discovery process with various shipping companies to fulfill the business requirements is tedious and can be pretty heavy on the pocket. This is where a courier aggregator enters the picture, eliminating the hassle of connecting with multiple carriers to serve customers across various locations.
With courier aggregator platforms, you can easily schedule pick-ups and track deliveries as well as shipments in transit. The AI-enabled algorithms enable you to choose from a wide range of shipping platforms based on multiple factors such as location, performance, price, COD reconciliation, order value, etc.
Say you have a courier delivery scheduled in Town A. Along the same road, in Town B, there is also a courier delivery to be made. In a manual allocation setup, you might end up assigning the deliveries to two separate service providers, leading to higher overall costs.
With a courier aggregator platform, the benefits are two-fold. Firstly, businesses can track, optimize and allot multi-drop routes. Secondly, it allows them to choose the best fit service provider according to your requirement.
This selection is made possible by an automated services provider ranking generated by the aggregator solutions based on factors such as accuracy of delivery, customer feedback, delivery time window, and more.
Now that we covered the basics let us explore the essential features of a courier aggregator platform.
Before choosing a courier aggregator, it is important to map out the business requirements and make decisions accordingly. Listed below are some of the features of a robust courier aggregator solution that every retailer/business should consider while investing in a courier aggregator or 3PL management platform.
A robust courier aggregator platform comes with in-built features providing customizable, in-built KPIs and detailed analytics of each factor associated with the logistics process. Through this report, businesses can gain insights into the performance of each 3PL. Consequently, e-commerce companies can easily select which courier company to opt for, backed by data-driven decisions.
E-commerce companies have to provide orders to customers within as well as beyond national boundaries. Therefore, it is crucial that the courier aggregator solution offers a unified interface for seamless carrier allocation, tracking, and booking. Moreover, the platform should provide live updates for different carriers in a standardized format.
As business processes become increasingly customer-centric, companies must promptly act on customer feedback. Real-time tracking links should be shared with consumers to keep them updated with the ETA.
Moreover, regular notifications via Whatsapp, SMS, e-mail, etc., keep the buyer aware of carrier milestones at every step of the journey. An intuitive courier aggregator platform offers all these capabilities and also helps businesses validate and authenticate delivery failure reasons for better CX.
Real-time delivery tracking is essential for smooth and efficient business operations. Courier aggregator software comes with geo-fencing features, enabling managers to monitor drivers on delivery runs easily.
This helps reduce fake delivery attempts and fraud on the part of the riders, following the ‘track–trap–minimize’ policy. Also, geotagging addresses makes finding drop locations easier without being too dependent on landmarks or house numbers.
Smart courier aggregator platforms send automatic alerts to every stakeholder, such as managers, 3PL providers, end customers, etc. This is done to help stay on top of important delivery milestones.
As a result, businesses are able to proactively tackle problems that cause poor delivery experience and customer dissatisfaction. This also helps minimize RTOs and order cancellations, reducing disruptions in the overall operation.
Now that we have discussed the key considerations for choosing a courier aggregator platform, let us move on to the various benefits it offers.
Using a single courier partner to rapidly scale up delivery operations would mean significantly higher costs, coupled with order management challenges, as the order volume increases.
Similarly, the addition of multiple partners on your own becomes time intensive and results in increased costs. With its existing set of partner 3PL service providers, a courier aggregator platform enables businesses to add multiple 3PLs to a single dashboard and choose the most profitable deals every time.They can compare prices across multiple LSPs and also opt for specific LSPs for different types of deliveries. Further, all the LSPs are ranked and prioritized on the basis of previous performances, track records, prices, etc., which ensures that companies always choose the most profitable deals.
A major issue with a single delivery service provider is the limit on service range. They might deliver products only to specific pin codes. And this ends up being a barrier to raking in new customers, which is not an acceptable business proposition.
However, with a courier aggregator platform, businesses have the option to select from multiple courier partners based on their Pincode serviceability. The variety of service providers ensures a more comprehensive network allowing them to reach customers within and across national boundaries.
This is one of the biggest advantages when it comes to courier aggregators. A courier service partner might not offer a preferred mode of payment. With a courier aggregator, businesses can select courier services based on multiple options, such as COD, prepaid, UPI, Netbanking, and more.
Moreover, smart platforms such as Shipsy’s courier aggregator solution come with the assurance of a transparent, secure, and faster cash reconciliation via various modes.
One of the recurring challenges that e-Commerce businesses face is the influx of return orders. Access to one courier service provider makes processing return orders time-consuming, inefficient, and cost-intensive.
With multiple options available, choosing the best courier partner for simplified return order management becomes easier. Additionally, as more courier partners participate, the restrictions imposed by pin codes are also negated.
The courier recommendation engine is integral to the courier aggregator platform. Based on a machine learning algorithm, the platform considers multiple data points like pick-up efficiency, delivery performance, COD remittance, return order management, etc., and presents the most suitable option.
It also takes into account the previous searches and selections to offer better recommendations.
Courier aggregator platforms can easily integrate with a company website or marketplace with the help of APIs. Hence, businesses can easily fetch data from their site and save orders to make shipping possible directly from the platform. This keeps the website in sync with the fulfillment procedure and avoids any loss in orders.
Developing in-house logistics operations or depending on a single 3PL partner, tends to make the setup costs significantly higher. This is particularly true if the operations are expanding into new locations.
The business costs are impacted, which subsequently might mean higher prices for customers or direct losses for retailers. Most courier aggregators come with warehouse and storage facilities, ensuring a minimal or no-cost setup experience. Based on their business requirements, companies can just pay for the shipping charges of each shipment or have a volume-based contract.
Today, most courier aggregator software, such as Shipsy’s smart courier aggregator platform offer an intelligent data-based approach to help businesses get access to courier recommendations, estimated delivery dates, business analytics, etc.
Such advanced AI-powered capabilities are of great importance as they ensure that businesses make informed decisions to elevate the shipping experience of their customers.
Every 3PL partner has its own NDR management system. Without courier aggregator software, e-commerce companies communicate with each 3PL separately to address issues through designated dashboards or e-mail.
This effectively means that the e-commerce firm must repeatedly perform similar steps with each courier partner. In contrast, most logistics aggregators have a unified NDR management system in place, allowing control via a single platform.
Shipsy’s smart courier aggregator platform is the one-stop solution for seamless collaboration with multiple delivery partners. Businesses can select the best courier based on their business requirements and goals, keeping in mind critical tenets such as performance, location, pricing, returns management, etc.
It offers a unified interface for carrier allocation, booking, and tracking. Based on a consultative approach, this future-ready low-code integration platform helps with AI-based allocation for maximum utilization at minimal costs. In addition, businesses can easily detect fake delivery attempts and reduce RTOs with proactive customer communication. Similarly, live milestone updates help create a transparent experience.
With Shipsy’s smart 3PL aggregator solution, businesses can streamline their courier operations and scale them with multiple LSPs, all the while unlocking:
To know more about Shipsy’s smart courier aggregator platform, please get in touch with our experts for a customized demo today!
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