ShipStation is a must-have platform and tool for everybody who is looking at starting their online business. In this piece, you will get to know about this tool. But for now, let us head over to a discussion that will benefit every aspiring online entrepreneur.
In this day and age, it seems that the brick-and-mortar stores are being overshadowed and overtaken by online stores. Truly, online business is unprecedentedly booming nowadays. Aside from being convenient for the customers since they can shop almost anytime and anywhere they are, even when they are at home, online selling is also beneficial for the entrepreneur. Gone are the days when the business owner needs to think about the operations in brick-and-mortar stores. Technology has paved the way for selling their products and services much easier, much faster, and much better.
In this article, you will get to know the many reasons why entrepreneurs should venture into online selling. Plus, there will be a discussion on ShipStation, a software that you should have as you run your online business. Let us get to it.
Prior To Learning About ShipStation, Let’s Tackle The Reasons Why You Should Start Your Online Selling Business
If you have a store in a shopping mall, let’s say, or you have been running a store that offers products to customers for several years, but you are not yet online, this is a time you must ponder on your actions, because the Internet is where the great opportunities are. What is online selling and why should you start your online selling business? We know you may be thrilled and looking forward to learning about ShipStation and what a great software it is. But prior to the discussion on ShipStation, let us take a look at the reasons why you must have your online selling business.
What is online selling? Online selling pertains to the act or process of selling goods, products, or services via the Internet or mobile application. It also refers to the selling of these products via auction sites, online classified advertisements, online shops, social networking, social media, or webshops.
There are also several concepts that revolve around online selling. These include dropshipping, wholesale, and selling on platforms. One of the things that business owners into online selling must prioritize is updating the right tracking information to the customers. Without considering this, customers may lose track of the items they order. Here are the best reasons why you should start your online selling business.
1. Online Selling Offers Incredible Scalability
Not every online business can transform into a huge hit with rapid exponential growth. Many entrepreneurs start online businesses thinking customers will find them that easily, and sales will just pour in because of their presence on the Internet.
Well, this is not the case, and scaling a business is never easy, even online businesses. However, having an online business has a clear advantage. For one, starting a business online will never limit your store when it comes to the audience it can reach, unlike brick-and-mortar stores. Scaling is easier compared to the traditional way of doing business.
2. Provides Limitless Freedom
Many business owners are attracted to the online business because of the freedom this can offer. There are many tools available for online entrepreneurs so they can operate from any location. They include laptops, tablets, business apps, and Voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP communication systems. To paint a better picture, you can find an online entrepreneur running their business while sipping coffee in a coffee shop.
Not being tied to a particular place or desk eight hours a day, excluding lunch breaks and snack breaks, can be empowering. Many online business owners use this opportunity as their motivation to work even harder. In this way, they can also spend more time with their families and invest time in doing the things they are passionate about.
3. Provides Lower Overhead And Higher Margins
With an online business, you can eliminate the huge costs that offline businesses usually incur. Aside from eliminating costs like paying for the office rental space and more, you can also take advantage of dropshipping when managing your online business. This reduces your financial risks, and will let you maintain more consistent margins with less upfront costs.
4. Gain Access To A Worldwide Market
A great thing about running an online business is the opportunity to run it 24/7 without the limits. There are no geographical boundaries and no specific hours to operate. The articles you read about are right when they say the online business can produce revenue around the clock, even while you are sleeping.
However, these do not tell you that all you have to do is to sit back and relax. You have to work hard for the success of your online business. Strategies like a well thought-out social media plan, search engine optimization, and paid media will make your online business thrive. Plus, there is this luxury of being able to reach out to specific states, regions, and countries.
With these in mind, you are one step closer to the success of your online business, even if you are just conceptualizing it right now. You will get there. There is a tool that will better catapult your online business to success. Get to know ShipStation.
ShipStation: The eCommerce Platform You Can Trust
Now that you have learned about why you should start your online business, if you haven’t, and why you should keep going if you already have one, we move forward to discussing a software that will take your online business to greater heights.
ShipStation: Shipping Software For eCommerce Fulfillment
Regarded as a multi-carrier and multi-channel shipping solution for the online business, ShipStation has been designed to facilitate the shipping and fulfillment processes for online retailers.
It is a very popular website where you can purchase shipping labels at discounted prices as you automatically update the tracking information to your partner platforms.
Whether you are selling on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, eBay, WooCommerce, Shopify, or more, you can easily integrate with ShipStation. This is perfect for those selling more than five orders per day, wanting to quickly purchase labels, and wanting to update the tracking information.
ShipStation powers thousands of stores and processes millions of shipping labels every month. With this being said, it is able to save merchants time and money by maximizing their shipping efficiencies.
In order to accomplish this, ShipStation automatically retrieves and consolidates order information from more than 40 sales channels, implements a pre-configured set shipping preferences to each order based on what the user has specified, processes and prints customized shipping labels and packing slips, and automatically updates each store with shipping status and tracking information.
Once the label is made, ShipStation automatically facilitates all customer communication, and offers consolidated reporting for immediate viewing. All of these, take note, happen automatically, seamlessly, and in real-time.
Plus, for those looking to outsource some or their entire shipping operations, including picking, packing, shipping, and customer service, ShipStation is also integrated with Fulfillment by Amazon. Isn’t that wonderful?
Notable Features Of ShipStation
When using ShipStation, there are literally tons of features you can enjoy. Here are the most notable of them.
Order Management
ShipStation is directly integrated with more than 70 of the best-selling channels. Thus, it makes it easier for the online business order to manage their orders by using only one platform, that is, ShipStation.
They gain complete control and insight into the orders at every phase of the shipping process, from all your various selling channels. Save time by automatically applying actions to orders based on a predetermined criteria. Sync as many orders you would like, and across as many sources you utilize by connecting a selling channel. You may also manually create orders, upload a CSV, or input via API, plus so much more.
Shipping
ShipStation does magic for your online business when it comes to shipping. ShipStation is present to help simplify your shipping workflow.
This platform helps the user quickly generate discounted shipping labels for all of your online orders. With ShipStation, you can search for the best rate, print a label, or batch orders for rapid multi-label creation. In just a few clicks, you can spend more time selling and less time shipping. Let ShipStation do the heavy lifting for you. This is your ultimate one-stop solution for your online business.
Branding
Would you believe that ShipStation also partakes in your business’ branding? The software provides an exceptional post-purchase experience with its branded shipping feature.
Branded shipping gives everybody the opportunity to create a more personalized and memorable delivery experience for your customers, at no additional cost. ShipStation powers branded shipping via a wide array of services like customized shipping labels, returns portal, and tracking page.
Inventory Management
Your online business needs to effectively manage its inventory, whether this comes from the warehouse or from remote locations.
With ShipStation, you can view stock levels, set inventory alerts, or allocate stock all while selecting, packing, and fulfilling orders more efficiently. The inventory management solution at ShipStation likewise provides you with custom reports so you never run out of stock again.
Integrations And Partners
ShipStation also lets you import orders wherever you sell and create shipping labels for however you intend to ship.
ShipStation makes it easier for everybody to integrate with your marketplaces, shopping carts, order management systems, and more. Bid goodbye to the tedious copy and paste when you still do not have ShipStation.
Avail ShipStation Today: Get To Know The Pricing
Perfect for every online business, ShipStation is totally web-based and offers a 30-day free trial, and includes a free USPS Postage account. Their priority is toward maximizing the experience of the customers. Whether it is about its user-friendly interface, rich and robust features, time-saving tools, or exceptional seller support, ShipStation is here to deliver the highest quality shipping product and service available in today’s market.
There are several pricing options you can choose from. These are the Starter at $9 per month, Bronze at $29 per month, Silver at $49 per month, Gold at $69 per month, Platinum at $99 per month, and Enterprise at $159 per month. The most popular is the Gold pricing tier. For more details about the pricing and the features included in each, visit this page.
When you manage your online selling business, that is not to say there are no stresses involved. Among the things that might stress you out is finding a way to update your customers with their tracking information. Not many eCommerce platforms can offer this help to you. Fortunately, there are software like ShipStation that has a wide range of features, including this, updating your buyers with the tracking information of their purchase, so they will remain loyal to your business.
We hope this discussion taught you about the benefits of delving into the complex yet fulfilling world of online selling. We hope this learning inspired you to improve the way you do business with the several platforms available around. What are you waiting for? Get started using ShipStation today.