E-commerce businesses have drastically flourished as technology and customer experiences become more personalized. However, most companies face the dilemma of cutting down shipping costs to remain profitable or delivering high-quality shipping services to customers. This is where parcel shipping solutions come to your aid to effectively optimize your supply chain needs. 

Shipping costs are a considerable expense for every business, but you may face issues when trying to save money because it will ultimately hamper your customer experience. Shipping costs can majorly impact your bottom line, especially in logistics and e-commerce. Thankfully, there are effective strategies that can allow you to reduce shipping costs without compromising on your service quality. 

This article post will unfold some proven and practical ways to reduce shipping expenses and increase savings. 

     1. Access Complete Shipping Data Visibility  

Most of the time, supply chain businesses do not utilize analytics because of data inaccessibility and inadequate data integration. They avoid making decisions based on the data due to poor confidence in data quality. The visibility of data starts with its quality. Data quality and it’s relevancy can be defined as data that fits its intended purpose and is validated and utilized accurately and timeously.  

Without quality data, every KPIs, reporting, and analytics are unreliable. That is why you need efficient shipping software to accurately deliver comprehensive shipping data visibility to save extra shipping costs. With effective parcel shipping analytics, you can easily uncover opportunities, compare carrier performance, negotiate confidently, and more. 

In 2023, you need an end-to-end analytics tool with optimum visibility at your fingertip. Actionable insights enable you to make effective decisions to improve operations, service, and overall performance. With a complete view of parcel shipping data, you can glean opportunities for cost savings and drive real ROI. 

     2. Optimize Product Packaging 

As package dimensions and weight affect the shipping costs charged by carriers, it is crucial to make your parcel as small as possible. Do not forget that carriers take the dimensions of the packages very seriously while evaluating the shipping costs. Recently, carriers noticed losing money on large and light items. So, trimming down the package that fits and protects your product accurately is really important. 

We cannot reduce the weight of our products, but we can slim down the shipping packages and their infills. To avoid paying more for the space the package takes up, there are three main considerations to keep in mind: 

• Use customized boxes for the products 
• Better fitting packages mean fewer infill materials 
• If it is possible, pack multiple products in one pack 

For small businesses, it is vital to save as much as possible so that the best available option can be utilized. It is the best offer to deliver sufficient support for various products while enhancing cost savings. 

     3. Improve Post-Purchase Customer Experience  

Customers expect clear communication and transparency during the entire buying process. The customer wants complete visibility from order to delivery and everything in between. Estimated delivery dates and shipping expectations are essential during the customer purchase process. 

Parcel shippers must set clear expectations of shipment delivery dates and communicate all shipping exceptions, such as delays or any other discrepancy. Customers typically forgive businesses that maintain complete transparency. If delivery dates are not met properly, and there is a lack of communication, brand value can hamper, and customer loyalty will deteriorate. A parcel shipping solution can be advantageous to deal with this scenario.  

     4. Automate the Decision-Making Process 

It is a given that 2023 will be a fast-paced business landscape. A powerful parcel shipping system to measure and monitor your shipping operations will distinguish success and failure. With the help of automated processing, thriving businesses can reduce non-value-added manual work and leverage predictive analytics. 

Automation uses machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other upgraded technologies to make decision-making a well-planned and orchestrated process. Automated parcel shipping analytics follow predefined business rules to enhance productivity and efficiency.  

Decision-making backed by automated parcel shipping systems is best applied to predictable, manual, and repetitive tasks to reduce human efforts and errors. This solution analyses your historical data and provides accurate reporting so that you can make optimum decisions and save costs on your shipping operations. 

     5. Diversify the Multi-Carrier Option 

Unsurprisingly, single-carrier parcel shipping is no longer advantageous for shippers. A diversified carrier mix approach is necessary for businesses to have an agile shipping strategy. 

There are a few benefits of going for the multi-carrier option in 2023: 

• Reduced cost  
• Increased sales 
• Extra agility and flexibility 
• Mitigate risks 
• Effective delivery times
• Improves operational visibility 

     6. Implement the Right Shipping Solution 

With so many new options available in the market, it takes time to evaluate which solution fits your shipping operations. 

In this situation, you always face the dilemma of where to start. 

Start with a trusted technology partner that understands the significance of solving root issues and hidden insights. 

Cloud-based automated solutions are packed with advanced integration capabilities to help shippers with effective shipping. Traditional systems are often outdated, siloed, and slow. Applying a cloud-based multi-carrier shipping software solutions suite enables businesses to analyze, automate, model, and audit their shipping operations efficiently. 

Apart from modern technology, you deserve a team to stay focused and succeed. In 2023 get the data, advanced technology, and dedicated professionals to support your supply chain needs. 

Do Not Get Surprised, Unprepared, and Scrambled – Apply an Agile Parcel Shipping Software 

TransImpact’s Industry-Leading Parcel Shipping Solutions enable you to access complete visibility into your parcel shipping operations. Our brilliant solutions allow our clients to track their parcels and negotiate confidently with their carriers. Do not let carriers take advantage of you. Enable a parcel shipping system to better understand the hidden insights and make better business decisions. To understand more about our solutions, talk to our experts or book a demo.

Technology and innovations are the lifeblood of any industry, and parcel shipping is no different. That’s why keeping abreast of any recent trends and developments that could potentially impact on your business is essential. The parcel shipping industry is changing at a faster pace than ever. New innovations, tendencies, and technologies are constantly evolving. 

To stay relevant and ahead of their competitors, shipping businesses must understand the gravity of the latest trend in the parcel shipping solutions industry. They must remain diverse enough to accommodate the possibility of major market shifts and changing customer demand because people won’t take long to migrate somewhere else where improved delivery services are affordable. 

With technological innovations and constantly evolving customer expectations, the parcel shipping industry is persistently changing. In this blog, we will undertake the latest trends in the shipping business that are shaping and revolutionizing the way we send and receive parcels. 

1. Enhanced Visibility and Tracking 

With the boom of E-commerce, customers expect real-time tracking and transparency throughout the entire shipping process. An efficient parcel shipping system incorporates GPS, RFID, and barcode scanning technologies. These latest technologies enable businesses to track their parcels more effectively. With the help of these techniques, shippers can reassure their customers with accurate estimated delivery times and real-time updates, reduce customer bounce rate, and improve customer satisfaction. 

2. E-Commerce Rise and Last-Mile Delivery 

The exponential growth of e-commerce has been a driving factor behind the evolution of parcel shipping solutions. As more customers prefer online shopping channels, the requirement for effective last-mile delivery solutions has increased. Businesses are investing in more innovative solutions, such as autonomous delivery vehicles, drones, and smart lockers, to ensure the last leg of the shipping process. Same-day and next-day delivery have become customers’ most favored options, pushing parcel shipping service providers to optimize their operations and enhance delivery speed. 

3. More Focus on Reverse Logistics 

Unfortunately, product returns are unavoidable in almost any industry. You can’t make everyone happy. However, optimizing your reverse logistic process with effective parcel shipping software is always better. 

Product return can be a daunting task, and no organization owner wants to deal with more returns than orders. Customers always seek a service provider who can offer them a seamless return process without contacting them. That’s why every business owner should recognize reverse logistics is a major future trend and should consider it very seriously. 

4. Prepare for a New Risk Event 

Nobody wants to be unprepared when disaster strikes, most notably when you are a business owner with customers to look after. An unexpected situation in business can occur out of the blue, especially in high-stakes situations. Problems like these can stop production and affect shipments coming out. So, essentially, parcel shipping analytics drills down your historical data and provides you with clearer visibility into your shipping operations. With the support of this knowledge, you can make better decisions and avoid risks in the future. 

5. Sustainable Parcel Shipping 

Environmental sustainability has become a primary concern for many consumers and businesses. Responding to the immediate concern, the parcel shipping industry is accepting greener practices. By prioritizing sustainability, parcel shipping systems contribute to a greener future and resonate with environmentally conscious customers. 

6. Intelligent Automation and Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming the parcel shipping industry. Automated sorting systems can manage large volumes of packages, reducing manual labor and improving efficiency. Machine learning algorithms analyze shipping data to optimize route planning, evaluate delivery delays, and identify potential future bottlenecks. AI-powered shipping software provides valuable insights into customer preferences, enabling businesses to determine their shipping strategies accordingly. 

7. Smart Parcel Allocation  

With the help of technologies like AI, shipping businesses can enable intelligent allocations of shipments to save time and speed up last-mile deliveries. Such shipping software solutions use accurate geographical data and real-time traffic information to sort out shipments logically to your last-mile delivery partners, enabling more work in less time. 

As the parcel shipping system is automated, you don’t have to worry about repetitive tasks like mapping routes and allocating work, as technology will process these functions for you more efficiently and accurately, keeping human errors at a minimum. 

All in All 

The parcel shipping business is evolving effectively to meet the demands of a digitized world. The latest trends in parcel shipping, such as e-commerce, last-mile delivery, enhanced tracking and visibility, sustainable practices, and reverse logistics, are reshaping the way shippers utilize technology to their benefit. As technology constantly advances, we expect more lucrative innovations in this space, ultimately leading to faster, more efficient, and more reliable deliveries of your parcels. Embracing these trends will empower businesses to stay ahead of their competitors and deliver their customers an exceptional shipping experience. 

TransImpact is a leading Parcel Shipping Solutions provider. We have empowered our clients to effectively manage their parcel spending and parcel contract negotiations for decades. To understand more about our solutions, call our experts or schedule a demo. 

In recent times, supply chains have become considerably more challenging to handle. Longer and highly interlinked physical flows reflect the increasing complexity of the product portfolio. Market volatility, which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified, has raised the need for flexibility and agility. And increased importance of the environmental impact of supply chain management is triggering the optimization and regionalization of flows. Because of this scenario, businesses and decision-makers have become more stringent on supply chain digitization. 

Supply chain optimization solutions based on artificial intelligence are expected to be potential instruments to help businesses face these challenges. An integrated end-to-end perspective can convey the opportunities and constraints of all business operations, from procurement to sales. AI’s capacity to analyse vast amounts of data, understand relationships, deliver optimum visibility into operations, and support better strategic decision-making makes it a potent game changer. However, getting the most out of these solutions is not just a matter of technology; organizations must take adequate steps to harness the full potential of AI. 

AI has revolutionized recently, developing into a robust tool for various business applications. Below, we will observe how AI can be utilized and improve the optimization of the supply chain.  

• Efficiency  

Managing a supply chain is all about efficiency. Because of the interconnectedness of the supply chains, delays or issues in one part of the network have sizeable impact on other parts of the network. AI plays a tremendous efficiency advantage over humans and even other computer-based systems, enabling you to take care of any issues as quickly as possible. 

• Data Management  

One of the most time-consuming aspects of supply chain management is going through and effectively categorizing or logging data. The supply chain produces vast amounts of data and observing and incorporating this data into your demand planning and forecasting software can be a hefty task. AI-powered automated technology does this repetitive task for you and takes the pressure away from your hand, leaving almost zero human error possibilities. 

AI is comprehensively trained in data retrieving and responding to vast data pools with processes like a machine and deep learning. An AI system learns and becomes more refined, faster, and more intelligent at processing this data.  

• Reconfiguration  

While every organization hopes to develop supply chain efficiency to avoid potential discrepancies or inconsistencies, the reality is this part of the company’s operations can be anything but smooth. An AI in supply chains can take a broader view of the complete operations to find ways to optimize them by consolidating multichannel suppliers of a particular product into one provider or by identifying faster or cheaper ways of delivering materials between two or more networks. 

• Demand Forecasting and Capacity Planning 

Supply chains undergo different stresses related to delays, backups, the breakdowns of one or more parts in the chains, unexpected demand, and so on. AI systems help provide improved prediction tools for future customer demand and capacity planning for the supply chain. This can make it easy for a business to efficiently add capacity during busy times. An effective demand planning software powered by artificial intelligence technology can accurately provide you with precise reporting, enabling you to make better strategic decisions for your supply chain business. 

• Inventory Management 

Handling seamless inventory processing is one of the most vital factors for maintaining a healthy supply chain planning. Effective inventory planning involves keeping accurate track of which products are coming in and going out of your inventory, what products are performing well in the market, and what products are slightly shifting into the slow-moving products category. 

When the latest technology, like machine learning, is merged with a complex business network like inventory optimization, it becomes more value-driven and precision-based – allowing you to make more profits and save costs on your inventory handling. 

• Reduce Costs and Encourage Safety 

AI in the supply chain management can help to improve inventory optimization by reducing inconsistencies. When inventories are better managed, it is considered that both workers and materials experience better safety. Some AI solutions can even automate specific perspectives of traditional work performed by humans, further enhancing safety by keeping human interference at a minimum. AI systems have the capability to work at a faster pace and without errors for a much longer time than any human could. This enables them to help reduce costs. 

We have just explored some of the artificial intelligence’s essential roles in growing the supply chain ecosystem. Other than this, there are a few more areas where AI stands out and contribute more effectively: 

• Marketing and Sales: More Unified and Accurate Pricing System 
• Procurement: Comprehensive Data Integration with Suppliers
• Planning: Risk Adjusted End-to-End Margin Optimization 
• Logistics and Distribution: Dynamic Optimization of Routing and Costs  
• Production: Agile Production Planning and Scheduling 

An Industry-Leading Solution for a Thriving Supply Chain 

TransImpact’s Supply Chain Management is a state-of-the-art solution that enables our clients to access complete visibility into their inventory optimization. Our agile software empowers you with accurate, precision-based demand forecasting to deliver best-in-class customer experiences, save costs, and improve profits for your business. To explore more about our solutions, contact our experts or schedule a demo.