Shipping & Couriers

How to integrate e-commerce with courier services: practical tips

Integrating e-commerce with shipping services is an important step in improving efficiency and customer service quality. It allows automating the delivery process and saving time when processing orders.

Advantages of integration

Integrating online stores with courier services is one of the most effective ways to optimize the product delivery process. Benefits include:

• Automatic calculation of shipping costs for the customer on the order placement page.
• Tracking the status of online order shipments.
• Automatic generation of shipping documents (waybills, labels, etc.).
• The ability to choose a convenient shipping method for the customer (courier delivery, postal service, pickup points, etc.).
• Increased order processing speed and reduced risk of errors in the shipping process.

Benefits not only for the online store owner, but also for customers:

• Expanding the choice of delivery methods for customers. Typically, courier services offer various options, including home delivery, collection points, parcel lockers, and others. This allows customers to choose the most convenient way to receive goods and helps increase loyalty to the company.
• Reducing shipping time. Large courier companies have an extensive network across Poland, which enables the fastest possible delivery of goods. Fast shipping increases customer satisfaction and can motivate them to make repeat purchases.

Product journey from order in the online store to shipment

When integrating with shipping services, several factors must be considered to ensure smooth and efficient delivery of goods. Let's analyze this process in more detail using the example of logical order creation in an online store.

Creating an order from the warehouse.

Configuring order formation and its interaction with the store. Below we describe step by step how this happens.

Step 1: Placing an order

When a user adds products to the cart, the order is calculated using an integration plugin - calculation of shipping times and costs to the selected pickup point or customer address. Then the information is processed by the manager to check all order data, and then sent for order picking and packaging.

When a customer places an order in the online store, it is important to ensure that they have provided correct delivery information. The manager must verify the shipping address, chosen shipping method, and delivery time. This helps avoid delays and errors during product delivery.

Step 2: Preparing for shipment

After placing an order in the online store, it must prepare the goods for shipment. All necessary documents must be filled out, the goods packed, and prepared for dispatch.

Step 3: Sending the goods

The next step, the manager prepares a route sheet with orders that need to be handed over to the courier company for further delivery. The manager can, if necessary, call a courier or send their own courier from the online store to hand over the orders to the courier company.

When the products are ready for shipment, the order is handed over to the courier company. It is necessary to ensure that all documents are correctly filled out and the packaging is reliable. It is also important to provide the correct weight and dimensions of the goods to accurately calculate the shipping cost.

Step 4: Delivery of the goods

After the order has been dispatched, the installed shipping plugins send a request to the shipping API at specified intervals to check the order status, in order to update the shipping status in the store's backend. Upon receiving the final status (Order delivered), the CMS finalizes the order. In case of cancellation or return of goods, the manager handles cancellations and returns independently.

Conclusion

We have integrated the >Web Systems Pro< platform with a shipping service. We have introduced an additional shipping method for orders from online stores and expanded the delivery geography for customers.