1) Introduction
The order fulfillment process is one of the most complex and crucial parts of the ecommerce delivery process. But, if you have the right partner for the fulfillment process, the process becomes much easier to handle. Every small ecommerce platform prefers a shipping aggregation platform to start scaling its delivery operations. Owing to the popularity of shipping aggregators, many players have entered the market with their philosophy for handling the fulfillment process.
IThink Logistics and ShipRocket are among the few top players in the sector. Ecommerce businesses looking for multi-carrier services but with relatively lower order volumes prefer their services. While both are shipping aggregation platforms, their customer service and shipping service suite are a bit different. In this blog, we will compare the shipping services of both these platforms in detail.
2) About iThink Logistics
iThink Logistics is an eCommerce shipping software provider headquartered in Mumbai. It was founded in 2016 and offered third-party logistics management solutions to online selling businesses in India.
iThink Logistics currently serves over 26,000 pin codes across India and offers businesses a reach of more than 180 countries worldwide. It manages more than 25,000 shipments daily through its platform and serves 5000+ customers throughout India.
3) Services Offered By IThink Logistics
3.1) AI-Based Courier Automation
The courier selection engine of IThink Logistics allows you to select your courier partner after factoring in over 200 parameters. You can set the level of these 200 parameters so that the AI can determine the ideal courier partner for every shipment.
3.2) Real-time Shipment Tracking
The technology-enabled logistics supply chain of IThink Logistics allows you to track your shipment in real time. You can share these live updates with your customer to improve your post-purchase customer experience. These live updates can also be a tremendous challenge to improve post-purchase engagement.
3.3) RTO Prediction
The IThink software uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the RTO probability for a particular shipment, even before it is shipped. You can use this probability to decide on the fraudsters in your customer base and eliminate them from the platform to save on shipping and RTO costs.
3.4) Early COD Reconciliation
One of the most significant barriers for ecommerce merchants to offer COD with their orders in the remittance period. To help businesses deal with this barrier, IThink offers next-day COD remittance to speed up the process. Thus, you can offer COD services to your customers with IThink without worrying about disruptions in the account book.
4) Features of iThink Logistics
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iThink Logistics allows businesses to reduce the number of RTOs through its state-of-the-art NDR management system that uses AI to resolve issues with a shipment.
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The platform improves visibility and customer communication through branded tracking pages and status update notifications.
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It helps businesses manage orders from multiple channels across multiple carriers using a single dashboard.
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It accurately estimates the expected date of delivery of the product.
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Its intuitive recommendation engine helps businesses choose the ideal career for every order depending on various factors.
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It helps businesses manage to return orders and even offers NDR management for reverse logistics.
Pros:
iThink Logistics is known for providing an intuitive NDR management system that helps businesses reduce RTOs.
Cons:
The platform’s customer service is known to be sub-par.
5) About ShipRocket
Shiprocket is an aggregation platform for shipping companies. It is based out of India and is currently headquartered in New Delhi. The platform helps businesses select from a list of 17 integrated carriers to ship products at pre-negotiated rates.
ShipRocket handles an average of 200,000 orders on a daily basis and works with 100,000 merchants throughout the country. It offers its clients a reach of more than 29,000+ pin codes and 220 countries.
6) ShipRocket’s offerings include:
6.1) Multi-carrier Aggregation
ShipRocket has over 17+ carrier partners. You can avail of the services of all of these partners through a single integration. This makes it easier to improve the serviceability of your ecommerce platform and allows you to provide special and expedited shipping options. On the merchant end, it will enable you to choose the most suitable carrier according to your needs.
6.2) Rate Estimation:
ShipRocket makes an effort to display accurate shipping cost estimates. The estimation module of ShipRocket allows you to optimize your shipping operations for costs and customer preferences.
6.3) Order management Dashboard:
Order management can get tricky, especially as your order volumes start to climb up. Your shipping service provider's order management dashboard makes the entire process very convenient. The dashboard will sync the orders in real time. This dashboard comes in handy to resolve customer complaints and handle order delays.
6.4) Post-purchase experience:
Along with being a shipping aggregation platform, ShipRocket provides unique features that enable you to enhance the post-purchase experience on your platform. This includes order tracking, order notifications, and post-purchase communication.
7) Features of ShipRocket
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ShipRocket allows businesses to choose the preferred shipping partner from a list of integrated carriers.
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It provides businesses with accurate information on the estimated date of delivery of an item and the cost of shipping such product to the given location.
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It helps businesses improve the visibility of their products through tracking pages. It also enables businesses to create branded tracking pages for a better customer experience.
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It allows businesses to send notifications and branded communications to customers to inform them about the status of their orders.
Pros:
The platform provides access to several shipping companies through a single platform without negotiating with each provider independently.
Cons:
ShipRocket is only ideal for small businesses with lower volumes, as with higher volumes, the cost of shipping can begin to harm revenues.
8) Best Alternative to IThink Logistics and ShipRocket
Shipping aggregation platforms can be good partners when you are starting. But, they lack the capabilities to handle growing order volumes and can hinder your ability to scale. In addition to this, the limited carrier library can hamper the serviceability of your platform and hamper growth.
If you are finding it difficult to manage your current order volume, we would suggest you consider ClickPost as your fulfillment partner. The AI-based shipping management platform allows you to automate multiple parts of your order fulfillment process. This will allow you to scale your customer base rapidly without impacting the delivery speed.
9) Conclusion
The right choice of a fulfillment partner is critical to the success of your ecommerce business. If you are just starting in the sector or looking to use multiple carriers for your fulfillment process, shipping management platforms are clearly the right choice.
ShipRocket and Ithink Logistics both have their strengths and weakness. With the help of the above comparison, you can now make a better analysis of their viability.
10) FAQs
10.1) Can you ship internationally with ShipRocket or IThink?
ShipRocket and IThink Logistics are shipping aggregation platforms partnered with multiple global carriers. This enables their customers to send across the globe. However, there can be some barriers according to the destination country and the import restrictions.
10.2) How much does shipping with ShipRocket or Think without monthly fees cost?
For the pricing structure of the IThink services, you will have to get in touch with the sales team, as they have not declared the shipping costs upfront. Under the free plan for ShipRocket, it will usually cost you Rs. 26 per 500 gms. This cost is further reduced if you subscribe to one of their paid plans, as they require a minimum order volume.
10.3) Which is the best option between ClickPost, iThink Logistics, and ShipRocket?
Both iThink Logistics and Shiprocket are decent solutions. However, out of the three, ClickPost stands out. ClickPost is the fastest-growing logistics intelligence and multi-carrier management software in Asia. It is integrated with more than 170 carriers and allows businesses to manage orders, returns, NDR, and COD reconciliation. Businesses can go live with the carrier of their choice using ClickPost in a single business day.