1) Introduction
In the modern ecommerce era, shipping costs have become a headache that every ecommerce business has to deal with. Especially for small-scale businesses, the delivery costs significantly impact their profit margins as they do not have the required order volume to negotiate lower shipping rates. In such cases, shipping aggregation platforms must aid these businesses. These platforms provide shipping at flat rates through multiple trusted carriers.
The on-demand nature of their service and the ability to access shipping services from multiple carriers at flat rates make these platforms quite favorable for small and medium-scale enterprises. ShipRocket and Pickrr are two of the most popular shipping aggregators in the Indian Market. Since the service suite of the software is similar, it can be pretty challenging to choose from the two. That is why, in this blog, we have published a detailed comparison between these two platforms so that you can make an informed decision.
2) About ShipRocket
ShipRocket was founded in 2011 as a courier aggregator and has become one of the most famous eCommerce aggregation platforms. It offers a wide range of shipping services with a reach of 220+ countries and provides a platform for order management.
3) Services Offered By ShipRocket
3.1) Courier Recommendation Engine
The courier recommendation engine is an excellent service that allows you to enhance your shipping quality. The engine will enable you to automate the carrier selection for every shipment by considering the parameter levels set by you. This also allows you to ensure an ideal shipping partner according to their capabilities and past performance.
3.2) Comprehensive Dashboards
One of the primary features of the ShipRocket platform is its comprehensive dashboards. The shipping platform provides a dashboard with detailed metrics for every part of the shipping process. The NDR and RTO dashboards make tracking and managing orders easier, while other dashboards, like the billing and COD reconciliation dashboard, allow you to keep track of your shipping costs.
3.3) Customer Experience Management
While making the shipping process easier for the merchant, it is more important to ensure the customer is kept in the loop about their order. ShipRocket allows you to automate communication with customers. The platform also assists you in improving your ecommerce returns process to enhance the customer experience.
3.4) Branded Customer Experience
ShipRocket allows you to improve your brand impressions by adding branding to multiple aspects of your post-purchase experience. The platform enables you to create a branded tracking page. You can send notifications about orders and sales to your customers through multiple channels. This boosts user engagement, increases the customer return rate, and improves and enhances your shipping process.
4) Features of ShipRocket
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ShipRocket is integrated with 17+ courier partners, enabling you to tie up with multiple shipping partners simultaneously.
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ShipRocket provides access to a shipping rate calculator which uses the origin-destination, delivery destination, and order dimensions to determine the shipping rates for the order.
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ShipRocket provides a single platform for orders across multiple integrated carriers to be monitored and managed.
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ShipRocket helps in the printing of shipping labels and the purchase of order insurance.
Pros:
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ShipRocket enables multi-carrier access, even at lower-order volumes
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NDR and RTO dashboards for better order management
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Enhances your post-purchase experience with the help of seamless order tracking and effective communication of order tracking updates
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Integration with Ecommerce and Merchant platforms for order creation and fulfillment
Cons:
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Weight discrepancies in the billing process
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Limited carrier library impacts serviceability
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The platform does not allow you to negotiate your own SLA at a beginner level
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Cannot process higher order volumes
Price: ShipRocket offers flat rates starting at Rs.19/500 gms domestically, with plans available starting at Rs.29/500 gms
5) About Pickrr
Pickrr is an intelligent shipping solution enabling you to manage eCommerce warehouse and fulfillment needs. It was founded in 2015 and has grown to become one of the leading virtual courier service providers in India and has a reach of 200+ countries.
6) Services Offered by Pickrr
6.1) Advanced Analytics
The Pickrr platform provides valuable and actionable insights into your shipping performance. These insights will help you identify problems with shipping performance to enhance your shipping experience. You can monitor your delivery and customer feedback to identify a person's needs.
6.2) Flexible Shipping Options
The Pickrr service allows you to choose your parcel's weight, starting from as low as 10 gm. This flexibility reduces your shipping costs significantly as you only pay as per the actual weight of the parcel. Multiple carrier options also allow you to choose a more suitable carrier for your shipping needs.
6.3) RTO Management
Managing an RTO is one of the most tedious tasks while managing an ecommerce shipping operation. If not managed properly, not only will it impact your customer experience, but it will also increase your shipping costs.
6.4) Shipment Tracking
Shipment tracking has become one of the crucial tools to enhance your customer experience and post-purchase experience. While hosting flash sales and personalized recommendations are good ways to engage newer customers, an efficient order tracking page and system will do better. The order tracking feature also ensures your customer about their order and is known to reduce order cancellation rates.
7) Features of Pickrr
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Pickrr is integrated with 20+ carriers and storefronts, enabling easy order management across multiple carriers.
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Pickrr provides warehousing solutions across the globe to enable multi-location pickups and drop-offs.
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Pickrr uses an AI-powered engine named Calcula to enable intelligent carrier selection based on designated metrics and avoid weight discrepancies.
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Pickrr provides real-time tracking updates to be shared via SMS and email to customers.
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Pickrr also makes logistics data analytics reports available to eCommerce businesses at regular intervals.
Pros:
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Quicker international and domestic deliveries
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RTO and NDR Management
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One-day COD reconciliation
Cons:
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Frequent glitches
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Frequent shipping delays
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Limited Carrier options
Price: For less than 1000 orders monthly, Pickrr charges Rs.29/order. For 1000-5000 monthly orders, the charges are Rs.26/order, and for more than 5000 orders monthly, the cost is Rs.22/order.
8) What are the other alternatives to ShipRocket and Pickrr?
ShipRocket and Pickrr are undoubtedly among the most popular shipping platforms in the market. However, other shipping platforms provide better services in other areas. Therefore, before you choose a fulfillment partner, you should also evaluate other platforms available in the market.
8.1) ClickPost
While Shipping aggregation platforms are excellent options for companies starting up in the space, shipping management platforms like ClickPost are better for higher order volumes. ClickPost is a logistics intelligence and customer experience management platform that assists ecommerce businesses in multiple sections of their order fulfillment process. The software is known for its reliability and a wide variety of features that make it much easier for an ecommerce business to grow and scale.
8.2) NimbusPost
NimbusPost is another popular shipping platform with features similar to ShipRocket and Pickrr. The platform is known for its COD reconciliation process and improved carrier allocation and selection. The software also has a fraud detection algorithm that allows you to reduce the number of RTOs.
8.3) EasyShip
EasyShip has an API platform with existing integrations with ecommerce and merchant platforms. This makes it a more favorable option for individual merchants and smaller businesses that rely on other channels to sell their products.
9) FAQs
9.1) Does ShipRocket or Pickrr allow you to ship with multiple carriers?
Answer: Yes, as both are shipping aggregators, they allow you to ship with a few carriers at a flat rate. Each platform has about 15-20 carriers in its carrier library. These features come in handy for an ecommerce business starting out in the field. You can even take the help of the carrier recommendation engines of these platforms that allow you to automate the carrier selection process for your shipping and order fulfillment process.
9.2) What is the COD reconciliation period with ShipRocket and Pickrr?
Answer: ShipRocket and Pickrr provide a COD and order management dashboard that allows you to track the COD orders. In Pickrr and ShipRocket, the remittance happens within two days of order delivery. This option is available under their Early COD feature and allows you to get your cash compensation much more quickly.
9.3) Which Is The Best Option Between Clickpost, Shiprocket Vs. Pickrr?
Answer: The best option between ClickPost, Shiprocket, and Pickrr is best understood in terms of your specific ecommerce business needs. ShipRocket provides the best number of discounts, essential NDR management, and fast COD Reconciliation. Pickrr provides possible shipping rates but a wider variety of shipping services based on the volume of orders you are handling monthly. However, both ShipRocket and Pickrr are most suited for SMBs with a regular order volume of fewer than 7000 orders per month that are looking to ensure basic fulfillment needs are met. Once your order volumes cross 7000 per month, your biggest concerns will switch to maximizing profitability and improving customer post-purchase experience, thereby solidifying your brand's reputation. At this point, ClickPost is the best option as it provides a broader range of end-to-end shipping solutions that ensure you can carry out holistic supply chain management. Automation is used for everything from order creation to failed delivery and shipping exception management, and ClickPost provides 24/7 technical support with constant updates and upgrades.