E-commerce facilitators & how they can help your online retail business grow

E-commerce facilitators act as a hub for online retailers. They take care of all of the fine details surrounding shipping and order fulfilment, essentially making e-commerce easier and less demanding.

What do e-commerce facilitators offer?

Online shoppers around the world have increasingly high expectations when it comes to delivery experience. In such a fiercely competitive market, meeting these expectations is vitally important for online retailers - but doing so can be complicated and time consuming!

To help, e-commerce facilitators offer e-tailers easy access to all the main e-commerce platforms and marketplaces. Not only is the integration process simple, but e-commerce facilitators also provide a range of useful features including label and return label printing; detailed paperless reports and one-click invoicing; bulk tracking; shipping calculators and much more.

How can e-commerce facilitators help you?

In a nutshell, e-commerce facilitators make management of your online retail business easier and more cost-effective. Here’s how:

• Save money: Avoid undercharging for shipping with shipping calculator tools.
• Save time: Save time with a whole range of automated features, from tracking notifications to shipping price  comparisons.
• Reduce costly errors: Automation doesn’t just save you time, it also cuts out costly human errors. E-commerce facilitator, ShippyPro, states that its platform reduces order management errors by 88%.
  
• Boost conversion and win repeat custom: Improved shopping experience makes shoppers more likely to commit to a purchase. A smooth delivery and tracking experience will make them more likely to buy again. Happy customers will help boost your reputation which will lead to new customers. 84% of consumers are unlikely to shop with a brand again if they have one poor delivery experience, while 98% of shoppers say that delivery impacts their brand loyalty. (Convey)
  
• Eradicate customer care headaches: Eradicating mistakes and keeping your customers in the loop through automated notifications will reduce strain on your customer service department. 82% of e-shoppers want notifications throughout shipping.
  
• Flexibility: A multitude of optional features give you total control over order fulfilment.
• Stay organised: Paperless data management and reports help you keep track of shipping and understand your business better. (As an added bonus, paperless reports are far better for the environment!)
• Quick and easy: Ready-made e-commerce facility platforms are simple to use and don’t require costly developers. You can be ready to ship in 2 minutes!

A view from the expert

We asked Gorm Vogelius, Business Developer for Asendia Denmark,
to share some insights on e-commerce facilitators.

Q. Which types of e-tailers benefit most from using an e-commerce facilitator?

A: Actually, most e-tailers will benefit from using an e-commerce facilitator. However, most small and medium sized e-tailers, especially those with limited in-house IT resources, will benefit from the increased organisation these platforms offer. E-tailers can save time and money by using one system instead of several TMS systems and new starters will be able to get ready to ship in a matter of minutes.

Q. How have e-commerce facilitators changed with technology?

In recent years, e-commerce facilitators have utilised technology to make it easier than ever to reach your customers. Today, preparation of shipments must be done quickly, accurately and efficiently. You achieve this with these new ‘plug ’n play’ integrations for webshops, marketplaces and financial systems. E-commerce facilitators help you get automated and organised without any fuss, even enabling you to run most processes through your smartphone.

Cut your costs and make shipping easier with Asendia Connect

Asendia has partnered with ShippyPro to launch Asendia Connect, an e-commerce enabler that offers retailers a user-friendly interface through which all orders can be managed. It incorporates all major e-commerce platforms (including Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Prestashop and BigCartel), providing the key components required to create an online store. Asendia Connect also integrates various marketplaces (such as Amazon, eBay, CDiscount and Groupon), empowering e-tailers to utilise various channels in their sales development strategies.

Case study: ResponSEAbility

Uber-cool Danish sunglasses company ResponSEAbility creates shades from ocean plastic. Each pair removes 1kg of plastic from our seas. As a start-up, the company was looking for an e-commerce facilitator with fair prices that could ship worldwide, especially to its main markets – the USA and Australia. With Asendia Connect powered by ShippyPro, ResponSEAbility got that and more.

“Asendia offered a solution that was cheaper than most companies in Denmark - and a great service alongside it. Asendia Connect is very intuitive and easy to navigate – making the whole shipping process much easier. Our contact person always answers us within 5 minutes and helps us no matter the situation. The relationship with Asendia can be described as a really good friendship, because that is what it feels like – they never let us down.”