When orders are few, shipping is handled by hand: you open the order, type the recipient's details into the shipping company's screen and message the tracking number to the customer. With a few orders a day, this works. As orders grow, though, mistyped addresses, tracking numbers that never get sent and "where is my package" calls take up most of the day. Every manual entry also brings the chance of a mistake in the address or phone number. Shipping integration hands this repetitive work over to the system.
How does shipping integration work?
Integration means your site exchanges information directly with the shipping company's system. For this, you first make a corporate agreement with the shipping company; the company gives you a customer number and the access details needed to connect to its system. The information exchange runs through the connection point the shipping company opens to outside systems (API); every record between the site and the shipping company goes back and forth through this channel. The setup is done once, and after that the same steps repeat on their own for every order. Once the access details are entered in the site's admin panel, the flow works like this:
- When an order is confirmed, the recipient's name, address, phone number and package details are sent to the shipping company automatically. If the order has more than one package, the number of packages and their dimensions are added to the shipment too.
- The shipping label or shipment code is printed from the panel and stuck on the package, and the package is handed over to the carrier. For bulk orders, labels can be printed in one go.
- The tracking number is saved to the order and sent to the customer by email or SMS; the customer also sees this number in the order details in their account.
- The shipment's status (in transit, out for delivery, delivered) comes back to the site and the order status updates on its own. If the shipping company provides this information, shipments whose recipient could not be found at the address or that could not be delivered also show up in the panel, so you can call the customer without delay.
Returns are planned on the shipping side too
A return is shipping in reverse, and it is often the most disorganized process. When the customer opens a return request on the site, giving them a return code, having the package come back to you with the contracted carrier and refunding the payment when the product reaches the warehouse can all be brought together in one flow. Emailing the customer the return code and how to prepare the package reduces returns that arrive at the wrong address or with a carrier you have no agreement with. Exchange requests are handled through the same flow; the only difference is that when the product comes back, a new product is sent instead of a refund. For returns made under the right of withdrawal, who covers the shipping cost is set out in the Distance Contracts Regulation (Mesafeli Sözleşmeler Yönetmeliği). That is why clearly stating which shipping company will be used for returns in the preliminary information form and on the returns page protects both you and the customer. Recording return reasons also helps: if "size did not fit" keeps coming up for the same product, the problem is not the shipping but the size chart on the product page.
How do you set a shipping fee strategy?
A shipping fee that appears unexpectedly at checkout is one of the common reasons carts are abandoned. The customer has accepted the product's price, but an extra amount at the last step can stop them. So when the shipping fee is shown matters as much as what it is: shipping information visible on the product page or in the cart removes the surprise at the last step. There are three common approaches, and which one suits you depends on your margin, the weight of your products and your average cart value:
- Free shipping: the shipping cost is built into the product price. It is the clearest option for the customer and a strong message in ads, but it can eat into your profit on low-priced products.
- Free shipping above a certain cart value: it encourages the customer to add one more product to the cart. Setting the threshold slightly above your average cart value is a common method; when setting it, check that the shipping cost stays within your profit at that amount.
- Flat fee or a fee based on desi (the package's volume): for heavy and bulky products, it reflects the real cost. Showing the fee on the product page from the start prevents surprises at checkout.
Clarify these before you start
Before moving to shipping integration, write down the answers to these questions: Which shipping company do you have, or will you have, a corporate agreement with? Are your products small parcels, or heavy and bulky? Who will pay for shipping, and what will your free shipping threshold be? Which company will handle returns, and to which address will they come back? How many packages do you expect to send a day; will you take them to the branch yourself, or will the shipping company pick them up from you? Some businesses work with one company for small parcels and another for heavy products; a well-built system can make this choice per product. Think of packaging as part of shipping too: protective packaging for fragile products reduces damaged deliveries and returns. If damage is noticed at delivery, having a report drawn up with the courier makes the damage process with the shipping company easier; you can remind your customer of this in the order email. Adorb sets up the shipping connection in your custom e-commerce software according to the company you have an agreement with. You also manage your orders, together with payment and customer information, from a single panel.