Use the shipping optimiser to gain real time insights into your carrier mix for each store. You can use the shipping optimiser to see how your current mix is working, experiment with different mixes, review tailored recommendations, and apply changes instantly for optimal delivery outcomes.
This article explains how the shipping optimiser works, and the kinds of insights you can gain from it.
How it works
The shipping optimiser provides tailored suggestions for your carrier mix. The recommendations are based on your completed orders for the past thirty days. In the background, the shipping optimiser runs experiments to see what would happen if your previous orders had shipped with different carriers, to determine if they would have been cheaper or more expensive.
💡NOTE: The shipping optimiser only shows data if you have savings to make. If your shipping optimiser screen has no data, then you already have an ideal carrier mix.
The shipping optimiser analyses your order history, taking into account these factors:
The service level requested
The destination postcode
The chargeable weight of the package
For more information about the different types of weights, including how chargeable weight is calculated, see the Understanding misdeclarations article.
The data provided in the shipping optimiser is sourced in two different ways. For carriers that you already have active on your account, and that you have used, the calculation is based on your recent data. For carriers that you don't have active on your account, or where there is no recent data in your account, the calculation is based on the weekly average across the entire Shippit platform.
Prepaid surcharge information is included in optimiser calculations when the information is available in your Shippit account. This is done automatically for carriers that Shippit has a relationship with. If you have negotiated your own rates with a carrier that you are using through the Shippit platform, make sure you have manually entered and updated any surcharge information in your account. If you not included this information, then the shipping optimiser can't include the data in its calculations, and your estimates might not be accurate.
The results in the shipping optimiser show you the carriers that you already have enabled, as well as any carriers that the optimiser has calculated could save you money. The carriers that the optimiser recommends are labeled as Recommended, and any recommended carriers that you don't have enabled are tagged with New.
If you want to implement the changes that the optimiser recommends, click Update carriers to instantly apply the changes and update your carrier mix.
Using the shipping optimiser
To access the shipping optimiser, log in to your Shippit account, navigate to Insights, and click the Shipping Optimiser tab.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: You need to be logged in with head office or store administration permissions to use the shipping optimiser. The shipping optimiser works at a store level only.
The shipping optimiser can take a short while to load, as it is running calculations in the background. When it has finished loading, you are given the results of the calculations as a list of carriers.
Each carrier in the list is shown with these statistics:
The Avg. speed column shows the estimated average speed of each carrier, for the service level you have selected.
The Avg. on time column shows the estimated average of orders that this carrier delivers within their quoted time of arrival.
The Projected orders column shows the number of orders the optimiser predicts you would send through this carrier, if you use this particular carrier mix.
The Projected costs column shows the estimated total delivery costs for this carrier, if you use this particular carrier mix.
You can use the controls on this page to adjust the findings of the shipping optimiser, and determine additional savings that you can implement.
Use the Service level field to see how the carrier mix performs at different service levels. orders that contain specific search terms.
Use the Destination field to see how the carrier mix performs to different zones and regions.
Click View zones to see the postcodes included in each zone, or to search for a postcode to find out what zone it is in.
Use the Chargeable weight field to see how the carrier mix performs for different order weights. Because some carriers use volumetric weight, while others use deadweight, the shipping optimiser uses chargeable weight to compare carriers. For more information about how chargeable weight is calculated, see the Understanding misdeclarations article.
Use the Date range field to see how the carrier mix performs over different time periods. By default, the shipping optimiser uses the past thirty days of orders to analyse carriers. You can take into account a longer or specific period for the optimiser to recalculate using those orders instead.
If you want to implement the changes that the optimiser recommends, click Update carriers. You have an opportunity to review the changes before confirming. Additionally, you can always manually adjust your carrier mix by navigating to Settings → Carriers.
Update your carrier list
To take advantage of the savings proposed by the shipping optimiser, you can click Update carriers to accept the recommended changes. Usually, the changes are made immediately, and you can see and edit the updated carrier list by navigating to Settings → Carriers.
In some cases, you might get a warning before the changes are made. The possible warnings are:
Low volume
A low volume error occurs if one of the carriers you are enabling is predicted to service only a low proportion of your total orders. In this case, you might not be able to arrange regular pickups with the carrier. If you receive this error, you can still enable the carrier to take advantage of the cost savings, but you might need to arrange ad-hoc pickups instead of having a regular pickup time. Ad-hoc pickups can sometimes mean that you can only arrange a pickup every few days, so it could change your estimated delivery times for those orders.
High volume
A high volume error occurs if one of the carriers you are enabling is predicted to service a high proportion of your total orders. In this case, we might need to do some additional checks to ensure that the carrier you are enabling can accomodate the increased order volume. If you receive this error, you don't need to do anything. Our carrier operations team are automatically notified, and reach out to you directly, usually within 3-5 business days.
Serviceable areas
A serviceable areas error occurs if one of the carriers you are enabling can't service all of the regions that you ship to. This error is shown in an alert beneath the Projected orders column. If you receive this error, you can still enable the carrier to take advantage of the cost savings. When you ship an order to a region that isn't serviced by the new carrier, it is allocated to a different enabled carrier instead.
💡NOTE: You manually adjust your carrier mix at any time by navigating to Settings → Carriers.
Troubleshooting
This section contains information about some common issues you might encounter with the shipping optimiser. If you can't find an answer to your question here, get in touch with us using the chat in your Shippit account, or reach out to Shippit support.
A carrier I want to use isn't shown in the list
If a carrier you were expecting to see in the results is not showing, it could be because the carrier is not recommended by the optimiser, or because you haven't used the carrier within the period being analysed. You can manually enable the carrier by navigating to Settings → Carriers.
I accepted the optimiser suggestions and I didn't want to
You can manually adjust your carrier mix back to the way the were, by navigating to Settings → Carriers.