Shippo
Hi there! I'm Jose E. Ruano, the writer of The New Gazette. You are receiving this email because you signed up for it, a weekly newsletter about all things digital. Each time, a new story about a brand or person that is doing an amazing job on the internet. Thank you for being here. If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe by clicking the button below.
Hello again everyone,
First, I’m so sorry for disappearing two weeks, that meant two times without stories.I know, (shame!) but life goes in the way, work and other things got me overwhelmed, and couldn’t think (and write!) a nice story, Thankfully now I’m back.
For all of you, new and old, a little about me. I work as an e-commerce freelancer, which means you could hire my agency Rua Creative to help you create an online store or other digital projects you have in mind for your business.
Over the years of doing this, I have realized something, logistics can be the hardest thing to do in order to sell over the internet.
Designing the store, easy; market the store, easy; Shipping, Hard
Trying to find the right supplier, search for good rates, print labels, and then having an inventory to later send to your customers can give you serious headaches, and it will.
A lot of people have been involved trying to fix this problem but is there one place where you could go and help you with it?
The answer is yes, and it’s called Shippo
What is it?
Shippo is an American software company that helps e-commerce businesses, online marketplaces, and platforms integrate shipping with multiple carriers through their API and web application. Shippo allows users to compare shipping rates, create labels, generate international customs documents, return labels, and track parcels.
Some of their customers and partners include eBay, Freestyle Solutions, Tuft & Needle, Weebly, GoDaddy, Shyp, Mercari, Stripe, Sellbrite, and Snapfulfil.
History
Shippo was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. With +10,000 businesses reportedly using their system, the company sends millions of packages to and from 196+ countries around the world.
Shippo provides an API, web interface, as well as direct integrations with e-commerce platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, Magento, Bigcommerce, Weebly, GoDaddy, and Stripe. No matter which one you choose Shippo is there to help.
Shippo aggregates all of its customers’ packages through their own user or account with carriers to get discounted rates, which they then pass onto customers. They help businesses generate shipping labels, as well as support for address validation, multi-carrier support, API tracking, batch label creation, discounts, and international shipping, all within the same dashboard.
Shippo partners with supply chain management systems, as well as payment systems
Shippo started as an API then built their own app and dashboard for web platforms such as Shopify and Magento to grow.
Their vision for the company is
to provide small online businesses the same discounts that larger retailers would get with major carriers, such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL.
In March 2016, Shippo became a United States Postal Service ePostage partner alongside Amazon and Etsy, making them the first to launch ePostage for public access and one of the only publicly available USPS API connectors.
Shippo is often highlighted as part of studies in logistics and delivery methods.
Simon Kreuz and Laura Behrens Wu co-founded the company and Laura is the current CEO
Both are part of Forbes' 30 Under 30 2017 Enterprise Technology list. Wu was featured in the 2016 LinkedIn Next Wave: Top Professionals 35 & Under list.
Shippo participated in Plug and Play's StartupCamp in January 2014 and was part of 500 Startups Batch 8.
By December 2017, the company had a total of funding of $30 million, lead by Bessemer Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, and SoftTechVC.
Customers
Shippo over the years has grown to have thousands of stores using their products, from big names to small stores, all of them benefit from the easiness of the API and App.
How it can help you?
Whether you already have a store or are thinking of building one, Shippo could be a great partner for managing shipping work as it can be connected to your other providers.
You could focus on the bigger picture of your business and let them handle all of the other parts.
It has different plans that go from free to custom-made, depending on your needs.
I like how the company saw a problem and is trying to solve it using the digital world and tech as leverage.
Check them out and maybe it could help you.
Until next week,
Jose
Is there a topic or brand you think I should cover? Or a funny ad I can dissect? I’d love to hear from you! You can email me at hello@thenewgazette.co, respond to this email, or drop it in the comments
I have partnered with Buy Me a Coffee, so if you like my work, you can buy me one and share your thoughts by clicking the link below!
The New Gazette Presents
Andrea Hernández should be your go-to person if you want to learn about food and beverage trends. She has done amazing work with his newsletter called Snaxshot. Plus She’s from Central America as well as me.
Ilaria Urbinati, who is one of Hollywood’s top stylists launched a new men’s lifestyle website called Leo, in there you can learn incredible advice given by experts, go check it out here
XO is a one-stop for all your flying needs, they’re making the Uber of Flying, where you could get a plane at the exact moment you need, whether is for an emergency or you just don’t want to make long lines at the airport. How cool is that?