ShipStation first to bundle LTL into parcel shipping platform

ShipStation, a provider of multicarrier parcel shipping software, is offering e-commerce sellers the ability to also select and coordinate with less-than-truckload operators at pre-negotiated rates in one integrated platform, bringing to life promised benefits from ownership’s recent acquisition of freight brokerage Worldwide Express Group.

Few, if any, software-as-a-service companies that connect small-and-midsize merchants with parcel carriers offer a pallet-shipping solution.

“Most of those small companies don’t have enough volumes to do full truckload so their first need after parcel shipping tends to be LTL, which creates this natural linkage between LTL freight brokerage and parcel,” said Chris Wofford, the founder of Wofford Advisors LLC, a strategic advisory firm for the logistics sector.

In early June, private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquired WWEX Group and merged it with portfolio company Auctane, which provides shipping and fulfillment technology through brands like ShipStation, Stamps. com, Metapack and Packlink. The combined valuation of the companies is $12 billion.

WWEX Group companies include Worldwide Express, GlobalTranz, Unishippers, JEAR Logistics and BLX Logistics. WWEX is a UPS parcel reseller to small businesses, a segment the logistics giant has targeted for growth opportunities.

WWEX manages customer shipments flowing to UPS under a favorable contract and UPS takes over the account once a customer crosses a certain size. In addition to brokering parcels, WWEX gets rates from trucking companies and sells them to smaller shippers.

Companies like ShipStation manage e-commerce orders from checkout to delivery, providing the companies ability to select carriers based on rates, transit time and other features; create detailed picklists and batch shipping manifests; print shipping labels and track shipments. Manufacturers also use ShipStation.

Other companies that allow retailers to compare and access pre-negotiated discount rates with parcel carriers through software services include Shippo, EasyShip, Pirate Ship and Amazon’s Veeqo.

Management, in June, touted that the combined company — now operating under the name ShipStation Global — would allow customers to easily combine order management and parcel, LTL, truckload and global shipping services in a single interface, simplifying the process of managing logistics across multiple vendors.

WWEX has more than 75 LTL carriers in its network and more than 50 of them are accessible in the ShipStation ecosystem. ShipStation is now marketing the fully-enabled common workflow for parcel and LTL logistics.

Customers can access real-time LTL rates through ShipStation Global’s carrier network, create and manage LTL orders alongside parcel, track shipments, and manage invoicing across both modes, the company said in a news release on Tuesday. More product integrations are expected in the future.

“Freight was the missing piece for ShipStation customers, and now it’s here,” said Chief Product Officer Travis Rimel. “This isn’t just a new feature; it’s a foundation. Bringing freight and parcel data together lets us build smarter tools on top of it, so merchants can make better logistics decisions across their operations. And we’re just getting started.”

Shipping data is usually segregated between parcel systems, freight brokers and warehouse management systems. According to ShipStation, 78% of merchants surveyed this year already ship freight, and more than half manage it separately from their parcel operation, often through a broker or agent with no connection to their shipping software.

Data and operations spread across disparate systems makes it difficult for small and mid-sized shippers to fully understand the status of their inventory and efficiently manage shipments across multiple locations and carriers.

ShipStation said bringing freight and parcel data into a single system empowers small and mid-sized shippers with the same management tools available to large enterprises.

“The thesis of the combination is making it a lot easier for these small, midsize businesses to buy transportation across a number of modes” and manage their outbound supply chain, said ShipStation Global CEO Tom Madine, in a video interview.

“If you’re an e-commerce merchant and you’re selling goods through a Shopify store, an eBay store, TikTok, Walmart, you’ve got all these different channels that you’re selling through. And you’ve got your inventory and God knows how many places — maybe your own garage or a 3PL (third-party logistics provider).

How do you manage all of that, keep it all connected, and then also manage the carrier flow so that you can import orders from all these sources?” he explained.

“We’ve got a lot of intelligence that we built into our systems so that people can choose across any array of variables to choose the right carrier and then have it all managed in that single pane of glass.” Legacy ShipStation’s core customer base is small-and-midsize merchant