ShipEngine Launches Solution for Embedding Shipping Experiences Within Platforms

ShipEngine, a shipping application programming interface (API), has unveiled a new offering that allows eCommerce platforms to incorporate unified shipping directly within their own services.

By using the new ShipEngine for Platforms to embed pre-integrated shipping components, platforms can provide merchants with a shipping experience without the need for custom software development, the company said in a Tuesday (Aug. 29) press release.

Developing shipping functionality can be complex and expensive for platforms, requiring a team of developers, product managers and designers, as well as ongoing maintenance and customer support, according to the release.

Meanwhile, merchants using these platforms seek ways to streamline and enhance their shipping processes to meet the demands of online shoppers, the release said. Without integrated shipping functionality, platforms risk losing customers to external solutions for order fulfillment, shipping and delivery.

ShipEngine for Platforms offers seamless fulfillment and shipping capabilities, along with access to discounted rates, within the user experiences that merchants are already familiar with, per the release. This eliminates the need for customers to divert to external sources and allows platforms to strengthen their businesses at a lower cost than would be associated with developing an in-house shipping solution.

“By partnering with ShipEngine, platforms can enable turnkey shipping experiences directly within their own solutions, eliminate the complexities of creating in-house shipping functionality, and focus on helping merchants sell products and run their businesses,” Albert Ko, CEO of Auctane, parent brand of ShipEngine, said in the release.

ShipEngine for Platforms is powered by ShipEngine Elements, which are embeddable web components that enable businesses to add shipping features directly into their systems, according to the release. Features include address validation, rate shopping, shipping service selection and label printing.

PYMNTS research found that although fewer than one-third of retailers currently invest in automating their procurement systems, more than half said they are making plans to do so. Two-thirds of these retailers said they are investing in digital procurement technology to modernize their processes, according to “Digital Payments: Modernizing Procurement Processes,” a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration.

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