The U.S. and global economy entered a recession in 2008, you are probably already feeling the impact or have concerns about its scope.  Costs are up and consumer spending is down.  Many online merchants and their manufacturers and distributors are growing concerned about 2009 sales.

Online sales to see growth during recession

Reports on the e-commerce market by Forrester Research and others indicates that e-commerce is one of the very few markets with growth expectations in 2009 and beyond.  (Forester Research, Feb. 2008, The Outlook for U.S. E-commerce 2008 and beyond).  Forrester is projecting e-commerce revenue will grow from $204B to $335B by 2012.  Forrester believes online sales will continue to grow through the recession due to accelerating shifts in consumer buyer patterns.  For example, buyers are shopping online to lines and malls, shopping for online sale promotions and liquidations and online buyers having deeper wallets.

How to grow in 2009 and beat the recession

Manufactures, distributors and online retailers need to take steps early in 2009 to see growth during the 2009 recession year.

Things you should do now and how Shipwire can help you do them.

• Leverage Technology
• Reduce Costs
• Enter New & International Markets
• Supercharge Distribution

Please read on to learn how Shipwire helps you take advantage of the items above and can help you reach your sales goals in 2009.

Shipwire Free Trial

Shipwire is your secret weapon

Shipwire allows you to quickly eliminate the hassles of inventory storage and shipping so that you can focus on growing your business.  Spend less time in the warehouse and more time selling products.

• How Shipwire works
• Case Studies and press articles about merchants using Shipwire to grow
• Pricing
• Sign up for a free trial

Shipwire offers the industry’s leading warehousing and order fulfillment solution.  Your free trial gives you access to the Store-Sell-Ship™ platform.  Be able to immediately store inventory in a global warehouse network, connect your warehouse with leading shopping carts, payment systems and drop ship distribution networks.  Pay only when actually store or ship product with Shipwire.

Read on to learn more about how Shipwire technology can help businesses of all sizes rise above the current global recession and grow:

• Reduce costs on inventory storage and shipping
• Grow into new markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe
• Supercharge your distribution supply chain
• Success based e-commerce, only pay for what you use.

“The key factor for me is, I don’t want to have worry about the order,” Chernoff says. “With Shipwire, when somebody places an order on the Website, I get an e-mail showing that the order has come in, and I can see that we have the item in stock and I know when it’s going to get shipped out. I don’t have to worry about the payment – because their system integrates with PayPal and I get paid immediately – and also I don’t have to worry about which shipper I’m going to use to get the best rate or fastest delivery – they handle all of that for me.”

Chernoff … discovered a new third-party logistics company geared for small businesses called Shipwire. For a monthly fee, Shipwire warehouses SkyRoll’s merchandise in its Chicago facility (one of six mega facilities Shipwire operates) and fulfills orders nationwide from there. Once the merchant’s manufacturer gets the shipments to the warehouse, Shipwire handles everything from order fulfillment to payments to shipping to order tracking.

Shipwire works with all the major carriers, including FedEx, UPS and the USPS, to secure the best rates for air and ground shipping. If a customer doesn’t specify how a package is to be shipped, Shipwire uses the most economical method based on current rates and least cost routing.

“Simplification is a big thing for me – and this makes the whole thing of running a supply chain very simple,” Chernoff says, adding that it typically only takes a day for an order to get shipped out of Shipwire’s Chicago warehouse. Read more

Enhanced Program Presents Revenue Opportunity for E-commerce Software Developers and Shipping Affiliates

Supply chain logistics and transportation is a fragmented multi-billion dollar industry that has not traditionally catered to small and medium sized e-tailers. One piece of the puzzle, order fulfillment, is particularly time consuming and complex for businesses to manage independently. Recognizing this opportunity, Shipwire, a leading e-commerce order fulfillment service and transportation logistics company, provides the e-commerce community with tools to offer shipping and fulfillment as a value-added service via the Shipwire Shipping Affiliate Partner Program.

Since launching the Shipping Affiliate Partner Program in December 2007, more than 150 developers and e-commerce partners have built applications on top of the Shipwire Fulfillment Web Services platform; extending the functionality of their shopping carts, inventory management tools and business applications. To support its growing community, Shipwire today announces enhancements and additional shipping web services for its shipping partner program, including APIs and XML testing tools that allow independent software developers to add transparency to the shipping process, reduce customer support costs and increase data communications between e-commerce applications. Participation in the program is free and unlike UPS affiliate , FedEx affiliate and USPS affiliate programs, offers long-term commission earnings each time a merchant ships through Shipwire.

“The shipping and order fulfillment process was long seen as the dreaded last mile of the e-commerce process for small-to-medium sized businesses—full of hassle, costs and labor-intensive steps,” said Nate Gilmore, vice president at Shipwire. “Shipwire turns that reputation on its head; transforming order fulfillment into a streamlined process and an opportunity for cost savings, revenue and market growth. The enhancements to the program provide e-commerce partners with a shipping and fulfillment web services toolkit to save hassles, time and money while enabling international sales growth and greater shipping status transparency for online buyers.”

In 2008, Shipwire merchants averaged a 32 percent reduction in per-item parcel shipping costs by leveraging Shipwire’s multiple warehouses to ship goods shorter distances to end buyers. Shipwire merchants also continued to grow international sales in 2008. Leveraging Shipwire warehouses in Canada and the U.K., in Q3 2008 Shipwire merchants were able to dramatically reduce international shipping costs while expanding international orders to 15 percent of total volume, up from 9 percent in Q2 2008. By partnering with Shipwire, the e-commerce community for the first time is able to establish a significant long-term revenue channel while solving merchant challenges such as rising shipping rates, international fulfillment complexities and expanding into new growth markets while lowering customer support costs.

Integrations Deliver New Revenue and Market Opportunities

When partners integrate with Shipwire they can now leverage new Shipwire Fulfillment Web Services features including: a multi-carrier shipping rate API, enabling shopping cart providers to integrate selected parcel shipping rates directly into the checkout process. Developers choose specific carriers and merchant inventory locations from Shipwire options, or opt in for the Merchant Package Service, which provides the best shipping rate available by matching shipping preferences pre-selected by the merchant. Shipwire offers shipping rates and integration with parcel and freight carriers including UPS, FedEx, USPS, Canada Post, Royal Mail, FedEx freight, Eurotrux, and Parcel Force.  An additional Web fulfillment service feature adds inbound receiving APIs so that inventory management systems can inform Shipwire of inbound inventory and anticipated receiving times.

Shipwire also introduces enhancements to existing Web services including:

• Order fulfillment web services API: Includes retrieval of detailed order status and scripted cancellation and manipulation of orders.
• Inventory Web services API: Allows for product export, product attribute manipulation and scripted reporting of “pending” and “shipped” counts as well as anticipated ship date for back orders.
• Tracking Web services API: New calls for whether a package has shipped and pending ship dates, as well as more detailed status updates available via API.

While each partner integration is unique, these examples illustrate how the Web services developer community is leveraging the Shipwire partner program to find new revenue opportunities and facilitate merchant success:

Leveraging Shipping to Increase Merchant’s Bottom Line: Shopify delivers to retailers the tools to design and build a successful e-commerce store that attracts and retains customers.  Shopify integrated with the Shipwire API to improve the internet-delivered application for its increasingly savvy e-tailor customer base; adding order submission, inventory control and shipment tracking. “Since releasing the Shipwire integration we have seen very favorable merchant response including many signups to the service and we have received thousands of dollars in partnership commissions from Shipwire,” says Shopify CEO Tobias Leutke. “We are now able to help merchants control shipping costs and save time and hassles—all they do to ship an order is click a button in the Shopify interface. With Shipwire, we have a powerful new revenue stream for the entire Shopify community.”

Going Global with Proven Shipping Infrastructure: Zen Cart, a free open-source shopping cart software provider, needed a shipping solution that was on-demand and scalable for Zen Cart merchants who wanted to extend into international markets.  According to Zen Ventures, LLC’s CEO Kim Elliott, “Shipwire allowed us to quickly enter the order fulfillment market and offer a leading solution to Zen Cart users with virtually no time investment. Many international merchants use Zen Cart and many more want to sell internationally.  We estimate that 25 percent or more of our users are in need of local or international order fulfillment and the Shipwire Zen Cart module makes this a reality by enabling orders to be manually or automatically sent to Shipwire for fulfillment out of warehouses in the U.S., Canada and the UK.”

Delivering on the Last Mile for Successful E-Commerce Order Fulfillment: Solid Cactus provides e-commerce design, order management, and Internet marketing for 3,000 e-commerce stores, but was missing the last mile—order fulfillment. “Merchants had repeatedly asked us to add an order fulfillment solution, and once we launched our new online order management solution, we immediately looked to Shipwire as a partner,” says Kurt Illian, vice president of business development. “There’s real feedback and insight into delivery times with Shipwire. Plus, the partner team gave us the marketing and sales support to confidently recommend the service to all our merchants.”

Monetizing Shipping Opens Up New Services for Miva Merchant’s Customers: Miva Merchant, a shopping cart software and Web design service to small businesses for over a decade, recently partnered with Shipwire to offer affordable fulfillment services to an array of small merchants. According to Rick Wilson, executive vice president, “The Shipwire partner program allows us to release our entire e-commerce software module at no cost to the merchant. Coupled with Shipwire’s free trial, a Miva Merchant customer can test out the entire service package without any investment or risk whatsoever.”

Further details about these integrations and additional program information are available at http://www.shipwire.com/partner.

###

About Shipwire (http://www.shipwire.com)
Shipwire provides growing e-tailers with e-commerce order fulfillment services powered by a global warehouse network and its Store-Sell-Ship™ platform. Shipwire eliminates the hassle of storage and shipping, so merchants can focus on growth. With warehouses in Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the UK, Shipwire allows merchants to drastically reduce shipping costs by locating inventory closer to buyers. Usage-based plans start at just $29/month, and enable merchants to locate inventory in all warehouses, with no contract commitments. Shipwire is the only warehouse logistics service that instantly integrates with shopping carts and inventory management systems. Shipwire is developer and partner friendly; learn more about our shipping affliate partner program or get our outsourced e-commerce order fulfillment guide at http://www.shipwire.com/partner.  Stay up to date with our shipping fulfillment blog.  Print online postage USPS. For a free trial or more information, contact 1-888-SHIPWIRE or visit http://www.shipwire.com/trial.

Contact: Press (at) shipwire (dot) com

Each webinar is live and conducted by our Merchant services team so that participants can ask questions and further their understanding of order fulfillment a la Shipwire. The typical “Getting Started” webinar will to go over:

• Account basics
• Creating your product catalog - retail and wholesale considerations
• Creating an Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) - tell the warehouse what products are arriving
• What are “Sell” tools? Using Shipwire with Shopping Carts
• Order entry and getting shipping quotes,edit orders
• History
• Storage and shipping preferences and settings
• Help and Solutions Center, Contacting Support

Webinars will be every other Wednesday in January and February of 2009. Bookmark this page for call in details or contact Shipwire sales at info (at) Shipwire.com.

• Wednesday, January 7th at 11am PST
• Wednesday, January 21th at 11am PST
• Wednesday, February 4th at 11am PST
• Wednesday, February 18th at 11am PST
• Wednesday, March 4th at 11am PST
• Wednesday, March 18th at 11am PST

To join the next conference please keep the following information.

1.  Please join our meeting.  Meeting ID: 510-887-740
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/510887740

2.  Join the conference call:
a. Dial your access number: 1 866 341 1830 (toll free) or 1 334 323 1815 (International)
b. Enter your MEETING NUMBER: *7176588* preceded and followed by the * key

We look forward to speaking with you.  Please bring your questions for Shipwire to answer.  To ask a question simply type it into the chat window.

If there are changes to timing or log-in information we will post them on this page.

If what you are spending a dollar ($) on is not bringing in business or the most efficient use of that dollar you need to look at how to spend smarter.  The most obvious example is advertising. if you’re advertising on offline magazine and newspaper ads and can’t tell whether buyers are visiting your site or buying your products based on that advertisement, it is probably time to reexamine whether Pay-Per-Click advertising is a better fit because it is tracked and audited.

Reduce your supply chain IT, warehousing and shipping costs

Like advertising, you can turn your supply chain IT, warehousing and shipping spend into a cost that is variable on your business success.  This will help protect you in the event of reduced sales or a seasonal lulls in sales.

The traditional model for warehousing and supply chain involves an excessive amount of “Sunk Costs”.  These are costs that you have to spend regardless of how much you sell, examples include warehouse space, warehouse management software, security, pallet jacks or a forklift, insurance and to some extent warehouse staff.

Shipwire eliminates these costs.  Shipwire provides storage on demand - you pay only for what you use and the effective rate is much lower than the traditional warehouse.  Read the INC.com article about how Keetsa, Inc used Shipwire to save 35% over a traditional warehouse.

Eliminate sunk costs and recession proof your business

Critical to surviving in this economy is ejecting sunk costs from your business.  In the Keetsa case study above you learned that riding your business of the anchor that a warehouse can be will actually free your business to be more nimble and efficient.

With Shipwire you pay only for the storage you actually use and the orders you actually fulfill.  Eliminate or turn the following suck costs into variable costs based on actual sales.

• Warehouse lease (Eliminated.  Only pay per foot for actual used space)
• Warehouse insurance (Eliminated.  Included at no extra cost)
• Warehouse security (Eliminated.  Included at no extra cost)
• Warehouse IT (Eliminated.  Included at no extra cost)
• Warehouse employees (Eliminated.  Replaced with per order shipping cost)
• Warehouse infrastructure (Eliminated)
• Shipping Packaging (Eliminated.  Included.)
• Customer Support (Reduced through automation)
• Per order shipping cost (Reduced, see below)

Outsourcing your fulfillment and position your business to thrive in the new global economy.

Reduce shipping costs

Apart from getting great carrier shipping rates, Shipwire can help you greatly reduce your actual per order shipping costs.  We do this by offering you geographically diverse warehouses around the world to store and ship product - you store inventory closer to buyers allowing you to get product into their hands faster and for less money.

To see this in action look at our Shipping Savings Calculator.  Just click on “Calculate Savings” on the Shipwire pricing page.

When you move product in bulk (large quantity versus individual parcel), you get the greatest economies of scale and the lowest cost. When product inventory is moved in bulk from consolidation points (manufacturer and freight forwarding short-term storage), to distribution points (warehouses) it can be moved very cost effectively on a per-item basis. The most expensive part of retail fulfillment is the last leg of the products journey – from your warehouse to the end-buyer – that is typically a parcel shipment with a major carrier rather than freight.

Let’s look at a very simple example, a 10-lb. parcel shipment from a New York City warehouse to a residence in Los Angeles. If your warehouse is in New York, your cost for a normal ground shipment to the residence in LA would be approximately $12.66 (ground, with residence fee and fuel surcharges). If you need to get it there via next-day air it would be approximately $81.00. If you put some of your inventory in a warehouse in Los Angeles, your cost for that same package would be $8.39 (ground, with residence fee and fuel surcharges). If you had to get the product to the customer the next day, it would be the same $8.39 fee.

Carrier pricing is a factor of distance and speed. If you strategically place inventory in multiple locations, you can increase your service delivery speed and reduce costs. Granted, in this example we saved a little over $4.00. However, if you’re doing 100 shipments a week you would be saving over $1,500 monthly just on shipping. You just saved roughly one-third of your shipping costs while increasing your service levels.

Reduce shipping costs by strategically place inventory closer to the end-buyer, and always shorten the last leg of the parcel delivery by the carriers.  Shipwire allows you to do this.

• Attract buyers
• Close orders
• Cost effectively send product
• Respond to support
• Handle returns

Attracting buyers and closing orders is what online retailers do exceedingly well.  That said, many merchants are only efficient at the physical delivery and support aspect of their business in a very small geographic area where they have a warehouse footprint.

Shipwire allows a retailer to quickly enter markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe and cost effectively ship product, automate customer communication on ship status and handle returns.  We offer warehouses in Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the U.K. so that merchants can get inventory closer to buyers and ship orders via low cost parcel carriers.

Enter new markets with Shipwire

• U.S., Canada and Europe
• Store product locally
• No more international parcel shipments
• Handle returns locally, no more expensive international returns
• Reduced shipping costs
• Reduced parcel delivery times

Shipwire helps growing retailers grow in more ways.  To learn more about how we can help supercharge your store front or distributor plese continue to read this tutorial and offer.

Automate your shopping cart

Don’t waste money on custom engineering integrations.  Shipwire connects with the most common shopping carts available.  See our list of compatible shopping carts.

Automate your business order fulfillment.  Each time an order closes out of your shopping cart, Shipwire will be notified.  We will pick, pack and ship your order.  Once shipped you can have us notify your buyer that it shipped and what the shipping tracking number is as well as sync new inventory counts with your shopping cart.

Marketplaces

When you sell online you have to put products where buyers are.  Shipwire can get you access to:

• eBay
• Amazon Seller Central Fulfillment
• Paypal
• Google
• More added all the time

Drop Ship/Direct Ship

Are you ready to have thousands of retail merchant sell your products?  You provide a wholesale price and an MSRP, online retailers will market and sell your products.  When sold, Shipwire will pick, pack and ship your orders.

With Doba and Shipwire you get a network of web retailers to sell your products.   Learn how to enable drop ship for your business.

• Get 50 orders fulfilled as part of our free trial
• Get a free sales consultation
• Get started with no cost

Free Trial Includes

The Shipwire order fulfillment Free Trial will allow you to fully trial the Store-Sell-Ship™ platform with no risk or hassles. Benefits include:

• 100% free. No credit card needed - only a valid email address.
• Completely connect Shipwire with your Web site or Web store. Shipwire Compatible Ecommerce Tools.
• End-to-end test any Shipwire warehouse (Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver or UK)
• Store and ship up to 6 products (paying only Shipping charges)
• Upgrade at anytime to one of our standard plans that start at $30/month for all warehouses.
• Get consulting and configuration assistance from Shipwire staff.
• Qualify for valuable Shipwire promotions

Sign Up for a Shipwire Free Trial Today

With Shipwire there are never any commitments, pay for what you use and you can cancel anytime.

Get a Free Consultation

Shipwire is committed to being your partner and helping you succeed. To prove it, we are willing to work with you to ensure that your business will be best served by working with Shipwire.

The purpose of this consultation is to:

• Answer any questions you may have about order fulfillment.
• Identify which products you can outsource fulfillment for.
• Understand how you want to grow your business.
• Better understand your supply chain, freight and logistics needs.
• Determine if Shipwire is the best fit for your business today.

To qualify for a free 30 minute consultation please sign-up for our free trial. You will get an e-mail from one of our team after you register. If it gets lost to a spam filter, please feel free to contact us to schedule your consultation.

Sign Up for a Shipwire Free Trial Today

Get 50 Order Fulfilled At No Cost

Shipwire would like to offer you a special promotion - Free Order Fulfillment.

Here is how it works:

• Sign up for a Shipwire Account (or upgrade from a free trial) after August 8th, 2008.
• Tell Shipwire that you want this promotion by submitting a support case through your account. (Please note that we will validate your qualification for the promotion via e-mail).
• Send us your inventory and start integrating your orders.
• We’ll process the first 50 orders from any warehouse in our network at no cost (you pay only Shipping). Yes, you read that right - Get 50 orders fulfilled by Shipwire out of any warehouse for Free.
• You have 90 days from your account creation date to use your 50 free orders. 3 whole months of free order fulfillment.
• This promotion is valid for orders shipping from all Shipwire warehouses.
• Other disclaimers below (Lawyers make us have them)

Contact a Shipwire Sales Representative to have your account credited. Make sure you tell them you are ready for “Step 5 of Holiday Success”.

Disclaimers: Each order includes 1 standard item pick or 1 Lick ‘n Stick™. Multi-item orders billed normally. Shipwire reserves the right to cancel or suspend this promotion at any time. Shipwire reserves the right to disqualify any merchant at its sole discretion. In no event will this promotion change or alter the Shipwire terms of services which all users are required to enter into to use Shipwire services. Promotion value will not exceed $100 in Shipwire services. Existing Shipwire merchants and users do not qualify for this promotion; this promotion is intended for new subscribers only.

This will be a live webinar conducted by our merchant services team to go over:

• Account basics
• Creating your product catalog - retail and wholesale considerations
• Creating an Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) - tell the warehouse what products are arriving
• What are “Sell” tools? Using Shipwire with Shopping Carts
• Order entry and getting shipping quotes,edit orders
• History
• Storage and shipping preferences and settings
• Help and Solutions Center, Contacting Support

Please learn about our Next Scheduled Webinar.

Welcome U.S. Postal Service Click-n-Ship® Customers.

Shipwire, Endicia® and the U.S.P.S. are working together to ensure you can print postage immediately.

Solution Overview

• Convenient. Print labels and schedule pickups online while sitting at your desk. Print on envelopes, labels or paper.
• Flexible. Print just the postage you need, when you need it. Print more anytime.
• Risk Free. No monthly, setup or cancellation fees.
• Affordable. Pay for postage with your credit card or use PayPal®. Never overpay for postage again.
• Fast. Instant approval with a valid e-mail address. Be printing postage in a couple clicks.

Get Started Now

• Shopsite automated ecommerce order fulfillment
  
• ShopSite warehouse fulfillment from the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
• ShopSite wholesale drop ship fulfillment
• ShopSite shipping quotes
• ShopSite international order fulfillment
• ShopSite USPS module
• ShopSite UPS shipping
• Much more

Follow any link for more information.  The module is free from Shipwire.  We look forward to working with you.

Shipwire merchants are now in full holiday swing.  One thing we are noticing is some merchants having intermittent problems with U.S. PS rate lookups and some label printing problems that rely on calls to the USPS rate lookup servers.

Shipwire customers that routinely use USPS please note that Shipwire is doing what it can to work around these USPS server issues.  For example, we are re-rating packages when we find the server responsive.  However, we are recommending that customers with timely shipping needs (1Day and overnight) or who need an immediate pricing quote use an alternate shipping method for critical shipments until these issues are resolved by USPS.

We hope to see this resolved shortly.

Here are a couple other reports of the problem as well:

Grinch who crashed the US Postal Server (funny post from somebody who has seen this multiple years now)

USPS API suffers massive outage.

USPS Shipping does not work.

Slashdot report on USPS Server meltdown

We hope our friends over at USPS get this resolved soon.  If you are a stamps.com user you may also be seeing rate look-up problems.

We will try and keep you updated.

Update:  Print USPS Shipping Labels at Shipwire.  Online label Printing.  Print Postage Online.

• oscommerce warehouse fulfillment from the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
• oscommerce wholesale drop ship fulfillment
• oscommerce international order fulfillment
• oscommerce UPS, FedEx, USPS, Canda Post, Royal Mail rate lookups
• Much more

Follow any link for more information. The module is free from Shipwire. We look forward to working with you.

Click the “Nominate us for the Crunchies” badge here:

If the badge above does not work, please do the following.

1. Go to the Crunchies 2008 site

2. type in “http://www.shipwire.com” in for the category “Best Enterprise”.

This only takes a moment to do (you don’t have to register) and you can vote EVERY day. Thank you from the whole Shipwire team.

“One bright spot for online retailers Schechter identified this holiday season is exporting. He says clients a year ago were shipping only 2% of orders internationally, but that figure is now up to 15%, spurring Shipwire to open warehouses in Toronto, Vancouver, and London. Davis of PayPal likewise says small businesses are increasingly selling globally, spurred in part by favorable exchange rates that make buying U.S. goods a bargain.” Read article.

For the first time, the U.S. Postal Service will be adjusting pricing for its shipping service at a different time than its mailing service.  Effective January 18th the USPS will raise rates on its Parcel Select by 5.9%, Express Mail by 5.7%, Priority Mail by 3.9% and International shipping by 8.5%.

UPS has also recently published 2009 rates with many increases.  UPS Ground rates will increase on average 5.9%, Air and International services will be increased 4.9% that consists of a 6.9% rate increase and a 2% fuel surcharge reduction.  If history is any guide, there may be further changes to fuel surcharges after the rate increases take effect.

These two rates come on the heels of FedEx rate increases in September.  FedEx Express rates will increase by 6.9% in January.  To date, we have not seen the new pricing table for FedEx ground 2009 rates.

This is on top of DHL exiting the U.S. shipping market.

Shipwire order fulfillment provides an alternative to carrier pricing increases.  Let us help you distribute inventory around the world and fulfill purchases to buyers from local warehouses.  True shipping cost savings.

Check out the Shipwire shipping affiliate program if you are interested in an alternative to a FedEx affiliate, USPS affiliate or UPS affiliate program.

Check the trackback links for some good commentary on the carriers financials and the impact of the slowdown.

DHL entered the U.S. market to do battled with the more established players (UPS and FedEx) when it bought Airborne Express in 2003.  DHL had previously committed to the U.S. market in early 2008; however, industry watchers saw the writing on the wall early in the year after a variety of reports surfaced about DHL outsourcing its air fright to UPS.

DHL’s exit from the U.S. market will likely not benefit the pocketbooks of most shippers.  DHL had carved out a small market as a low-cost carrier, with prices that routinely beat UPS and FedEX.  Lets hope that with the sluggish shipping market that UPS and FedEx adjust rates; however, recent rate increase notifications are a harbinger of what could be significant less competition.  For consistent users of DHL, analysts indicate that you should pay particular attention to service levels between now and January 30th.

For Shipwire users, we will be removing DHL as a shipping option and automatically presenting users with comparable DHL alternative shipping options to try and limit the business impact.  If you are a DHL affiliate maybe consider becoming a Shipwire shipping affiliate.

Redroller.com had positioned itself as a shipping 2.0 company.   That said, Entrepreneur wrote a nice article on Shipwire being a Shipping 2.0 virtual warehouse company.

If you were a Red Roller user, please note that you can get shipping rate comparisons inside the Shipwire free trial.  If you want to compare and print postage Shipwire “Print from my desk” can do that for you as well.

If you are a developer that wants to integrate shipping rates into your shopping cart or build a rate comparison tool please check out our parcel shipping rate web services API and XML toolkits.

We hope this helps.

“Shipwire removes the roadblocks to the simple, greener expansion of a business. They have multiple warehouses both in and out of the US, help you clear international hurdles with ease, don’t put you through a credit check, don’t ask for a large sum up front, and don’t require a long term commitment. It’s warehousing on demand.

It’s simple, really: Send your product to the warehouses you choose, sell them online the same way you always have, Shipwire processes the order, and you have happy customers. You have happy you, knowing you’re reducing your carbon footprint, responsibilities, and increasing space for you, mentally and literally.” Read the Article.

Shipwire CEO Damon Schechter discusses starting a business in the logistics and transportation industry with BusinessWeek.  Read article Also see the Shipwire shipping affiliate partner program.

Location: Sunnyvale, CA
more info: http://www.shipwire.com

Company Description:
Shipwire provides businesses with ecommerce order fulfillment services, powered by a global warehouse network and the Store-Sell-Ship™ platform. Shipwire eliminates the hassle of storage and shipping so merchants can focus on growth. With warehouses in Los Angeles, Nevada, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the UK. Shipwire allows merchants to drastically reduce shipping costs by locating inventory closer to buyers. Usage-based plans start at just $29/month and enable merchants to locate inventory in all warehouses with no contract commitments.

Do you know about 1 or more of the following?

- E-commerce: do you currently sell products online with your own webstore (or manage a webstore for somebody else)
- basic knowledge of PHP or HTML code
- Ex-military with logistics background
- supply chain experience
- shipping, freight
- web hosting
- warehouse management tools
- Importing or Exporting
- Retail (even just a sales associate)
- logistics
- how to use Small business online retail tools like eBay, Amazon, quickbooks, Google adwords, ecommerce web stores, paypal, etc
- Other experience that tell us you can talk to a customer and make them feel good about being our customer.
- Salesforce, SugarCRM or other CRM tools

If you feel you know about some of these, send us your resume. PLEASE highlight what you can do in the e-mail with your resume. Don’t make us dig it out of your resume, we will likely miss it.

Job Description:
We are looking for a support professional to be responsible for account management to work with existing customers and help our sales team with pre-sales support questions. We provide training, a great work environment a competitive salary with benefits and bonuses.

This position will be expected to perform articulate, professional, and knowledgeable cusotmer support and advocacy. Like all support some sales will be expected.

- Followup on support cases.

- Conduct research into cases and customer needs.

- Maintain close relationship with sales organization to increase chance of closure.

- Obtain thorough knowledge of company’s product solutions, case studies, and business value to help raise awareness with customers

- Call previously acquired customers to identify new opportunities and ensure customer satisfaction.

- Record all communication, sales and lead qualification activity into Salesforce.com CRM system.

Other Skills you should make us aware of in a cover letter:

- 1-5+ years of telesales experience in a high-tech, business-to-business environment with outbound cold calling and order closure.
- 1-5 year experience with a customer support team
- Proven track record of meeting and exceeding objectives.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication (oral & written) skills.
- Excellent knowledge of telemarketing best practices and proven qualification skills via phone.
- Proven comfort and skill to navigate through all levels of an organization, and dig into a customer’s business to help them improve their operations.
- 3-5+ years experience using online services, such as eBay, PayPal, shopping carts, Google AdWords and/or Facebook.
- Thorough understanding of an online store.

NO RELOCATION

Compensation: $35-70,000 base salary + Bonus. Compensation is based on earnings history and experience.

Local candidates only, no relocation (Sunnyvale, CA).

TO APPLY - Send resume and cover letter to: jobs.27 (at) shipwire (dot) com

“Small businesses have needed an easy-to-use Internet-delivered service that empowers them to enter new markets and grow sales,” states Hofmann. “Shipwire’s logistics platform gives merchants powerful shipping and order fulfillment tools as well as supply chain insight that solves major warehouse and shipping headaches for small- business merchants. ” Read the Article.

[The]“store, sell, ship” model…helps small companies compete globally with a level of shipping comparable to that of their largest competitors. That allowed one U.S. wind turbine company… to offer two-day delivery to its UK customers for the price of local ground transport. Read article.

“We chose the online warehouse and delivery service for its flexibility. I’d estimate that using Shipwire has saved us 35 percent versus the traditional warehouse option. Also, as a small business operating in a downturn economy, the fact that there are no annual commitments and pricing plan is flexible so didn’t have to marry ourselves to a certain agenda was a huge boon for us. If I tell a customer it’s going to be there in three days, I turn it over and they take care of the rest.” Read the Article. Read the Press Release.

Merchants Using Shipwire to Benefit from Hofmann’s 33 Years of Logistics and Supply Chain Expertise.

Sunnyvale, CA, September 29, 2008 Shipwire, Inc. today announced the addition of business-logistics industry veteran, Ivan Hofmann, to its advisory team in the role of logistics advisor to the Shipwire board and executive team. With 33 years of experience and success, Hofmann is a recognized leader in the $1.2 trillion business-logistics industry, having contributed significantly to its growth and development as president of RPS Inc. (Roadway Package System) and EVP and chief operating officer of FedEx Ground. Hofmann brings to the Shipwire team a deep expertise in business and small parcel ground shipping.

“Small businesses have needed an easy-to-use Internet-delivered service that empowers them to enter new markets and grow sales,” states Hofmann. “Shipwire’s logistics platform gives merchants powerful shipping and order fulfillment tools as well as supply chain insight that solves major warehouse and shipping headaches for small- business merchants. Similar to FedEx Ground, Shipwire empowers business owners with the tools to make complex logistics operations easy, even for the most time-strapped business owner. For retailers in growth mode, outsourcing their warehouse storage and order fulfillment to Shipwire lets them focus on growing their core business.”

Ivan Hofmann, retired chief operating officer of FedEx Ground, brings to Shipwire extensive expertise in logistics, transportation, warehouse distribution and shipping. Mr. Hofmann joins Shipwire after a successful 33-year career with transportation logistics companies that began in 1970 when he joined a national LTL carrier. Between 1973 and 1985 he held roles related to sales, logistics transportation, warehousing distribution services and district management with Roadway Express. In 1985 he became vice president of Operations of Roadway Package System Inc., the forerunner of Fedex Ground Inc. Promoted in 1990 to senior vice president of operations, he became president of RPS Inc. on January 1, 1993. During his tenure, the company reached significant sales and operations milestones, exceeding $1 billion in annual revenue and reaching 100 percent coverage of the North American market. With the acquisition of former RPS parent company Caliber System by FedEx in January 1998, Hofmann was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of FedEx Ground. After helping build FedEx Ground into a major competitor in the business-to-business and small-package shipping market, Hofmann retired from the company in 2004.

Damon Schechter, founder and CEO of Shipwire, and author of Delivering the Goods: The Art of Managing Your Supply Chain (Wiley, 2002) states, “Ivan Hofmann’s addition to our team has already proven to be a major benefit both to Shipwire and to the companies using our services. Ivan personally walks the floor of our business and provides hands-on advice, allowing us to provide a much better experience to our customers. His invaluable expertise will help us accelerate growth and continue our aggressive international expansion. Already, we’ve seen results in cost containment, volume shipping discount negotiations and strategic expansion.”

Hofmann states, “I’ve spent much of my career building scalable outsourced shipping operations for businesses. The Shipwire solution solves a major pain point for merchants focused on fast growth: how to scale warehouse and shipping services in line with sales without making a major investment. We intend to make Shipwire a major player in the global movement of goods—with aggregated buying power—by building a world-class shipping and warehousing solution, available on-demand to growing businesses.”

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About Shipwire (http://www.shipwire.com)
Shipwire provides growing e-tailers with e-commerce order fulfillment services powered by a global warehouse network and its Store-Sell-Ship™ platform. Shipwire eliminates the hassle of storage and shipping, so merchants can focus on growth. With warehouses in Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the UK, Shipwire allows merchants to drastically reduce shipping costs by locating inventory closer to buyers. Usage-based plans start at just $29/month, and enable merchants to locate inventory in all warehouses, with no contract commitments. Shipwire is the only warehouse logistics service that instantly integrates with shopping carts and inventorymanagement systems. Shipwire is developer and partner friendly; learn more about our e-commerce developer affiliate program. Get our outsourced e-commerce order fulfillment guide. For a free trial or more information, contact 1-888-SHIPWIRE or visit http://www.shipwire.com/trial.

Contact: Press (at) shipwire (dot) com

As transportation costs continue to skyrocket, so too does the cost of shipping your business inventory and ordering supplies…try fulfillment services.
For businesses that have far-flung customers but don’t have a distribution partner, fulfillment services such as Shipwire…offer small-business owners a place to stow their products close to customers. For instance, a small U.S. company with customers in Montreal might consider a fulfillment service to house its inventory in Canada. While these services typically charge a monthly fee, business owners can avoid some international shipping duties, customs brokerage fees and other shipping costs.
Read The Article.

E-commerce via Web fulfillment is another important supply chain consideration. Since this type of service directly impacts your end-consumer and holds a heavier weight on product loyalty, ensure that the provider can seamlessly integrate to your system. It should automatically receive orders for processing and return shipment info, including inventory levels in real time for accurate tracking. If the majority of your business hinges on e-commerce, consider technology that is synced with popular shopping carts offered by companies like Shipwire. Read the Article.

We know that users want to be able to quickly find relevant information when they needed it with minimal hunting. We recently modified our support interfaces to make it much easier to find information, build a library of helpful articles and make it easy to find order and shipping history when you need it. The new Help Center can be found by logging into Shipwire and clicking “Help” in the top right corner. New features include:

• Easier navigation
• Search box for common terms. You can also paste an order ID and search on it.
• Quick auto-populate search feature helps you find information fast.
• Bookmark “favorite” help articles to make them easy to find in the future.
• Submit a support ticket and view previous open and closed support tickets.

Let us know what you think by commenting on this blog post.

If you are new to order fulfillment we also recently posted a Guide to Order Fulfillment to answer common questions related to outsourcing order fulfillment. We also have a UK warehouse Guide for Importing into the UK. Additionally, we offer help for importing into Canada.

This image shows how you can quickly look up popular help topics by typing in keywords right in your account.

This image shows the Shipwire help center. You can see help documents, search for support by keyword and see your open and closed support cases.

Find Answers to Your Questions

• Enter your keywords in the Search box at the top of any page, and select a topic.
• Consult or print online Help Topics, by clicking on underlined phrases throughout the Shipwire application.
• Browse our documentation, by selecting topics from the tree to the left.
• Contact us, by clicking the orange Contact Us button at the top of this page.