Top 6 Reasons to Integrate a USPS® Approved PC Postage® Provider.

For ecommerce retailers, gaining access to the United States Postal Services is an essential part of their business. Here’s why: In many cases, USPS provides the most cost-effective rates for delivering smaller packages to residential addresses. What’s more, USPS can deliver to every doorstep, every day. Consequently, e-tailers who don’t use USPS often pass along the higher shipping costs to their customers. These higher shipping costs can create an obstacle at checkout, jeopardizing the sale.

Many e-tailers depend on third party software to manage their ecommerce operations. APIs (application programming interface) are an integral component to this software because they enable e-tailers to easily manage their inventory across channels, process payments and gain seamless access to carriers such as USPS.

There are many practical and profitable reasons to integrate a USPS approved PC Postage Provider in your ecommerce software. Here are my “Top 6”:

  1. Provide your e-tailers with more carrier options. Each major carrier (USPS, UPS®, FedEx®) has its particular strengths. Enabling e-tailers to access them all in a single, convenient system is a considerable advantage. As mentioned earlier, USPS is one of the most cost-effective carriers when shipping packages to residential addresses. What’s more USPS Priority Mail® offers 2-3 day delivery to domestic addresses. That means developers who use the Pitney Bowes Parcel Service API can allow their e-tailers to promise a “3-Day Delivery Guarantee” to all continental U.S. addresses, a compelling added value at no extra charge.

    Get up to a 140% increase in processing speed. See how an industry leader in global parcel shipping gained far greater efficiencies by integrating a Pitney Bowes Parcel Service API.

  2. Give your e-tailers additional delivery and fulfillment options. E-tailers love having more choices to do more business. Look for PC Postage Providers who can provide access to additional services, such as fulfillment, cross-border shipping and even a selection of payment and funding methods. Case in point, the Pitney Bowes Parcel Service API excels in all these areas. Simply put, when evaluating PC Post Providers, make sure you – and your e-tailers – are getting the variety of services and flexibility you need for shipping and payment.


  3. Gain additional revenue streams to generate greater profits. When you integrate Pitney Bowes Parcel Service APIs, you can negotiate financial incentives and revenue sharing. Our rates are among the most competitive in the business. For developers who drive significant label volume, this is particularly motivating. The more labels printed through your system, the more revenue you’ll receive.


  4. Take full advantage of the latest technology. There are two technology choices for building APIs: SOAP and REST. You’ll find that RESTful technology, used by Pitney Bowes, requires less bandwidth, so it’s more efficient for internet usage. What’s more, most experts agree that REST is easier to integrate. In fact, one developer implemented his Pitney Bowes Parcel Service API in less than 24 hours.


  5. Expand your international reach. At some point, most e-tailers begin to see their domestic sales level off. They quickly realize the need to sell and ship items around the world. Often, US-based e-tailers first expand to selling in English-speaking countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Be prepared for this development. Make sure your API provider offers the technology to ship to these countries. Pitney Bowes, for example, was recently ranked #1 ranking in the International Ecommerce Services category.1 Another good question to ask is whether your provider can handle returns from countries, such as Canada. Pitney Bowes can.


  6. Have a backup provider on hand as a contingency. Redundancy is vital when your e-tailers expect your APIs to be functioning 24/7. The hard reality is that all PC Postage Providers will suffer downtime at some point. That’s why it’s imperative to have a backup API readily available. Otherwise, you’ll leave your e-tailers without service. Integrating an alternative API solution gives you the flexibility to switch to a secondary provider during these unexpected outages.

There are many more reasons to integrate a USPS® Approved PC Postage® Provider. If you’re interested, I’d welcome the chance to discuss them with you. Get in touch and learn how we can help you integrate success.

Integrate a Pitney Bowes Parcel Service API in as little as 24 hours. Get generous financial incentives, improved efficiencies, greater stability and higher e-tailer satisfaction. See how easy it is.

Author:
Based in San Carlos, California, Ben Ocken is a data-driven marketing and business development professional with 14+ years of hands-on experience in social media, production and content creation. His ecommerce background includes extended stints at Pitney Bowes as well as Endicia, a Stamps.com company.

1. Internet Retailer’s 2019 Leading Vendors to the Top 1000 E-Retailers report.