One of the most difficult parts of scaling your ecommerce business is building a fulfilment process that can keep up with increasing order volume. When you first start your ecommerce business, you might be able to get by self-fulfiling orders, but what about when you start expanding into new markets?

Many United States-based businesses want to ship to large Canadian cities like Edmonton, but don’t have the time, patience, or expertise to handle international fulfilment.

Then, there’s the fact that US-based businesses face higher shipping costs to Canada because of customs and import duties, along with extended delivery times. Canadian-based customers end up spending more and waiting longer for their order to arrive, compared to ecommerce businesses with fulfilment centres located in Canada. 

If you want to ship to Edmonton from the US and still offer your customers affordable shipping, you need a distribution footprint in Canada. ShipBob is a third-party logistics (3PL) company that can provide that, and much more.

ShipBob operates fulfilment centres across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. ShipBob merchants can can split their inventory across multiple fulfilment centres to reduce shipping costs and lower transit times. 

For international shipping, no need for each package to go through customs — just bulk ship your ecommerce inventory to one of our international fulfilment centre locations and we can ship it from there for lower costs and faster deliveries. 

“We have seen that Canadian customers order more when they know the order ships from within Canada and they do not need to worry about additional taxes if the order comes from the US. From our history through the years with ShipBob, it was a no-brainer to expand into other markets with them knowing that they have done their due diligence to meet the ShipBob standard.”

Marc Fontanetta, Director of Operations at BAKblade

Order fulfilment in Edmonton

Getting setup with ShipBob is easy. Once your store is synced to your ShipBob dashboard, orders are automatically sent to the closest fulfilment centre where inventory is stored. Here’s how it works:

• First, sync your store with ShipBob’s technology. 
• Then, choose which ShipBob fulfilment centres you’d like to use and ship your inventory.
• Every order placed through your online store is automatically sent to us, and our pros take care of the pick, pack, ship process for you. 
• Once the order is shipped, tracking info is sent to you and the customer. From there, you have full visibility into the order management, so you can view and track order status in real-time. 

Track orders throughout the fulfilment process

With ShipBob, you can filter orders by status and where they are in the fulfilment process. This helps you get a quick overview of all orders that require action and make changes to your orders post-purchase.

Manage inventory virtually & set reorder points

No more time spent digging around in unorganised warehouses trying to find the right product to ship. ShipBob’s technology comes with built-in inventory management. You can add and remove products with ease, view inventory counts at each fulfilment centre, and set reorder points so you’re notified when you need to reorder products.

Use data to optimise your supply chain

ShipBob offers a free analytics and reporting tool with charts and deeper insights to help you with everything from year-end reporting, to better supply chain optimisation and decision-making.

Get questions to answers like:

• Which states do I ship the most orders to?
• Which orders haven’t been delivered yet?
• How much inventory do I currently have on hand at each ShipBob fulfilment centre?
• What were my historical stock levels at any point in time in any location?
• How many days do I have left until a SKU will be out of stock?
• By when do I need to reorder inventory for each product?
• What is the average cart value and shipping cost by shipping method and order?
• How much money would I save on shipping if I changed the fulfilment centre locations my inventory is in?
• And much more

Why ShipBob is the best choice for ecommerce businesses shipping to Edmonton

ShipBob supports US-based businesses looking to grow their customer reach in Canada. With inventory distribution capabilities, ShipBob merchants are able to reduce the number of shipping zones a package must travel through to reach its destination and every order won’t have to go through customs.  This will benefit your bottom line in a number of ways. Here are a few examples. 

Improve your conversion rates

Shipping cost and speed play a huge role in online purchasing decisions. Put simply, customers are less likely to order, or likely to spend less, if they see shipping options that are too expensive or too slow. 

ShipBob offers Amazon-level fulfilment speeds and reduced shipping costs to stay competitive. One of our partners, razor brand BAKblade, found that storing stock locally in Canada encouraged Canadian customers to purchase more.

“As we expand our online presence into Canada, both directly and selling through Walmart, we knew we needed a trusted fulfilment partner with a physical presence in Canada. We have seen that Canadian customers order more when they know the order ships from within Canada and they do not need to worry about additional taxes if the order comes from the US. From our history through the years with ShipBob, it was a no-brainer to expand into other markets with them, knowing that they have done their due diligence to meet the ShipBob standard.”

Marc Fontanetta, Director of Operations at BAKblade

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Boost delivery speed

Every business wants to offer affordable two-day shipping, but it can be a challenge to offer without the right infrastructure in place. ShipBob can help you speed up delivery times with keeping shipping costs low.  

Bathorium, a luxury bath brand, significantly increased their shipping speed while also reducing shipping costs by a whopping 70%, making a huge difference to their bottom line. 

“We’ve seen a reduction of 70% on shipping costs in the US, which helps keep conversions high. When we joined ShipBob, only 20% of our customers were in the US. By the end of the year, that number will be around 40%.”

Greg MacDonald, CEO & Founder of Bathorium

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Turnaround orders faster than ever

Many ecommerce merchants suffer from lag-time between when an order is placed and when it’s shipped out. This can slow down the entire fulfilment process. With ShipBob, orders are forwarded automatically to our fulfilment centre and our pros get to work right away, so there’s minimal lag time. 

Doris Sleep, a luxury pillow brand, partnered with ShipBob and we were quickly able to increase their turnaround time so that 99.7% of orders placed before noon ship the same day. 

“An hour after ordering, he had already received an email saying his order had shipped. If I was fulfiling orders myself, it would have taken me much longer. This was the perfect example of ShipBob working how it should, automatically sending tracking info and giving my customers everything they needed.”

Tracey Wallace, Founder of Doris Sleep

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Is it time for your business to use a 3PL?

A 3PL can help ecommerce businesses at various stages of growth and resolve numerous fulfilment-related problems. Almost every ecommerce merchant struggles with some part of order fulfilment, and these problems can hinder your growth and distract you from running your business. Here are some common scenarios that might indicate it’s time to outsource fulfilment:

• You want to expand to Edmonton (or the rest of Canada) but don’t think customers will pay a premium on shipping. 
• You don’t have enough storage space for your expanding inventory.
• Orders are increasing and your fulfilment team is overburdened. 
• You spend too much time and energy on fulfilment.

Ready to get started with an international 3PL? Fill out the form below to request a quote from ShipBob. A fulfilment expert will be in touch to discuss custom pricing and how ShipBob works.

Other nearby places we ship to

Leverage our network of fulfillment centers to strategically split and manage your inventory to reduce shipping costs and transit times.

• British Columbia
• Calgary
• Halifax
• Hamilton
• Kitchener
• London (Canada)
• Montreal
• Ontario
• Oshawa
• Ottawa
• Quebec
• Vancouver
• Windsor
• Winnipeg

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