Five questions every business should ask before choosing shipping software

If you’re shipping under 10 orders a day, Royal Mail Click & Drop, or shipping directly on Shopify, eBay, Amazon etc are all great options to get orders picked, packed and shipped. But as soon as volume increases - more orders, more carriers, more overseas demand - cracks appear fast.

• Labels start taking longer to generate
• Tracking doesn’t sync properly
• International orders turn into round the world trips in admin

And suddenly your “simple setup” is slowing the whole business down.

This is the exact tipping point when most ecommerce businesses start looking for an alternative. 

So if you’re hitting any of these pains, here are five questions every business should ask before choosing their next shipping platform, and what the right choice should make possible.

Can my shipping platform keep up as order volume grows - or is it already slowing us down?

When you’re a start up, any setup feels workable. But once you're clearing tens or hundreds of orders a day, the weaknesses show fast.

Here’s what growing merchants usually run into:

• Built-in shipping tools on Shopify, eBay, Amazon etc start feeling slow and restrictive
  They’re great for getting started, but you will hit limits around bulk processing, label generation and team workflows.
  
• Click & Drop creates bottlenecks
  Everything needs batching, exporting or manual input. What used to take minutes now takes hours. How many hours can you really spend entering weights in to book shipping?
  
• Older or “all-in-one” tools can’t keep up
  Tracking fails to upload, orders don’t sync back to Shopify, label generation times out and it always happens when you’re busiest.

Those delays compound quickly:

• Staff waiting for labels
• Orders slipping through cracks
• Pick & pack stalling
• Customers chasing orders you thought were shipped

When your software can’t keep pace, the whole operation feels sluggish.

What to look for

• Fast, reliable batch processing
• Bulk label booking
• Automated workflows that remove manual steps
• Syncing that holds up on your busiest days

Where Zenstores fits

Zenstores is built for busy days. You get instant label creation, automated workflows, reliable syncing, and a workflow that scales smoothly as you grow, without adding headcount or complexity.

Is my current shipping setup too basic, or too complicated?

There’s a frustrating middle ground many businesses fall into.

• Some tools are too basic
  Click & Drop or shipping on Shopify are brilliant when you’re small, but they don’t scale when you add carriers, increase order volume, or ship internationally.
  
• Others are way too complex
  Full ERPs, warehouse systems and “do-everything” shipping platforms look powerful, but they often introduce more work than they remove. You end up needing specialist training, endless configuration, and new processes for the whole team.

Most businesses don’t want “simple but limited” or “powerful but overwhelming.” You want something in the middle: fast, capable and easy for the team to pick up.

Where Zenstores fits

Zenstores gives you the power of advanced shipping software, with automation, batching, and multi-carrier support, without the bloat, endless training, or headaches. Zenstores is fast, intuitive, and built for growing ecommerce teams.

Will my shipping software actually make multi-carrier shipping easier, or are we stuck with workarounds?

The moment you add a second carrier - Evri for small parcels, DPD for express, DHL for international, your workflow can fall apart if your software can’t keep up.

Here’s what usually happens:

• Click & Drop locks you into Royal Mail only
• Amazon, Shopify, eBay etc only support carriers where they resell postage
• Some third-party platforms claim hundreds of carriers… but only a handful work properly

A good shipping platform should simplify multi-carrier shipping and not force you into workarounds, extra tabs and manual processes.

What to look for

• Approved, certified integrations with Royal Mail, Evri, Parcelforce, DPD, DHL, FedEx
• A consistent workflow across all carriers
• Easy carrier switching based on rules, weight or service

Where Zenstores fits

Zenstores brings all your carriers into one clean workflow. No hacks, no exporting, no toggling between systems. Just choose the service you need, or automate it, and ship.

Can my shipping platform handle international shipping without adding hours to our day?

International orders are where “simple” tools fall apart fast.

Customs forms, HS codes, descriptions, values, declarations - doing all this manually is slow, repetitive and error-prone. That’s why international processing is one of the top reasons merchants migrate off Click & Drop. 

What to look for

• Automatic customs form generation
• Stored product data (HS codes, descriptions, values)
• Proper international carrier support
• Accurate declarations that actually help parcels clear customs

Where Zenstores fits

Zenstores automates the international admin that other platforms leave to you. Customs forms, tariff codes, descriptions - it’s all handled in the background. 

You save hours a week, and your parcels get through customs cleanly.

Is it reliable, or will my shipping software create more problems than it solves?

A shipping tool can look perfect on paper… until you rely on it. Many merchants experience issues like:

• Slowdowns during peak
• Failed tracking uploads
• Downtime at the worst possible moment
• Integrations that drop orders or lose sync

You’ll see this pattern across Trustpilot and the Shopify App Store: “My <insert shipping software> was working great until it wasn’t.”

Reliability isn’t glamorous, but when you’re relying on tech to get your customer’s orders shipped, it’s everything.

What to look for

• Strong uptime and a transparent status page
• Consistent order importing and dispatching
• Rock-solid integrations
• Responsive support that actually helps you

Where Zenstores fits

Zenstores is engineered for reliability. We process millions of orders and handle the load so you don’t have to worry about slowdowns or sync failures. And if something ever does come up, you get fast, UK-based support, not a ticket queue or an AI guessing at answers.

Final thought

If you’re feeling the limits of Click & Drop, or your current shipping software, you’re not alone. Most growing ecommerce businesses hit the same issues:

• Slower workflows
• More carriers
• Increasing international demand
• Reliability problems
• Manual admin that no longer scales

Ask these five questions, and you’ll quickly see whether your current setup is helping you scale, or holding you back.

And if you want powerful, easy to use, and super reliable shipping software, built for growing UK businesses, Zenstores is ready when you are.