How do ecommerce businesses automatically assign the right carrier and service level to each order?
Zenstores Automations lets you define rules based on weight, destination, delivery method, order tags and other criteria, so the right carrier and service level is applied to every order automatically, without anyone making a decision at dispatch.
Once you're shipping with more than one carrier, or offering more than one service level, every order becomes a decision. Is this one heavy enough to go on DPD rather than Royal Mail? Is the destination in a Scottish Highlands postcode that attracts a surcharge? Has the customer paid for express delivery? Done manually, those decisions slow dispatch down and leave room for error.
The errors are rarely obvious until they've already cost you something. A standard parcel going out on an express service means paying for speed the customer didn't ask for. An express order going out on a standard service means a complaint. Either way, the problem was a manual decision made under pressure at the point of dispatch.
Most businesses try to fix this with documented rules, carrier selection guides or a quick check before printing. But those controls depend on the person in front of the screen following them correctly every time. They work until they don't.
Zenstores Automations removes the decision entirely. You define the rules once, based on the criteria that matter to your operation, and Zenstores applies them automatically to every order that arrives. No manual carrier selection, no checking, no exceptions.
An order arrives in Zenstores from your sales channel
When an order comes in from Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay or any other connected sales channel, Zenstores pulls in the order details automatically. This includes the destination address, item weights, product tags and any delivery method the customer selected at checkout. All of this is available immediately for your automation rules to act on.
Zenstores Automations evaluates the order against your rules
Your automation rules run as soon as the order arrives. Zenstores checks each rule in sequence, weight thresholds, destination postcodes, delivery method, order tags, SKU values or a combination. The first rule that matches the order determines the carrier and service level assigned. Rules can be as simple or as granular as your operation requires.
The correct carrier and service level is assigned without any manual input
Once a rule matches, Zenstores assigns the carrier and service to the order automatically. There is no dropdown to select, no carrier guide to consult and no decision to make. If an order weighs over 2kg, it goes on DPD Next Day. If it is going to a Highlands postcode, it is routed to Royal Mail Tracked 48. The rule runs the same way every time.
You see the assigned carrier before the label is printed
Before printing, you can see the carrier and service level that has been applied to each order in the Zenstores dispatch queue. If something looks wrong, you can override it manually before the label is generated. This gives you a final check without making manual selection the default. Most orders will have been assigned correctly and need no attention at all.
The shipping label is printed and the order is dispatched on the correct service
With the carrier confirmed, Zenstores generates the shipping label and marks the order as dispatched. The sales channel is updated automatically. The order went out on the right service without anyone having to think about it.
We have been using Zenstores for a couple of years and it has made our picking and shipping of orders so much easier enabling us to use multiple couriers
Frequently asked questions
Can I set different rules for different sales channels or order types?
Yes. Zenstores Automations lets you build rules that apply to specific sales channels, product categories, order tags or a combination. An order from your own website might follow different routing logic to one from Amazon, and you can configure both within the same account. Rules run in sequence, so you can handle edge cases and exceptions without conflicting logic.
What happens if no automation rule matches an order?
If no rule matches, the order sits in your dispatch queue without a carrier assigned, so it is flagged for manual review rather than going out on the wrong service. You can then assign it manually or adjust your rules to cover that scenario going forward. Zenstores does not make a guess, it holds the order until someone makes an explicit decision.
Does Zenstores Automations work with all the carriers Zenstores supports?
Automation rules can be applied to any carrier connected to your Zenstores account, including Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, DHL and others. You can route orders to different carriers within the same set of rules, for example sending lightweight domestic orders on Royal Mail Tracked 48 and larger parcels on DPD Next Day. The full list of supported carriers is at zenstores.com/partners.
Remove manual carrier selection from dispatch
Zenstores Automations applies your routing rules to every order automatically, based on weight, destination, delivery method and order tags. Set the rules once and Zenstores handles the rest.
