Why all online store owners should consider integrating with shipping aggregator Temando.

I usually keep blog postings non-commercial in the sense that I don’t mention the names of suppliers, partners of companies where we have a relationship. But I will break with convention in this article, due to the fantastic meeting we had with the team from Temando last week.

What Is Temando?

Temando is a shipping aggregator. In simple terms, they have integrated the rate cards of over 200 couriers around Australia into their platform. This allows their system to almost instantaneously find the cheapest courier in Australia between two points.  This is revolutionary because rather than calling 200 couriers to find the cheapest provider between Launceston and Kalgoorlie for a 3kg package, the Temando system can do this within 1 second.

How It Works With Websites

The Temando system can be integrated with e-commerce websites, so that when a user goes to checkout, the e-commerce store will automatically hit-up the Temando system to find out the cheapest and/or most appropriate courier to fulfil the order from the online store owner to the customers delivery address.

Features and Benefits of Temando

Features of using Temando for an online store include:

• Temando is pulling in the rates of over 200 couriers Australia-wide, including; TNT, Fastway, Allied Express, Couriers Please as well as dozens of smaller couriers. Temando currently represents more than 50% of couriers in Australia.

• Website owners save on shipping because Temando rates are typically cheaper than the rates a business owner can negotiate by themselves. This relates to Temandos buying power, and also the efficiencies in sourcing hundreds of quotes instantaneously rather than a small number manually. The savings Temando brings can be turned into profit for the business owner, or passed onto the customer to make the shipping price cheaper than their competitors.

• The Temando system makes flat-rate shipping easy for store owners.  Generally shipping rates are cheaper when a parcel is being sent to a delivery address close to a store, and more expensive when sent across the country. The issue with this is that confusing or lopsided shipping structures are one of biggest causes of online shopping cart abandonment. Flat-rate shipping is known to simplify the decision making process of users online and therefore reduce cart abandonment. The Temando system allows store owners to run flat-rate national shipping through their system. For example, a store owner may elect to offer a flat rate of shipping of $7.95 Australia wide. Whilst they will profit on their local area, they may lose on out of state deliveries. Through Temando an online stores freight can be made neutral in terms of profit, but with the obvious benefit of a simplified shipping structure that increases purchases.

• Temando provides instant quotes on conventional shipping like letters and parcels, but it also integrates with couriers that specialise in more obscure freight such as refrigerated goods, fragile items, vehicles and more.

• Store owners can elect to offer multiple shipping options through Temando. For instance free national delivery via land, and then options for express delivery and/or same-day. A large cause of shopping cart abandonment isn’t just due to the price of shipping, but lack of choice for customers with certain requirements.

• Upon creating an account Temando clients will initially have access to the standard quick quote rates that are based on the large volume of freight Temando books each year. Clients booking high volumes of freight can get access to custom rates by contacting Temando direct. In addition, stores with existing freight rates from certain couriers can have these built into their Temando account.

• Once a purchase has been made from an online store integrated with Temando, the pick-up data is automatically dispatched to the courier by the Temando system. The store owner doesn’t need to book the courier separately.

• The Temando system provides consolidated labels across all couriers. Once an order has been processed on the website, the online store owner can simply print the label ready for collection from the Courier. No need for different printers for different couriers.

• Unlike setting up a commercial account with Australia Post, an account can be created with Temando without contracts or bonds. Essentially a small online store can access the Temando rates just by signing up online.  

• For store owners who need to offer Australia Post for some reason, the Temando system contains the rate cards of Australia Post. (Store owners still need to create an account with Australia Post as per usual).

The Web Showroom e-commerce module has been integrated with Temando and we recommend Temando as pretty much the perfect shipping option for the majority of online stores in Australia. It makes shipping simple and cheap for store owners. This means store owners can devote their time to growing their business not dealing with freight headaches.

More information on Temando can be found here. Equally, you can give The Web Showroom a call and we can discuss integrating your store with Temando.