Your shipping data holds enormous power for your overall business, so the ability to analyze it and report against it is a critical capability of any shipping platform. Here are the critical data elements you will want your shipping solution to be able to report on:
- Ship Date
- Date the shipment enters the mail stream (should match the date on the shipping label)
- User
- Which user created the shipping label
- Order Date
- Date the customer placed the order on your website
- Order Total
- The total amount your customer paid to you including item cost, shipping charge and taxes (should match the Order Total on your website)
- Store
- The website that the order was placed from
- Order Number
- Unique order identifier (should match the order number on your website for quick recognition)
- Ship From
- The Return Company/Name on the shipping label
- Ship From Address
- The Return Address on the shipping label
- Recipient
- The Ship To name on the shipping label
- Purchase Billing Address
- The Billing Address associated with the payment method for the order
- Recipient Shipping Address
- The Ship To Address on the shipping label
- Email Address
- The email address is typically associated with the recipient to receive the shipment confirmation email
- Carrier
- The mail carrier who is transporting and delivering the package
- Rate Provider
- Which postage account the label postage was charged to
- Service Type
- The carrier service of the package (typically determines how quickly the shipment will be delivered)
- Package Type
- The package option selected for the shipping label (should match the actual package of the shipment)
- Confirmation Option
- If you pay an additional fee for extra delivery confirmation (e.g., Signature Confirmation), will list the add-on
- Quantity
- Number of items shipped in the order
- Weight (oz)
- The weight (in ounces) of the shipment (helpful for accurate postage cost, but also for future reference to understand the items in the package)
- Zone
- The Zone relates to the distance between the origin and delivery address (the smaller the zone number, the closer the delivery; the larger the number, the farther away)
- Destination Country
- Helps to distinguish between domestic and international shipments (can be useful to determine the percentage of shipments you send out of the country)
- Tracking Number
- Great reference to determine delivery status of a particular shipment
- Shipping Paid (By Customer)
- How much your customer paid to you for shipping
- Postage Cost
- How much you actually paid for the shipping label
- Insurance Cost
- If you added insurance, will list the amount you paid (directly relates to the declared value for coverage)
- Total Shipping Cost
- The cost of the shipping label plus any insurance and additional confirmations
- Shipping Margin
- The difference between how much your customer paid you for shipping and the amount you paid for the shipping label: Did you make or lose money? (This helps to determine how much you should charge on your website.)
- SKU
- Unique identifier of your items (helps to determine your most popular items and can be used to manage inventory)
