Leveraging ShipStation for NetSuite Integration, Ultra-Bag Saves 2 Hours of Daily Data Entry and Reduces Shipping Errors

How Jitterbit’s integration platform supports ShipStation’s automated shipping platform to eliminate manual processes and improve customer experiences

Challenge

Manual processes hindered productivity and resulted in costly shipping errors for Ultra-Bag

Ultra-Bag.com, a family-owned and operated provider of premium vacuum bags and insulation accessories in North America, struggled with costly shipment errors stemming from their dependence on entering order and shipping data into multiple systems manually.

“After an order was submitted via a PO, email, or online, we had to manually copy orders into each carrier’s website – one by one,” said Zachary Harris, owner of Ultra-Bag. “Lots of mistakes were made when copying over addresses and even with order quantities.”

To mitigate these challenges, Zachary hired full-time staff with the sole responsibility of inputting orders, creating labels, and ensuring order accuracy. However, the team still found themselves spread too thin with manual data entry, wasting highly-qualified (and compensated) talent and resources on mundane, time-consuming tasks.

After realizing he couldn’t waste any more time or money on manual processes, Zachary decided to upgrade their ERP to NetSuite and seek a more sophisticated automation solution.

Solution

ShipStation for NetSuite integration enables seamless automation

There were a few essential technology features the Ultra-Bag team wanted in an automation solution between NetSuite and their carriers:

• It needed to be cloud-based
• It had to enable seamless data connectivity

“It had to pull orders from our ERP seamlessly, populate our pricing correctly, and communicate back to our ERP system seamlessly after the labels were created,” said Harris.

During their automation journey, the Ultra-Bag team was introduced to ShipStation, the leading ecommerce shipping software (and Jitterbit partner). “We have a unique pricing structure with one of our carriers,” said Harris. “We tried several other sites but ShipStation was the only one that populated our pricing correctly! This was a big deal to us.”

After implementing ShipStation, Ultra Bags was able to utilize the ShipStation for NetSuite integration to automate four workflows, including the creation of new order labels, customer-carrier connections, shipping speed, and package types.

Before:

Once an order was received, an Ultra-Bag team member would:

1. Input the customer information in the designated shipping platform.
2. Create and print a shipping label.
3. Attach the label to their order management system.
4. Manually track and update customers on their shipments.

After:

Once an order is received:

1. It’s entered into NetSuite, and with the help of Jitterbit’s iPaaS, the order data is automatically populated in ShipStation.
2. A member of the Ultra-Bag team goes into ShipStation, and with a couple clicks, creates a shipping label and tracking number that syncs seamlessly back to NetSuite.

The seamless, real-time data integrations between ShipStation and NetSuite enable faster, more accurate order management and inventory management, resulting in better customer experiences and removing manual data entry for good.

👉 ShipStation, the leading web-based ecommerce shipping and fulfillment platform and Jitterbit partner, leverages Jitterbit’s Harmony integration solution to automate data flow of shipping and order fulfillment details for retailers.

Outcome

Faster customer experiences, no more manual processes, and enormous time and cost savings

With ShipStation for NetSuite, Ultra-Bag saves two hours of data entry each day and more than $1,000 a year (as opposed to selecting a competing integration provider). There has also been a minimum 40% decrease in shipment errors and an overall decrease in misshipments or short shipments because of ShipStation’s reporting tools.

With automation, Ultra-Bag has also improved customer experiences by providing more speed, transparency, and personalization throughout the buying and shipping process.

“We win because our customer service is excellent. Being able to get tracking information to them quickly and provide a lot of transparency if something is delayed — it helps improve our communication and relationships with our customers,” said Harris.

The solution has also helped improve morale, due to both the elimination of manual work and reduction in shipping errors. “Shipping errors are obviously costly and can hurt our relationships with customers, and now that there’s been such a dramatic reduction, I can definitely see an improvement in how we communicate and work together,” said Harris.

Tanner Levitte, the company’s operations and warehouse manager who manages shipping logistics for Ultra-Bag, agrees that the solution has been instrumental in improving morale, thanks to faster shipping speed and accuracy. “ShipStation and NetSuite have reduced my stress levels quite a bit. Because it’s so automated, I can spend my time on things that matter most rather than stressing about whether or not we’ve entered the address or order info wrong,” said Levitte. “It’s fast and easy and it just works! It works as promised! And that is a big deal for me.”

With plans to open new warehouses in the next few years, NetSuite and ShipStation’s combined technologies, supported by Jitterbit, have set Ultra-Bag up with a futureproof and easily scalable foundation for digital growth and expansion.

“Because we have ShipStation, and since it all integrates to NetSuite so well, we spend our time focusing on what matters most — delivering a more personalized experience — and I think our customers feel that difference.
– Zachary Harris, Owner, Ultra-Bag