ReturnGo Returns Management Solution: Advantages and Disadvantages
Returns are the double-edged sword of ecommerce. They build trust with shoppers but crush margins if mismanaged. That’s where ReturnGo aims to help, as one of the leading solutions in the returns management market, offering a customizable returns portal that promises to reduce refund rates, improve customer retention, and save brands money. But does it actually deliver? And more importantly, is it the right fit for modern ecommerce operations?
We dug into ReturnGo’s features, customer feedback, integrations, and support model to give you the full picture, not just the marketing gloss. We also evaluate whether ReturnGo offers a better way to handle the returns process. Here’s what stands out, and where the cracks start to show.
What ReturnGo Does Well
Returns are messy. ReturnGo tries to tidy them up, mostly.
ReturnGo is a self-service returns and exchange platform built for Shopify brands, aiming to keep revenue in-house by turning returns into exchanges, store credit, or warranties. It helps businesses manage returns efficiently, making the process smoother for both merchants and customers. It’s affordable, customizable, and popular with scrappy DTC teams trying to stay lean without sacrificing customer experience.
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Israel, ReturnGo has scaled quickly in the Shopify ecosystem with over 2,000 merchants and more than 1.5 million returns processed. Their hook? Automate the returns experience, cut refund losses, and give brands a little more wiggle room without needing a developer.
ReturnGo’s solutions are designed to fit into the broader returns process landscape, supporting brands with tools that streamline and automate post-purchase management. It’s smart, but it’s not built for every brand, especially if you’re scaling fast, handling international returns, or want deeper logistics integration.
1. Self-Service Returns with Smart Automation
ReturnGo’s flagship product is its AI-powered returns portal, which automates much of the return and exchange process. Customers can initiate returns on their own without needing to reach out to support, saving brands time and resources.
But it doesn’t stop at just sending items back. ReturnGo’s platform uses condition-based logic (called “return rules”) to determine if a refund, exchange, store credit, or even donation should be offered, often in real-time. Brands can create tiered workflows that change based on product type, reason for return, order value, or customer history. ReturnGo’s logic can be customized to handle any return scenario, allowing brands to automate and tailor their workflows for even the most complex situations.
This level of conditional control is a step up from the basic return portals offered by many competitors.
2. Revenue Retention via Exchanges and Store Credit
ReturnGo places a big emphasis on retaining revenue. The platform intelligently promotes store credit or exchanges as preferred outcomes, rather than immediate refunds. That might sound small, but it adds up.
With ReturnGo’s approach, brands can achieve significant improvements in revenue retention and customer satisfaction. According to ReturnGo, brands using its platform can recover up to 40% of potential lost revenue through exchange nudges and store credit incentives. One case study shows a 25% boost in store credit adoption after switching to ReturnGo from a traditional return system.
3. Built-In Shopify Integration
ReturnGo is built for Shopify, and it shows. Their app is plug-and-play with Shopify’s checkout, order data, and product inventory systems. It supports native multilingual portals and connects with apps like Gorgias (for support), Klaviyo (for email), and Recharge (for subscription orders). In addition, ReturnGo offers API-based integrations, allowing seamless connectivity with other ecommerce tools and services beyond the standard app integrations.
For Shopify brands that don’t have the time or budget to build custom flows, this is a huge plus. You can be up and running in a few hours, not weeks.
4. Environmental and Operational Flexibility
ReturnGo is one of the few platforms that promotes non-physical returns, letting customers opt to keep an item (in cases where reselling is inefficient) or donate it locally. Brands can assign zero-waste flows to low-cost items or cases where restocking would lose money. This also improves sustainability metrics, which matters for ESG-conscious brands. By reducing unnecessary shipments and waste, these practices have a positive impact on the environment.
5. Modular Features for Scaling Up
Beyond the returns portal, ReturnGo offers warranty handling, return reasons analytics, multiple warehouse logic, and international shipping support. While some of this requires deeper setup, it’s there for brands with more complex needs. For smaller merchants, the features can be toggled off in the platform’s settings to keep things lean.
Make Returns Profitable, Yes!
Cut shipping and processing costs by 70% with our patented peer-to-peer returns solution. 4x faster than traditional returns.
See How It WorksWhere It Starts To Wobble
1. It’s a Returns App, Not a Reverse Logistics Network
Let’s be clear: ReturnGo is not a logistics company. It doesn’t own or operate any warehouses, drop-off locations, or consolidation centers. It’s a returns software platform. ReturnGo also does not provide integrated shipment tracking or shipment management, so you won’t get order tracking notifications for each shipment as part of the post-purchase experience. So if your returns strategy involves in-person drop-off points, return-to-store flows, or localized processing, you’ll need to integrate a 3PL or handle that piece yourself.
That’s fine for some brands, but it means ReturnGo lacks the physical logistics layer that competitors like Happy Returns or ReturnBear offer out of the box.
2. Shopify-Only Limits Reach
ReturnGo is tightly tied to Shopify, and while that’s great for Shopify stores, it means non-Shopify brands are out of luck. As a post-purchase platform designed specifically for Shopify, it does not offer native support for Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or headless setups. If your ecommerce stack spans multiple platforms, ReturnGo probably won’t be your long-term solution.
3. UI/UX Customization Can Be Rigid
Multiple user reviews point out that while the portal is functional, it doesn’t offer extensive customization in terms of branding, CSS control, or layout flexibility, at least not without developer help. For DTC brands that obsess over every pixel of their post-purchase experience, this can be a limitation.
According to reviews on the Shopify App Store, some users found the interface “clunky” or “template-like,” especially when trying to match a high-end design aesthetic.
4. Some Learning Curve for Conditional Logic
While ReturnGo’s automation rules are powerful, they come with a learning curve. Setting up flows for refund eligibility, final sale exemptions, or per-product logic requires time, testing, and maintenance. It’s important to properly set automation rules to avoid confusion and ensure the system works as intended.
Smaller teams without a dedicated ops manager may find this overwhelming. As one merchant put it in a Capterra review: “You can build just about any logic, which is great, but you’ll need to document your flows or it gets confusing fast.”
5. Limited International Capabilities
Despite the platform’s flexible shipping rules and multi-currency support, ReturnGo doesn’t offer true global reverse logistics coverage. You can process international returns through the portal, but you’ll be relying on your own carriers or label providers. There are no built-in customs workflows, tax refunds, or return hubs abroad. Additionally, there is no built-in support for generating forward shipping labels alongside return labels for international shipments.
If you’re shipping heavily into Canada, the UK, or the EU, this might mean more manual coordination or third-party tools.
Convert Returns Into New Sales and Profits
Our peer-to-peer returns system instantly resells returned items—no warehouse processing, and get paid before you refund.
I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsWhat’s Missing?
ReturnGo’s platform is solid, especially for DTC Shopify brands. But it doesn’t offer peer-to-peer returns, crowd-sourced drop points, or locker-based return models like Cahoot or ReturnBear. Nor does it offer advanced tracking integrations, physical item inspection, or bulk consolidation shipping. Unlike an open post-purchase platform, ReturnGo lacks the flexibility and extensibility that some competitors provide for sustainable and efficient returns management.
That means it’s a powerful digital solution, but not a fully integrated one. You’ll still need to stitch together parts of your reverse supply chain due to the absence of integrated services, or risk margin bleed in the gaps.
Additionally, ReturnGo has fewer recent updates and feature enhancements compared to some competitors, which may impact ongoing innovation and improvements.
Verdict: Smart Software, Meaningful Limitations
ReturnGo delivers where it counts for growing DTC brands: automated workflows, Shopify-native returns, and revenue recovery tools. The ReturnGo app is an excellent tool for companies seeking to streamline returns, improve customer support, and boost operational efficiency. If you want more control over how refunds, exchanges, and credits are handled, and you want it without building from scratch, it’s a great pick for companies aiming to enhance their sustainable ecommerce practices.
But it’s not a complete reverse logistics solution. No drop-off network. No fulfillment infrastructure. And no support beyond Shopify.
ReturnGo works best for digital-first, North American brands and companies focused on sustainable ecommerce that want to tame returns chaos with smart software, not overhaul their operations. If you’re looking to build a truly next-gen, logistics-backed, customer-first returns experience across borders or physical channels, you’ll need more than what ReturnGo offers out of the box.
Consider ReturnGo if:
- You’re on Shopify and want automation fast
- Your team can manage logic flows
- You want to reduce refunds and increase exchanges
Look elsewhere if:
- You need physical return infrastructure
- You’re running on non-Shopify platforms
- You want seamless global coverage
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of ecommerce brands is ReturnGo best suited for?
ReturnGo works best for small to mid-sized Shopify brands that want a customer-friendly return portal with basic automation and AI-powered exchange recommendations. If your returns workflow is straightforward, ReturnGo can save time without overcomplicating things.
Does ReturnGo handle reverse logistics or just the software side?
ReturnGo focuses on return automation and front-end workflows. It doesn’t operate a return network or manage the physical movement of goods. Brands are responsible for fulfillment and logistics unless they integrate with third-party providers.
Can ReturnGo help reduce returns or just process them?
To some degree. It offers exchange incentives and intelligent product recommendations to reduce refund rates, but it doesn’t include robust return prevention tools or dynamic triage like what you’d find in logistics-first platforms.
Is ReturnGo easy to integrate with Shopify?
Yes. Setup is relatively painless, and the platform is built to work natively with Shopify. Brands can get up and running quickly without a developer, though deeper customization may still require some technical know-how.
How does ReturnGo compare to peer-to-peer return solutions?
While ReturnGo focuses on digital workflows, peer-to-peer systems like Cahoot go further by using distributed return points, real-time item scanning, and cost optimization to reduce shipping and restocking costs. ReturnGo is simpler, but not as scalable.

Turn Returns Into New Revenue

ReturnBear Reverse Logistics Solution: Advantages and Disadvantages
Online shopping is booming globally. Great for sales. Painful for returns. Especially when those returns cross borders, rack up customs fees, and get lost in the mail. Enter ReturnBear, a clever reverse logistics player that has built its specialty on “sell globally, return locally.” ReturnBear, as a company offering ecommerce return management solutions, is making a significant impact in international markets by simplifying global ecommerce return and reducing the friction for both retailers and customers. As an innovator shaping the future of reverse logistics and ecommerce returns, the company is leading the way in sustainable and efficient return processes. It’s a smart idea, and it mostly works. ReturnBear manages the full lifecycle of returns, from initiation and verification to resale or disposal, ensuring a seamless experience for international markets. Let’s unpack the good, the not-so-good, and where ReturnBear might leave you hanging.
What ReturnBear Does Well
Local Drop-Off, International Coverage
ReturnBear gives your customers real convenience by providing a local return experience. Shoppers in Canada, the U.S., the UK, Australia (and soon more) have access to local drop-off points, making it easy to return items in their own region. No awkward customs forms or high postage, they just drop off, scan, and go. The process is label-free, making returns easy and hassle-free for customers. ReturnBear also facilitates cross-border shipping and manages returns in both domestic and international markets, ensuring seamless coverage for brands expanding globally. That’s Amazon-level convenience, but global. The result? Return costs drop 30%–60%, and customers get quick refunds or credits without friction.
Built-In Return Verification
At drop-off, staff scan items to confirm condition before issuing an immediate refund or store credit. This verification step is a key part of the returns process and builds confidence for both brands and customers by ensuring secure and accurate refunds. That blocks a ton of fraud up front and helps brands avoid refund fraud or chasing merch later, while also enabling efficient processing of returned items for redistribution or restocking.
Fast Forward-Fulfillment
After verifying returns, ReturnBear inspects and preps items for resale locally or utilizes its reverse logistics services to ship them back in bulk to the brand. That means your returned hoodie might land on a rack in Canada or the U.K. fast, while avoiding global freight costs through optimized shipping and efficient reverse logistics services.
Smart Software & Analytics
Their platform is more than just a return portal; it’s a user-friendly dashboard with policy automation, RMA flows, drop-off tracking, and ever-useful return insights. The return portal simplifies customer return requests and enhances satisfaction with its easy-to-navigate interface. A Shopify integration helps automate credit issuance, triggers, and visibility.
The platform combines comprehensive returns software with specialized reverse logistics services, providing a seamless, local return experience for customers while reducing operational effort and costs for brands. This returns software with specialized reverse logistics features helps automate and optimize the entire returns process, making it ideal for both domestic and cross-border ecommerce scenarios.
Proof in Numbers
ReturnBear reports that adoption is strong: 63% usage at drop-off sites, and up to 65% of returned product value is regained through credit or exchange. Penny-wise savings and better customer experience don’t hurt either. The company says that clients consistently report that its solutions help them save on return costs and turn returns into a more profitable part of their business.
Make Returns Profitable, Yes!
Cut shipping and processing costs by 70% with our patented peer-to-peer returns solution. 4x faster than traditional returns.
See How It WorksWhere ReturnBear Trips Up
Limited Global Presence
ReturnBear currently operates in a limited number of countries: Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. If your brand is selling across borders and expanding into other international markets such as Germany, Latin America, or Asia, you’ll need additional solutions. The network in these international markets is still developing, so brands selling across borders may face challenges with local returns outside the supported countries. Their real drop-off network is still limited, and that breaks the “local return” promise.
Still Tough to Integrate
APIs are offered, but not necessarily for everything; custom portals or storefront returns still need workarounds. While ReturnBear aims to be a platform for brands selling internationally, integration may require additional development. Right now, expect to grit your teeth and dig in if you want full platform integration.
Tighter Control = Higher Premium
ReturnBear is a 4PL, all return steps outsourced, which means less control over business operations and often a complex pricing model. For businesses, this trade-off impacts operational decision-making and cost management.
Middlemen Risks
Between drop-off, scanning, inspections and the occasional international bind, delays can happen. While refunds are fast, final settlement and inventory updates might lag, which can be tricky for high-turnover products.
Still Building Everywhere
They’re growing fast, but being young and expanding, the team, network, and support model are still evolving. Reviews highlight the ReturnBear team as highly knowledgeable and responsive, but watch out for inconsistent SLA levels across markets.
Convert Returns Into New Sales and Profits
Our peer-to-peer returns system instantly resells returned items—no warehouse processing, and get paid before you refund.
I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsWhat’s Missing
ReturnBear brilliantly tackles cross-border returns, but it doesn’t offer peer-to-peer solutions, local lockers, or crowd-sourced drop points. It also lacks specialized reverse logistics services tailored for specific industries, such as fashion brands, which often require more customized solutions for their unique return needs. It’s also missing machine-learning triage. While ReturnBear manages the basic drop-off + verification + consolidation flow (a traditional solution), there is room to further optimize the processing of returns, including more efficient handling, verification, and redistribution of returned products in-country.
Verdict: Localized Power, but Not Peace of Mind Everywhere
If your brand is active in North America, the U.K., or Australia, ReturnBear’s local model is a game-changer for ecommerce returns and returns management: faster returns, less international postage, and cleaner reverse logistics with upfront fraud checks. Merchants and brands selling internationally, like True Classic, have benefited from streamlined returns, improved customer experience, and cost savings.
Considerations:
- Coverage Gaps: If you’re going global, you may outgrow it soon.
- Integration Grit: It’s not plug-and-play everywhere; some development effort is required.
- Service Premium: Customs-free convenience costs real money and control.
- Network Growing: Support and speed may vary by region.
In short, ReturnBear is smarter reverse logistics for merchants and brands selling across specific borders who are serious about optimizing ecommerce returns and returns management, but don’t expect it to magically handle the whole planet or function seamlessly out-of-the-box. For the right use cases? It’s a powerful, slick solution. Just be clear on your roadmap, regions, and return volumes before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does ReturnBear reduce return costs?
By consolidating and inspecting returns locally, ReturnBear helps brands save on logistics costs by slashing international shipping, duties, and restocking delays. In fact, brands can save up to 60% on return costs through reduced logistics costs and preferred cross-border shipping rates.
Where is ReturnBear available?
ReturnBear currently provides access to convenient return locations in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, making it easy for merchants and consumers in each country to process returns locally. With a growing presence in international markets, ReturnBear continues to expand its network to support efficient, sustainable returns and logistics solutions across more countries.
Does ReturnBear support real-time refunds?
Yes. Items are verified at drop-off as part of an efficient processing and streamlined returns process, triggering instant refunds or store credit to enhance customer satisfaction.
Can ReturnBear be fully integrated into my store?
It offers APIs and Shopify integrations, making it a platform for brands selling internationally. With comprehensive returns software and returns software with specialized features, ReturnBear supports seamless integration for efficient returns management. However, complex workflows or storefront customizations may still require developer support.
What kind of brands benefit most from ReturnBear?
Fashion brands, brands selling across borders, and retail businesses benefit significantly from ReturnBear. The solution streamlines both domestic and international returns, helping brands reduce logistics costs, carbon emissions, and processing times. By offering a seamless return experience for consumers, ReturnBear supports the needs of modern retail and fashion brands, making it easier to meet customer expectations and foster loyalty.

Turn Returns Into New Revenue

Happy Returns Management Solution: Advantages and Disadvantages
Online retail keeps growing, so do returns. That’s where Happy Returns, a company specializing in reverse logistics, steps in, promising hassle-free, drop-off return experiences with its brick-and-mortar Return Bar® network and software-powered portals. But while they’ve mastered convenience, the devil’s in the details. Let’s unpack what they do well, where they stumble, and ultimately how they compare to the next-gen returns standard.
What Happy Returns Does Well
1. Drop-off Simplicity
No box? No label? No problem. Shoppers can find a convenient location for drop-off at any of the thousands of Return Bars, over 3,800 locations, including The UPS Store. Simply bring your item and the QR code you receive via email to the location; no packaging or labels are required. Be sure to check your email for the QR code before visiting. Shoppers choose this method for its convenience and speed, often leaving with an instant refund or exchange within a minute or two. Customers have a choice of drop-off locations or shipping, making the return process flexible and easy. Items are returned without the need for packaging, streamlining the experience. According to Saufter, it’s “box-free, label-free returns are ideal for customers in large metro areas.”
2. Fast Refunds, Instant Gratification
Refunds kick off right at drop-off, and customers typically receive their refund directly to their account within a few business days. This short time to receive refunds, compared to traditional returns, greatly improves customer satisfaction and loyalty. WeSupply Labs notes refunds are triggered immediately, with no waiting for mail to arrive. Over the past year, Happy Returns has further improved refund speed and customer satisfaction by reducing the time it takes for refunds to be processed and reflected in the customer’s account.
Make Returns Profitable, Yes!
Cut shipping and processing costs by 70% with our patented peer-to-peer returns solution. 4x faster than traditional returns.
See How It Works3. Streamlined Software Experience
Their online returns portal uses automation to streamline the refund and exchange process, suggesting exchanges based on inventory and reason codes, helping merchants keep revenue in-house. The software improves return operations for merchants by optimizing shipment consolidation, tracking, and refund management. Saufter mentions “customizable return policies” and “comprehensive analytics” as key perks, providing merchants with valuable information and insights to guide decision-making. Customers can easily change their return preferences or details through the portal, offering flexibility in the return process. Continuous work goes into maintaining and updating the software to ensure efficient and secure returns.
4. Carrier & Fraud Protections
By consolidating returns into bulk shipping via UPS and using in-person scanning, Happy Returns uses patent-pending item scanning technology to enhance fraud prevention at drop-off points and spot fraud before items are even shipped back.
5. Branded Integrations
It’s a Shopify Plus–certified app and supports BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, and more through the API. Patchworks integration creates a seamless connection between Happy Returns and review systems as well as ERP/WMS platforms.
Where Happy Returns Trips Up
1. Uneven Coverage
That Return Bar network is awesome, until it isn’t. Rural or international shoppers aren’t always close to a drop-off point, meaning they default to slower mailing options. Access is “best in metro areas” and hard if you’re not nearby.
2. Pricey, and More Than It Seems
Users report pricing starts around $500/month plus per-item drop fees, higher than pure-play software options, which can lead to higher expenses for merchants. Some estimates: $0.33–$0.99 per item return, which stacks up fast if you’re processing thousands a month. While Happy Returns can help cut costs through shipment consolidation, the fees may offset these savings. As a result, some merchants look for ways of slashing expenses by considering alternative solutions.
3. In-store Hardware Overhead
Storefront returns require iPads for scanning. That might be a non-starter for smaller retailers without physical locations, or unwillingness to manage hardware costs and updates.
4. Pre-Refund Risk
Getting refunded before an item is back in your hands introduces fraud risk, even with scanning. Some merchants worry about returns that don’t match the item condition, weaponizing Happy’s fast refund system.
5. Limited Tracking Visibility
Once the item’s dropped off, merchants don’t get granular tracking until the shipment arrives at the warehouse. That means a period of radio silence, hard to reconcile with visibility expectations in logistics today.
6. Support & Setup May Lag
While generally supportive, merchants report upsides and downsides: onboarding can be heavy, and support may feel slow during peak or urgent times, especially for mid-market brands without enterprise SLAs.
Convert Returns Into New Sales and Profits
Our peer-to-peer returns system instantly resells returned items—no warehouse processing, and get paid before you refund.
I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsWhat’s Next, and What’s Missing
Happy Returns has built a strong convenience engine, but hasn’t fully leapt into returns innovation. There are many ways retailers can enhance the returns process, such as offering distributed drop-off lockers or peer-to-peer models. While Happy Returns focuses on drop-off convenience, some customers still prefer to ship their returns, and providing multiple options can improve satisfaction.
Happy Returns is designed for retailers looking to improve customer experience and streamline returns. The company is actively working with partners to enhance its solutions and deliver seamless logistics.
Improved return processes not only benefit customers but also support revenue retention for retailers by reducing costs and increasing loyalty. Returns still loop back to central hubs, processed, and consolidated. It’s powerful. But it’s not radically different from traditional logistics; it just dresses it up with drop-off elegance.
Verdict: High Convenience, High Cost
Happy Returns is a standout for brands prioritizing drop-off convenience and instant refunds. For DTC or fashion brands with urban consumers, the experience can seriously boost NPS and customer loyalty by making the return process seamless and hassle-free.
The solution makes returns easier and more integrated into customers’ lives, enhancing convenience and overall satisfaction.
But that convenience comes with trade-offs:
- Geographic limits: Not everywhere has a Return Bar.
- Subscription and per-item fees: More expensive than DIY solutions.
- Pre-refund vulnerability: Fraud mitigation happens later in the flow.
- Tracking lag: Less transparency post-drop-off.
- Hardware needs: iPads are required for store returns.
All in all, Happy Returns is great at what it does: fast, convenient returns for shoppers. But it’s not the flexible, all-encompassing solution needed for lean, global, or next-gen returns strategies. Brands should choose it if drop-off is a key driver. Otherwise, it might still feel like returning to a warehouse, even after it promises a destination-free experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Happy Returns unique?
Its nationwide network of Return Bars enables box-free, label-free returns, improving convenience and cutting costs.
Is Happy Returns available outside the U.S.?
No. The service is primarily U.S.-focused, with little support for international returns or global brands.
Does it require a specific ecommerce platform?
No. Happy Returns is platform-agnostic and works with Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and more.
Can shoppers still return items by mail?
Yes, but the experience is less emphasized and more limited than the in-person Return Bar option.
Does Happy Returns offer data insights or analytics?
Yes, it provides analytics dashboards for return trends, reasons, and customer behaviors, but customization may be limited.

Turn Returns Into New Revenue

Loop Returns: Advantages and Disadvantages
Online retail marches on. Returns along with it. A seamless return experience can be a differentiator or a drain on margins, especially when it comes to aligning the return process with a brand’s identity. Enter Loop Returns, one of the buzziest post-purchase platforms, especially on Shopify. Loop Returns is helping to shape the future of ecommerce returns by providing innovative solutions that help brands deliver a return experience that supports their identity and customer loyalty. It promises sleek portals, instant exchanges, and tools to boost retention. But is it the magic fix?
Loop’s Strengths: What Its Return Portal Delivers
- Seamless Shopify Integration
Loop has nailed Shopify. Thousands of merchants install it via the Shopify App Store, where reviewers rave about easy label creation, smooth integration with WMS, and great UI flow. Users can easily find and connect Loop with other apps and partners to streamline logistics and enhance their return process.
- Smart Automation through “Workflows”
Want to batch process returns? Offer bonus credit? Route items differently based on SKU or order value? That’s Loop’s “Workflows” engine. One review highlights their ability to “get more granular with products,” especially specialty items. Users can automate steps and actions such as creating support tickets, editing return lists, and customizing workflows to save time and optimize post-purchase operations.
- Offset Plan: Zero Software Costs
Loop’s Offset plan includes free software, just pay for shipping labels. It’s a consumer-paid returns solution that allows shoppers to pay a small fee during checkout for free returns later. This helps merchants cover the rising costs of returns and reverse logistics by collecting fees from shoppers, rather than absorbing the costs themselves. For high-volume Shopify brands, that’s a major allure.
- Data & Tracking via Wonderment
Loop bought Wonderment in late 2024, bringing in actionable shipping visibility tools. More tracking means fewer surprise delays. Merchants benefit from improved order tracking and access to organized data inside the return portal, making it easier to manage returns and exchanges.
- High Adoption & Positive Feedback
Merchants report big wins: 98% satisfaction, an 80% cut in tickets, and streamlined operations. The platform’s button-driven UI and clickable links help users quickly initiate returns, edit information, and access support, saving time for both merchants and customers.
Make Returns Profitable, Yes!
Cut shipping and processing costs by 70% with our patented peer-to-peer returns solution. 4x faster than traditional returns.
See How It WorksLoop’s Weak Spots: Where Return Costs Hit Snags
- Shopify-Only Ecosystem
Love Shopify? Fine. Use anything else? You’re out. Multi-platform sellers must build workarounds; Loop isn’t plug-and-play for WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or headless systems.
- Tiered Tiers = Hidden Costs
The Offset plan is free until you want multiple carrier options, in-store returns, or better reporting. Then you bump into $155–$340/mo tiers. That pricing works for mid-market, not solo brands.
- Bugs in the Workflow World
Some users report glitches, bugs in returning/exchanging scenarios, slow analytics dashboards, and incorrect refunds tied to promotions. Also, data exports are limited, an issue for growth-focused teams. In some cases, merchants have trouble managing returned items and need to check or verify the refund status; resolving these cases efficiently can lead to fewer refunds overall.
- Can’t Do Multi-Label or Expedited Returns Easily
Loop’s portal struggles with orders shipped in multiple boxes. Bulk returns require workarounds. And if you want to offer expedited replacements at checkout, Loop’s not built for that, yet.
- Customer Support Can Lag
While many merchants enjoy responsive CSMs, others say support can feel slow or inconsistent, especially when support teams need to handle trouble cases and verify information to resolve urgent issues.
Missing Innovation: What Loop Doesn’t (Yet) Offer
Loop has great tech and Shopify creds, but it sticks to the classic route-return-return flow (order is routed to the customer, sent back to the same warehouse, then returned to inventory to be resold). No radical solutions, such as peer-to-peer returns, that turn returns into a profit center. Sure, Loop helps retain revenue in many cases, but it doesn’t help to earn new revenue. That’s fine for 90% of brands. But for the growing class of brands eyeing hyper-innovations or that aren’t in the Shopify ecosystem, Loop hasn’t gained any traction yet.
Developers and brands are looking to create new return experiences and build deeper connections with customers both inside and outside the return portal. Learning from modern customer shopping behavior could help Loop innovate to retain more customers, increase customer lifetime value, and drive more revenue and sales. Future innovations could bring new life to the returns process, keeping customer needs and peace of mind at the center, while considering how merchants can minimize the impact of returns on the bottom line.
Convert Returns Into New Sales and Profits
Our peer-to-peer returns system instantly resells returned items—no warehouse processing, and get paid before you refund.
I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsVerdict: Solid, but Shakeable
Loop is more than just another returns tool, it’s a polished, feature-rich platform that often feels enterprise-grade, without enterprise bureaucracy. For Shopify merchants who:
- Want automated, branded returns,
- Need instant exchanges and bonus credits,
- Crave workflow-driven control, and
- Operate at a volume that justifies paid tiers.
…Loop is remarkable. It’s a product that clearly bows to merchant needs.
That said, it is Shopify-dependent, tiered, and still evolving in analytics and global flexibility. If you’re small, platform-agnostic, or chasing the next frontier of returns innovation—think hyper-local returns or bundled expedited replacements—Loop may start to feel constrictive.
Put simply: Loop is powerful, but it’s classic. It delivers on today’s ecommerce returns playbook, but if tomorrow’s returns look different, you might start hitting friction. Choose it for its polish and efficiency. Just don’t expect Loop to break new ground; it’s built for clean, reliable returns in the Shopify universe, but not a smidge beyond it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of retailers is Loop best for?
Loop is ideal for DTC brands on Shopify looking for highly branded, customer-friendly return experiences.
Does Loop support exchanges or just refunds?
Yes, Loop emphasizes exchanges to retain revenue, offering dynamic options like variant swaps or store credit incentives.
Is Loop only for Shopify?
Mostly. Loop is tightly integrated with Shopify, making it less suitable for brands on other ecommerce platforms.
How customizable is Loop’s return portal?
The portal is very customizable visually, but deeper logic or rule changes may require developer help or plan upgrades.
Does Loop handle logistics or just the software side?
Loop focuses on the software layer. Merchants must coordinate their own 3PLs, carriers, and warehouse operations.

Turn Returns Into New Revenue

Shopify vs Amazon: Which Ecommerce Platform Suits Your Business Best?
In this article
13 minutes
- Understanding Amazon FBA Prep Service Requirements
- What Are FBA Prep Services?
- The Benefits of Using FBA Prep Services
- Common Services Offered by FBA Prep Companies
- How to Choose the Right FBA Prep Service
- Understanding Amazon FBA Prep Services Pricing
- Top Amazon FBA Prep Centers for Ecommerce Fulfillment
- Amazon FBA Fulfillment Costs and Strategies
- Setting Up Your FBA Prep Service Relationship
- Potential Challenges and Solutions
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Deciding between Shopify vs Amazon for your ecommerce business? Shopify lets you create a custom online store, while Amazon provides instant access to millions of customers. This article will compare their differences, costs, and benefits of each to help you choose the right platform in the Shopify vs Amazon debate.
Key Takeaways
- Shopify offers greater customization and branding options, allowing you to create a unique online store, while Amazon is a marketplace with a uniform design that limits individual branding.
- Setting up a store on Shopify involves a guided process, making it beginner-friendly, whereas Amazon allows quicker product listing but requires strict adherence to selling standards.
- Shopify has a more flexible pricing model without transaction fees on its payment system, while Amazon imposes referral fees that can eat into Seller profits; understanding these costs is key to choosing the right platform.
Key Differences Between Shopify and Amazon
When it comes to selling products online, both Amazon and Shopify are giants in their own right, but they serve different purposes. Shopify is an ecommerce platform that allows you to sell online and create your own online stores, providing a blank canvas for your brand. In contrast, Amazon is a vast online marketplace where multiple Sellers list their products, akin to owning a stand at a busy market. In the debate of Shopify vs Amazon, each platform has its unique strengths.
Listing products on Amazon can be a bit more cumbersome as it requires Sellers to provide documentation for account approval, which can delay the setup process. On the other hand, Shopify offers more freedom in entering product information, making it easier to get your shop up and running quickly.
Customization is another area where Shopify shines. Amazon’s layout significantly influences a merchant’s store page design, limiting how much you can personalize your shop. Shopify, however, allows for extensive branding and customization options, letting you create a cohesive brand experience that stands out. Whether you’re a small business or a larger enterprise, Shopify provides the tools to build a unique online presence.
New Amazon merchants often face challenges such as strict requirements for product descriptions and listings, which can be daunting. In contrast, Shopify offers a more flexible and supportive environment, making it a preferred choice for many online Sellers.
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I'm Interested in Saving Time and MoneyEase of Setting Up Your Online Store
Setting up an online store should be as straightforward as possible, and both Shopify and Amazon offer different experiences in this regard. Shopify’s setup process includes a comprehensive 8-step guide, ensuring users receive support while customizing their online store. This guide, combined with Shopify’s user-friendly tools like the AI assistant for writing product descriptions and the drag-and-drop website builder, makes it an excellent choice for individuals without technical skills.
Amazon allows users to start listing products almost immediately after creating an account, streamlining the process significantly compared to Shopify. This immediate access to a huge customer base can be a major advantage for Sellers looking to start selling online quickly. However, selling on Amazon resembles operating a booth in a crowded market, whereas Shopify allows you to create your own branded online storefront.
Shopify’s pricing structure allows selling an unlimited number of products without incurring additional listing fees, making it a cost-effective option for growing businesses. Whether you want to build your own online store with customizable templates or leverage Amazon’s vast marketplace, understanding these differences can help you choose the best platform for your business.
Branding and Customization Options
Branding is crucial for any business, and this is where Shopify truly excels. Shopify offers extensive brand customization, allowing you to create a unique and cohesive brand experience. From customizable themes to HTML/CSS modifications, Shopify provides the tools to personalize every aspect of your online store. This means you can build your very own brand and customer experience that stands out in the crowded ecommerce space.
In contrast, Amazon’s marketplace design emphasizes uniformity, limiting individual Seller branding opportunities. While this can ensure a consistent shopping experience for customers, it restricts Sellers from fully expressing their brand identity. Selling on Shopify allows for complete ownership of your own store, providing more control over branding and pricing.
With Shopify, Sellers can build direct relationships with customers, gaining valuable information like names and emails that can be used for personalized marketing efforts. For businesses aiming to establish a strong brand presence, Shopify’s customizable templates and extensive branding tools are a major benefit. This flexibility allows you to tailor the customer experience to align with your brand values and goals.
Marketing Tools and Capabilities
Effective marketing is the key to driving traffic and sales, and Shopify and Amazon offer different ecommerce tools to help Sellers reach prospective customers. Shopify users can utilize a variety of marketing and SEO tools to enhance the visibility of their own website. From targeted advertising campaigns on platforms like Meta and Google to email marketing and marketing automation tools, Shopify provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help you grow your business online.
Shopify’s SEO tools guide users on improving their search engine rankings, aiding in better visibility for their online stores. Additionally, Shopify allows users to run targeted advertising campaigns across various platforms, only charging when conversions occur. This means you can reach your prospective customers more effectively and maximize your marketing budget.
Amazon Sellers must optimize for the Amazon search engine specifically, which requires a different approach to SEO. While Amazon provides immediate access to a wide range of customers, it also means Sellers need to invest in promotions to ensure visibility.
Shopify, on the other hand, requires more active marketing efforts since it does not benefit from the same built-in traffic that Amazon has. This means businesses on Shopify need to be more proactive in their marketing strategies to drive traffic and sales.
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Understanding the pricing and fees associated with each platform is essential for making an informed decision. Different types of fees to consider when comparing Amazon and Shopify include subscription fees, transaction fees, referral fees, and fulfillment fees.
Let’s break down these fees to see how each platform stacks up.
Subscription Fees
Shopify offers four main plans: Basic Shopify at $29 per month, Shopify at $79 per month, Advanced Shopify at $299 per month, and an enterprise plan for more complex businesses called Shopify Plus, starting at $2,300 per month for 36 months. These plans cater to businesses of varying sizes, providing flexibility and scalability as your business grows. The Basic Shopify plan is perfect for new and small businesses, while the Advanced Shopify plan offers more advanced features for larger enterprises.
Amazon, on the other hand, offers a simpler pricing structure with two plans. The Individual plan is suitable for casual Sellers who don’t need advanced features, ($0.99 per item sold, separate from other fees), while the Professional plan is recommended for business owners or professional retailers ($39.99 per month). This straightforward approach can be easier for Sellers to navigate but may not provide the same level of flexibility as Shopify’s tiered pricing plans.
Transaction and Referral Fees
One of Shopify’s significant advantages is that it does not impose transaction fees when users utilize Shopify Payments; you only pay the credit card rate, which covers the cost of processing the payment. This means Sellers can keep nearly all their profits without worrying about additional costs per transaction.
Amazon’s referral fees vary by product category and can range from 6% to as high as 45% depending on the item sold, but the most common by far is 15%. Shopify does not impose referral fees, which can lead to higher profits for sellers.
Additionally, Amazon charges a per-item fee for Sellers on the Individual plan, while Shopify allows unlimited products without additional listing fees. This can lead to substantial savings for Sellers using Shopify, making it a more cost-effective option in the long run.
Fulfillment Fees
Using Amazon FBA incurs various fulfillment fees based on the size and weight of the products, which can significantly impact overall expenses. These fees include storage and handling fees, which can add up quickly, especially for larger or heavier items.
Shopify, on the other hand, allows Sellers to manage shipping with customizable rates, weights, rules, and options to connect with third-party fulfillment services. This flexibility can help Sellers optimize their shipping process and reduce costs.
Shipping and Fulfillment Options
Shipping and fulfillment are central to any ecommerce business. Amazon FBA offers Sellers the advantage of leveraging Amazon’s extensive logistics network for handling inventory and shipping. This means businesses can benefit from Amazon’s fast and reliable shipping options, enhancing the customer experience.
Shopify provides users the flexibility to integrate with various order management systems and third-party logistics (3PL) providers for efficient fulfillment operations. Sellers on Shopify can set up shipping rates based on weight, destination, and specific conditions to customize their shipping process.
Additionally, integrating Shopify with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) can enhance the speed of order fulfillment, allowing customers to receive their orders more quickly. Shopify Buy with Prime is also an MCF solution, but adds a special buy button to Shopify checkout pages to allow customers to choose FBA fulfillment rather than Sellers deciding for them. These integrations can reduce manual labor by outsourcing the processing of customer orders and while optimizing logistics.
Payment Options
Payment options are a fundamental part of the ecommerce experience. Shopify Payments allows users to accept payments directly through their store without additional fees for credit card processing. This integrated payment gateway simplifies the checkout process and can improve conversion rates. Moreover, Shopify users can also integrate third-party payment processors, offering more flexibility in payment acceptance, and the Shop Pay app enables a quick 1-click checkout experience for shoppers.
Amazon supports various payment methods, including gift cards, bank account transfers, and mobile payments. The primary payment gateway for Amazon is Amazon Pay, which provides a seamless and secure payment experience for customers.
While both platforms offer robust payment options, Shopify’s flexibility and lack of additional fees make it a more attractive choice for many Sellers.
SEO and Organic Sales
SEO is crucial for enhancing online visibility and reaching potential customers in ecommerce. Optimizing product pages effectively can significantly improve a Shopify store’s visibility in search results, attracting more customers. Content marketing through blogging can further increase organic traffic, helping to establish authority and relevance in your category.
Sales on Amazon often require continuous promotion, as organic visibility is not guaranteed. This means Sellers need to invest in Amazon SEO and other promotional strategies to maintain a competitive edge.
While Shopify requires more active marketing efforts, the potential for building long-term organic sales through effective SEO and content marketing can be highly rewarding.
Integrating Amazon with Shopify
Integrating Amazon with Shopify can expand your reach and enhance your sales opportunities. This integration allows you to synchronize inventory and product information between Shopify and Amazon, streamlining the management of your online store. The process can involve using a built-in Amazon app, third-party applications, or custom APIs depending on your business needs.
Once integrated, users can create Amazon offers and listings directly from their Shopify store. Onboarding for integration can vary in time, with simpler setups taking as little as 15-30 minutes. This synergy between the two platforms can significantly enhance your ecommerce results, offering the best of both worlds.
Pros and Cons of Selling on Both Platforms
Selling on both Shopify and Amazon can allow businesses to maximize their reach and conversions. Amazon provides immediate access to a wide range of customers, which is crucial for driving sales. However, competition on Amazon is intense, requiring Sellers to invest in promotions to ensure visibility to sell products.
With over 1.75 million merchants using Shopify, businesses can avoid referral fees by using this platform, offering better marketing flexibility and control. Amazon’s strict policies can lead to account bans if compliance is not maintained, adding an element of risk for Sellers. ReSellers doing wholesale or retail arbitrage may find Amazon more suitable due to its vast marketplace.
A successful online business ecommerce platform presence should ideally include both an official website and a presence on platforms like Amazon for maximum impact. Balancing the strengths of both platforms can help businesses achieve their sales and branding goals more effectively by creating their own ecommerce website.
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See Scale JourneyBeyond the Basics
Beyond the basics, both Shopify and Amazon offer unique features that can enhance your ecommerce experience. Shopify Capital provides merchant cash advances and loans to eligible store owners, a financial service many people don’t associate with the platform.
Amazon’s A9 Algorithm, which differs significantly from Google’s algorithm, plays a crucial role in how products are ranked on the site. Understanding these unique features can help you leverage each platform’s full potential.
Summary
Both Shopify and Amazon offer powerful tools for selling products online, but they cater to different needs and business models. Shopify provides extensive branding and customization options, making it ideal for businesses looking to build a unique online presence. Its flexible pricing plans and lack of transaction fees further enhance its appeal. Amazon, with its vast marketplace and immediate access to millions of customers, is perfect for Sellers looking to reach a large audience quickly.
Ultimately, the choice between Shopify and Amazon depends on your business goals and needs. For many Sellers, using both platforms can be the best strategy, combining the strengths of each to maximize reach and sales. By understanding the key differences and benefits of each platform, you can make an informed decision that sets your business up for success.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use both Shopify and Amazon to sell my products?
Absolutely, you can use both Shopify and Amazon to sell your products! By integrating them, you can sync your inventory and easily manage listings, giving your business the best of both worlds.
What are the main differences between Shopify and Amazon?
The main difference is that Shopify lets you build a customized online store where you control branding and customer relationships, while Amazon is a vast marketplace where many Sellers can reach a large audience, but have very little control. So, choose Shopify for brand control or Amazon for quick access to customers.
How do the fees compare between Shopify and Amazon?
Shopify generally offers more predictable and lower fees, especially if you use Shopify Payments and avoid additional transaction fees. In contrast, Amazon has varying referral fees by product category and additional fulfillment costs with FBA.
Which platform is easier to set up for a new business?
Shopify is generally easier to set up for a new business because it offers a comprehensive setup guide and user-friendly tools, perfect for those without technical skills. However, Amazon allows for immediate product listing, giving Sellers a quick start if speed is a priority.
What are the advantages of integrating Shopify with Amazon?
Integrating Shopify with Amazon expands your reach and boosts sales by synchronizing inventory and product information. This means you can easily manage your listings and improve your visibility across both platforms.

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Shopify Estimated Delivery Date: A Complete Guide for Ecommerce Stores
In this article
6 minutes
- Give Your Website Customers an Amazon-Like Delivery Experience
- What Is an Estimated Delivery Date?
- Why Are Estimated Delivery Dates Important for Ecommerce?
- Benefits of Adding Estimated Delivery Dates to Shopify Stores
- How to Add Estimated Delivery Dates on Shopify Using Code
- Pro Tips for Accurate Estimated Delivery Dates
- Final Thoughts
- Frequently Asked Questions
Give Your Website Customers an Amazon-Like Delivery Experience

Today, online shoppers expect transparency at every stage of their shopping experience—including shipping. One crucial factor that influences purchasing decisions is the estimated delivery date (EDD). If customers know exactly when their order will arrive, they are more likely to complete the purchase and trust your brand for future transactions.
If you’re running a Shopify store, displaying estimated delivery dates on product pages is a simple but effective way to enhance customer satisfaction and reduce support inquiries. In this guide, we’ll dive into:
- What an estimated delivery date is
- Why displaying EDDs matters in ecommerce
- The benefits of adding estimated delivery dates to Shopify stores
- Tips for accurately calculating delivery estimates
- A step-by-step guide to adding estimated delivery dates on Shopify using code
Let’s get started!
What Is an Estimated Delivery Date?
An estimated delivery date (EDD) is the projected timeframe in which a customer can expect to receive their order after placing it. Unlike general shipping estimates (e.g., “ships in 3-5 business days”), an EDD provides a specific arrival window, such as “Arrives between March 15-18”, or it can be a specific date based on the carrier’s stated transit time from origin to destination address, such as “FREE delivery Tomorrow, March 13”.
EDD calculations take several factors into account, including:
- Processing time: The time required to prepare and package the order
- Shipping method: The carrier and shipping speed chosen by the customer or offered by the Seller
- Destination: The buyer’s location in relation to your fulfillment center
- Holidays & weekends: Non-working or non-shipping days that could delay shipping and delivery
By displaying accurate EDDs, Shopify store owners set clear expectations and build trust with customers.
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See How It WorksWhy Are Estimated Delivery Dates Important for Ecommerce?
Shoppers today value convenience, speed, and transparency. If an ecommerce store does not provide an estimated delivery date, customers might abandon their carts or seek alternatives from competitors like Amazon, where shipping timelines are clear.
Here’s why showing EDDs on Shopify product pages is critical:
✅ Reduces Cart Abandonment
Uncertainty about when an order will arrive is a major reason customers hesitate at checkout. By offering clear delivery estimates upfront, you eliminate doubts and increase conversions.
✅ Improves Customer Experience & Trust
A store that provides reliable delivery estimates appears more professional and organized. Customers appreciate clear expectations and are more likely to return for future purchases.
✅ Decreases Customer Support Inquiries
One of the most common customer service questions is “When will my order arrive?” By proactively displaying estimated delivery dates, you reduce the need for these inquiries, saving time and resources.
✅ Boosts Sales & Competitive Advantage
If a customer is deciding between your store and another with vague shipping timelines, a visible EDD can be the deciding factor in your favor. Shoppers love predictability, and showing estimated delivery dates can give you a competitive edge.
Benefits of Adding Estimated Delivery Dates to Shopify Stores
Displaying an EDD builds confidence and nudges hesitant buyers toward completing their purchase.
Happy customers are more likely to leave positive reviews and recommend your store when they receive their orders on time.
Urgency-driven shoppers (e.g., those buying gifts) need clear shipping information to finalize their purchase.
EDD visibility can be leveraged in promotions, such as “Order within the next 2 hours to get delivery by Friday!”
Now that we understand the importance of estimated delivery dates, let’s explore how to add them to your Shopify store using code.
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I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsHow to Add Estimated Delivery Dates on Shopify Using Code
While Shopify does not have a built-in estimated delivery date feature, you can manually add it to your product pages using Liquid code. Below are the step-by-step instructions to implement this feature without relying on third-party apps.
Step 1: Identify Your Shipping Timeframes
Before adding EDDs to your store, define your shipping and processing times. Consider:
- Order processing time (e.g., 1-2 business days)
- Shipping carrier timelines (e.g., 3-5 business days for standard shipping)
- Different EDDs for various locations (if applicable)
Step 2: Open Shopify’s Theme Code Editor
- In your Shopify Admin, go to Online Store → Themes.
- Click on Actions (3 dots) → Edit Code.
Step 3: Add Custom Code to the Product Page
Locate the `product.liquid` file (or `product-template.liquid` in Shopify 2.0 themes) and insert the following code snippet where you want the estimated delivery date to appear:
{% assign processing_time = 2 %} <!-- Adjust processing time in days -->
{% assign shipping_time_min = 3 %} <!-- Minimum shipping time in days -->
{% assign shipping_time_max = 5 %} <!-- Maximum shipping time in days -->
{% assign min_days = processing_time | plus: shipping_time_min %}
{% assign max_days = processing_time | plus: shipping_time_max %}
{% assign today_date = 'now' | date: '%Y-%m-%d' %}
{% assign min_delivery_date = today_date | date: '%s' | plus: min_days | date: '%b %d' %}
{% assign max_delivery_date = today_date | date: '%s' | plus: max_days | date: '%b %d' %}
<p><strong>Estimated Delivery:</strong> {{ min_delivery_date }} - {{ max_delivery_date }}</p>
Step 4: Customize the Message
Modify the text within the `<p>` tags to match your store’s branding (e.g., “Your order is expected to arrive between…”).
Step 5: Save & Preview the Changes
- Click Save in the code editor.
- Go to a product page and refresh to see the estimated delivery date displayed.
Step 6: Test Different Scenarios
- Change the processing and shipping time variables to verify accuracy.
- Place test orders to ensure the calculations align with actual delivery times.
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Learn About Sustainable ReturnsPro Tips for Accurate Estimated Delivery Dates
✅ Factor in Business Days & Holidays – Ensure your estimates exclude non-working days when applicable.
✅ Offer Multiple Shipping Options – Display different EDDs based on shipping speed (e.g., Standard vs. Express).
✅ Use Location-Based Estimates – If you ship internationally, adjust the timeframe for different regions.
✅ Keep Your Shipping Speeds Updated – If carrier delays occur, update your estimates accordingly to avoid customer disappointment.
✅ Communicate Clearly – If there are unexpected delays, notify customers proactively via email or SMS.
Final Thoughts
Adding an estimated delivery date to your Shopify store is a simple yet powerful way to increase conversions, reduce customer inquiries, and improve overall satisfaction. While third-party apps exist, using custom code gives you full control and flexibility over how EDDs appear on your site.
By implementing the steps outlined in this guide, your customers will have a clear expectation of when their orders will arrive, making them more confident in their purchase decisions.
Now it’s your turn—try adding EDDs to your Shopify store today and watch your sales and customer trust grow!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is estimated delivery date?
An estimated delivery date (EDD) is the date when a package is expected to arrive at its destination. It’s a key part of the online shopping experience and can impact customer satisfaction.
Where can I find an EDD?
It can be displayed at various times and locations such as on the product page, at checkout, in the order confirmation email, on the branded tracking page, in shipment notifications, or on the “Thank You” page.
Why are accurate EDDs important?
They can help build trust and encourage repeat business, they can help reduce customer anxiety and uncertainty, and they can help retailers manage their inventory and optimize their supply chain.

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How To Offer Free Shipping on Your Ecommerce Store & Still Make a Profit
In this article
3 minutes
- Top 12 Shipping Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
- Top 5 Pricing Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
- Top 8 Marketing Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
- Top 7 Supply Chain Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
- Top 7 Returns Optimization Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
For any online Seller wanting to get ahead of the pack, offering fast and free shipping is a must. But shipping is not really free, is it? And it can creep into your margins. We have created THE ultimate guide on how to offer free shipping and still make a profit. Keep reading to learn nearly 40 proven ways you can offer free shipping profitably and radically improve your bottom line.
Top 12 Shipping Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
Free shipping has evolved from a bonus perk to an expectation among online shoppers. But for businesses, it presents a major challenge—how do you cover shipping costs without eating into your profit margins? The answer lies in smart logistics and strategic planning. By negotiating better rates, optimizing fulfillment processes, and leveraging hybrid shipping solutions, you can offer free shipping while still protecting your bottom line. This guide explores strategic shipping best practices for turning free shipping from a costly obligation into a competitive advantage, ensuring both customer satisfaction and long-term business sustainability.
Read more.
Top 5 Pricing Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
Pricing plays a critical role in both conversion rates and profitability, and when it comes to free shipping, it’s essential to strike the right balance. Simply absorbing shipping costs without adjusting your pricing model can lead to financial strain. Instead, businesses need to strategically incorporate shipping expenses into their pricing structure—whether through slight price adjustments, minimum order thresholds, or dynamic pricing models. This article breaks down five proven pricing strategies that help businesses recover shipping costs while remaining competitive, ensuring that free shipping enhances rather than erodes profitability.
Read more.
Top 8 Marketing Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
Free shipping is a powerful marketing tool that can boost conversions, build customer loyalty, and increase average order value. However, if not executed strategically, it can also lead to shrinking margins. The key is to use free shipping as a lever to drive sales, whether through limited-time promotions, loyalty programs, or strategic bundling. This article explores eight marketing strategies that not only make free shipping sustainable but also turn it into a growth engine for your business. If you’re looking for ways to attract customers and keep them coming back without compromising profitability, this is the guide for you.
Read more.
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I'm Interested in Saving Time and MoneyTop 7 Supply Chain Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
Behind every successful free shipping program is a well-optimized supply chain. Whether it’s managing inventory more efficiently, leveraging regional fulfillment centers, or adopting dropshipping as part of your operating model, businesses that refine their logistics can reduce costs and make free shipping a feasible, profitable option. This guide takes a deep dive into seven key supply chain strategies that help ecommerce sellers minimize expenses while still offering fast and affordable shipping. If you want to turn free shipping from a financial drain into a business advantage, these supply chain optimizations are a must-read.
Read more.
Top 7 Returns Optimization Strategies For Making Free Shipping Profitable
Returns are a natural part of ecommerce, but without the right strategy, they can quickly become a financial burden. The good news is that returns optimization can help businesses reduce unnecessary refunds, streamline reverse logistics, and even recover revenue. Whether it’s improving product descriptions to prevent returns, offering in-store drop-offs, or leveraging ecommerce programs, this guide outlines seven actionable strategies that make free shipping sustainable by keeping your returns program cost-effective. If returns are eating into your margins, these strategies will help you regain control.
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Is Shopify Worth It?
Since 2020, there’s been massive growth in e-commerce. While on the surface this shift benefits any company with an e-commerce platform, many brands still find it challenging to compete against marketplace giants Amazon and Walmart. Even with sophisticated tools like Shopify, brands struggle to gain a foothold in their direct-to-consumer approach when larger platforms have the traffic and order fulfillment infrastructure to offer lower prices and faster shipping. In such an unlevel playing field, is it even worth it to develop a direct-to-consumer ecommerce platform? Put more simply: is Shopify worth it?
Is Building a Shopify Website Worthwhile?
In the webinar titled “Are Shopify Websites Worthwhile”, Cahoot CEO Manish Chowdhary speaks with representatives from successful direct-to-consumer brands Boogie Board and JumpOff Jo to discuss Shopify pros and cons, learning how these brands capitalize on what Shopify has to offer for direct-to-consumer marketing. This discussion uncovers three key takeaways:
- Different e-commerce platforms offer different advantages
- Letting go of the “us vs. Amazon” mentality fuels growth
- Successful brands implement platform-specific strategies
Pros That Make Shopify Worth It
In examining Shopify pros and cons, Boogie Board Marketing Director Katelyn Stiver identified a key benefit of this direct-to-consumer platform: immediate access to customer data. On Amazon, sellers can view only aggregated and anonymous sales data. As the owner of the marketplace, Amazon keeps customer information to itself. On Shopify, sellers gain much more visibility into shopper buying behavior and demographics.
Additionally, Stiver pointed out the difference in time it takes to build sales momentum for new products. On Amazon, it can take 6-8 months to see significant sales of a product. They gain the same momentum on Shopify in just 2-4 weeks. The massive difference is due largely to the highly competitive Amazon landscape, whereas a seller’s Shopify store has no immediate competition once shoppers reach it.
Companies like Boogie Board can see who is buying on their Shopify store to immediately make informed decisions for targeted marketing and direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns. “It doesn’t take long to start getting that data and using it, so it’s incredibly worth it,” explains Stiver.
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See How It WorksDirect-to-Consumer Helps Create Winners
This direct, immediate feedback can also supercharge a brand’s product development. As Stiver explains, a lot of people still think the best way to launch a product is to go directly to Amazon. Shopify offers a better start, while launching on Amazon simultaneously ensures long term growth. “Put everything on every platform and watch how customers behave,” she says.
This gives direct-to-consumer platforms like Shopify value when testing new products, exclusive offerings, and targeted messaging for an already established brand. The customer data reveals which products have the potential to do well on Amazon long before sales in that marketplace gain traction.
Tailored Products and Messaging
Utilizing Shopify also gives brands the opportunity to feature a full catalog of products on their own website instead of relying exclusively on the handful of products that do well on Amazon. As Chowdhary points out, Amazon shoppers tend to be in “price-shopping mode,” which means lower-priced products tend to do better. By contrast, higher-priced, premium products do better on direct-to-consumer sites.
As Denise Abraham, GM of Private Label at Kaspien, points out, this means brands could promote different products and unique messaging for each e-commerce platform. “We’re pushing our consumers to targeted listings based on customer data,” she explains. “We’re even entertaining the idea of using the data to make products specific for each market.”
Developing Strategies to Stay Competitive
Shopify is growing, which means there is an appetite among customers to buy directly from brands. That said, progressive brands need to look at what will happen down the road. If the Marketplace is going to continue to dominate, strategy must reflect that. It is not possible for most brands to achieve the same low-cost, fast-shipping experience as Amazon or Walmart without help from an industry-leading Shopify 3PL.
For brands to take advantage of what different e-commerce platforms have to offer, they must let go of the “us vs. them” mentality. Price-driven customers will always gravitate toward Amazon and Walmart. If a brand is not identifying best-selling products and launching them on these marketplaces while simultaneously building a direct-to-consumer line with Shopify, they are missing out on a huge market. “If you sell on both platforms and your customer starts on your site then purchases on Amazon, it’s no biggie,” says Stiver. “You might lose the customer data, but you still get the sale.”
Using Shopify to Grow in All Markets
Tools like Shopify provide immediate data and feedback. This helps identify which products will perform better on different platforms, giving brands the option to build growth on their own website as well as Amazon. While some consumers want the best price possible, others prefer to purchase directly from a brand they trust and recognize, valuing intimacy and exclusivity over low prices. Companies like Cahoot offer an extensive US fulfillment center network to help brands match pace with the retail giants, making it easier than ever to build and maintain a direct-to-consumer platform for exclusive product lines and the intimate experience some customers crave.
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I'm Interested in Peer-to-Peer ReturnsBuilding a Better Customer Experience
Successful brands make sure the customer has the best experience possible, regardless of where they shop. Thrifty customers want the best price for a given product, while customers who prefer a premium experience want to interact directly with the brand to ask questions and gain access to exclusive products. A robust direct-to-consumer website boosts brand’s credibility and allows it to tell its story more accurately before expanding onto larger platforms.
The ability to craft a brand story that resonates with customers and offer exclusive products and an intimate shopping experience are huge benefits of Shopify. Everything from product development to brand voice and messaging can be fine-tuned before being released into the wild of the marketplace. By utilizing different strategies across multiple e-commerce platforms, brands can leverage the massive infrastructure and consumer reach of Amazon and Walmart while still maintaining a direct line to customers through Shopify.


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Profitable Order Fulfillment Strategies for Shopify Ecommerce
Listen to podcast here.
Podcast: Digital Marketing Intelligence for Shopify – Ask the Experts – Episode 94 – Manish Chowdhary (E-commerce Case Study) – RSS.com
This podcast focuses on providing insights and strategies for digital marketing and eCommerce on Shopify. The topic of the episode is profitable order fulfillment strategies, and the guest is an award-winning shipping logistics entrepreneur and eCommerce expert named Manish Chowdhary. He is the founder of Cahoot, the world’s first peer-to-peer order fulfillment services network, and holds 10 US patents for his inventions. The episode discusses how the right order fulfillment strategies can lead to faster growth, particularly in times of financial stress and inventory supply chain issues. Manish shares his insights and expertise on eCommerce strategy, warehouse logistics optimization, and supply chain issues.
Marissa Morgan:
Welcome to Digital Marketing Intelligence for Shopify, Ask the Experts. Our weekly podcast and video show, offers Shopify’s ecosystem of brand owners, store developers, app providers, investors and marketing agencies, insights from case studies and discussions, with marketing and eCommerce experts, grow faster with tips, tricks, and proven strategies, and learn what’s new in eCommerce digital marketing for 2022 and beyond.
Hello everybody and welcome to our next episode of Digital Marketing Intelligence for Shopify, Ask the Experts. I’m Marissa Morgan, I’ll be your show host today, and I’m also the business development manager for Ngagge. On behalf of myself and the entire team at Ngagge, I want to welcome you to today’s show. Today’s topic is all about profitable order fulfillment strategies and why right now they are the key to faster growth, especially during crazy financial times and all of these crazy inventory supply chain issues that we’re having across the globe. Our guest is an award-winning logistics entrepreneur. He is an eCommerce expert. He is the proud owner of more than, well, let me say, he’s got 10 patents, okay, that’s pretty incredible. And he’s also the founder of Cahoot, the world’s first peer-to-peer order fulfillment services network. What is that? Well, we’ll find out more about what that means in just a moment, when I introduce you to our special guest,
Before I do, of course, a quick word from our sponsor, Ngagge, before we get started. We’re excited to share that Ngagge recently launched our first app called SMS Messaging for Shopify Stores, in May of 2022. So that app is live right now, and what that app does is make it incredibly easy for Shopify store owners to not only build their customer lists faster, increase sales, but also save time with automations and create personalized campaigns to really improve the customer shopping experience. With our SMS messaging app, there is no code support bots, so it’s very easy to install and use, even if you don’t have a tech team. And right now with open rates of email kind of sitting around 20% or maybe even less, I mean, think about it, when’s the last time you opened a business email that was maybe a marketing email that you didn’t ask for? I mean, maybe you didn’t even open it. Right now the SMS open rate is 98%, maybe even higher.
So the likelihood that if you are not using SMS marketing right now, that you’re missing out on business is very, very high. So you can check out our app, Shopify SMS, Ngagge Shopify SMS at www.ngagge.com. That is www.ngagge.com, where you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of the app. And with that trial, you’ll also get 500 free SMS messages to start using right away so you can take the app for a test drive. So if you’re not using SMS, no time like the present to take advantage of the Ngagge SMS for Shopify Store app, which is available right now, ngagge.com.
Okay, it is time for me to introduce you to our special guest. He is joining us from New York. His name is Manish Chowdhary. And Manish’s incredible career in eCommerce started in his dorm room. He actually founded multiple industry leading companies while in his dorm room at the University of Bridgeport. By the way, that’s Connecticut, that’s where I’m from originally, so we have a common tie there. He is a logistics entrepreneur who also founded Cahoot, which I mentioned is the world’s first peer-to-peer order fulfillment services network for brands and retailers. His specialties include eCommerce strategy, business methods innovation, inventory supply chain and logistics optimization. And as I mentioned, he holds 10 US patents for his inventions and has also been featured in couple small publications like the New York Times, Forbes, International Retailer, and many other leading publications. He is a 40 under 40 competition winner and holds an honorary doctorate, which is the highest honor from his alma mater. Cahoot, his company, was recently named a Spring of 2020 SourceForge Top Performer and is also a five star rated company, not only on Amazon, but also Shopify, which is impressive.
And if this wasn’t impressive enough, he’s got an active social life as well. He’s an avid traveler and he’s actually traveled to more than half of all the Caribbean islands, which I find very impressive. I’m a big island lover myself. And he’s also a big fan of an IPA and is a big fan of trying different IPAs. So much fun. Manish, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re excited to have you as our guest expert on logistics and fulfillment and what that ultimately means for companies right now in a time of crazy financial stress and inventory supply chain issues, and of course what that means for happy customers. So thank you so much for joining us today.
Manish Chowdhary:
Marissa. Thank you so much for having me, and thank you for such a generous intro. I think it is more than I would ask, and I really appreciate all your audience listening to this show today. So thank you.
Marissa Morgan:
Oh, you’re so excited to have you. And you know what, that was only half of what I could have said for an intro for you. I had to take some time and leave out some things for time’s sake. But you have a very impressive background, not only in eCommerce, but obviously right now with logistics optimization and helping companies deliver obviously their goods and their services to the end user. But I want to ask you, because this is something new to me, what exactly is peer-to-peer order fulfillment? What does that mean?
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Yes, Marissa, peer-to-peer order fulfillment is a term that Cahoot has coined. Essentially it is about collaboration. It is brands and retailers collaborating and working together to make free and fast delivery affordable, no matter which channel you sell on. So on the Cahoot platform, brands and retailers that have warehouses of their own, that have excellent fulfillment metrics for their own orders, and if they have excess space in their warehouse, they have the opportunity, for the very first time, to join Cahoot as a fulfillment partner. And those are the warehouses Cahoot utilizes to place our client’s inventory, the seller’s inventory. And putting them all together, Cahoot has created this large nationwide network. Maybe an analogy might be something like an Airbnb, how Airbnb helped homeowners unlock new revenue stream by renting out their spare bedroom or their spare apartment. So Cahoot is making that same opportunity available for millions of sellers that have warehouses of their own.
So this is a unique opportunity and the advantage of all this to our sellers, to our clients, is lower cost, is because we take all those savings and pass it back to our clients. So that is what peer-to-peer collaboration is all about and peer-to-peer order fulfillment services network.
Marissa Morgan:
Well, that sounds like a win-win, just like I feel, that was a great analogy, Airbnb has been a huge win for property owners because it’s true, there’s probably a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses out there that have the space and don’t use all of it. So why not go ahead and outsource that space to other retailers, other brands, other companies that are looking for space and create almost this incredible network, like a spider web of opportunity for different brands to have their product in different regions.
Manish Chowdhary:
Yes. And this is particularly more relevant in today’s economy because industrial space or warehouses, space capacity is at all-time low. In fact, you cannot find warehouse space even if you wanted to. And as a result, the rent is at an all-time high. So if you were to go to a traditional 3PL, a traditional warehouse, you’re going to pay exorbitant fees. If you’re looking to rent a new warehouse space, you cannot find, or if you do find, you would have to Ngagge in a multi-year lease at a premium pricing. So just like, again, I’ll take the Airbnb example, during the 2008 recession when Airbnb got its start, people were looking for more affordable ways to make money, to stay and live more affordably or rent a room more affordably. And that’s what Cahoot is doing in the current inventory supply chain and the fulfillment world, which is a boon for both the people that are fulfillment partners for Cahoot, but more importantly, the sellers that are looking for relief.
Marissa Morgan:
Well, I know there’s a lot of benefits and I think we’ll talk about some of those benefits during our time together today. But again, it sounds like a win-win, it sounds like great way to also, I mean, do something good for the environment, because if you have products that are within the same state as the buyer, obviously your carbon footprint in getting those products to those buyers is going to be a lot less, less potentially trucks on the road. And this is exciting to me, I just feel like there’s so many benefits all around from the obviously experience of the buyer to get that product in a shorter amount of time, which we know Amazon has really conditioned all of us to expect things within two days really, is almost the expectation now. Would you agree?
Manish Chowdhary:
Yes. In fact, two days was the expectation two years ago, Marissa. In fact, most Amazon buyers expect, if you’re living in urban areas like Manhattan or New York or Los Angeles, shoppers expect the delivery to be next day for most items. In fact, Amazon itself has been raising the bar on fulfillment. So almost 40% of Amazon’s products are being delivered in one day now. So two day was-
Marissa Morgan:
Two day’s old news?
Manish Chowdhary:
Yeah, it’s delivered. So the world is moving even faster. I know it’s crazy, but the shoppers, like if I wanted wanted soccer goalposts for my kids birthday party on Saturday and it’s Friday and I don’t want to drive and go and pick up and spend two hours. And so people will make decisions, shoppers are making decisions based on the delivery promise, and it’s so important too. And that’s where a lot of Shopify sellers, a lot of any seller, on any market, on any channel, can win big using delivery as a strategic competitive advantage.
Marissa Morgan:
I love that. I love that. And I can totally understand this must get it the next day kind of mentality because a lot of us in general, humans in general, we tend to juggle, we tend to multitask, we tend to procrastinate. And most of us are not always planning weeks in advance for the things that we think we’ll need because maybe we don’t even know we need them yet. So I think as a culture, the last minute shopping world has also increased in size and the number of people kind of acting in that space because now we know we can get things last minute. And I think just a lot of our listeners are going, “Yeah, I’ve done that before, where I’m like, shoot, I need this tomorrow.”
So let’s just, for our audience watching the video show of today’s talk, I’m going to share a quick outline, for those of you listening on the podcast, we’ve doven into this, but I’m going to read through this for you. Again, today we’re talking about profitable fulfillment strategies and really why they’re the key to faster growth, especially right now during difficult financial times. We’re going to get into why you can’t rely on platform locked services like FBA. We’ll also have Manish walk us through how one to many solutions unlock new growth opportunities, increase economies of scale, and reduce complexity as well. And I know as we work through this talk together, Manish is going to share countless examples of different clients and what they’ve done and how they’ve connected to gain that edge through especially the peer-to-peer order fulfillment opportunity. So I guess, can you help me understand this concept of FBA, this platform lock fulfillment and what FBA is? Because that’s a term I’m not super for familiar with.
Manish Chowdhary:
Sure. FBA, as lot of our audience probably know, is fulfillment by Amazon. And we’re calling it platform locked fulfillment or platform locked services because FBA, for example, would give a different treatment to orders that originate from Amazon and how they fulfill them, and I’ll break this down for you, as opposed to orders from some other channel, because they’re playing favorites. Another example would be Walmart fulfillment services that is designed to help Walmart sellers succeed on Walmart alone. But when you think about the seller, most sellers, especially the Shopify sellers are selling on their DTC site and many of them are selling on marketplaces, both Amazon, Walmart, eBay, could be Target, could be Macy’s, but they’re also doing wholesale business. So if the merchant were to select a platform locked service, which means they need to now find other services or other order fulfillment solutions for their other needs, and that creates increased complexity, increased cost, and it is punitive because FBA, as you know, if you send your products to FBA, you get access to the Prime shopper, but it’s very difficult to get access to them if you don’t use FBA services.
So there are a lot of things that are happening and there is an antitrust case that’s pending as well, it’s called coupling. And I can take a pause here if you have questions, but I can keep breaking this down further into why this is not the best choice for the sellers, what are the advantages and what are some of the disadvantages.
Marissa Morgan:
No, I’m glad you broke that down for me. So FBA is fulfillment by Amazon, and as a customer, this helps me understand why sometimes when I’m shopping on Amazon, certain products can be shipped to me within that day or two timeframe, and then others are not. Even if it’s the same exact product or just from a different company, it’s because some of these companies have this agreement or Amazon actually holds this merchandise, versus other companies that may be selling through Amazon, but shipping themselves basically. You’re just helping me understand all the things that are happening behind the scenes, especially from a consumer perspective. So sounds like there’s benefits to FBA or some of these platform locked services, but then also there’s definitely some drawbacks as well.
Manish Chowdhary:
Yes, most definitely. I mean, there are some major benefits to platform locked services. For example, FBA, you get access to the Prime shopper. The minute you send your products to FBA, they are available to the Prime shopper, which is the most affluent, the high spenders on Amazon. And these are people that are over 150 million or over 100 million members in the US alone, which is probably one out of three. If you take out the kids and the elderly, I mean-
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By the way, I call the Prime shoppers part of AA, and that’s Amazon addicts. I am a Prime shopper, but kind of by default, my husband’s more of a shopper than I am. But yes, I can feel the money that is spent through especially these Amazon Prime accounts. And when people shop at the top, they have the option as a Prime member to say, “Hey, I just want to see the Prime options,” which are the options that are probably using FBA.
Manish Chowdhary:
And many times I think Amazon only displays the Prime offers by default or Prime offers get priority over non-Prime offers. So if you, Marissa, are a Prime member and you log in with your Prime account on Amazon, the chances are that the products that you will see will be primarily Prime eligible products before you see non-Prime eligible. So because Amazon is all about having the customers having a great shopping experience, which means not only are you finding the wide selection of products, low prices, but also amazing delivery, which is one or two day, which has been one of the top advantages that Amazon has over other retailers like Walmart, Target, Macy’s, and that they continue to drive the flywheel through that delivery experience.
Marissa Morgan:
Now, I know you wanted to get into why you can’t rely, so obviously there’s benefits, but what is the main reason or reasons that you think eCommerce brands and people who are obviously shipping to customers, can’t just rely on the platform locked services?
Manish Chowdhary:
Several stories. Just was speaking with a large seller, this is one of the top Amazon sellers, and you would think that they would have an in with Amazon, they would be given preferential treatment, and these are people who are doing nine figures on Amazon. So not seven figures, not six figures, nine figures. And they wake up one day and they find that their inventory limit or how much inventory you can send to Amazon has been slashed to less than half. And that is a huge problem because Amazon just announced the second Prime Day, which is coming up in October 11 and 12. So now how are you going to manage and how are you going to … if your inventory limits are slashed, that means you cannot send all your products to Amazon. You cannot send them in enough quantities. And on top of that, Amazon is taking very long to receive these items.
So from the time you send the items to Amazon, it could take weeks for them to be received. And during that time, you cannot send them anything new. And if your product goes out of stock, let’s say you have five days of inventory and it’s going to take Amazon 10 days to receive it, after five days, your product goes out of stock, which means your seller rank drops, which means your inventory performance index, these are all Amazon terminologies, which is the way how Amazon keeps track of how much space or how much limit to allocate to each seller because sellers do not have unlimited quotas, so as to speak, they’re limited and restricted.
So now while there are many advantages, but if you’re a seller, now you are in a jam that if Amazon is such an important sales channel, you rely on that for your sales. You bought containers and containers of inventory that you’ve paid for from overseas, now your money is locked up and you can’t sell it on Amazon because you can’t get into FBA. And if you don’t get into FBA, you don’t get access to the Prime shopper, who are the ones who make most of the sales. So one of the challenges is that. There are many more challenges, I can talk about a few more. The second is multi-channel fulfillment. So let’s say you get all your inventory into Amazon, you’re selling on Shopify and you want to fulfill Shopify orders using your Amazon fulfillment services. Guess what? You’re going to pay up to 50% more to Amazon to fulfill your Shopify order because Shopify and Amazon are at war.
So Shopify went and acquired another order fulfillment provider called Deliver. So that’s the same thing, Shopify is not there to promote Amazon sales. So now if you start using Deliver, for example, which is a more recent acquisition, so this is a prediction, that they’re going to create policies that favor Shopify. So while things are good for the shopper, it is very difficult for the merchant to make money. And if the seller does not make money, seller does not profit, they’re not going to stay in business, and therefore they cannot innovate, they cannot bring the next product. So this becomes almost a self-fulfilling prophecy, that it was good to a point, and at some point it becomes bad and the sellers have to find other alternatives that are neutral. To ship an order, whether it comes from Amazon or Shopify or eBay, it’s the same effort, same everything, why should one cost more than the other?
Marissa Morgan:
And at the end of the day, it’s so sad to think that the only people that end up happy are the huge companies like Amazon and the consumer, because the middleman, which is the creator of the product or the inventor of the product or the brand founder, it’s like these people have put in so much work to create what they’ve created. So it’s so sad to think that the one person who ultimately gets the most screwed is the person who’s got the beautiful product to offer.
Manish Chowdhary:
That’s exactly it, and that is why we created Cahoot to be platform-agnostic. Same thing with Walmart. Walmart is favoring Walmart fulfillment services. So if you want to get on the fast track to get the two-day badge to attract the Walmart shopper, Walmart is doing, but it has tons of limitations, Walmart fulfillment services will not ship products internationally. So if you get an order from overseas, now you have to figure out another solution. In case of FBA, any product that’s oversized is very expensive to ship. So if you want to get access to the Prime shopper, it’s a problem. Q4, which is the holiday season, storage fees for FBA are three times as expensive as the rest of the year. So you can imagine, one, you can’t get your product, you’re lucky if you get it in, if you get it in and if you get it in late, if you miss out on sales, you’re going to pay Amazon three times.
While there are benefits, of course, it is not all disadvantaged, but these are the limitations, these are the challenges that sellers are facing and that’s why we created Cahoot to make it a level playing field. We want to think like the seller, what’s best for the seller? And if you want to do wholesale, we know most ecommerce brands want to also partner with other independent retail stores. For example, we have a client called Cali’s Books, they sell to Barnes & Noble, they sell to Nordstrom, so they want to send pallets and cases or books to these local bookstores. And that’s not something that FBA can do, that’s not something that WFS can do. So these are the challenges with platform locked services, because they were not designed to promote the seller, they were designed to promote the revenue for the platform.
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Gosh, at the end of the day, something that we talked about before the show too, the end of the day, you said, and I’m going to quote you, I hope that’s okay, you said half of your shopping experience is your shipping experience. So what’s crazy is everything you’re talking about, the good, bad, and the ugly, all obviously affects the business, let’s say the eCommerce business. But the eCommerce business, especially the one that understands the consumer experience, the customer experience, that business is doing its best to make the best choices and put the best options in play so that ultimately the consumer has a great experience.
So it’s all intertwined, but it’s like everybody’s got their own, selfishly they have their own interests at play. And it’s kind of crazy to think that Amazon makes money, percentages off sales already, and you think that was the original business model, they make money by selling Joe’s product, they make a little cut. But now it’s gone way above that and they’ve now monopolized the entire process of selling and shipping, so that not only are they making a profit on the products themselves, but they’re making a ton more on housing, and like you said, getting the products in. It’s just insane to me. It’s insane. But now I know why Jeff Bezos has private jets and all this stuff, I mean, he’s raking in the dough, it’s insane.
Manish Chowdhary:
Well, you’ve forgotten the most biggest cash cow that Amazon has just created, advertising. Previously it was you get paid to sell the item on Amazon, that was great. Now in order to sell the item, you need to spend an insane amount of money on advertising.
Marissa Morgan:
To be the top featured product of that specific category for this many hours of the day or whatever. It’s insane.
Manish Chowdhary:
And then where’s the next area to get a larger share of the seller’s wallet, is the order fulfillment services. Because if I can create coupling, it’s called, which is what the US Antitrust is calling it, in their proposed bill, that it’s like Google favoring Google reviews over Yelp reviews for restaurants. But because you’re using the Google Chrome browser, you don’t have much of a choice because Google makes the decision on-
Marissa Morgan:
What you see.
Manish Chowdhary:
… restaurant reviews to show, so that is where there’s a problem. And especially the ecommerce brands on Shopify are looking to create a direct relationship with their customers, the DTC brands. So I spoke with a DTC brand this morning, that is into sustainability, they have these eco-friendly bags and so on, and they’re using FBA, but FBA uses plastic for all their shipment. So it goes against the ethos of the brand, that brand wants to sell eco-friendly product, but it comes loaded with plastic packaging and plastic tape, and that’s a big problem. But then because they make a lot of sale on Amazon, it’s very hard, very difficult for them to distance or move out of Amazon, then they lose the Prime shopper. So there’s some major challenges.
Marissa Morgan:
Well, I love that Cahoot is creating, let’s say, a more fair and better and economically ad advantageous way for people who have a product or a brand or eCommerce business, to be able to give the customer a great shipping experience and ultimately kind of stay out. It kind of just sounds like an awful rat race. It sounds sadly like a dictatorship. But tell us a little bit more about why shipping and order fulfillment is such a big part of the customer experience, because I know we were talking about that right before we hit record and started our show. You said it’s not just about the website anymore and the website being beautiful, and then you said that half your shopping experience is your shipping experience. Share a few thoughts you might have on that whole idea.
Manish Chowdhary:
Exactly right, Marissa, half your shopping experience is your shipping experience. I’ll take you down the customer journey. Customer comes to your website, they find your product, they love the product, got great pricing, and on that product page they decide to add the item to cart. What’s the next thing they’re thinking about? When will this product arrive? Let’s say I have a time bound shipment or just as we as humans are, we hate uncertainty, even if it’s going to take four weeks, tell me now, in the absence of clear, concise instruction, it is left for the shopper to guess, and that guessing leads to cart abandonment. And more importantly, let’s say some Shopify and other DTC brands will display four to seven days or three to five days.
Now it’s very difficult for the shopper to figure out when does the clock start? Four to seven days, is it four to seven business days? Is it four to seven calendar days? Is it starting tomorrow? Is it starting today? So the customer cannot make those, you’re asking the shopper to do too much math and they’re not willing and cart abandoned. So now let’s say you’ve done all that great stuff, you’ve got the shopper, they’ve even went through the checkout, now they’re thinking two to three days, then start putting all those customer inquiry, where’s my order, because customer has no visibility onto when the order will arrive. And that’s where some of the app that you have even, Ngagge, would be very, very effective in customer communication, because now the order has to be shipped and the merchant has to balance the shipping cost because customers are more and more used to free shipping, free and fast shipping.
So if your product is shipping from let’s say Florida to California, you’re paying the highest shipping rate for what we call zone eight, because as the furthest distance is traveling, or from Florida to Seattle, Washington. One, it’s going to take longer for the product to arrive and it’s going to cost the seller more because everything nowadays is based on the distance the package travels, the dimension of the packaging and the weight of the item. So you need to have your products widely distributed. And then because if you don’t do that, you have less, fewer chances of getting a positive review from the customer because if the product arrived later than they expected, order cancellation rate goes up and then certainly the customer delight element goes down so that the ecommerce brand recall value suffers. So there’s several reasons why the shipping and delivery experience is so paramount to the overall customer experience.
Marissa Morgan:
Well, I would love to know a little bit more also about this idea of peer-to-peer order fulfillment, because I know people are probably listening right now going, “Huh, I’ve only been using Shopify or I’ve been looking into …” So is Deliver currently active on Shopify?
Manish Chowdhary:
Yeah, Deliver is active. I mean, Shopify acquired them a few months ago.
Marissa Morgan:
Okay. So it is a way right now for people on Shopify to be fulfilling their orders through Shopify’s own kind of in-house process. But if someone’s at home right now saying, “Oh my goodness, this is the answer I’ve been looking for.” They ship all over the United States, maybe they have been using order fulfillment by Amazon and have been incurring extra fees and extra overhead and the stresses of it, peer-to-peer or as you said, one to many solutions obviously give more growth opportunities, allow businesses to keep more money in their pockets. So what is the first step for a company, whether they’re on Shopify or they’re on another platform, or maybe they are just operating through a website and it’s kind of a smaller in-house system right now, what is the first step to becoming a part of what Cahoot has created, this peer-to-peer order fulfillment process?
Manish Chowdhary:
Yes, Cahoot is the most merchant centric and merchant inclusive order fulfillment services solution on the market. So if you have a warehouse, we’ll use the Florida example, if you’re a merchant in Florida, you need to have your inventory distributed in a few different places. Let’s say you want to start small, you’re sending a lot of orders to California, you’re sending a lot of orders to Chicago or New York. Then Cahoot has the software and the technology where you don’t have to dismantle, you don’t have to get rid of your order fulfillment operations. You can keep your order fulfillment operations and only choose to outsource a portion of the orders that would be served, let’s say by Cahoot, in those regions. And that is very unique to Cahoot because that kind of technology is not accessible because it’s very complicated for merchants to now figure out which order should I fulfill, which order should Cahoot fulfill or which orders should somebody else fulfill.
So we don’t believe in rip and replace, we believe in letting the merchants pick the path that’s most comfortable, that they’re most comfortable with. And then soon they realize, oh wow, my California customers are getting their products faster. I’ve cut my shipping costs down by 20, 30%. And the Cahoot technology also helps them improve their shipping in their own warehouse because all that great innovation that we have, the 10 patents that you mentioned and so on, we also give the seller those tools to do that efficiently in their own warehouse. And of course for the people who want 100% outsourcing or they’re using a provider that they’re not happy with or they believe that they’re not happy with, you can come to Cahoot, fill out or contact us form, we can do a free savings analysis, we can evaluate your current costs and we can tell you how much money could Cahoot save you.
And that alone is very valuable because half the battle is knowing the power of information and power of what is out there, what can help my brand. And with Cahoot, if you go full-blown and you spread your inventory to Target, let’s say two-day delivery, now you turn on and make that promise on your website, be bold and say that on your website, “Hey, two-day guaranteed delivery,” watch your conversion rate soar. And then if you combine that with an SMS solution, like Ngagge, you’ve got one-two punch, and that’s what helps the sellers and the shoppers to get that DTC promise and the brand, that is that what an Amazon like experience is on every other channel, not only on Amazon.
Marissa Morgan:
I love this and I love the passion. We are in two different parts of the world right now. You’re in New York, I’m in Minnesota. I literally, I know you guys are listening on the podcast and you can’t see Manish, but I can feel the passion coming out of the screen. He’s beaming and you’re smiling from ear to ear. And as you were talking, by the way, I was listening to you and I pulled up the website, which I had looked at earlier, but right away when you were talking and I went to your website, boom, I happened to notice, because you were talking about Cali’s Books, but I saw this great testimonial from Cali’s Books and it said, “The most impressive part of working with Cahoot is the speed at which B2C orders are fulfilled and the consistently affordable shipping rates obtained.”
And then it says, “With our peer-to-peer network, you get faster, more reliable order fulfillment, at a lower cost and you can boost your conversions with one and two-day shipping,” and that you guys integrate with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Wish, Shopify, BigCommerce, Facebook, so many. So I think this is a great place to kind of end our talk, because not only did you share obviously the importance of order fulfillment in a shopper’s experience, half your shopping experience is your shipping experience. I think that’s a takeaway that everybody can easily understand. But you shared examples of what works okay, benefits to it, some of the struggles that come along with it. But then ultimately, and I love it, you can totally tout your company and what you guys do because really you offer a wonderful way to navigate something that is very complex, but it doesn’t have to be.
Manish Chowdhary:
Right. And last but not least, an opportunity for ecommerce brands and retailers who have warehouses, to make money. How can we forget that? Because Cahoot is the only organized option they have to make money from their warehouse, and we’ve made it super-duper simple. So for any listeners who have a decent size warehouse, you’ve got great operations and people, this is an opportunity for you to make money. Fill out the contact us form on our website, cahoot.ai, and that may be another opportunity, a way for you to defray some of your cost, not only to elevate your order fulfillment and shopping experience, but also make some extra cash that you can put back in your business.
Marissa Morgan:
I love that. So the website to visit Cahoot and find out more, whether you have a warehouse that you’d love to rent out, basically rent out, lease out some space, share some space, or you have a product that you would love some help getting to your end users in a more timely, more eco-friendly, more economically savvy fashion, you want to be in cahoots with Cahoot, it’s www.cahoot.ai, so that’s www.cahoot.ai. And Manish, if our audience would like to connect with you, do I have your permission to share your LinkedIn as well?
Manish Chowdhary:
Absolutely. I love chatting with sellers, exchanging notes, because I learn so much by speaking to brand owners, operators, because they are in this every single day. So please connect with me on LinkedIn, I’m very active and I promise I will reply.
Marissa Morgan:
You can find him very simply by typing obviously linkedin.com/in/manish, M-A-N-I-S-H, -chowdhary, C-H-O-W-D-H-A-R-Y. And again, for those of you listening on the podcast, I’ll spell his name one more time for you. Manish, M-A-N-I-S-H, Chowdhary, C-H-O-W-D-H-A-R-Y. Manish, this has been, I was going to say, this has been such a great show, but I feel like … as much as I want to say, I feel like we’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg, I do feel like we really got through a lot in a short amount of time and you really helped me, and I know our audience as well, understand more just about the order fulfillment process in general, but the different avenues that are currently available, the pros and cons to each, and a really cool alternative that I think a lot of retailers and eCommerce businesses have not thought about, which is peer-to-peer order fulfillment. So thank you so much for sharing all of your insights with me today and our audience.
Manish Chowdhary:
Thank you, Marissa. Thanks again for having me.
Marissa Morgan:
Oh, it has been a pleasure and I want to congratulate you and Cahoot as well on all of the awards you’ve been winning, on the successes. I know you and I just connected on LinkedIn, so I’m going to definitely keep my eye on you, and I’m sure there’ll be more awards, more patents, and more fortune in your future. So congratulations. And for those of you listening right now, again, you’re probably listening to a podcast, I’m sitting face-to-face through a screen with Manish, the energy and the pleasantry and the joy in this man is just palpable. So check him out on LinkedIn, Manish Chowdhary, and check out www.cahoot.ai to find out how you can benefit from his, truly something you invented, which is peer-to-peer order fulfillment. Thank you again, Manish, and have a great day.
Manish Chowdhary:
Thank you.
Marissa Morgan:
That was an awesome show. I love guests that are passionate about what they do, and when you can feel the passion through a screen, that, to me, is just the coolest thing. So I have so much credit and respect for not only the 10 patents and all the experience that Manish has. He’s clearly a very smart man, starting businesses back in his dorm room at Bridgeport. That right there alone is pretty impressive. But when you pair that with someone who has such passion and joy of life, you really get a business owner that is not only savvy, but someone who is really empathetic with helping people and wanting to really make a mark and make a difference in the world, and especially in the world of eCommerce. So go Manish, go Cahoot. You guys, make sure you check out Manish Chowdhary on LinkedIn, connect with him, let them know you heard the show through the Ngagge podcast.
And also be sure to check out cahoot.ai, and that’s C-A-H-O-O-T, .ai. Whether you are an eCommerce brand looking for help with your order fulfillment process, maybe you even want some help just deciphering what you’re doing now, he said he often helps companies kind of work through what they’re doing now and give them a little screenshot of what that means. Or if you have warehouse space and you’re looking to capitalize on that and put a little extra money in your pockets or in your business, Cahoot can also help you do that. Awesome show. I want to thank you all so much for joining me and let you know that we always welcome you to send us referrals if you have someone you know that is a guest expert in the world of eCommerce and specifically eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce.
If you’re interested in being on this show, you can connect with me and send an email to marissa.m@nggage.com. That’s M-A-R-I-S-S-A .M@ N-G-A-G-G-E .com. And of course, you can connect with me on LinkedIn and you can also connect with our company page on LinkedIn as well. For our company page, just look for the rainbow-colored cog wheel, connect with us there, and you can see all of our past shows as well. Speaking of shows, I do want to let you know that there’s an easy way to check out our podcasts, and you can do that by going to www.ngagge.com/podcast-library. That’s where you’ll find a complete library of all of our shows, with all of the guests. It’s a great place to go to if you have any questions about digital marketing, eCommerce platforms. We love to be your trusted source for digital marketing intelligence, especially when it comes to Shopify and eCommerce platform, so check it out. It is www.ngagge.com/podcast-library.
Thank you guys so much for joining me today. As always, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. We’re starting to get into the holiday season. I’m not sure when you’re listening to this podcast right now, but right now it is September, this show is dropping in September. So check back with us, we’ll be having shows every single week throughout the holidays and into the new year, with lots more to come in the world of digital marketing intelligence. And don’t forget to check out ngage.com for the Ngagge SMS for Shopify App free trial available with 500 free messages. Check it out and take advantage of all the opportunities that SMS messaging has for you and your ecommerce brand. You guys have a great day, and thanks again for joining me.

Turn Returns Into New Revenue

Your Website vs. Amazon: Win with Free & Fast Shipping & EDDs
Give Your Website Customers an Amazon-Like Delivery Experience
It’s Easier and Less Expensive Than You Think

Sorry Shopify, BigCommerce, Woocommerce, and Magento store owners, Amazon still wants to eat your lunch. Shoppers won’t buy from your website – unless you give them the same fast, date-certain delivery experience they get on marketplaces like Amazon.
Today, 63% of consumers start their shopping experience on Amazon, 25% on other marketplaces, and only 21% on brand websites. And 45% of shoppers abandon their carts due to unsatisfactory shipping options. So, now is the time to level the playing field with Amazon and get a leg up on your competitors with an Amazon-like delivery experience on your website and any other channels where you sell.
The latest consumer research shows why EDDs + fast & free shipping options work:
- 75% wish more brands offered the same level of service as Amazon
- 64% look for delivery options – before putting items in the cart
- 83% said free delivery was the most important factor when ordering online
- 87% are more likely to shop your site again following a positive delivery experience
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Why E-commerce sales on marketplaces are growing faster than brand website sales
- Rising consumer expectations of date-certain, fast and free delivery
- The impact of shipping offers on conversion rates, cart abandonment, and sales
- Implementing date-certain & fast and free delivery – it’s easier than you think

Turn Returns Into New Revenue
