Shopify Shipping launches in Italy: a guide to the integration with Poste Italiane

Shopify has been investing in the logistics sector for a long time now: Shopify Shipping, in fact, has firstly been launched in Canada and Usa, with other countries being gradually added. Italy has recently joined the program: thanks to the new integration with Poste Italiane Shopify has announced the launch of Shopify Shipping in Italy.

Before looking at this integration more in depth, let’s recap how merchants have been fulfilling orders from Italy until the present moment:

1. The smallest brands often manage shipping manually, creating the shipping labels directly from the courier website and then marking the orders as fulfilled on Shopify.
2. Many couriers have developed their own Shopify apps, that allow a better communication between Shopify and the shipping service and a better automation of orders fulfillment. 
3. In the meantime a series of shipping platforms integrated with Shopify started to offer an alternative for those that need to manage multiple couriers: some of the most used in Italy are isendu, ShippyPro, Qapla and Sendcloud. 
4. For bigger companies, Shopify is often linked to an ERP or at least an Order Management System that manages orders in a centralized and automated manner. 

Furthermore, some stores use a module to manage returns on top of their shipping solution.

Shopify Shipping, with its ability to manage orders straight from the Shopify admin panel, aims at simplifying such processes and providing an integrated alternative to such complex ecosystems. Poste Italiane is the only integration offered for now in Italy, but Shopify aims at expanding the number of integrated courier services soon.

How does Shopify Shipping work?

Shopify Shipping allows you to buy and print shipping labels right from your Shopify account, without having to install external apps and without incurring in further costs apart from the shipping labels themselves. Since this is a Shopify native solution, it allows you to simplify order fulfillment and monitor orders, products, clients and inventory from the same admin panel. 

To use Shopify Shipping you’ll need to make sure your store location is in one of the qualified countries (i.e. Italy with its Poste Italiane integration), and that you have filled in all your shipping details and set up your labels printer. 

Once ready, from the “Fulfillment” section of each order, you’ll be able to buy a shipping label, print it and attach it to your parcel. Once the packages are ready to ship, you will be able to book a pickup with Poste Italiane. 

If necessary, you can edit the shipping labels in bulk and create different templates for different parcels, depending on the type of packaging, shipping method, etc. Any compiling mistake on the shipping labels will be marked by Shopify, differentiating between blockers that prevent the package from being shipped and inaccurate information that needs to be reviewed.

The shipping labels will be billed on the same card used for your Shopify plan and apps.

Pro and cons of Shopify Shipping in Italy

Shopify highlights three main advantages of using Shopify Shipping:

1. With Shopify Shipping you can manage your order fulfillment right from the Shopify admin panel
2. Shopify provides discounted rates to their merchants that decide to use Shipping integrated couriers
3. Shopify Shipping makes it possible to show real shipping fees at the checkout, calculated on the specific order.

In addition, Poste Italiane guarantees that the delivery will be completed in 1 - 2 working days, and Shopify provides a contact point for claims on lost and damaged shipments (while it doesn’t for delayed shipments). You’ll simply need to send an email to shipping-claims@shopify.com . 

At the same time, it is important to remember that this is a first step for Shopify Shipping in Italy, and that therefore the courier choice is - for now - limited to Poste Italiane. The service is available only for domestic shipments. It is also important to remember that with Poste Italiane shipments can’t be rerouted and that you can't drop off your packages at a post office: you need to schedule a pickup with Poste Italiane. 

To those that wish to try the service, Shopify has created a useful guide on how to configure Shopify Shipping, with a chapterdedicated to the integration with Poste Italiane.

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