1TeamSoftware Builds 2 EasyPost WooCommerce Plugins
by EasyPost
The shift from shopping in-store to shopping online has surged week over week in 2020. Businesses of all sizes are turning to the web to attract and earn customers. WooCommerce has been a popular option for those already utilizing WordPress, as its an open-source ecommerce plugin which transforms a website into a storefront.
Today, we have a guest developer with an exciting announcement for the world of WooCommerce and anyone eager to start shipping quickly. Dmitry Rechkin of 1TeamSoftware shares his background in technology and ecommerce and how he used it to create a new shipping plugin. Read on to learn more about his unique approach to simplifying shipping using EasyPost and his take on where ecommerce is headed.
Tell us about how you got into software engineering.
Programming has been my passion ever since I’ve got my first computer and I’ve learned how to use it. I liked that you can make computers do exactly what you envision and I’ve always seen programming as sort of the art where you can express yourself and create things you and other people will like.
What interested you about EasyPost's API?
We at 1TeamSoftware were eyeing EasyPost for a few years already. We came across it when we were looking for an easy way to find a USPS zone, which was important for the integration with the warehouse we’ve used for our ecommerce website. We’ve learned that EasyPost syndicates a lot of carriers under one roof and for me as a Software Engineer that prefers to stay DRY (do not repeat yourself), it was an obvious decision to add it to the suit of solutions we will use in our daily ecommerce activities and offer to the customers that use our WooCommerce solutions.
What does your plugin offer to its users? What is the difference between the free and pro option?
One of the biggest challenges of multi-product ecommerce stores is an ability to quote precise shipping rates for various product combinations. Traditionally it is solved by, so called “table rate plugins” where you will hard-code shipping rates that are based on weight, quantity, or the price of the products in the cart — which works okay only when your store have a very few products, but once you will surpass a certain number of products, it quickly becomes a nightmare to maintain and synchronize with up to date rates, so either your or your customers will typically overpay for shipping.
This is where our free version of Multi-Carrier EasyPost Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce comes to help. In the matter of minutes after installation and configuration, ecommerce stores will be able to quote live shipping rates without the need to ever worry of maintaining or synchronizing any tables. Store managers will be able to set-up necessary rates and weight adjustments in order to accommodate packaging materials they use. So it is a true set-and-forget solution, which solves one of the common issues that WooCommerce stores experience and it is completely free.
The PRO version of the EasyPost Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce goes even further and allows to configure boxes that store uses to ship their orders, so then our intelligent packer will make an accurate prediction of how ordered products will be packed which lets us get even more precise shipping rate estimates. It helps to reduce operation costs by streamlining shipping label creation, so that ecommerce managers can generate shipping labels one by one or in bulk right from the order interface of their WooCommerce store.
By automatically emailing tracking event notifications, as well as providing an easy way to see up-to-date tracking information right in the customers order details, the PRO version reduces support overhead and completely eliminates one of the most frequent questions that customers ask: Where is my shipment?
And on top of that, it allows multi-vendor online stores to display shipping rates that are relative to the location from where they ship their products from.
What are the 3 most exciting features of your plugin?
All the features of our plugin are extremely exciting and helpful, but if we had to narrow them down to the features that help to reduce business expenses and streamline operations, I’d list the following:
- One-click shipping label generation
- Automated tracking event email notifications
- Precise shipping rates
Why should a WooCommerce user choose your plugin versus another provider?
The main thing that differentiates us from others is that we have real hands-on experience in operating an ecommerce business that ships hundreds of orders a day, so we are well familiar with all the challenges and issues that have to be solved. We are actually using what we make ourselves, so the best usability and stability is what customers can expect from our products. We carefully listen to our customers and the highest standards of support is our top priority.
Could you tell us more about your ecommerce business?
One of our ecommerce businesses is FlexRC.com that sells remote controlled hobby parts. It integrates with multiple warehouses, synchronizes inventory with dropshipping supplier websites, and automatically submits orders to the factories. It is a great playground that lets us look into the new and unique ecommerce solutions that we can offer to our 1TeamSoftware customers.
Who do you envision using your plug-in?
New or existing ecommerce businesses that use WooCommerce platform and sell a variety of products, which can be purchased in different combinations, will greatly benefit from our plugin. Due to precise shipping rates they will experience an immediate boost of sales, reduction of support tickets, and streamlined shipping.
What will the future of ecommerce look like in your opinion?
Latest events showed the importance of being ready for the ecommerce era. I’ve personally switched to buying groceries and everything else online, it saves a lot of my time and money. But even before the pandemic we’ve seen that many brick-and-mortar stores were slowing closing down while online suppliers were growing their businesses. Many big corporations have switched to sell their products online.
ecommerce allows you to save a lot of money, reduce risks, and reach many more customers and you don’t even have to stock anything yourself. So it is a paradise for businesses and improved convenience for customers with a very bright future.
What will you build next?
We are planning to build a few more solutions around EasyPost API that will help us and our customers to reduce business expenses and increase potential profit.
Thank you for the industry insight, Dmitry! We look forward to seeing what you build next and having you back on our blog as part of our Developer Community.
Want to tell your story about using EasyPost? Email us at developer-support@easypost.com.