How To Easily Track and Monitor Your Shipments

Nowadays, it's easier than ever to start an eCommerce store and sell to customers all around the globe, thanks to the global supply chain network. 

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However, despite its convenience, some things could greatly damage your online business. For instance, having no idea where your shipments are at any given time can be catastrophic, especially if a customer had been expecting it for a while. That's why it's crucial to keep constant tracking and monitoring of your shipments. Thankfully, technology has made that easier than ever. Here's how you can easily track and monitor your shipments. 

What is Shipment Tracking?

Every retail business owner knows that tracking inventory is crucial for the efficiency of its operations. Inventory tracking helps you keep tabs on all the stocks you have in your warehouses, their details, and the quantities available at each storage point. On the other hand, shipment tracking helps you keep track of the shipment's itinerary, from the point it leaves your storage, and until it reaches the customers. Whether you're operating an online or a physical store, shipment tracking is crucial to ensure optimum customer service. 

How to Track Your Shipment

Seeing as to how it's crucial for the success of your business, you may feel overwhelmed at the idea of diving too deeply into the technical aspects of tracking your shipments. However, tracking shipments can be easily done through the following steps:

Check the Delivery Company's App

If you're outsourcing your shipping operations to a reputable agency, then there are high chances that they'll provide this service. Almost all reputable shipping companies offer built-in tracking software that will enable you to keep tabs on your shipments at all. To utilize this option, you'll download their tracking software, choosing between installing it on your PC or as a mobile application. 

Download a Mobile Tracking Application

Relying on the application of a reputable shipping company is great and all, but what if your service provider doesn't offer such software? What if you're dealing with multiple shipping companies? In this case, it's better to download a mobile package tracker app to follow through with your shipments. That way, you can store all of the information about your shipments before they leave the store and track different deliveries at the same time. 

Get Insights 

Finally, you'll need to learn how to get insights about your shipments so you can optimize your operations. Whether you're using the application of another shipping company or have downloaded a mobile tracking app, the process is almost similar. The app should provide you with various insights into the shipping process, which you should be able to download in different formats. If you're stuck with a specific format, the tech-savvy experts at https://www.youpdf.com/br/pdf-em-word.html explain how you convert any file from one format to another. That way, you can convert the downloaded files and reports to the format that suits the divide you're using, so you can have access to the needed information at all times. 

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How Parcel Package Tracking Works

Operating an online store entails a lot of technicalities, that's why it's inconvenient whenever you find yourself having to deal with more technological jargon. However, you won't have to suffer from integrating shipment tracking into your operations. It can be easily done through the following simple steps:

Bar Code Generation

First of all, you'll need to get familiar with the concept of barcodes, which are unique IDs that store all of the product's information, such as pick-up location, destination, the customer's contact details, and other necessary information. As soon as you hand over your shipment to the delivering company, they'll generate a barcode for this shipment, including all of its details. 

Scanning Bar Code Details

Once the item is loaded and is ready to be delivered, the delivering company will scan the barcode to activate the trip. The scanned data is stored in the tracking system provided by the shipping company or the system you're using. 

Storing Scanned Data

Once the barcode is scanned, the data is automatically uploaded to the operating system. This data includes all shipping details, like the exact time the shipment has left the agency, where it came from, its destination, and exact location. 

Receiving the Product

If the shipment is being moved from one store to another, as in the case of delivering the products from manufacturers to retailers, the receiving party will re-scan the barcode to update the shipment's information. The system will be updated with the progress.

Product Delivery Status

Once the delivering company gets the order to send out the package, they'll scan the barcode once more to update its status to 'out for delivery'. This activates the tracking system to track the route of the products while the delivering agency sends out one of its agents to deliver the order. At this phase, sellers can keep track of the shipment route and delivery status until it arrives, but so can the customers. They can track their package details by entering the barcode number into the website of the delivering company or by following through the GPS-tracked route on the mobile application. 

Once the products reach their destination, aka the customer, the tracking system is updated once more. This is usually done by the delivering agent, where they use their application to confirm that the order has been delivered. Once the customer makes the final payment, the order is updated to being received. 

Knowing where your shipments are at any given time is crucial for operating a successful and efficient store. Whether you're operating an online store or a physical store, it's important to utilize an efficient tracking program to keep tabs on your shipment details and route. By doing so, you can ensure timely delivery and swift actions in case something goes wrong.

Kareem Winters

Update 22 October 2020