Pierbridge was recently cited as a representative vendor for multi-carrier parcel management solution providers in the February 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Multicarrier Parcel Management Solutions, and as a sample multicarrier parcel management vendor in the January 2020 Warehousing and Fulfillment Vendor Guide.

As the Gartner Market Guide report points out, "parcel and last-mile delivery, already the fastest-growing shipment segments, have accelerated significantly due to the COVID-19 crisis. Issues around constrained delivery capacity and customer experience are growing in tandem with demand." With that has come the need to better manage smaller, more frequent deliveries as multichannel retail and B2B e-commerce strain carrier capacity. And, those trends are unlikely to diminish after the current health crisis subsides.

Multi-carrier shipping and omnichannel fulfillment trends

And many of those deliveries will continue to be shipped from multiple warehouses, distribution centers, 3PLs, and repurposed storefronts as retailers grow the use of omnichannel fulfillment strategies.

This continuing shift in fulfillment is where the partnering of traditional TMS, WMS, and DOMs systems with a multi-carrier parcel management solution such as Pierbridge’s Transtream helps to close the gap and allow shippers to reduce costs while maintaining the levels of service expected by consumers.

The shifting parcel shipping landscape

Another growing need for a multi-carrier parcel management solution comes from parcel shipments’ changing role for shippers and intermediaries. Many of these experienced shippers, 3PLs, freight forwarders, and others have found themselves pivoting from managing full truckload (FTL) or less than truckload (LTL) shipments to parcel and other local delivery modes as direct-to-consumer (D2C) becomes an increasing segment of their businesses as more people shop online.

Companies that are not traditional shippers but have large parcel shipping needs that are often decentralized, such as sales groups, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, hospitals, and universities, could benefit from multi-carrier parcel management solutions.

As the economy revolves around eCommerce’s continuing growth, the need for retailers and eCommerce shippers and the 3PLs and other intermediaries that work with them to handle an increasing load of parcels will require them to add a multi-carrier parcel management solution to their logistics technology stack.

Learn how Transtream multi-carrier parcel management can help bring visibility and cost-control to parcel shipping by booking your personalized demonstration today.

 


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