Carrier Rate Shopping Simulation - Data Requirements
- Rahul Kumar Sahukar
Introduction
Fenix provides a carrier rate shopping platform that helps the retailers to optimize their shipping process and save a significant amount on their shipping spend by selecting the most cost effective service to deliver the product, meeting the shopper estimated delivery date promises.Â
Â
To get a better understanding of the ship cost savings, Fenix team offers to perform a Carrier Rate Shopping Simulation using retailer’s past orders and shipment data, their negotiated carrier rates, carrier invoices (at the shipment level), and processes this information through Fenix rate shopping engine to generate the estimated shipping spend, and the customer delivery experience with detailed reports.Â
Information needed for Carrier Rate Shopping Simulation
The following information is needed to do the rate shopping simulation.
Order data - Fenix does the simulation on retailer’s past order data. To get an in depth review, it would need 3 month’s worth of order data. The data should contain the following information.
Â
Field Name | Required | Details |
order id | Yes | The order id of the shipment |
shipment id | Yes | The shipment id |
order created date time | No | The order created date and time |
shipment created date time | No | The shipment created date and time |
shipping method | No | The shipping option the customer chose on the checkout |
expected days to deliver | Yes | The expected days to deliver decided at the warehouse |
origin address line | No | The address line of the fulfillment location |
origin city | No | The city of the fulfillment location |
origin state | No | The state of the fulfillment location |
origin country | Yes | The country of the fulfillment location |
origin zip code | Yes | The zip code of the fulfillment location |
destination address line | No | The address line of the buyer |
destination city | No | The city of the buyer |
destination state | No | The state of the buyer |
destination country | Yes | The country of the buyer |
destination zip code | Yes | The zip code of the buyer |
carrier | Yes | The carrier selected for shipping |
service | Yes | The shipping service selected for shipping |
tracking number | Yes | The tracking number of the shipment |
shipment length | Yes | The shipping box length in inches |
shipment width | Yes | The shipping box width in inches |
shipment height | Yes | The shipping box height in inches |
shipment weight | Yes | The shipping box weight in inches |
ship cost paid | Yes | The shipping cost paid to the carrier in USD |
File Format
The file should be provided in the comma separated format.
Â
Configuration data - Apart from the order and shipment data, the following information is needed from the retailer.
Carrier Details: As part of the carrier data, the following is required.
Carriers and services used for rate shopping
Carrier Credentials (Preferred) - The credentials will be used to pull the real time rates to perform the rate shopping. The rates pulled with these credentials will give rates including the surcharges and taxes. Using carrier credentials, we’re able to get the most up to date surcharge information and minimize the variances.
Sample Credentials fields
FedEx | UPS | USPS |
Account Number Meter Number Key Password | UserName Password Account Number License | User |
Carrier Rate Cards (in-lieu of carrier account details, not a preferred option)
In cases where the retailers cannot give the carrier credentials, as a last resort, retailers should provide the rate cards and the average surcharges that can be applied on top of the base rate. This option can sometimes have a large discrepancy compared to the actual results as the carrier surcharges can vary from week to week. Surcharges can sometimes account up to 40% of the total shipping cost for each package.