Do you know Amazon ships more than 600 million packages a year? Online shopping and shipping have become a significant industry over the past 10 years. As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you must strive to give a seamless customer service experience by offering global shipping. You can do it with the help of fulfillment service providers like ShipMonk, NextSmartShip, etc.
But which fulfillment company is the best? When it comes to shipping products all over the world, three important shipping and fulfillment processes take place. That is the packing, storage, and shipment. NextSmartShip is the best in all three areas. To understand why the company stands out, let’s compare it with ShipMonk.
Table of Contents
- A Complete Comparison
- ShipMonk vs. NextSmartShip – Similarities
- ShipMonk vs. NextSmartShip – Key Differences
- How NextSmartShip Stands Out in the Comparison?
- Final Verdict!
A Complete Comparison
It is true! ShipMonk and NextSmartShip are the leading order fulfillment service providers in the industry. They strive to make global shipping easy by offering different packages for e-commerce owners.
Moreover, they also have differences that make NextSmartShip stand out and be the best ShipMonk alternative. We believe that NextSmartShip has some advantages over ShipMonk, as you shall read below.
| ShipMonk | NextSmartShip | |
| Software & Integrations | Free+unlimited integrations | Free+unlimited integrations |
| Receiving Fee | Any receiving with fewer than 5 picking units in a carton will be charged at $2.5/carton | Free |
| Handling Fee | Packaging Materials: 0.15-$2.00/order Picking Fee: First item picking fee $2.5, $0.5 for each additional item for orders with two or more items Promotional Inserts: $0.2, promotional inserts encompass flyers, marketing material or inner packaging included with each other |
$0.99/order, including picking & packing, packing materials, sticker fee, promotional inserts and other |
| Storage Fee | Calculate by volume and time, 1 small bin = $1/month, medium bin = $2, Large bin=$3, X-large bin=$4,pallet = $20 | Free storage for your first 60 days |
| Minimum Pick and Pack Fee | $250/month | No Minimum |
| Shipping | Heavily discounted shipping rates with every major carrier | Heavily discounted shipping rates with every major carrier |
| Fulfillment Center Locations | United States | Shenzhen, Hong Kong, USA, Europe, Australia |
ShipMonk vs. NextSmartShip – Similarities
Both of them have the best order fulfillment centers in the industry. What more do they have in common? Let’s check out the similarities between these two fulfillment companies.
1) Multi-warehousing
To ship products to customers globally, you must look for a service fulfillment company that has warehouses everywhere. Both NextSmartShip and ShipMonk offer various warehousing options.
However, NextSmartShip’s competitive edge is excellent warehouse management and a growing network of centers all over the world.
2) Software Integration
In both the ShipMonk and NextSmartShip, you get quick and easy order management. They give unlimited shopping carts and market integration facility. Their software works perfectly with platforms like WooComerce, Shopify, and Magento, and you don’t have to pay for the setup.
3) Dedicate Brand Manager
Both ShipMonk and NextSmartShip are professionals in what they do. They efficiently handle all your order fulfillment aspects from packing, storage, and shipping to give you and the buyer the best customer service ever. NextSmartShip has a dedicated customer service manager for that while ShipMonk has a happiness engineer.
4) Shipping
There are a lot of advantages of cooperating with a 3PL (third-party logistics) company, especially in the shipping aspect. 3PL like NextSmartShip and ShipMonk cooperate with multiple shipping carriers so that you don’t need to register a lot of accounts. More than that, being their client ensures you can benefit from their huge shipping amount, getting deep shipping discount, and a more flexible shipping solution that you can combine different shipping methods together and enjoy fast global shipping regardless your product type.
ShipMonk vs. NextSmartShip – Key Differences
What differs both fulfillment companies? The following are the differences between them.
1) Receiving Fee
Fulfillment centers manage inventory. They come up with processes that make sure orders from your suppliers arrive safely to the warehouse. Depending on the fulfillment service provider, and the type of inventory to store, the company can charge you either hourly or by per unit basis.
ShipMonk’s pricing for the service is $2.5/carton over any receiving. Besides, a single carton includes less than 5 picking units. What makes NextSmartShip the best is that you don’t have to pay any receiving fee. That makes the company affordable and cost-effective to use for any order fulfillment.
2) Packaging Materials, Picking Fee, and Promotional Inserts
The work of order fulfillment centers like ShipMonk and NextSmartShip is to pick products that customers order and pack them carefully for shipping. On request, they also add additional features like promotional inserts. Many retailers choose this option to increase sales and awareness of their different products.
In this regard, ShipMonk’s pricing is a bit higher than its competitors. You pay $0.15-$2 per order for packaging, $2.5 picking fee for the first item, and $0.5 for each additional item in orders with more than one piece. In each order, you also have to pay $0.2 for promotional inserts like flyers, marketing material, or any special inside packaging. As you can see, the charges are high if you compare to other ShipMonk competitors.
NextSmartShip offers a seamless, hassle-free experience. How do they do that? Well, they do it by combining all packaging, picking, and promotional insert fees into one charge. With this fulfillment company, you only pay the handling fee of $0.99 per order, and that’s all.
3) Storage fee
As an online store owner, you pay for inventory and warehouse management for the safety of your products until they reach the buyer. The payment is according to the space your products take. Just as the receiving fee, the storage pricing differs depending on the service provider and your products.
At ShipMonk, the storage fee depends on the volume and time. One small bin costs $1 per month; medium one costs $2, large bin costs $3, and extra-large costs $4 per month. They charge $20 per month for pellets.
At NextSmartShip, you get 60 days of free storage. That is fantastic, right? To get this exclusive offer, register for a NextSmartShip account and enjoy it.
4) Minimum Pick and Pack Fee
Either call it a minimum pick and pack fee or order fulfillment charges. Both are the same. These are the charges that you pay for picking individual products and packaging them for shipping.
At ShipMonk, you spend $250 per month as part of the minimum pick and pack fee. Which means even if you only ship one item per month, you will be charged $250. In contrast, Nextsmartship is super friendly to star-ups since there is no minimum monthly charges, no minimum order quantity (MOQ) request.
5) Fulfillment Center Locations
As an e-commerce entrepreneur, fulfillment strategy is a continuous process. You start small by maybe using your garage or an extra bedroom. After that, your business eventually expands, leading you to find a fulfillment service provider. Remember, the fulfillment company you choose must have a warehouse closer to your customers for quicker delivery of products.
ShipMonk’s warehouse locations are limited. You find ShipMonk fulfillment centers in the USA only. There are other ShipMonk competitors in the industry that surpass it in this regard. The best ShipMonk alternative is NextSmartShip since it has fulfillment centers in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, USA, Europe, and Australia. Quite impressive!
How NextSmartShip Stands Out in the Comparison?
As said earlier, when looking for an order fulfillment service provider, the key things to look at are the packaging, storage, and shipment. You must look for a fulfillment center that offers excellence in the three areas while still keeping the cost as low as possible.
ShipMonk and NextSmartShip might have similarities in software integration, branding, and shipping, but ShipMonk’s pricing is higher. You pay more for inventory management, pick and pack and not forgetting the warehouse management too. That makes shipping expensive and almost impractical.
NextSmartShip comes to offer convenience for online shop owners. Not only does it provide a seamless, secure-to-use account for customers, but they also offer cost-friendly global shipping services in terms of picking, packaging, and transporting that other companies don’t provide.
Final Verdict!
“We are the best order fulfillment company!” That is what every shipping company out there claims. Thus, it makes it hard for you to settle for one. Yes, you should concentrate on the production and marketing of products since they affect customer experience. However, your prime focus should be on product delivery as well.
In short, NextSmartShip stands out due to its exceptional customer service. The company offers cost-friendly pricing for warehouse and inventory management. Let’s move ahead and get the best fulfillment solution.
