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If you are a NetDespatch customer, don’t forget that Royal Mail have given notice that they will cut off the ability for NetDespatch printing of Royal Mail postage labels this Saturday the 29th of June. This means that you’ll need to have an alternative solution in place by Monday in order to carry on printing postage.
Royal Mail originally announced they would cut off NetDespatch support from the 31st of May but this was extended to the 29th of June on the basis that hardly any of NetDespatch’s customers had time to migrate in the short notice period. There are still likely to be many yet to migrate.
Royal Mail owned NetDespatch will of course still be able to print labels for other UK carriers such as Collect Plus, UK Mail and Yodel, just not Royal Mail labels.
We did ask Royal Mail PR for the rationale behind cutting off NetDespatch printing of Royal Mail labels seeing as they own the company but to date they’ve not given a statement. NetDespatch have told us that they are unable to comment.
What are your options once NetDespatch printing of Royal Mail labels ends?
Royal Mail only suggest the three options below as a replacement, although other services such as One Stop Order Processing are available:
1) Royal Mail direct services
- Click & Drop – You will need to link your marketplace and website accounts to Royal Mail (where supported) and use an alternative solution for all other carriers you wish to use.
- Pro Shipping A solution for sellers with more complex needs, but if you’re not already set up it’s unlikely you’ll have time to do so by next Monday’s shipping.
- API Shipping – For tech savvy retailers who want full control over their label printing, integrated into their own systems. Due to the integration required you’ll be supporting the solution yourself and again are unlikely to be able to implement it in time for next Monday.
Bespoke shipping – Fund the development of a solution specifically designed for you. This definitely wouldn’t be possible to implement in a short period of time
2) Royal Mail Owned Third Party Partners
Royal Mail have two approved partners now they’re they are un-approving Royal Mail labels through NetDespatch printing.
Storefeeder is a full blown multichannel Management solution. To implement Storefeeder you would have to rip out your current solution and replace it – in realistic terms this is probably a three month or longer project.
Intersoft is supposedly a similar solution to NetDespatch but the only direct client we’re aware they have is Harrods. Integration would certainly not be as trouble free as NetDespatch was and so we would have to regard this as a risky strategy if you attempt to get it implemented by Monday – their Intelligent Shipper software is marketed as ‘bespoke delivery solutions’ so expect a lengthy testing period.
Intersoft support a number of third party solutions: Channel Grabber; Cloud Commerce Pro; Consignor; Despatch Cloud; Export Technologies; Export Technology (IRP Commerce); Khaos Control; Metafour; Mintsoft; One Flow; OneStock (Devatics); Plentymarkets; Realtime Despatch (Orderflow); Retail Sports; Seller Dynamics; Selro; Tradepeg; ZigZag. Even if some of these solutions might be suitable for you, it will be impossible to implement them within the next four days.
3) Royal Mail Approved Third Party Partners
If you are still using NetDespatch printing of Royal Mail labels and haven’t yet started implementing an alternative solution, third party partners are your most likely option to get up and running by Monday. Royal Mail’s 14 approve third party partners are listed in the table below, but non-approved partners are also an option such as for example One Stop Order Processing.
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