Smarter, cheaper shipping for small businesses: how aggregators support SMEs

Shipping can be one of the most draining parts of running a business. When it works, it’s invisible. When it doesn’t, it steals your time, eats into margins, and creates problems you didn’t plan for.

For NZ SMEs, there are extra challenges in the mix. Infrequent orders can make pricing and service choices harder, while limited courier negotiating power adds costs that bigger businesses can absorb more easily.

Many SMEs are turning to shipping aggregators to resolve this pressure. So, how do they work and where do they add value?

Making shipping work with infrequent orders

If your business sends orders only now and then, choosing a single shipping provider can feel limiting. You might struggle to reach the volume needed for better rates, or find that one courier is great for local deliveries but expensive or slow for rural or international ones. In that kind of setup, a shipping aggregator gives you a simpler way to choose the right service each time without committing to a single provider.

What does a shipping aggregator actually do?

A shipping aggregator, or a courier aggregator, is a platform that connects you to lots of couriers at once. Instead of setting up separate accounts with NZ Post, Aramex, DHL, Post Haste, etc., you use a single login to access them all through one dashboard. From there you can compare prices and delivery speeds, pick the best option for each order or let your customers decide, print labels, book pickups, and track every parcel in the same system.

The great thing about a shipping aggregator is that you don’t need to rebuild your systems to start using it. For example, Zappy connects with common ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Trade Me, and eBay, so you can link it to your existing setup.

View Zappy’s integrations here.

How shipping aggregators take pressure off small teams

Shipping aggregators are usually talked about in the context of big retailers and high-volume enterprises, where logistics is naturally complex. But for NZ SMEs, the pain of shipping can be just as real, if not tougher.  

Here are some of the key ways a shipping aggregator can make life easier for SMEs.

Rates that match your delivery, not your size

The best courier rates are typically reserved for companies sending huge volumes, which puts small and mid-sized businesses at a disadvantage when they negotiate on their own.

A shipping aggregator like Zappy helps level the playing field. Instead of negotiating and managing separate courier accounts yourself, you can access multiple domestic and international courier services through one platform and choose the option that best suits each parcel.

For New Zealand businesses, this flexibility matters even more. Interisland shipping, rural deliveries, and regional pricing differences can vary widely between couriers. Because Zappy works with multiple local and international courier partners, you can automatically access competitive rates across destinations instead of relying on a single courier’s pricing model that may not suit every delivery.

Less admin costs and stress per order

Shipping admin can be a real headache for businesses with small teams, mostly because it’s made up of small, repetitive tasks that chew through your day. Zappy reduces that load by turning a fragmented process into one streamlined workflow.

• One multi-carrier dashboard replaces multiple courier portals and spreadsheets, so shipping is managed in a single workflow. This allows SMEs to more easily keep track of what’s going where, without switching between different logins.
• Batch label creation and printing makes daily dispatch much faster and more consistent. No need for individually creating, downloading, and printing labels one-by-one in separate courier portals.
• Automatic order imports and address validation remove the slow, error-prone copy-paste from sales channels into courier sites, reducing re-keying and mistakes.
• Built-in rate comparison across couriers means the best option for each parcel is visible immediately, so there’s no need to manually check prices across carriers.

In-platform tracking, branded updates, and returns tools reduce parcel chasing and customer support emails, while keeping returns inside the same system.

Shipping that works even if you’re not shipping in-house

Zappy also works with businesses that hold inventory off site, including dropshippers and companies shipping from third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses. This means orders can still flow into one central system, labels can be generated consistently, and tracking stays unified, even when parcels are dispatched from different locations or fulfilment partners.

A better customer experience all around

The customer delivery experience is important for all ecommerce businesses, but for SMEs that don’t have a dedicated logistics team, the pressure is even greater. One delayed order or a confusing tracking process can cost a customer for good, and small brands tend to feel that loss more acutely.

Shipping aggregators are there to take the risky, messy parts of delivery off a small team’s plate. Here’s how Zappy does it:

Provide more options for customers at checkout

Zappy allows customers to choose what suits them (cheaper economy delivery, faster express, rural-friendly services), giving them full control of their parcel. This helps meet modern delivery expectations by letting people pick the price-and-speed trade-off that works for them, which leads to fewer surprises and happier customers overall.

Keep customers happy and informed

Zappy’s automatic email and SMS updates mean that customers stay in the loop at every stage. They know what’s happening without needing to chase tracking links. That clear, proactive communication reduces “where’s my order?” messages and leaves customers feeling looked after.

View all Zappy features here.

How to know it’s time for a shipping aggregator for a small business

Once shipping stops being a quick side-task and starts shaping your day, it’s usually time to consider a smarter approach that keeps fulfilment simple, consistent, and low maintenance as you grow.

Even if you only send a few parcels a week, a shipping aggregator can still be worth it when it removes setup friction and one-off headaches you don’t have time to solve.

It may be time to use a shipping aggregator when:

• Shipping feels clunky every time you do it, even if it’s not frequent.
• You don’t want to manage courier accounts or learn pricing rules just to send the odd parcel.
• Your orders are inconsistent (quiet weeks, then a small spike) and you want a setup that flexes without effort.
• You ship different kinds of things and don’t want to guess the right service each time.
• You’d rather spend your headspace elsewhere and keep shipping as “click, print, send,” not a mini-project.

• Delivery starts affecting repeat buys or reviews

You’re starting to ship internationally and don’t want to rebuild your shipping setup as destinations expand.

Make shipping the easiest part of your week

Shipping will probably never be the most exciting part of running a business, but it doesn’t have to be the hardest. A good aggregator will manage all the hard parts for you so you can spend more time on growing what you’ve built.

Zappy works with businesses of all sizes, including small teams, exporters, and Kiwi Asian-owned businesses that ship locally and overseas. Our platform is free to use, with no SaaS fees.

‍Sign up today to start shipping smarter.