Ready to scale: how Shippo supports your business through peak season

There’s nothing like peak season. It’s exciting and chaotic all at once; a small inefficiency can snowball into a major delay when volumes spike. At Shippo, we treat peak season not as a challenge, but as a mission—one we prepare for all year long because when your customers are counting on you, you need to count on us.

So what does that preparation look like behind the scenes? Let’s take a peek under the hood.

New Features

Visibility is everything when the pressure’s on. You need to know what’s happening, when it’s happening, and what it’s costing you.  So we made sure you have the data and tools you need to stay in control.

• Shippo Intelligence (Early Access): A new tool in the API portal that consolidates your most important shipping data. With everything in one place, you can move from data to action — spotting trends, managing costs, and staying ahead of potential issues in real time. It breaks down information across three areas:
  
  • Labels: volume trends, carrier mix, and rated label prices
  • Shipments: delivery performance, exceptions, and in-transit analysis
  • Spend: invoice totals, rated price vs. invoiced amount comparisons, and detailed cost breakdowns. Currently only available for shipments processed through Shippo-billed carrier accounts.

Shippo Intelligence is in limited early access, with broader availability coming soon. If you’re interested in enabling this feature or want to learn more, please contact our team.

• Exception Tracking: We’ve extended tracking coverage to capture more edge cases. Shippo now continues to capture updates when a shipment is rerouted, retried, or even recovered after being marked as lost. This means fewer gaps in visibility and more accurate delivery updates for you and your customers, so shoppers aren’t left in the dark, you spend less time untangling confusion, and the entire experience feels clear from click to doorstep.
• Shippo MCP (coming soon): We’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in shipping. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), our new AI-driven capability turns complex logistics into simple conversations. From creating labels, comparing rates, to validating addresses and tracking packages, it allows teams to manage advanced shipping tasks through natural language. We’re excited to launch this soon—stay tuned!

Performance & Infrastructure

When the holiday rush hits, your shipping platform has to do more than “work.” It has to scale. This year, we made major upgrades to keep Shippo fast, stable, and resilient under peak pressure:

• Stronger infrastructure: Upgraded core databases, expanded server capacity to handle massive volume spikes, and stress-tested critical services like rating and tracking. 
• Proactive monitoring: Shipping networks are complex and interconnected, and with so many moving parts, occasional disruptions can happen. Those moments can feel overwhelming; your users and customers are asking questions, and the clock doesn’t stop. We know how stressful it can be, and what matters most is making sure those disruptions don’t turn into bigger problems for you. That’s where our Premier Support team comes in. We monitor carrier performance in real time and work hand-in-hand with our carrier partners to identify issues early and move quickly toward resolution. This year, our team managed more than 71 carrier disruptions on behalf of our customers—helping to minimize delays, reduce uncertainty, and keep orders flowing during the busiest times of the year.
• Simplified billing: Cleaner invoices, smarter anomaly detection, and integrated reconciliation with UPS and FedEx mean fewer billing surprises and less time spent double-checking charges.
• Seamless carrier updates: We rolled out over 15 major carrier and regulatory changes — from USPS rate adjustments to FedEx discounted service levels and international compliance like the Windsor Framework — all handled behind the scenes so your shipping stays on track.

New Carriers and Service Levels 

Expanding into new countries to serve more customers is a key priority. The UK has been one of the most requested markets from our merchants and platforms, and it’s an exciting opportunity for our merchants and platforms to reach more buyers. To support that growth, we added new Royal Mail service levels, giving UK businesses the ability to ship confidently within the UK.

• If you are a UK-registered business with a VAT ID, you can now ship domestically anywhere across Great Britain and Northern Ireland without needing your own Royal Mail account. All Tracked services are supported, including Tracked 24 (next working day) and Tracked 48 (2–3 days), with optional signature confirmation. You can generate labels instantly, use printer-free QR code shipping at Post Offices, and access over 20,000 drop-off points. It’s fast, flexible, and affordable—perfect in time for peak. To start shipping with Royal Mail Tracked, review the API documentation and contact our support team to confirm your business eligibility.

Service & Partnership

We know this year hasn’t been easy for merchants. From shifting regulations to supply chain strains, the demands of running a business have only grown. And while technology keeps shipments moving, it's the people and guidance behind it that help you navigate the chaos of peak season. This year, we focused on being more than a platform; we’re the partner you can trust and rely on. 

• Clarity on complex changes: From new tariff requirements, cross-border tax IDs, to evolving de minimis thresholds, we broke down the noise into practical guidance so you could stay compliant without slowing down. Our operations team will continue to monitor in real time and keep you updated to ensure the season goes smoothly.
• Holiday shipping deadlines: We’re working closely with carriers to collect shipping cutoff dates early, publish them ahead of time, and send reminders along the way to help you plan promotions and set customer expectations with confidence.
• Expanded logistics integrations: As your business grows, your needs evolve, and if working with a 3PL or WMS is on your horizon, we’ve already built partnerships to make that transition seamless. This year we welcomed Linnworks and ReturnGo into the Shippo partner network, and deepened our existing partnerships with Fishbowl, Shipbob, and Fulfil, so you can scale confidently. 

Peak season is demanding, but it doesn’t have to be disruptive. With Shippo, you’ve got the infrastructure, features, and partnerships to keep orders moving and customers happy. We’ll keep doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes so when the rush comes, you can focus on growing your business and delivering the best customer experience.

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