Shopify announced major upgrades to its native fulfillment system, giving merchants access to global carriers, bulk processing, and smarter workflows directly from the admin, without relying on extra apps or third-party systems.
Here's what's new:
- More Carriers – partnerships include DHL, USPS, UPS, FedEx, Canada Post, Purolator, Royal Mail, Australia Post, and Flexport, with more being added in the coming months.
- Time Saving Tools – the ability to filter orders by status, destination, or other criteria, process up to 250 orders at once, add pick lists with bin locations, and automatically select the right box sizes based on specific variants.
- International Shipping Tools – the ability to collect duties and taxes at checkout, purchase Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) labels from DHL Express and DHL eCommerce, and generate customs documentation automatically.
- Built-in Protection – every label includes up to $200 insurance at no extra cost for U.S. merchants using Shopify Payments on the Grow plan and above. Plus address validation and fraud detection as well as the ability to file a claim from the admin for all merchants.
- Expanded Fulfillment Network – now connects merchants with more trusted partners including Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment, Bigblue, DHL Fulfillment Network, GoBolt, and Mayple, with integrated dashboards to monitor order status, shipping performance, and inventory levels.
Shopify is taking the right approach to fulfillment this time.
In 2019, Shopify launched its Shopify Fulfillment Network and shortly after acquired 6 River Systems, a warehouse robotics startup, for $450M. Then in 2022, it acquired Deliverr, an e-commerce fulfillment provider, for $2.1B, marking its largest acquisition to date.
The acquisitions made everyone believe that Shopify was moving towards building out their own internal fulfillment capabilities and potentially closing the gate on partners.
However in 2023, Shopify abruptly pivoted and sold the majority of its logistics businesses, including the assets it acquired from Deliverr and 6 River Systems, to Flexport in exchange for 13% equity in the company. Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke described the logistics venture as a “side quest” that had distracted the company from its core mission of building e-commerce software and emphasized a renewed focus on its “main quest.”
Turns out logistics is hard!
Shopify's new approach to logistics — of expanding its partnerships and bringing integrated capabilities in-house — is the right move. Why take the difficult and expensive role of running your own fulfillment network when you can partner with the best? The new collaborations, integrations, and partnerships that Shopify has launched since 2023 are a win-win-win for Shopify, fulfillment companies, and merchants.