Shippo expands AI shipping tools before peak holiday rush

Shippo has expanded its AI-based shipping tools for eCommerce merchants as retailers prepare for the peak holiday shipping period.

The update broadens delivery prediction, cost analysis, warehouse workflow tools and connections to AI assistants. Shippo also released new platform data showing that 85% of merchants shipping more than 100 labels a month had lower-cost shipping options available, with average potential savings of 22%.

The figures were drawn from platform data collected in July. In 44% of cases where a cheaper option was available, the lower-cost service would also have arrived sooner, according to Shippo.

One customer identified six figures in savings in 12 days through those recommendations, though Shippo did not name the customer.

Delivery estimates

One of the newer additions is Shippo's Estimate API, which launched in August. It lets merchants show predicted delivery dates on product pages and at checkout before an order is placed.

Shippo said the predicted dates are accurate at a rate of at least 90%. The estimates are based on the company's shipping data, including historical transit times and delivery outcomes across major carriers.

Over the past 12 months, about 440 million packages were shipped through the platform, up 39% from a year earlier. Shippo says it combines that volume with 13 years of shipping data to inform its AI models.

"Shipping generates an enormous amount of operational data, and AI gives us the ability to turn that information into practical decisions for merchants," said Laura Behrens Wu, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Shippo.

"Businesses can use that intelligence to select the right service, give customers more confidence about when an order will arrive and better understand where they are spending their shipping dollars. As we head into peak season, those decisions can have a meaningful impact on both costs and the customer experience," Wu said.

Cost analysis

Shippo has also expanded Shippo Intelligence, its analytics and reporting product. The updated version uses AI-generated insights to help businesses review shipping costs and delivery performance through dashboards.

Eligible customers receive weekly summaries that flag changes in shipping activity and highlight areas that may need attention. These can include shifts in carrier performance, changes in shipping costs and recommendations tailored to a merchant's shipping patterns.

For merchants under pressure to protect margins during busy trading periods, shipping spend remains a significant line item. Shippo's data suggests many higher-volume users may be choosing services that cost more than necessary, even when faster or comparable alternatives are available.

Warehouse tools

Alongside the analytics changes, Shippo has added new fulfilment functions intended to reduce manual work in warehouses. These include pick lists for individual orders and scan-to-print features that let staff scan a packing slip and print the matching shipping label.

The additions reflect a broader push by shipping software providers to move beyond label creation and rate comparison into more of the operational workflow around order fulfilment. For online sellers, speed and accuracy in picking, packing and dispatch can become even more important during seasonal spikes in order volume.

AI assistants

Shippo also said it was an early shipping platform to offer one-click connections through Claude and ChatGPT using the Model Context Protocol. Through those integrations, businesses can compare rates, buy labels and track packages inside AI assistants.

Unique connections through those assistants were growing 138% month on month, according to Shippo. That suggests early demand for handling routine shipping tasks through conversational interfaces rather than standard dashboard tools.

More than 4.6 million customers use Shippo's platform, which provides access to more than 40 global carriers. Its customer base includes eCommerce platforms, marketplaces, warehouses and brands.

Reliability remains a key issue in peak periods, when surging parcel volumes can expose weaknesses in shipping systems. Shippo said it maintained 100% platform uptime during the 2025 peak shipping season.

That record forms part of Shippo's argument that merchants need stable infrastructure as well as better data when shipping volumes rise. Over the past year, the business processed about 440 million packages through its platform, a scale that it says helps sharpen its delivery and cost models.