ShipStation's 2026 Merchant Insights Report Ebook

ShipStation surveyed hundreds of retail merchants to understand how businesses are navigating today’s economic pressures, shipping challenges, and growth opportunities. Their responses reveal a clear tension: merchants feel confident about their businesses, but rising shipping costs and fragmented operations are making growth harder to achieve.

For 62% of merchants, high shipping and freight rates are major obstacles, but the challenge goes beyond rising costs. Most merchants who ship freight manage it through a third-party provider disconnected from their parcel operation. This results in a second shipping workflow—with separate systems, rate quotes, tracking, and invoices that creates more complexity and less visibility.
 

At the same time, merchants are looking for a better way forward. Seventy-four percent say having a single provider for parcel shipping, freight, and warehousing would make a big difference.

Download the 2026 Merchant Insights Report for a deep dive into the data and to explore what 868 retail merchants told us about shipping costs, freight, operational fragmentation, and peak-season pressures—and discover why bringing your shipping operations together could be the next step toward more efficient, scalable growth.