Simplify Relay Shipping with Shiptheory

Relay reports that 99% of its deliveries are attempted on time. Built for ecommerce, its local delivery network combines next-day and standard services with tracking that keeps customers informed. Retailers can now connect Relay with Shiptheory to generate labels and manage those shipments alongside their other carriers.

Who Is Relay?

Relay is a UK delivery provider designed around ecommerce retailers and their customers. Its network moves parcels through local delivery areas with fewer handovers, while offering home delivery, collection points and returns through Relay Pitstops.

Relay offers both next-day and standard delivery. That choice matters at checkout: research found that 67% of online shoppers had abandoned a basket because of the delivery offering. Giving customers a suitable delivery speed is one way retailers can address that friction.

Bring Relay into Your Shipping Workflow

Connecting Relay with Shiptheory lets you process its shipments using orders from your existing ecommerce platform, marketplace, ERP or warehouse management system.

When an order is ready to ship, your team can generate its Relay label through Shiptheory rather than moving the details between systems. Relay shipments sit alongside your other carriers, so adding another delivery service does not mean managing a separate label workflow.

Choose the Right Orders for Relay

Shiptheory’s shipping rules help you decide when to use Relay. Set rules based on order details such as destination, weight, value or product SKU, and matching orders can be assigned to your chosen service automatically.

For example, you could use a rule to select Relay for orders eligible for next-day delivery, while directing other orders to a different service. This helps your team apply your delivery choices consistently as order volumes grow.

Keep Customers Informed

A quick delivery is better when customers know when to expect it. Relay provides real-time tracking, estimated arrival times and SMS updates. Through its customer portal, shoppers can follow their parcel’s progress and leave delivery instructions.

Relay also reports a customer contact rate of less than 0.5%. Alongside its tracking and updates, this gives retailers a useful indication of how its delivery experience is working for customers.

Offer Convenient Returns with Relay Pitstops

Relay’s Pitstops provide collection and drop-off points for customers. They also support label-free returns, removing the need for a customer to print a return label before taking a parcel to a participating location.

The network is designed with delivery efficiency in mind, too. Relay says its shorter routes, optimised routing and mix of vehicles can reduce delivery emissions by up to 60%. That is Relay’s stated potential reduction, rather than a guaranteed saving for every shipment. 

Get Started with Relay and Shiptheory

If you already use Shiptheory, you can add Relay to your shipping workflow and configure rules for the orders you want to send with it.

New to Shiptheory? Book a demo to see how you can manage Relay labels and shipments alongside your existing carriers.

You can contact us at support@shiptheory.com or call +44 117 403 4313 / +1 629 666 6726.