Zenstores is a UK-focused shipping and fulfilment platform that consolidates orders from your sales channels — Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and others — into a single dispatch queue, then lets you generate labels across UK and international couriers including Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Parcelforce and DHL without logging into each courier's own portal separately. For sellers juggling more than one channel or courier, this is the core problem it solves: one place to see orders, one place to print labels.
Creating an account and connecting a sales channel
Setup starts with creating a Zenstores account and connecting at least one sales channel — Shopify is the most heavily featured integration, alongside Amazon (including Seller Fulfilled Prime), eBay and Etsy. Once connected, Zenstores pulls in your existing and new orders automatically, similar in principle to how ShipStation works, covered in our ShipStation setup guide, though Zenstores positions itself specifically around UK sellers and UK courier relationships.
Connecting your couriers
Beyond Royal Mail, Zenstores integrates with DPD, DPD Local, Evri, APC, DX, Parcelforce (via Click & Drop), and international carriers like DHL and FedEx. Connecting a courier typically means linking your existing account with that courier or setting up a new one through Zenstores directly — worth checking current rates and account requirements for each specific courier, since terms and available services can differ from what you'd get going direct.
Setting up automation rules
One of Zenstores' distinguishing features is rules-based automation — configuring logic that automatically selects a courier and service based on order weight, destination, value or other criteria, rather than manually choosing a courier for every single order. This is genuinely useful once volume grows past the point where manual courier selection per order becomes a bottleneck, similar to the batch-printing efficiency covered in our peak season printing guide.
Choosing a plan for your volume
Zenstores offers several pricing tiers, from a free pay-as-you-go option up to higher tiers with more integrations and automation features, covered in more depth in our Zenstores pricing guide. It's worth matching your plan to genuine current order volume rather than the tier that sounds most complete, since the lower tiers cover a meaningful range of small business needs.
Getting your printer ready
Zenstores' own site doesn't go into detail on printer or label format requirements, which is worth knowing upfront: like Click & Drop and ShipStation, it generates standard 100 × 150mm shipping labels intended for a direct thermal printer, covered in our guide to printing Zenstores labels on a thermal printer — worth setting this up before your first real batch rather than discovering a driver or sizing issue mid-dispatch.
Testing before your first real batch
As with any new shipping platform, print a handful of test labels and check tracking numbers sync back to your sales channels correctly before relying on it for genuine order volume — confirming the full loop (order in, label out, tracking back to the customer) works end to end catches configuration issues while they're cheap to fix.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a business account with Royal Mail or DPD before using Zenstores? Requirements vary by courier and by which Zenstores plan you're on — some integrations work through Zenstores' own courier relationships, while others connect to an account you hold directly with that courier, so it's worth checking current requirements for your specific courier mix.
Can I use Zenstores with more than one sales channel at once? Yes — consolidating multiple channels into a single dispatch queue is a core part of what Zenstores is built for, though exact integration limits vary by pricing tier.
Does Zenstores replace Royal Mail Click & Drop entirely? For sellers using Zenstores as their primary dispatch tool, yes in practice — Zenstores handles Royal Mail label generation through its own interface, so there's no need to also use Click & Drop separately once set up.
Get the label side sorted first
Our 100 × 150mm direct thermal labels are correctly specified for whatever Zenstores generates, whichever courier you're using.
Shop 4×6 Labels