Who uses Route Protection?

The typical Route store is an established brand with a large catalog. Its median store lists 119 products and runs a median of 10 apps. That is far larger than the low-cost tracking apps: 17TRACK stores list 45 products, ParcelWILL Order Tracking stores 28 and Track123 stores 16. AfterShip Order Tracking stores sit in between at 73.5.

Route is also common on larger stores. About 16.5% of Route stores run Shopify Plus, nearly 4x the Shopify-wide rate of about 4.4%. Only AfterShip, at about 18.2%, is higher among tracking apps. Redo, which also offers checkout protection alongside returns, has an even more enterprise base at about 35.6%.

The model explains the audience. Route earns its revenue from shoppers who opt in to protection at checkout, and claims are handled outside the merchant's support queue. That is most valuable to brands shipping high order volumes, where lost and damaged parcels create a steady flow of tickets and reshipments.

Route is almost entirely an American app. 88% of its stores are in the United States and only 12% are elsewhere, by far the highest US share in the tracking category. Canada follows at 5.3%, then the United Kingdom (1.4%) and New Zealand, Sweden and Australia at about 1% each. By comparison, 53% of AfterShip stores and 35.8% of 17TRACK stores are in the US.

By category, fashion brands lead at 29.5% of stores, followed by business and industrial (22.6%), food and drink (7.9%), general shopping (7.9%) and art and entertainment (6.8%). Fashion has the highest share of any tracking app we profile, which fits a product sold to shoppers on apparel orders where delivery problems are common and costly to resolve.

The apps that show up next to Route describe a scaled US direct to consumer brand. Route stores run Wyllo 12.3x more often than the average Shopify store and Postscript, an SMS marketing app, 10.1x more often. Okendo reviews and loyalty is 6.4x more common, Amp Back in Stock & Preorder 5.9x, Rebuy personalization 5.9x and the Gorgias helpdesk 5.3x.

Postscript, Rebuy and Gorgias are typical of US brands with real marketing and support teams. Put together, that is a store with SMS campaigns, personalized upsells, a review and loyalty program and a helpdesk. If you sell to Shopify brands, Route is a strong marker of an established US store with high order volume.

Route Protection vs AfterShip Order Tracking

AfterShip is the closest match on store profile. About 18.2% of its stores run Plus, its median store lists 73.5 products and 53% are in the US. AfterShip is rated 4.6 stars across 1,514 reviews and charges $11 or $70 a month after a free plan. It focuses on tracking pages, notifications and analytics, and connects with AfterShip's returns app, rather than selling protection to shoppers. Choose AfterShip for tracking and post-purchase communication, Route if package protection is the priority.

Route Protection vs Redo

Redo combines returns and exchanges with checkout coverage. It is rated 4.9 stars across 839 reviews, about 35.6% of its stores run Plus and 84.6% are in the US, an even more enterprise base than Route's. Its median store lists 193 products. Choose Redo if you want returns and protection from one vendor, Route if you want protection alongside visual tracking.

Other options

17TRACK, the most reviewed tracking app with 4,551 reviews, ParcelWILL Order Tracking and Track123 are low-cost tracking options for smaller and cross-border stores. Synctrack PayPal Tracking Sync focuses on syncing tracking numbers to PayPal.

Route is listed as free on the Shopify App Store. Merchants do not pay a subscription because shoppers pay for package protection at checkout. That contrasts with the tracking apps, which charge the merchant: 17TRACK and Track123 start paid plans at $9 a month, and AfterShip and ParcelWILL at $11. The trade-off is that protection appears as an added fee in the checkout, which some brands choose to cover themselves.