”Thanks to Sendcloud we are now able to ship out a lot more packages in just one day, right from our kitchen.
Combining skills and aspirations to get a better work/life balance
10 years ago, Nick stopped working to look after the couple’s two children. Once the kids were settled in school, he decided to return to work. He wanted to show that parental role models could be caring, attentive fathers at the same time as building a successful business on their own terms. Jason has a background in e-commerce, website management, sales and procurement so they decided to focus on building an online business.
The Sweetie Shoppie’s key customer demographic is women aged 25-45, but they are looking to increase their reach. Nick and Jason are already working towards expanding into B2B in order to secure regular sales forecasts and move the business forward. Their primary goal for 2022 is to target companies that organise weddings and baby showers, as well as a variety of other business events.
Finding room to grow
When we started Sweetie Shoppie our biggest challenge was striking the right balance between managing a business successfully from home and being able to take care of our two children, one of whom has disabilities. We still haven’t achieved this balance but we are aware of it in everything we do.
Like many people, our efforts to separate work and home life have been compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was especially tough when it came to shipping our products. We started Sweetie Shoppie with a quarter of our kitchen space dedicated to the business. This quickly became half the kitchen, quarter of the front room, half the hallway and some of the space under the stairs. Now, it is any space available! The shed outside is full of boxes, and the back of the car and the side of the house are stuffed with packaging. It’s a strange situation to live like that!
The journey to finding the right shipping solution
Before Sendcloud, we used a couple of courier companies. Unfortunately, we found the process very stressful. We requested a specific collection time from the courier to ensure we were able to both pick the kids up from school and get the parcels dispatched on time. Disappointingly, we were told that the courier couldn’t commit to regular pickups at a pre-agreed time. What’s worse, if we weren’t in when they decided to collect the packages, we would be get a fine! Understandably, this made us very anxious.
A shipping nightmare
Dispatching packages required a lot of manual input. We needed to measure each package individually with a ruler! We then had to manually input the individual sizes and weights of each package individually, which was extremely arduous and time consuming. With hundreds of parcels, this process could take all day!
We also never knew where our packages were because of the inadequate tracking, which just increased our anxiety. Trying to contact their customer service department was a nightmare. Often we would be waiting 30 minutes to speak to someone, increasing our admin work and wasting the time we should be focusing on growing our business and keeping our customers happy.
Discovering Sendcloud
After conducting some market research, The Sweetie Shoppie started working with Sendcloud in November 2021. “From day one, we received the kind of support we needed to move our business forward with confidence”, says Nick.
Secured pick-up times
We now have a 100% reliable service with Sendcloud. Shipments are picked up in the same time window every day. Between 4 and 6pm every day we get our parcels out the door, comfortably after school pick up times. They know if I am not there, that I am on the school run and I will be back within minutes, so they are happy to wait. That’s a valuable, personalised service right there.
Smart and speedy shipping solutions
Packing and dispatching packages is so much simpler. We print off the packing slips, collect them from the printer in the front room, and bring them back to the packing table. There’s no need to weigh or measure each shipment. I just grab the box that is the best fit for the products, add the packing slip, and pack the item securely. We also have the ability to print our labels in batches, which saves us even more time.
We ship items in a wide range of sizes and weights. To make sure we get the best deal we use a variety of shipping methods with Sendcloud. The service we use gives us all parcels up to 15kg for one set price. This helps us to budget ahead and ensures there are no nasty surprises when it comes to invoice time.
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Keeping customers happy with smart solutions
Sendcloud also provides automated alerts if there is a problem with the customer’s address. For example, if a door number or the postcode is incomplete or wrong. This helps us to mitigate any errors and ensures items reach their destination on time.
We’re also able to use our branding on tracking emails and other customer communications with Sendcloud. This makes us look more established, professional and polished. It builds trust, which is so important especially as we are relatively new to the market.
It also encourages customers to speak to us directly if there is a problem, rather than contacting the courier. It puts us in control, creates a seamless dialogue with the customer and means we can deliver the best possible customer service.
Advantages
- Smart shipping rules that make automation easy
- Automated alerts if there is a problem with the address
- Quicker shipping processes
- Branded communications on tracking emails etc.
- Upsell tool that gives powerful insights into customer behaviour
- Responsive, personal customer service.
The Sweetie Shoppie ❤ Sendcloud
We are ready to scale up to triple our current capacity and I am completely confident that Sendcloud can help get us to that point. Sendcloud is part of the building blocks that will help us grow our business. They are part of the foundations. We don’t have the stresses and the worries. Life is simpler and our processes much more fluid.
