In this story
Ritmo is a boutique seller of handmade, Spanish espadrilles. Since launching three years ago, they have been trading their shoes online, within Australia’s top fashion marketplaces, at boutique markets across Sydney and, most recently, through their new pop-up located in the heart of the Sydney CBD.
Their customer base is fashion-forward and tech savvy, so they want to order Ritmo’s products conveniently and in their own time. However, Ritmo’s leadership team soon realised that, while customers love to order shoes online, they also need the tactile experience of seeing the product in person.
Ritmo offers a high quality product, and their customers expect a seamless and consistent experience both in-store and online. Using Shippit to fulfil their online Shopify orders, Ritmo is able to offer flexible delivery services as well as in-store pick-up capability. They’ve been using Shopify for three years, and Shippit for 2.5 years, and have experienced continual growth due to their focus on offering customers flexible and cost effective delivery options at the checkout.
Shopify is a great ecommerce platform
According to Ritmo, Shopify was their first port of call for an eCommerce platform and it was their first choice of shopping cart.
Ritmo loved how easy it was to set up their cart with Shopify and how fast they were able to start making sales, however, shipping was a big pain point the budding business.
Shipping orders by hand
Ritmo was spending hours everyday fulfilling orders manually at the post office. The process they had before using Shippit was not scalable:
- Orders were picked up from the warehouse to be picked
- Picked orders were driven to the post office
- Each order was personally booked and shipped at the post office counter
- Tracking numbers were manually noted down and sent to customers
Inefficient shipping is incredibly costly
Ritmo’s manual process for booking orders was not only taking hours, but it was also uneconomical for a growing business.
Over-the-counter shipping rates are not cost effective when you’re starting a business, but new businesses also don’t have the shipping volume needed to negotiate cheaper rates. For Ritmo, they were spending an average of $13 for a 3kg satchel, which was making a large dent in their bottom line.
Data entry errors
Ritmo were manually booking deliveries over the counter, which meant that they had to type the tracking numbers manually into Shopify, which then would trigger a notification email to customers that their items had shipped.
When you’re busy running a business and doing a million things at once, it’s easy to make data entry errors when tracking items in this way.
Ritmo experienced a lot of inbound enquiries when their customers couldn’t track their items, and this meant taking more time to follow up with the courier service to find the right tracking information and get the updates customers were after.
Automation saves time and money
There were clear inefficiencies in Ritmo’s fulfilment processes, so they needed a solution that could meet all their needs. Automated shipping processes meant they could save time and money, and start to scale their business.
Ritmo needed a solution that eliminated all manual data entry and could help them automatically book couriers for their orders without going to the post office. They also needed a solution that saved them time on shipping orders. Manually tracking orders and entering them into Shopify is not a scalable process. Nor was responding to customer enquiries when they couldn’t track an incorrect tracking number.
Ritmo couldn’t scale with over the counter shipping rates. Spending an average of $13 shipping each parcel meant that a large part of their profit margin was being spent on deliveries. They needed a solution that could aggregate and automate cheaper delivery options for customers.
Shippit and Shopify
Ritmo is now using Shippit to fulfil their Shopify orders, and since they installed our shipping extension, they haven’t looked back.
Hassle free shipping from anywhere
Ritmo fulfils orders from their online customers, through their social media channels, and they ship orders from the Sydney CBD pop-up. Each staff member has their own login, and can quickly fulfil orders without hassle, or having to log in to separate platforms.
Shippit slashed fulfilment times
One of Ritmo’s key goals for using a shipping platform was to reduce the time spent fulfilling orders. They wanted to focus on other areas of the business, like their upcoming photoshoots and video campaigns that would attract new customers and grow their revenue.
Ritmo doesn’t have to worry about shipping anymore because their orders are picked up by carriers on the day. No more wasted time manually taking orders to the post office and writing down tracking numbers.
The Shippit advantage
According to Ritmo’s founding team, the biggest advantage of using Shippit is being able to offer more flexible shipping options at the checkout.
“We now have the capacity to be flexible at the checkout. We can offer pick up in store and we can offer express and international shipping. It’s just so much easier. Managing time is huge so anything that can help alleviate some time, and Shippit has 100% helped us with that. I’m not even worried about shipping orders anymore – I don’t get those frustrated emails from customers asking about their parcels.”
Results
42% reduction in average standard delivery cost
Offering more flexible options at the checkout has saved Ritmo a lot of money on per unit shipping costs. Previously having only offered one standard delivery service, there was no way to reduce shipping costs for customers. Now Ritmo is able to offer free shipping with click and collect, standard, express, and international services at competitive prices.
87% reduction in fulfilment time per delivery
There’s no more need to drive to the post office and wait in line with 10 shoe boxes in hand. All Shopify orders are seamlessly imported into Shippit, and with a few clicks, a courier is booked and ready to collect the orders for the day.
Improved delivery time from cart to door
Ritmo’s average delivery time has nearly halved thanks to being able to offer express delivery options at the checkout. Faster fulfilment time also means customers are able to receive their items faster.
20% improvement in sales with pick up from store capability
Since Ritmo started offering a click and collect option with Shippit, they’ve seen a 20% uplift in sales. Modern consumers want flexible and authentic interactions with their favourite brands, and Ritmo was able to tap into a diverse range of customers by using Shippit.
A smarter way to ship Shopify orders
Shopify is one of the most popular platforms for eCommerce, and combined with Shippit, these two solutions make it possible for small businesses to scale without the added infrastructure costs. Get in touch with our team to see why the Shippit extension for Shopify is one of the most popular shipping connectors in Australian retail.
