Bickford’s direct to consumer eCommerce saves 50% on handling time

As a brand that had seen many changes in the consumer landscape for over a hundred and fifty years, Bickford’s had the foresight to start refocusing its business. In deciding to sell direct to consumers online, it positioned Bickford’s beverage range ahead of the curve.

“Bickford’s required a solution that could manage complexities, like sending multiple packages to multiple locations, but yet intuitive enough so anyone in the business could use the platform.”
— Siddharth Puri, eCommerce Developer, Bickford’s

Challenge

Bickford’s required an intuitive platform offering multiple package shipping

This resulted in the creation of a dedicated direct to consumer e-commerce platform, through developing an app named Sippify. As the online business matured it was obvious a fulfilment platform was required. It needed to ensure seamless delivery via Sippify to consumers, without any delays or complications.

Bickford’s had previously tried two previous fulfilment partners. According to Siddharth Puri, eCommerce developer at Bickford’s, neither option met its expectations:

“The Shipstation platform proved too technical for staff members in a warehouse setting and the process was complicated. The Shippit platform was also not user-friendly and the interface was not intuitive. Shippit also didn’t have the required features we were looking for…you weren’t able to send multiple packages.”

Solution

Why Bickford’s chose Starshipit

Having done due diligence on a range of options, Bickford’s need to ship multiple product offerings made it a no-brainer to sign up with Starshipit. Starshipit was also the most intuitive and the easiest shipping platform to use for non-technical employees.

Warehouse staff were able to pick up and use Starshipit quickly, removing the need to invest in extensive training or require implementation downtime.

According to Siddharth Puri:

“Starshipit is so intuitive, anyone in the business can use it. The onboarding was great - very thorough and easy to understand…If you are technical you will (also) find their technical documentation extremely thorough and easy to implement.”

After attending one webinar, the platform was up and running. The Bickford’s team found the user interface to be intuitive and user-friendly with features others don’t offer.

Starshipit’s inbuilt free customer notifications and branded tracking were identified as key benefits. Plus the ability to give a lot more detail about the delivery, including being able to make comments via txt message after checkout was also highlighted.

Outcome

50% reduction in handling time

Bickford’s reported the benefits of implementing Starshipit’s cloud-based application were experienced almost immediately. As Siddarth Puri explains:

“Starshipit’s fulfilment platform freed up 50% of our time, so we could focus on growing the business… Human errors reduced by 10% thanks to Starshipit’s auto address correct.”

The substantial 50% reduction in handling time meant even more sales could be processed and managed by the existing team. The efficiencies created through using Starshipit having a direct and positive result on the bottom line.

Auto Address was another Starshipit feature that reduced cost. Not only did it reduce errors in addressing packages it directly reduced the number of fines payable for returned packages sent to incorrect addresses.

Bickford’s use of Starshipit is ‘out of the box’. If you would like to see how your direct to consumer e-commerce sales could be grown in a similar way why don’t you try it for yourself.

About Bickford’s

Bickford’s, a much-loved Australian heritage brand dating back to 1839, have embraced digital by launching Sippify, an app that sells their vast range of Bickford’s classic cordials, syrups and a selection of innovative new drinks, making them a contemporary icon of a new generation of direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands.