Starshipit and hismile case study

How HiSmile saves hours every week with Starshipit

2024-12-18

Written by Starshipit

Key points

  • Saves hours on shipping every week with fulfilment automation

    Saves hours on shipping every week with fulfilment automation

  • Fast, reliable international deliveries with DHL Express integration

    Fast, reliable international deliveries with DHL Express integration

  • Improved customer experience through faster, error-free shipping

    Improved customer experience through faster, error-free shipping

In just 18 months, founders Alex Tomic and Nik Mirkovic turned their humble teeth-whitening brand, HiSmile, into a $20 million global success story. With a combination of innovative social media and influencer marketing and efficient shipping automation with Starshipit, they’ve revolutionised the teeth-whitening industry.

Introduction

HiSmile began with a vision to disrupt the dental care market. After identifying various inefficiencies and customer pain points, Alex and Nik focused on creating a convenient, mess-free teeth whitening solution that resonated with a younger audience.

"We didn’t want to be another cosmetic product," Alex explains. "We wanted to represent lifestyle, happiness, and positivity."



How HiSmile uses star-rated Starshipit to increase sales

Their journey was grounded in extensive research and collaboration with chemists to ensure the product delivered what was on the box.

The duo worked hard to refine their target audience, which led them to focus on females aged 16–25, tailoring marketing, products, and messaging to this core demographic before scaling to a wider audience.



But as every retailer knows all too well, logistics is where the rubber really meets the road, and for HiSmile, getting this crucial step right allowed them to scale to international success. Of course, this phase of the company’s growth didn’t come without its fair share of challenges.

Challenge

Key takeaways

  • Managing growing order volumes across multiple systems consumed time, increased errors, and hindered HiSmile’s ability to scale efficiently.
  • Rapid growth into new markets required a solution to simplify carrier selection and ensure reliable international deliveries.
  • Without a centralised shipping platform, maintaining a seamless delivery experience across global markets became increasingly difficult.

As HiSmile expanded, managing their growing order volumes became increasingly complex. Their team juggled multiple systems daily, logging into Shopify to retrieve order details and then into separate carrier platforms to arrange shipments. This fragmented workflow consumed valuable time, introduced the risk of errors, and hindered their ability to scale efficiently.


The lack of a centralised solution also created roadblocks in providing the seamless delivery experience that modern customers expect.

With operations spanning global markets, selecting the most reliable carriers for each region (and automating common tasks) became critical to maintaining their high post-purchase standards.



HiSmile needed a platform to unify these processes, get set up for international success, and allow them to focus on what mattered most: growing their brand and delighting customers worldwide. That’s where Starshipit came in.

“At the start, we were just writing out orders but we were all about finding processes to speed things up. We researched software that could just grab the orders and do the labelling and after searching we found Starshipit who could all the things we needed,” says Alex Tomic, co-founder of HiSmile.

Solution

Key takeaways

  • Starshipit centralised order management and carrier selection, reducing manual work and errors, while saving valuable time.
  • The integration with DHL Express allowed HiSmile to efficiently automate international deliveries (including customs paperwork), and reduce the chance of human error.

Managing multiple platforms and carriers from one dashboard

As HiSmile expanded, the fragmented approach of managing orders across platforms and carriers became time-intensive and prone to errors, creating significant bottlenecks.

Starshipit provided the perfect solution by bringing these systems together into one centralised platform. With Starshipit, HiSmile could directly integrate their Shopify store and DHL Express account, along with other carrier partners.

This integration enabled the team to:

  • Centralise order management: View and manage all orders in one dashboard, regardless of sales channel or shipping partner.
  • Automate carrier selection: Automatically allocate the best carrier for each shipment based on delivery speed, cost, or other rules.
  • Simplify label generation: Generate shipping labels in bulk with just a few clicks, eliminating the need to log in to separate platforms.
  • Focus on their business: Using Starshipit’s pre-built, best-in-class integrations means the HiSmile team could instead put their energies into growing their business, not maintaining integrations.

By consolidating their operations into Starshipit, HiSmile not only saved hours of manual work each week but also positioned themselves to scale globally with confidence. The streamlined process reduced the risk of errors, allowing the team to focus on enhancing their customer experience and growing their brand.

“Starshipit offered the easy integration we were looking for, they integrated with our carrier partners and it could do all the things we needed it to do like import the orders, create the labels and make it really fast to get orders out the door,” says Alex.


dhl ecommerce dhl express - dhl plane

An international carrier partner

By partnering with DHL Express, HiSmile ensured that their products could reach customers in key international markets in a timely manner, which was crucial to maintaining their brand's promise of convenience and quality.

With DHL's global network, HiSmile could guarantee fast, reliable delivery while managing costs effectively - essential factors as they grew their business globally.



Tip: Learn more about Starshipit's support for DHL services here.

The challenge, however, was integrating DHL Express into their existing operations. HiSmile needed a solution that would allow them to manage shipping seamlessly across multiple platforms and carriers without the complexity of building and maintaining custom integrations. This is where Starshipit played a pivotal role.

Starshipit’s native integration with DHL Express was a game-changer for HiSmile. Instead of dedicating time and resources to creating their own connection between Shopify and DHL Express, HiSmile was able to rely on Starshipit’s pre-built, fully supported integration. This eliminated the need for complex development and ongoing maintenance.

With Starshipit handling the integration, HiSmile could focus on growing their business while Starshipit's team ensured that their DHL Express connection remained up-to-date and functioning smoothly. Any changes to DHL’s API or new features were automatically incorporated by Starshipit’s team, meaning HiSmile never had to worry about compatibility issues or technical roadblocks.


“I would recommend to any new business starting out, to identify what will allow you to simplify your processes. Identify which are going to take the most time and look for a solution to free up time so you can focus on other things. Get on to that ASAP. And to take it even further, it looks more professional to your customers and this has been a massive benefit for us,” says Alex.

10 questions with HiSmile

1. How did HiSmile get started, and what inspired its creation?

HiSmile was founded by Alex Tomic and Nic Mirkovic, who recognized the power of online and social media early on. After six months of intensive research, they identified the teeth-whitening market as stagnant and underdeveloped.

Their goal was to reframe teeth whitening as a lifestyle product, focusing on happiness and positivity rather than purely cosmetic dentistry.

2. How did HiSmile pinpoint the opportunity in teeth whitening?

Alex and Nic conducted in-depth research to uncover customer frustrations in the teeth-whitening industry. They discovered that existing products were time-consuming, messy, and inconvenient. Their solution: a fast, easy-to-use product that delivers results in under 10 minutes, with no molds and a simple gel application.

3. What challenges did HiSmile face in sourcing and developing products?

Knowing they weren’t dental professionals, HiSmile collaborated with over 10 chemists and researchers to create a unique, effective product.

They engaged 20–30 suppliers to ensure they didn’t settle for generic solutions. Initially, they marketed broadly but soon refined their target audience to 16–25-year-old females, who were most responsive to their messaging.

4. How did HiSmile use influencer marketing to grow the brand?

HiSmile prioritised getting their product into the hands of influencers who could share authentic experiences on social media.

This strategy drove rapid brand awareness, leading to nearly one million Facebook followers. Alex advises new businesses to focus on smaller influencers initially and learn from customer feedback.

5. Why did HiSmile choose Australia Post and Starshipit for logistics?

HiSmile selected Australia Post for its extensive network and scalability, and Starshipit for its seamless integration and automation. Starshipit saved the team 15–20 hours per week by automating order processing and labeling, enabling them to focus on growing the business.

6. What benefits has HiSmile seen from using Starshipit and Australia Post?

The integration with Starshipit streamlined HiSmile’s shipping process, reduced manual hours, and ensured professional, efficient deliveries. Australia Post’s trusted reputation in Australia reassured customers, enhancing their overall experience.

7. How does HiSmile manage shipping challenges and returns?

HiSmile's proactive approach includes refining international shipping processes in collaboration with Australia Post.

Returns are minimal in Australia but higher overseas due to customs challenges. The team views every issue as an opportunity to improve processes further.

8. How does HiSmile leverage digital marketing and social media?

HiSmile uses a multi-platform strategy, including Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube, to engage customers and test content. Facebook remains their most impactful channel, allowing clear messaging and widespread visibility. The team posts over 200 times daily, continually learning and reacting to customer feedback.

9. What advice does HiSmile have for other entrepreneurs starting an online business?

  • Start testing: Get your product to customers and learn from their reactions.
  • Use all platforms: Experiment with different digital tools and platforms to share your message.
  • Engage deeply: Understand every process of your business to identify areas for improvement and growth.

10. What’s next for HiSmile?

HiSmile has ambitious plans, including new product launches, international collaborations, and innovative campaigns. The team remains focused on trying new ideas, learning from customer feedback, and continually improving their brand.

Are you ready for better shipping experiences?

Are you ready to streamline your shipping processes and delight your customers like HiSmile? Starshipit provides best-in-class integrations and automation features that can take your fulfillment to the next level.

If you’d prefer to be shown how it all works, we can offer you a free, personalised demo of Starshipit with one of our shipping experts. They can walk you through the different capabilities of Starshipit, as well as help you discover how Starshipit could work best for your specific brand and industry.

Or, if you’re ready to try it for yourself, you can sign-up for a free 30-day trial right now, and a member of our team will reach out to assist you shortly.

You can also view our interactive demo right here. We look forward to seeing you on the other side of shipping success!

Starshipit

Starshipit

Elevate your shipping game with Starshipit. Automate labels, rates, tracking & more for a seamless eCommerce experience. Get started & watch your business grow.

More from this Author

Read our case studies

Starshipit and Maude case study
2024-12-16
Case study

Maude Studio cuts shipping time by 1 hour daily with automation

Starshipit and Bhumi case study
2024-11-22
Case study

Sustainable brand Bhumi Organic Cotton finds online shipping success with Starshipit

RUBY x Starshipit
2024-03-26
Case study

Tailored to perfection: Inside RUBY's ship from store success