The constantly growing demand required a more efficient handling of the ordering and shipping processes of a specialist retailer for wood-burning stoves in order to meet the challenges of digital commerce.
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A leading specialist retailer for wood-burning stoves, which operated its sales via various online marketplaces, was faced with the challenge of optimizing its time-consuming ordering and shipping processes. Orders received via several online marketplaces were processed manually and the associated shipping information was also managed manually. This not only took a lot of time, but was also prone to human error.
The company received the invoices for customer orders placed via several online platforms, whereupon the information was recorded manually and forwarded to the carriers. They delivered the products and sent back the shipping information, which was in turn manually forwarded to the online stores. Finally, the customers received a shipping confirmation – also created manually.
Easybill was used for invoicing, while communication with the freight forwarders mainly took place by email. The lack of a central database and the lack of automation made administration considerably more difficult.
The old process was characterized by enormous administrative effort and a high susceptibility to errors. Different data formats used by the freight forwarders led to confusion, and the time delay in customer communication impaired customer satisfaction. Process optimization was unavoidable in order to meet the increasing requirements.
The company therefore wanted to fully automate the ordering and shipping process. A central and uniform overview of all orders was to be created and the need for manual data entry was to be minimized. The aim was to improve communication with forwarders and customers and reduce sources of error.
By implementing new tools such as Airtable and Make, we were able to automate the entire process. Airtable served as a central database for orders and shipping status, while Make enabled the automation of order and shipping processes. APIs were also used to efficiently integrate the online stores' order confirmations, and 0CodeKit allowed individual customization of the online store interfaces.
The new automated process began with the transfer of order data from easybill to Airtable. All information, including invoices, items and contact details, was automatically recorded and linked. Stock levels were also updated. E-mails were also sent under certain conditions.
The orders were automatically assigned to the appropriate forwarders and the corresponding shipping information was transmitted in the required formats.
The forwarders sent back shipping confirmations, which were automatically passed on to the online stores so that customers received their shipping confirmation promptly. All files sent by the carrier were uploaded to Airtable in an overview and then, depending on the carrier, the next process was triggered. After our client received the information that orders had been dispatched, they were also automatically marked as dispatched in the various stores. In the event of problems, an automatic damage report was also sent to the forwarders by email.
The implementation encountered various challenges, particularly due to the different data formats and structures (e.g., csv, excel, etc.) between freight forwarders and online stores. Some online stores did not have standard interfaces, which made it necessary to develop individual API calls.
By using Airtable, Make, 0CodeKit, and the corresponding API integrations, the company was able to take a significant step towards efficiency and customer focus. The automation of the previously manual processes enabled a uniform and transparent overview of all orders, which also drastically reduced the manual workload. This led to a minimization of errors and faster order processing. Communication between our client, the freight forwarders and online stores improved considerably, which also made customer information about the shipping status faster and more reliable.
