A faster fulfilment service has streamlined eCommerce operations at Skinspace and elevated the customer experience
Prior to Zendbox, Skinspace suffered with a poor fulfilment service from another 3PL provider. The team was spending several hours every day managing customer queries and chasing the 3PL provider regarding incorrectly picked orders and orders that were not dispatched or delivered on time. With no support when it came to inventory, Skinspace also lacked visibility and control over its products, making it harder to accurately demand forecast, reorder from suppliers, and manage stock efficiently. All these challenges combined meant there was less time and resources devoted to growing the business.
Skinspace switched from its previous 3PL fulfilment provider to Zendbox. Customers benefit from ultra-fast, same-day dispatch and next-day delivery, thanks to a late order cut-off time of 9pm and a seamless pick and pack process from Zendbox. The ability to keep its next-day delivery promise enables Skinspace to better compete, maintain its brand value and credibility, and achieve maximum peace-of-mind knowing fulfilment is being handled properly by Zendbox. The enhanced fulfilment service has also saved Skinspace time handling customer WISMO (Where is My Order) queries, freeing up resources to focus on business growth. Furthermore, greater visibility and control over stock through Zendportal means Skinspace can reorder the right amount of stock at the right time to meet demand, making further cost savings for the business.
Having experienced a poor beauty fulfilment service from other 3PL providers, Skinspace made the seamless switch to Zendbox in March 2020. Charlie Munton – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Skinspace – explains the decision to choose Zendbox as a fulfilment partner:
“With the 3PL providers we’d worked with previously, I was always having to check in at 4pm every day to make sure that orders were being dispatched on time. If not, I’d have to call them and ask why the orders hadn’t been sent out, and that’s a nightmare. It’s hard enough as it is operating within a competitive space, and if you’re not fulfilling what you promised the customer – i.e. if you order by a certain time, it will be dispatched by that time – then you don’t stand a chance.
“Since moving to Zendbox, I never have to worry if orders are going out on time or being picked correctly. I never have a deluge of emails at 5pm from customers asking, ‘Why hasn’t my order been dispatched?’. For the first time, I never have to think about fulfilment because I know it’s being handled properly. Now, my time has been liberated to grow the business and focus on selling higher-value products. I’ve got time to do social media Q&As, speak to new brands, design new email campaigns, and much more.
“If you read our Trustpilot reviews, our customers love the fulfilment – over 95% say that the service is awesome. They absolutely love that side of the business. It’s all about super-fast dispatch, super-fast delivery. Within my space, I’m selling branded goods that aren’t my own, so most of the products can be bought elsewhere. Therefore, one of the only ways I can stand out from the competition is with service, and ensuring that customers receive their order on time, when they want it.”
When it came to managing stock, Skinspace lacked support from its previous 3PL provider, which meant Charlie and his team had to work from an Excel spreadsheet to manually predict sales and reorder from suppliers based on these calculations. Charlie says:
“The technology from Zendbox definitely helps me forecast when doing purchase orders from my suppliers. The previous system I used – despite being from one of the bigger fulfilment players – was very antiquated. It displayed stock level information and that was it. Now I use Inventory Analysis on Zendportal to manage slow-moving stock. Quite often, we will stock a new brand product and it’s slow to sell, but we won’t axe it. We’ll simply give it the benefit of some more promotion, upselling and cross-selling to expose customers to that new brand.
“With Shopify, you just see the orders and whilst it shows you what your bestselling item is for that day, it doesn’t provide a complete overview of your stock. You have to dig deep to find out what your slow-moving items are. It’s great to have that visibility from Zendportal.”
“Ultimately, the biggest advantage of working with Zendbox is that I no longer have to think about fulfilment. If you’re an online retailer, distribution must be 100%. You can’t be worrying about whether your orders are going out on time and if your customers are receiving them. You’ve got too much to focus on.”
Charlie offers his advice to eCommerce brands that are considering outsourcing their fulfilment operations to a 3PL provider:
“Based on my experience with various 3PL providers that I’ve looked at and have worked with, my advice to anyone looking to outsource fulfilment is to visit the providers. Have a look at the ‘shop floor’ and see what’s going on. Any potential clients of Zendbox will see a very impressive set up. Everything is clean, tidy, and in order, which isn’t always the case in fulfilment centres. You’ll also meet the people behind Zendbox and find out what goes on there.”
Outsourcing order fulfilment to Zendbox means Skinspace can keep its next-day delivery promises to customers. This promotes trust and loyalty among customers, who are ultimately more likely to buy from the brand again in the future. Charlie adds:
“One thing customers rightly expect is for you to fulfil what you’ve said. So, if you offer same-day dispatch by 3pm for next-day delivery and a customer orders at 2.45pm, they will expect their order the next day because that’s what you’ve promised them.
“Zendbox is fast and reliable. We see some orders being placed at 7pm and still being dispatched that same day, which is extraordinary. Reliability means that I can make a promise to my customers that I know will be kept.”
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“I can’t fault the service from Zendbox.”
“Orders are packed neatly and safely. We have a lot of breakable items, but we have very little experience of our items being damaged.”
“Read our Trustpilot reviews. It’s all about super-fast dispatch, super-fast delivery.”
“Zendbox is very competitive on price.”
“I have and continue to recommend Zendbox to lots of people.”
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