From 2,000 Orders Behind in Fulfilment to 98% Next Day Delivery

We’ve all seen this typical entrepreneurial success story – some hip youngster starts with selling a new online product, creates a unique market, and ends up kicking their feet up on a private beach 6 months later.

All those stories fail to mention the middle part of the journey – messy order backlogs, logistics partners who treat your stock with absurd negligence, angry customers who haven’t received their order in 3 weeks (the ones who turn into keyboard warriors with their awful reviews), and countless nights without sleep because you are terrified your business is going to implode before sunrise.

Caroline Africh, found of Attipas, is very familiar with this journey. Before her innovative toddler shoe company held the market dominance it does today, fulfilling orders at scale was a near-detrimental struggle. 

Caroline started Attipas after returning from a trip to Japan with her family. She had bought a pair of pre-walk shoes for her youngest son and thought they were fantastic.

“We saw these shoes in a shop and he tried them on and I thought they were simply amazing pre-walking shoes,” Caroline said. 

Upon returning home, it seemed like every mother in New South Wales was clawing to get a pair for their own toddler. Caroline couldn’t go on a walk outside without being stopped by multiple moms asking about her son’s shoes!

“When I came back to Sydney I kept getting asked in the street about these shoes. It was multiple times a day and it was insane.”

The number of people asking about the shoes was so consistent that a light bulb went off in Caroline’s head… maybe there’s an ocean of money to be made selling these shoes from Japan in Australia!

A small batch order of shoes later and the aspiring entrepreneur was ready to hit the ground running, growing her business with sales online.

Caroline did not expect her eCommerce business to explode so quickly! The pre-walk shoes were a hit with mums and within a few short months, she had more orders that she could handle. And offloading the inventory to a logistics partner was her next sensible move. Deciding to offload early was a wise decision, where most small business owners don’t ultimately bite the bullet without drowning in unfulfilled orders.

Working with various logistics partners, however, would turn into a revolving door of false promises from incapable 3PL companies and deflating Attipas’ overall growth.

Time and time again Caroline would be pulling her hair out as she switched between multiple 3PL companies, all mishandling her inventories and her customers. The result was mounting in damaging reviews of her company online.

“I’ve been promised so many KPIs over the last six years and the companies we’ve been with never managed to achieve those KPIs.”

Though Caroline had decided to continue outsourcing logistics to make her job easier, it was actually getting harder as she now had to micromanage the 3PL companies, putting her business growth on hold. It really defeated the purpose of using a 3PL in the first place, and it felt like they were taking drastic steps backward as a company.

Not to mention the damage being done to the actual products.

“With my former 3PL, we had issues with stock not being stored carefully resulting in damage.”

Any business owner with common sense would know damaging the product means demeaning the entire business’s reputation. Imagine your customers ripping open a package to find their order in the wrong size, wrong colour and in terrible condition!

For too long Caroline and her precious business had been treated like bottom rung customers by various 3PL companies, instead of as an actual business partner. She knew it was time to draw a line in the sand. It was time to find a company that could invest in mutual growth.

Outgrowing the volumes her current 3PL could handle, Caroline was thankful to have finally found Invenco. From day one, Invenco proved to be “head and shoulders above all other 3PL companies”, said Caroline.

When Attipas linked up with Invenco, their former 3PL had created a daunting 2-week backlog of orders. Caroline thought there was no way to recover and make her customers happy. She was fully expecting to take the hit again and disappoint thousands of customers for the last time, and restart with Invenco.

To her complete and pleasant shock, Invenco got the job done quickly.

“We shipped 114 pallets to Invenco and they had to unload my 2,000 plus order backlog. And they turned all of those orders around in less than a week.”

After years of subpar experience and service from 3PL companies, Caroline was finally relieved. In a matter of weeks, she sensed a genuine partnership with Invenco, instead of just another cog in the wheel. This was a huge burden off her shoulders after years of mediocre experience with other 3PL companies.

After getting rid of the all the backlog, Invenco helped Attipas to achieve a 98% next day fulfilment rate. An unbelievable improvement for Attipas in such a short period of time.

From this point on, Caroline’s confidence level was never the same. She now has 100% certainty that their customers will get the actual products quickly and accurately once the order is placed.

Not only were orders shipped out on time, the products are also being handled with the highest industry standards and expertise.

“I have visited their warehouse and know they’re very rigorous about stock management and handling. They properly care for our stock.”

At Invenco, we understand that when we treat our clients’ inventory with care, their customers will love the product as soon as they open their package. When customers love the products, our clients grow, and we grow subsequently. It really is a simple formula.

Dedication to ecommerce growth is the fuel for us to manage large order volumes at scale, and ultimately deliver raving customers for our clients.

Caroline is never going to deal with a catastrophic backlog or mishandled inventory anymore. Every step of the way Invenco has proven to be a partner who cares for her business as if it is their own. Our company is dedicated to using our specialist insights in ecommerce to help Attitpas, and all our clients, to make decisions conducive to accelerated growth.

“This kind of mentoring and nurturing I have never received from anyone.” said Caroline as she reflects on her relationship with Invenco.

In a very short amount of time, Invenco has helped Caroline increase her margins and decrease her costs so that her business can continue to grow. She’s no longer on her own entrepreneurial journey, but backed by a time of professionals who will deliver every single time.

If you aspire to get the same level of delegation and confidence in scaling your ecommerce business, get a free quote today so you can efficiently get your products into the hands of many, get great online reviews and supercharge your ecommerce success!