Simply Active was launched in in 2018  to cater to the rising demand of premium nutritional products in Singapore. They started with distribution of PURE Sports Nutrition brand from New Zealand and since then, they’ve expanded to 14 brands that serve experienced athletes and health-conscious consumers.

Challenges with previous carriers 

When Simply Active started accepting orders through their e-commerce website, they partnered directly with one carrier partner for fulfilment needs. Soon enough, they had no visibility on parcel status, no contact for sales reps, so were unable to track shipments or respond to customer delivery issues. This led to an increase in customer complaints. 

Shamala Sanchana, Simply Active’s Commerical Manager, remembers the situation: “We had a lot of problems, especially during peak periods. Products were going missing. Shipments weren’t showing up in the system and we didn’t know if they were lost.”

This was compounded by the logistics company’s subpar customer service, which was affecting Simply Active’s reputation. “When we tried to contact our carrier, the phone would ring and no one would answer. We just wanted to know how we can chase a package so we can tell the customer what’s happening. Imagine telling our customers we couldn’t reach our carrier. That’s very embarrassing.”

The final straw was when the logistics vendor courier claimed to have dropped off a package at Simply Active’s offices at 5:30pm on a Saturday. Shamala replied, “You can’t have done that, because we are closed on Saturdays.”

How switching to Shippit turned Simply Active’s customer service issues around

Simply Active needed a new solution, one with better parcel tracking, predictable pickup times, and the ability to accommodate customer requests. Simply Active CEO Brent Morgans had heard about Shippit’s logistics technology platform and its ability to improve operational efficiencies and reduce fulfilment time. They decided to move from a single carrier solution to a multi-carrier platform to improve their last mile operations. They started using Shippit in June 2020.

Shippit enabled fast setup with its easy-to-navigate dashboard and support tool

Stephanie Lim, Simply Active’s Operations Manager, says it was quick and seamless for the team to import their orders into the Shippit Dashboard. Shippit provides dedicated onboarding service and training, including a contact based in Singapore, which helped all three users become familiar with the system. 

Simply Active gets their onboarding queries answered promptly by Shippit’s local customer success team and the built-in chat support. Shamala says, “If I send a question, you know it will be answered as soon as possible and that assurance was pretty good.”

A selection of carriers allowed Simply Active to offer 2x faster delivery

Having a choice of carriers allowed Simply Active to offer multiple delivery options to their customers. Through Shippit, they have been able to switch multiple carriers on and off and are now able to offer same-day pick up, next day deliveries and responsive customer service. “Our new carrier has hardly been late, and if they are, during peak periods, they call. We now have complete visibility on our parcel collection and delivery timelines.”

A full view of shipping information cuts down fulfilment time by 60%

The Simply Active team has been able to cut down the time it takes to fulfil an order. From booking the orders, labelling, printing, packing and  booking the courier, the process has become smoother.

Billing and invoicing have been significantly automated

Before using Shippit, Stephanie had to prepare billing at the end of each month, manually matching entries in their books with those of their carrier partners. Shippit deducts transactions directly from Simply Active’s credit card on file, so this process has been automated, freeing up their time to work on other areas of the business. 

Parcel tracking eliminated customer service issues 

Now that Simply Active can see parcel information at any stage of the delivery with Shippit’s end-to-end tracking system, they’ve been able to troubleshoot every delivery, which has reduced phone calls about missing packages to near-zero.  

“We no longer receive customer complaints. We feel good about that. For the very few times when the system might say a delivery hasn’t been done, there’s always an explanation. Nothing we had to chase up and track. That’s been a definite plus.”

Benefits of using Shippit:

Flexibility: Choice of courier means option to offer cost-effective next-day delivery

Reliability: Orders are now picked up and delivered promptly and the merchant saved 60% time in fulfilling orders 

Increased Customer Loyalty: All delivery issues can now be addressed easily, and complaints are now near-zero, improving the delivery experience and earning repeat business