Fashioning success in ecommerce: How HAPP Brand triumphed over order management hurdles
HAPP Brand has captured a unique niche market in the ecommerce landscape: luxurious diaper bags and accessories that merge functionality with sophistication. At the helm of their marketing operations, Kassia Shishkoff, CMO, also fronts HAPP’s ecommerce operations regarding their Shopify store and fulfilling orders.
Since 2015, their line of chic diaper handbags, backpacks, diaper caddies, and packing cubes elevates everyday motherhood essentials as sophisticated accessories. The brand's ultimate goal is to keep parents happy with both innovative designs and wearable functionality. While their products hold true to that mission, Kassia has been experiencing some functionality problems with order operations on Shopify since 2020.
The heart of their promo items issue
In their mission to bring elevated goods to stylish mothers, HAPP had to contend with a significant hurdle during one of their biggest revenue-generating promotions. Operations with their much-coveted Mother's Day promotion were at the heart of their challenge: Buy a diaper bag and get a changing pad and keychain free. It was a tantalizing offer that came with the operational challenge of ensuring smooth processing and fulfillment.
“We needed to solve how to automatically add the discount for the promo items without a discount code before the order is sent to fulfillment,” Kassia said.
At first, she looked to create virtual bundles to solve the problem, but that involved creating a new product where the diaper bag and promo products were under a single new SKU. This wasn’t working.
"Google and Facebook don’t recognize the original Diaper Bag product. It hurt our ads badly; we were losing money and unable to retarget potential shoppers,” she said. With a deteriorating bottom line, lost data, and missed retargeting opportunities, the pressure gave Kassia a lightbulb moment.
Finding Shopify Flow and Cleverific
“I’m supposed to be focusing on growing the company, but all my time was spent being in charge of just sustaining our operations,” Kassia reflects.
Cue the entry of Cleverific. Recommended to Kassia while researching Shopify Flow, the Cleverific app piqued her interest. She confesses, "I looked into it, and it was just perfect, I was almost scared to believe it. It was so easy, and there was no coding." For a team without a developer, this was a eureka moment.
“Cleverific’s Flow automation was a light bulb moment... it dawned on me that this would finally work”
"Cleverific’s Flow automation was a light bulb moment... it dawned on me that this would finally work,” Kassia recalls.
The efficacy of the Cleverific shines with its Shopify Flow workflow: automatic addition of promotional items to a customer's order. This eliminates the hassle of discount codes. Once a customer purchases a diaper bag, the two promo items are automatically added to the order, along with their SKUs and subsequent discounts. This makes fulfillment simple while saving HAPP valuable ad resources.
The true test, of course, was during their anticipated Mother’s Day campaign. Kassia recounts, "The promo is a big deal to us revenue-wise…the first time we used the app was during this Mother’s Day, and it worked perfectly. I can't articulate how many hours I’ve spent over three years trying to solve this problem."
Now Kassia finally has the time to use her talents towards company growth, gaining HAPP Brand some notable views from Vogue, Popsugar, and celebrity endorsers like Hilary Duff.
Customer Portal: The lifeline for small teams
But Cleverific Order Editor offered more than seamless promo execution for HAPP Brand. Kassia also implemented the Customer Portal feature to allow customers to make simple changes to their orders before they’re sent out for fulfillment.
For a small team like HAPP Brand's with standard 9-5 customer service hours, this was crucial. “We only had a two-hour window to get to order changes; that's so significant to customers; with Amazon out there, they expect fast shipping," says Kassia.
HAPP Brand only has one customer service rep, working standard 9am - 5pm hours. If someone orders the wrong color, or two bags, they usually contact support to change the order, but if they email outside of support hours, the order will usually result in a return. This was something Kassia saw could be improved.
“Our stuff is expensive to ship, and returning products is a main expense. We don’t charge for returns, but the process on our end is lengthy. Once they’re shipped back, we have to manually inspect our bags; it’s an in-depth process because they have to be perfect for reselling. Then once that’s done have to ship [the bag] back to the fulfilment centre. The return process is expensive.”
She reveals how Customer Portal has revolutionized their order management process, "Customer Portal works so well I can see people editing and cancelling... when they cancel, they place a new order immediately." Allowing customers to change their orders is saving HAPP Brand money and keeping customers happy.
“Customer Portal has seriously reduced our costs. We have happier customers, and our rep is able to serve more customers as we grow,”
“Customer Portal has seriously reduced our costs. We have happier customers, and our rep is able to serve more customers as we grow,” said Kassia.
Create your own light bulb moment 💡
HAPP Brand's experience shows that even the most intricate hurdles - think order management complexities and promotional bottlenecks - are conquerable. HAPP Brand's story is not just about solving logistics or improving operations; it's a testament to their resilience and determination to survive and thrive while sustaining their commitment to providing luxurious, high-quality motherhood products.
With the holiday season on the horizon and HAPP being a no-discount brand, Kassia couldn't stress enough the importance of Cleverific’s bundle expansion and promo automation, "It makes our holiday promos possible."
So, for all ecommerce businesses facing operational conundrums, take a cue from HAPP Brand’s journey. Harness the potential of innovative technology and strategic solutions to overcome your hurdles. Like Kassia, you just might have your long-desired light bulb moment. From hurdle-hopping to trendsetting, join HAPP Brand in their march towards an optimized, customer-centric future.
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