SabiTolou, Co-founder and CCO
This adage by Sabi Tolou finds its very relevance in his journey as one of the co-founders of Sendcloud, besides Rob van den Heuvel and Bas Smeulders from running an online phone accessories store to evolving as the go-to name for holistic shipping needs in the e-commerce landscape. Similar to other e-commerce businesses, the entrepreneurs were faced with operational challenges largely involving the shipping and other logistics processes. Unable to find a time-saving solution for their shipping issues, they established Sendcloud and built an all-in-one shipping platform to optimise shipping for e-commerce organisations. The platform seamlessly integrates with over 30 popular e-commerce platforms such as Magento, Shopify, Amazon, and WooCommerce along with shipping carriers including DHL, DPD, UPS, GLS, and many more international delivery companies. Such capability of the platform enables online retailers to offer flexible shipping methods, automatically process orders, print shipping labels in one click, send fully branded and automated track & trace notifications, and manage returns easily.
Modern e-commerce businesses are constantly faced with the challenge of shipping items around and across borders. To start with, shipping is one of the most time-consuming parts of running an online store; when online retailers heavily invest in a sole shipping provider, they tend to find themselves in a tight spot if the provider is unable to meet their requirements. Besides, approximately 20-40 per cent of the overall costs of an e-commerce business comes from logistics. Cross-border e-commerce is even a bigger hassle. For instance, whenever an e-commerce company ships its products outside the EU, there are customs documents and Incoterms that have to be taken into account, which is a big hassle and costs a lot of time for online retailers. Sendcloud platform offers multiple features that allow online retailers to save a huge amount of time on shipping. They can connect any online selling platform with +30 international carriers and print picking lists, packing slips and shipping labels in bulk. Sendcloud helps e-commerce firms save costs on logistics by offering pre-negotiated shipping rates and multiple carriers. In case of cross-border shipping, that involves multiple carriers, different rates, terms & conditions, Sendcloud’s carrier hub comprising +30 international carriers enabling online retailers by expanding their shipping facilities internationally.
Sendcloud’s holistic shipping solutions are specifically targetted at boosting the shipping prospects of small, medium and large-scale businesses alike in a highly fragmented European e-commerce marketplace
On the other hand, consumers demand more from online retailers when it comes to shipping. They want to get their package delivered whenever and wherever they decide. Sendcloud offers multiple delivery options in the checkout, promoting a significant increase in conversion and decrease the amount of abandoned shopping carts. Besides, on an average, 63 per cent of all consumers who purchase online decide to return one or more items. This process of handling returns is very time consuming, and often the products are not suitable for resale when they are received. Sendcloud makes returns hassle-free through consumer-friendly return solutions across Europe. For instance, a consumer in Madrid can return a parcel as easily as one in Amsterdam. “Our return portal at Sendcloud is fully automated, which assists online retailers in handling the returns more quickly and receiving more insights into the incoming returns and the reason for that return, consequently experiencing reduced return rates,” elaborates Tolou, co-founder and CCO, Sendcloud.
In a market where it is almost unimaginable to compete with the undisputed reigns of e-commerce giants, Sendcloud is on a mission to empower e-commerce firms, irrespective of their sizes, to gradually expand into multiple markets through a centralised European parcel sector. “Sendcloud’s holistic shipping solutions are specifically targetted at boosting the shipping prospects of small, medium and large-scale businesses alike in a highly fragmented European e-commerce marketplace,” states Tolou.
In a recent engagement with Jimmy Joy, an international producer of healthy, sustainable meal replacements, Sendcloud implemented automated systems for seamless shipping activities. The company was faced with the challenge of managing hundreds of package shipping daily. Thanks to Sendcloud’s picking and packing solution, Jimmy Joy is now capable of automatically identifying what to pack and determining where it needs to be shipped. This is followed by an automated generation of the shipping label after the scanning of the product. Besides, Sendcloud effectively resolved the challenge of incorrect addresses and brought in better management of packing slips and package weight assessment.
Success stories as such are indicative of Sendcloud’s prowess in handling shipping issues in an e-commerce sector. Moving ahead, the company is trying to increase the amount of successful delivery attempts by developing new features such as delivery to parcel shops and time frame delivery. “Meaning, delivery companies can decrease the amount of drives in order to deliver a package successfully. While helping online retailers and consumers with efficient delivery, we also give back to the environment,” concludes Tolou.
