Curvii have designed their very own solution
Curvii have developed their own backend system and optimized the workflows with Shipmondo's API. That way, they save a ton of employee hours.
The webshop Curvii.dk sells plus-size clothes for women, from both Danish and international brands and in different styles. Kirsa Jespersen and Kent Medom are the owners of the webshops. And they are more than just business partners - they are siblings as well. With roofbreaking growth rates, they are ready to expand their webshop to Norway and Sweden.
However, the story starts with a completely different clothing category - namely, men’s socks.
From men’s socks to plus-size women’s clothing
In Kent’s first webshop, he sold a single product type; men’s socks. However, the range of products was quickly expanded and other types of socks and stockings came in - as well as tights for women. Tights in large sizes, especially, went like hot cakes.
I found that there were not many who sold these products, but many who wanted to buy them, so it became one of the biggest categories I had on the webshop. And one day I got the idea; what if you could make a webshop with only clothes in larger sizes? Then I started and worked on it for a couple of weeks, and then I had a new webshop, Kent says.
Kent has an IT background with experience within digital marketing, so the start-up phase went smoothly. However, he knew little about women’s clothing in plus sizes, which is where Kirsa came into the picture.
The dentist who became an entrepreneur
Kirsa had worked as a dentist for 15 years, but she dreamed of more than searching for cavities. She had an entrepreneurial dream. But changing careers was not an easy decision:
It was a big decision. I had a relatively safe and secure life, but had also begun to consider whether I should be a dentist for the rest of my life. And the idea of being independent, felt compelling to me. The freedom and the short path from idea to action made the difference for me to become an entrepreneur, Kirsa says.
Despite the difficult considerations, Kirsa has not regretted the career change, and enjoys the entrepreneurial freedom to act on ideas quickly.
Good ideas and ongoing optimizations are a big part of the workflow at Curvii, where there is always a focus on pushing things and testing a little more so they can do it even better. That is the case in the entire organization,from warehouse to digital marketing.
That’s what drives us and that’s why we go to work; that we constantly can do a little bit better. We’re eager to do better and more, Kirsa says.
A tailor-made solution
Curvii sends 3,000-4,000 packages every month from their warehouse. They do this efficiently with their own internal systems and their self-designed backend system, which is tightly integrated with Shipmondo’s API.
Kent has been responsible for developing and optimizing the backend. It has the advantage that he has been able to design their order system so that it communicates with the warehouse exactly as they wish.
Instead of coding up against each carrier’s system, they have built their own solution on top of Shipmondo’s API. This means that they can design specific solutions for their order management and pick-and-pack process, but without having to develop and maintain a shipping system and send EDI data directly to the carriers, who comply with requirements and rules for designing labels and protocols in relation to customs, etc.
But the right solution for freight booking was not implemented from the start, says Kent;
We started with another solution, but it was expensive and server-based. A physical server needed to be maintained, and that made us vulnerable. So when the network pointed towards Shipmondo, a cloud-based solution, I was sure it was the right choice.
A cloud-based solution, like Shipmondo, means no need for server operation and maintenance, and at the same time provides a stable solution.
Shipmondo offers a free API solution, so you can create your own unique flow, and process orders and shipping as you wish. It is a great tool if you have a special need for your order management or logistics process, or have a special setup that goes beyond the usual that Shipmondo’s Order Management offers.
The complete API documentation can be found here.
Here, Kent explains about the setup:
From the moment we received the API documentation until we were up and going and printed the first label, only a couple of hours passed. It was absolutely insane how easy it was. Thorough preparation has been made by Shipmondo's developers, the documentation is in order, and there are concrete examples of how to do things, so it was super easy.
Once the basic setup is done, it is easy to build on. Kent goes on to explain that the addition of PostNord’s Christmas marks exceeded all expectations:
For example, we had to have Christmas marks on our PostNord labels this Christmas. It took about 30 seconds to put the extra parameter on, and then the Christmas marks were on our shipping labels.
Curvii’s order management
Curvii’s warehouse has a large info screen that continuously provides information on the number of orders whose pick lists have not yet been printed. At the touch of a button, the warehouse employee can print all pick lists - one for each order. The pick lists have locations on the items so that they can easily be found on their many shelves.
Curvii have implemented their own order check feature. When the items have been picked for an order, the pick list is scanned and the items appear on the screen. Then each product is scanned, and if the product is on the list, the order line turns green. If, on the other hand, it is not the right item and, for example a size M has been picked instead of L, then the line turns red and a warning pops up.
When all the right products have been scanned, a shipping label is automatically printed.
The system is very efficient and time-saving, so Curvii only needs one full-time employee and two part-time employees to handle 3,000-4,000 shipments per month, including managing returned items and new items in the warehouse.
An intuitive platform
Although Curvii have developed their own backend, the Shipmondo platform is still used in several cases. If a package has not arrived, then Curvii uses the Shipmondo platform to track the package and see the status of the delivery in the shipment monitoring. The same is the case when printing waybills:
The portal is super-easy, and it doesn’t take much training before new employees can search for the information themselves. You can search by the receiver’s email, package number or order number. It's super intuitive. Also, when we have to send abroad, it’s super-easy to get waybills printed from Shipmondo, Kirsa says.
All features of Shipmondo are free for all users. So, regardless of whether you have developed your own backend and want to use the API solution, or want to use one of Shipmondo’s integrations and order management, the user only has to pay for the consumption.
It also means that you can set up the entire flow and test the solution at no cost. You can create an account free of charge here.
Curvii ships to both Singapore, the USA and Spain, as Danes all over the world want to get their hands on Curvii’s clothing collections. But also consumers from all over the Nordic region also order from Curvii. The next big project for the webshop, however, is to get established in Sweden and Norway, and also here, too, Shipmondo will continue to be a part of their shipping process.
Good advice
With their entrepreneurship, Kent and Kirsa have gained a lot of experiences, which they will pass on to others who have either newly started or intend to start a business. And in a company like Curvii, which is pumped up on IT solutions and constantly focuses on optimizations, it hardly comes as a surprise that the advice revolves around efficiency:
Find the smart solutions - whether you can build them yourself or connect to some, as you can with Shipmondo, it can make all the differences. And you’ve got to think about it from the start, so it becomes a natural flow, otherwise it can be expensive in employee hours, Kent advises.
Kirsa follows up and explains:
What is it that you’re really good at, and when should you seek help? When you're a startup, you’re the salesman, accountant and warehouse employee. Here, you have to make the right choices and outsource at the right times.
If, like Kent and Kirsa, you want to get started with Shipmondo, create a free account here and see your options. If you any have questions about our API solution, send us an email at support@shipmondo.com and we will be happy to help.
More case stories
You can also read how Myselfie has used Shipmondo’s API solution to develop their flow for renting out Myselfies.
If you want to see an example of how Shipmondo’s Order Management works in practice, you can see our case with Zerv, which handles orders from nine webshops through the same Shipmondo account. Read all cases here.
