By revamping shipping options for his customers and technology within the checkout process, CEO and founder of RibbedTee.com, Mike Schwarz, said the t-shirt company saw a jump in sales and conversion rates, including a 31% growth in revenue.
During a recent phone interview, Schwarz said Ribbedtee.com teamed up with SolvingMaze, Ltd. to determine during checkout what the cheapest shipping options and box sizes were available that would not only save money in shipping fees not only for the customer but also the retailer.
According to the SolvingMaze website, the way the system works is that retailers, in real time, access its shipping calculator which, within seconds, estimates the shipping costs and packaging requirements for all customer purchases.
The process, Schwarz said, now includes the U.S. Postal Service’s Priority Mail Flat Rate shipping options, which wasn’t previously offered by the retailer. Before implementing the new shipping system, Schwarz said, RibbedTee.com had to use regular boxes and more expensive shipping options because they were not sure if a complete order would fit into one single box.
Now, according to Schwarz, when a customer goes through the motions of the checkout process, unbeknownst to buyer, the order is sent to SolvingMaze which, within less than two seconds, analyzes the unfolded and folded dimensions, height, width, depth and weight of the order and compares it to RibbedTees.com’s inventory of shipping boxes on hand. Then, almost immediately, the program gives the customer the shipping options available for that particular order.
Since its inception, Schwarz said, “we definitely saw a lift in sales and conversions when implementing the SolvingMaze solutions.”
From just February 2012 to April 2012, Schwarz said, RibbedTee.com has seen a 42% increase in the number of transaction, a 31% jump in revenue, a 7.5% drop in the average value of the order (which equates for the drop in shipping fees) and 40% more unique purchases to the site.
“It’s hard to say what the direct correlation is, but I think they are pretty good indications that it could be due to the SolvingMaze solutions,” Schwarz said.
Erin Lynch is the associate editor at Multichannel Merchant. Erin can be reached by emailing her at [email protected]. You can also follow her on Twitter at @LynchMCM or on LinkedIn.