Project Overview
Blind Barrels – a blind whiskey tasting subscription startup showcasing American craft distilleries – was our client for this project. Blind Barrels needed a Shopify solution to support its business model with online sales of drinks subscriptions with quarterly delivery as well as merchandise products with instant delivery. The client requirements were
“To manage order subscription deliveries with pre-determined shipment scheduled throughout the year. Also, the Shipstation integration with Shopify to use USPS/UPS for merchandise items, and, GLS for alcohol-based items due to shipping restrictions and legal compliance.”
Services
Custom Integration
Strategy
Software-As-Service (Saas)
Client
Blind Barrels
The Approach
To achieve the objective, we decided to take a deep-dive together with the client into the business model in order to have a clear understanding on the product types into the catalog, the subscription models, the shipment requirements and the integration needs with Shopify. From this analysis, it was clear, both for us and the client, that a custom integration solution was necessary. Through these conversations, the requirements went beyond initial scope as:-
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- An order may contain a mixture of non-drink merchandise products, drink bottles, as well as subscriptions. These orders have to be managed optimally to ensure process effectiveness as some are fulfilled in-house, while others, by a logistics partner.
- Merchandise products such as t-shirts, hats, tasting glasses and drink bottles are shipped straight-away, while, drink subscriptions are shipped on predefined dates in each quarter (every 3 months) throughout the year.
- Merchandise products are managed by the in-house operations team while alcohol-related drinks are managed by logistic partner using their own order management system. This implied that orders need to split so that each party receive order with only the order lines that are relevant to the process they own.
- Drink subscription deliveries are either quarterly (with 1 delivery) or yearly (with 4 deliveries, one in each quarter). Each order is dispatched to the customer and have its tracking details.
- When an order is placed by customer, it has to remain open until order is fulfilled completely. As example, 1 yearly subscription will equate to 4 quarter deliveries, and each will have its own schedule, dispatch and tracking. Hence, the order is considered as fulfilled only after all 4 deliveries done.
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With this, Order Replica was conceptualized – A custom Shopify solution, with ShipStation integration, for order splitting, replication and tagging, for Blind Barrels.
The Solution
Order Replica was designed with following objectives:
- A service-based solution that will split, replicate and tag orders in Shopify while maintaining the link to the parent original.
- An implementation profile that will be customized for the client configuration, while giving full flexibility to re-use the solution for other clients with requirements of similar nature.
- Extension to the Dscopify platform to have stability, resilience, performance and scale possibilities.
- Integration services that seamlessly connect ShipStation, Shopify and other participating partner’s systems, in this case, OrderHive.
- Fully automated jobs for minimal operational hassle for the client and his team when it comes to manage the orders.
- Leverage on Shopify tags to allow intuitive identification of orders, understand fulfillment dates, perform filtering and extract reports.
- Integrated Shopify views to have visibility on status of replication process – i.e. which new order has been checked and replicated, and which ones are still pending (in a queue).
Considering the set objectives and the need for specific processes, Dscopify solution was used as baseline and further extended to implement all the functional requirements.
Key Points
Shopify & ShipStation Integration
All Powered by Dscopify
Cloud-based Solution
Software-As-Service Approach
Custom Shopify App
Automated Processes
The Result
Order Replica was concluded as a made-to-fit Shopify solution for our client. All involved systems of the solution were integrated in seamless manner – Shopify Store, Dscopify, ShipStation and OrderHive. We provided full support to the client for solution adoption. Dscopify Order Replica is now an asset for the business.
The rules engine of the solution checks each incoming order and subsequently, split, replicaet and tag the orders using rules-based strategy, tied up with Shopify metafields. With the replica orders, each delivery is managed separately while still being linked to the parent order.
A SaaS-based engagement with the client so we take care of development, delivery, hosting and on-going maintenance of the entire platform, including solutions and flows.
Last but not least, a happy client and a long term collaboration.
