Calla finds the perfect fit in fulfilmentcrowd

Answering her own prayers

The business was the brainchild of the company’s owner, Jennifer Bailey, who had, herself, suffered for over 20 years and was constantly frustrated by the lack of choice and style in existing footwear options: “As bunions are a common condition for women of all ages, I saw a perfect opportunity to solve my own footwear problem, help other women in the same predicament and launch a business with a unique market positioning, all at the same time.” After developing the Calla concept in 2015, Jennifer spent a year putting all her research, manufacturing and website build requirements in place, finally incorporating the business in 2016. 

“From the first contact through to onboarding and the day-to-day management of our fulfilment requirements the service from fulfilmentcrowd has been seamless. Once we had completed the stock move everything simply clicked into place. Orders are processed within minutes and sent to my customers with faultless service.”- Jennifer Bailey, Director

Putting the customer first

As the company grew, Jennifer wanted to ensure that her focus remained on the product and business, rather than being diluted by the day-to-day of packing, processing and shipping orders. As a company specialising in premium, high quality products, Jennifer needed a fulfilment provider that could guarantee high-quality levels of customer service, packaging quality and storage environment, yet was concerned that essential business activities could distract her from dispatching orders.

An integrated approach

This was where she met fulfilmentcrowd. After evaluating several fulfilment providers, Jennifer found fulfilmentcrowd to be the most forward-focused and professional. She was also enthused to find that fulfilmentcrowd could offer Calla Shoes an integrated technology solution alongside the fulfilment services she needed to provide a complete, end-to-end solution for managing customer relationships from order through to delivery.

“I was surprised and excited to find that the advanced technology available from fulfilmentcrowd was accessible to a smaller retailer like Calla and their professional, knowledgeable team impressed me from the outset.”

Boosting business growth

Successfully going live from fulfilmentcrowd's Chorley-based centre, Matrix Park, Calla now outsource both fulfilment and delivery across the EU. Providing a ‘white glove’ service, fulfilmentcrowd store Calla’s products in a sterile, secure environment, handling each item with the utmost care to ensure they arrive with the purchaser in immaculate condition. Affording a well-earned rest from manually handling operations, the integrated technology available with fulfilmentcrowd also means that Jennifer can free up the time she needs to focus on core commercial activities and business development. The availability of valuable, real time data allows Jennifer to assess intelligent forecast purchasing recommendations and track her buying patterns.

“fulfilmentcrowd provides an ideal solution for fledgling businesses like Calla. As a niche, growing company, we are still able to access facilities, expertise and technologies that enable us to punch above our weight in the eCommerce marketplace.”

A beneficial partnership

The benefits of working with fulfilmentcrowd have been ‘immediate and quantifiable’ in terms of Calla Shoes’ service levels and costs. Indeed, Jennifer is so impressed with the fulfilment services and integrated technology offered by fulfilmentcrowd that she is planning to take advantage of further, added value services as the company continues to grow and has already recommended fulfilmentcrowd to other companies.

“The team at fulfilmentcrowd is great – down-to-earth, practical and experienced in all things eCommerce. They have clearly refined fulfilment to an art form and they will be an important part of my commercial strategy as I continue to develop Calla’s international sales and product ranges.”

Thanks to fulfilmentcrowd's competitive carriage rates, Calla Shoes has been able to reduce its distribution costs by 15 per cent while dramatically increasing their order volume- today, Calla dispatch hundreds of orders weekly.