Nakie
How Nakie Went From Garage to Global Growth with ShipStation
For Dean and Tegan Leibbrandt, a scuba diving trip to Thailand four years ago led to an unexpected turning point in their lives. After being horrified by the amount of plastic pollution littering the ocean, the pair decided to launch Nakie, a business that gives plastic bottles a new lease on life.
“My wife came up with the idea of a hammock made of recycled plastic bottles, to stop them from ending up in landfill and into the waterways,” says Dean.
In 2019, Nakie launched its flagship product — the world’s first recycled hammock. Since then, it has expanded to other product lines such as camping gear, picnic blankets, and beach towels. The company’s commitment to environmental responsibility goes beyond its products, with a pledge to plant four trees for every product sold — or a million annually over the next five years — in their leased reserve in Kenya.
Problem: Extreme growth required a scalable shipping solution
From modest beginnings in their home garage, Nakie quickly outgrew its space, expanding into multiple warehouses in Australia to meet growing demand, However, the manual order processing and shipping, including hand-writing addresses on AusPost shipping bags, proved to be a significant bottleneck.
“We bought a label printer but were still using AusPost satchels,” says Dean. “Then we came across ShipStation which changed the game. For a start, it meant we didn’t have to stay up until midnight manually writing orders.”
ShipStation features Nakie uses to streamline shipping processes:
Solution: From handwritten labels to high volume shipping
“Not having to handwrite labels was just the beginning. ShipStation is the most cost-effective solution. It’s helped us to scale and save tens of thousands of dollars.”
Dean Leibbrandt
Co-Founder, Nakie
ShipStation’s integration capabilities with Shopify Plus brought immediate relief, helping Nakie to streamline the shipping process, manage orders more efficiently, and focus on growth rather than operational challenges. ShipStation’s ability to automate label printing, bundle merging, and carrier selection helped the company save countless hours and reduce errors in order fulfillment.
“There was one period where, over 30 days, we processed 25,000 orders,” says Dean. “If we were still handwriting labels, we would have needed at least 20 people to handle that volume. ShipStation has been a game-changer.”
ShipStation’s efficiency boost allowed Nakie to handle increasing order volumes without proportionally increasing staff. Nakie processes around 15,000 parcels monthly, with peaks reaching 30,000 to 40,000, with just 4-5 employees. “ShipStation helps us fulfill these orders seamlessly, which would have been impossible otherwise,” says Dean.
Another critical advantage ShipStation brought to Nakie was the ability to meticulously track and audit shipping invoices. “When we look at invoices from FedEx and AusPost, we reference everything back to ShipStation,” says Dean. “In the past, if we were overcharged, we would just have to accept it. Now, we go through every FedEx bill line by line, comparing spreadsheets to identify any discrepancies.”
Managing inventory accurately is critical for any growing business. With 68% of Nakie’s orders being product bundles, ShipStation simplifies the process by breaking them into individual SKUs, ensuring accurate inventory tracking consistent with their Shopify Plus storefront. This integration has helped Nakie avoid overselling — a persistent issue they faced previously during high-volume sale periods.
Additionally, ShipStation’s capability to print both labels and picking slips — a feature that other platforms lacked — has significantly enhanced order fulfillment efficiency. “Small technology pieces have been a lifesaver,” Dean says.
“We previously had to hire a full-time staff member to copy and paste tracking numbers into Shopify, which was a nightmare. Now this process is automated, saving time and reducing errors.”
Dean Leibbrandt
Co-Founder, Nakie
Results: Unfolding new markets
ShipStation’s ability to integrate multiple carriers and automatically select the most cost-effective shipping option using the Rate Shopper feature has been a major advantage for Nakie. “Nakie was part of the beta testing where it auto picks the lowest cost carrier, which has been amazing. It saves tens of thousands of dollars,” says Dean. This feature is invaluable as Nakie expands internationally, now serving markets in Canada, the UK, the US, Switzerland, Germany, and the UAE.
With Automated Rate Shopper, you pre-define which carrier services you’d like ShipStation to compare, as well as define any delivery time or service requirements. When you select that Rate Shopper rule for a shipment (or group of shipments), ShipStation automatically applies the service with the lowest rate that fits your requirements. Learn more>]
Nakie’s expansion into global markets was made seamless by ShipStation’s compatibility with multiple carriers, including FedEx, DHL, and AusPost. This capability has streamlined Nakie’s expansion into new markets and simplified the management of its international shipping operations. Moreover, the platform’s ability to reduce shipping costs and provide real-time tracking information is instrumental in ensuring customers receive their deliveries on time.
Lessons for future ecommerce growth
Reflecting on Nakie’s journey so far, Dean offers valuable advice for other ecommerce businesses. “Use digital tools to track profit and loss rather than relying on intensive manual processes like spreadsheets. And get a developer or someone who knows what they’re doing early on to increase site speed and reduce the number of apps your business depends on.”
For managing their web store, Nakie also transitioned from Shopify’s basic plan to Shopify Plus, which not only resulted in substantial savings in terms of transaction costs but enabled custom coding — a capability essential for managing Nakie’s product bundling and other promotion strategies.
But for Dean, the biggest game-changer is ShipStation. He highlights the importance of getting shipping right from the early stages to keep costs low and save precious time
“Not having to handwrite labels was just the beginning. ShipStation is the most cost-effective solution. It’s helped us to scale and save tens of thousands of dollars.”
Dean Leibbrandt
Co-Founder, Nakie
