Me and My Car Saves Two Minutes per Order, Hours per Day with ShipStation

Sometimes the smartest ideas in retail are the simplest ones.

After two decades in retail – as a buyer for Habitat, a UK household furnishing and homeware retailer and then as a retail consultant – Fiona Elliott, Managing Director of Me and My Car, knew what consumers wanted and could spot gaps in the market.

“I was working as a buying consultant developing successful product ranges for many high street and charity businesses,” said Elliott. “Often the ranges were men’s gifts. Everyone told me that men’s gifts were the most difficult ranges to develop.” 

At the time, Elliott was also involved in classic motorsport, competing in hill climbs and long-distance rallies and noticed that there were few gifts available to her friends, who were predominantly male, at these events.

The idea to create car-themed products was born and in 2006, Elliot founded a new retail ecommerce business Me and My Car, which sells gifts predominantly for men who like cars. She also created another brand, Me and My Sport, which sells gifts for men and women who like sport. Me and My Car started trading in 2006 followed by Me and My Sport, in 2012.

The sites sell a range of stylish and quirky gifts,  from cricket ball cufflinks (made from a genuine cricket ball) and vintage Tour de France coasters, to a knitted polo shirt based on the style worn by racing driver Sir Stirling Moss, and a Ford Mustang model engine kit.

As the two ecommerce businesses grew and changed, so did their operational needs. The technology Elliott’s team was using struggled to cope with growing demand and wasn’t easy to use. Under the old system, employees had to manually process orders. If a customer had a question about their order, finding the customer’s tracking number was a hassle and time consuming.

Upgrading the engine with multi-carrier shipping software

When Me and My Car began to look for a better fulfillment software solution, it had a long shopping list. Their eventual solution would need to integrate with other online marketplaces, including marketplaces such as Not On The High Street and Etsy; process postage for Royal Mail and other courier services; and update customer orders with delivery information and tracking information automatically.

Elliott chose ShipStation because it enables her businesses to download orders from all its trading websites.

“That made ShipStation stand out for us. So did the ability to create automated rules, ShipStation’s reporting, and other customisations,” said Elliott.

Since integration, ShipStation’s software is saving both Me and My Car and Me and My Sport hours of manual labor per week by processing orders faster and more efficiently. Benefits include:

• 2 minutes saved per manual order, by bringing together all its selling channels into one automatic system
• 15-60 minutes saved per day due to automated updates to order statuses in-app. 
• 15-60 minutes saved per day on customer queries per day, depending on the season

“ShipStation allows us to focus less on shipping and more on the quality of our customer service and the other priorities of the business, such as product development and marketing.”

Fiona Elliott
Managing Director, Me and My Car

With the support of ShipStation, Elliott plans to continue expanding her businesses.

“Our current aims are to maximise the potential of the current trading names and to expand the business with more ‘Me and My…’ opportunities, enabling us to deliver gifts to more people linked to their passion. Having an integrated and effective delivery solution will enable us to both grow and expand into new markets seamlessly.”