Sissy Boy threw its dropshipment structure a year and a half ago. Where it previously worked with a form and a fax for furniture orders, it switched to a fully automated process. This involved trial and error, but ultimately resulted in growth, E-commerce Manager Joost Kamstra told Webwinkel Vakdagen.
Sissy Boy, known for its lifestyle and fashion products, has been dropshopping for years; selling furniture from suppliers' stock. One of the furniture suppliers decided in 2017 to automate that process. Sissy Boy followed suit.
From the front, this looks simple: all shops are equipped with an iPad, on which the shop employee can log in and place the order with the supplier. Together with the customer, the employee enters all the specifications; the sizes, the colour, the fabric. The final order is placed directly into the supplier's system.
However, the system behind this is quite complex, according to Kamstra. "It's a whole chain that you have to automate. That is also why we do not (yet) do this with every supplier. Many suppliers are simply not set up for this."
By trial and error
The automation process went through trial and error, according to Kamstra. Nevertheless, the dropshipping construction has already brought Sissy Boy a lot. "Dropshopping naturally has the advantage that we have no stock risk. Sales and purchase orders are placed practically at the same time. Banks, after all, have an order value of 700 euros and are large. Just put a thousand of those in stock."
Automating that process has increased Sissy Boy's sales. Kamstra: "That's partly because the process has become more efficient. Our customer journey is now more customer-friendly. Filling in an extensive form together with an employee, or digitally clicking on something a few times, that's quite a difference. Furthermore, we can now scale up faster. We very easily add new options to our offering."
Image: Sissy Boy
