Shinery’s sparkling success: How Parsel delivered cost and time-savings for GMA event

Shinery, the trailblazing jewelry care brand, faced an intense challenge during its recent feature on Good Morning America (GMA). With 1,500 orders flooding in and 24 hours to pick, pack, and ship, they turned to Saltbox’s revolutionary shipping technology, Parsel, to navigate the surge. The outcome? 3 hours saved on batch processing, 6 hours saved resolving tracking issues, and a potential logistical nightmare avoided — all thanks to Parsel’s intuitive dashboard.

From small boutiques to Good Morning America

Founder & CEO Brea Fullerton joined Saltbox in 2020 when her primary revenue came from selling wholesale to small boutiques across the U.S. These orders, alongside the occasional DTC order from her website, were typically picked, packed, and shipped by Brea herself using the Shopify Shipping platform.

As the Shinery business steadily grew, Brea hired Saltbox’s dedicated workforce to assist with picking & packing orders within her private warehouse suite at Saltbox in Atlanta. This ultimately allowed her to get orders out the door faster and shift focus to new growth strategies instead of order fulfillment. 

“Saltbox really enables us to flex up when needed without having to take on undue amounts of costs and hiring employees.” – Brea Fullerton, Founder and CEO of Shinery

In 2021, a new DTC growth opportunity presented itself that Brea simply couldn’t pass up: Good Morning America. With her dedicated Saltbox team waiting in the wings to help pick and pack, Brea felt confident that Shinery could handle an influx of DTC orders. 

“If it wasn’t for [Saltbox], we would have made expensive mistakes and just been Googling random things to figure out how to best capitalize on high-traffic ecommerce events.” – Brea Fullerton, Founder & CEO of Shinery

The need for a more robust, cost-effective shipping solution

After several appearances on GMA, Shinery faced significant hurdles with keeping down shipping costs during these large-scale events. In the most recent GMA segment, Shinery received more than 1,500 orders overnight. With shipping costs now averaging 60-70% of ecommerce merchants’ total overhead costs, Brea recognized the need to find a more robust, cost-effective shipping solution.

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Enter Parsel, Saltbox’s game-changing shipping solution that revolutionized Shinery’s shipping operations. By using Parsel, Brea saved a total of  $800 on shipping costs (10%+ savings on ounce-based packages!). 

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“Switching how you ship is a huge undertaking especially when you’ve become so comfortable with your shipping platform. But once the Saltbox team helped me understand how the shipping landscape actually works and the levers I could pull to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, it was a no-brainer we needed to switch to Parsel.”

Those four main levers Brea mentioned are: 
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1. Inventory proximity: With more than 12 locations in 9 cities across the U.S., Saltbox members leveraging Parsel are able to house inventory closer to their customers
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2. Zone skipping: Parsel can consolidate customer packages on a single truck to move larger cargo quantities across longer distances, skipping more expensive carrier zones
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3. Carrier diversity: Parsel partners with local and emerging carriers that can deliver customers’ orders in a more timely, cost-effective manner (helps save 10-15% on shipping costs)
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4. Packaging optimization: Members are able to receive recommendations for ideal package sizes for each order without having to pay an additional dimensional weight

…all of which help members save time and money on shipping.

Learn more about the carrier landscape in our recent logistics education webinar series.

Smart technology for smarter shipping

Parsel’s integration into Shinery’s operations was not just about lowering costs and handling current demands but also preparing for future growth with time savings. During its most recent GMA segment, Shinery saved 3 hours on batch processing and 6 hours on resolving tracking issues.

• Parsel’s batching functionalities allowed Brea and team to fulfill 400+ orders with the same packing list to maximize efficiency.
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• Parsel’s notifications dashboard flagged unprinted and unscanned labels, eliminating the need for Brea to spend hours on the backend managing customer service inquiries about missing orders.

The system’s machine-learning capabilities adapt and improve workflows over time to provide continuous operational efficiency gains and insights for improving workflows. Some other key benefits Brea had access to with Parsel include:

• Easy onboarding: Shinery’s sign-up process with Parsel was straightforward and quick
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• Improved tracking capabilities: Brea could see where customer orders were throughout the entire shipping journey, and could even request a specific delivery location to avoid porch piracy
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• An easy-to-use and intuitive interface: No more juggling between multiple carriers and/or shipping platforms
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• Dedicated support: Brea had 24/7 support from real humans to troubleshoot any hiccups along the way

…all of which allowed Brea to repeat and optimize common shipping workflows with ease.

Since the Parsel platform learns and optimizes efficiencies the more you use it, getting set up and experimenting with the platform is crucial for a small business planning to participate in peak sales events. The best part? It’s completely free to sign up and incurs no monthly subscription fee.

“I cannot recommend Parsel enough. It’s built with ecommerce brands like us in mind, making the user interface helpful and intuitive. Starting early allows the system to learn and optimize, ensuring smoother operations during peak times.” – Brea Fullerton, Founder, Shinery

For more information on how current Saltbox members can leverage Parsel, visit Saltbox’s Parsel page. Not a Saltbox member but want to learn how Parsel can help your business?  Book a call with our team.

About Shinery

Shinery is a leading jewelry care brand known for its innovative and effective cleaning products. Founded by Brea Fullerton, Shinery has gained significant recognition through features on Good Morning America, Forbes, and Oprah’s Favorite Things and continues to grow its customer base with its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. 

Want to learn more about Shinery’s journey with Saltbox? Check out Brea’s Founder Story.