Despite purchasing power shifting to digital channels, the traditional store continues to be an indispensable part of the customer journey. It’s no surprise then that Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire-based Crocodile Stores have recently introduced an on-site shop to complement their existing eCommerce business through their website, eBay and Amazon.

The multichannel retailer has grown enormously by introducing new sales channels, marketing via print and online, and through product diversification, introducing significant brands such as Little Tikes, Hasbro and Playmobil. Crocodile Stores distributes more than 3,500 product lines directly to the consumer (D2C) and on a dropship basis on behalf of various marketplaces, sending anywhere from hundreds of items a day during quieter periods to many thousands around Christmas.

Matt Kirby, the Co-founder, explains: “In the early stages of our business, we were creating product listings manually on Amazon and eBay. As our product range surpassed the 1000 mark, we got to a point where it all felt like it was going to explode. Harmonising all of these channels into a single platform was the role of the Linnworks order management system, which we were glad to hear Parcelhub integrates with.

“Working directly with carriers, we must carry out the shipping integration independently. Parcelhub’s in-house software development team took full ownership of the project and has been incredibly helpful, visiting our premises to ensure that our operations experienced minimal interruption. To speak to the guy who wrote the script and for him to jump on our computer and log on was unexpected; you can’t get better than that, can you?”

“Thanks to Parcelhub’s increased buying power, we have been able to provide a tracked service for the same cost as we were previously paying for an untracked service, saving the business money because we have end-to-end proof of our deliveries’ progress. Introducing tracked services has also positively impacted our eBay and Amazon selling statistics. Marketplaces are very hot on delivery rates, and we’ve improved. eBay and Amazon watch delivery progress like a hawk – because Parcelhub’s tracking system reports back to Linnworks and then to eBay and Amazon, this has increased our selling performance.”