"Thanks to FiveX, we have achieved our annual growth target of 30% already before Q4"
In this success story, I'll share my conversation with David Geijtenbeek, the e-commerce manager at Karsten International. David plays a crucial role at Karsten, where he is responsible for coordinating various teams, including customer service, product managers, marketplace managers, and the content team. This article explains why this is a success story and how FiveX has contributed to this success.
Karsten International primarily focuses on retail and provides support in the form of customer service, content creation, and product procurement. They aim to reach a broad market for their products, which are available both in physical stores and online, allowing them to be flexible in inventory management and sales through various channels.
Before using FiveX, Karsten International faced significant challenges in gaining clear insight into their margins and costs. With thousands of SKUs and rising costs, managing their profitability was a complex task. Furthermore, they were faced with an increasing number of returns, which negatively affected their profit margins.
The solution to the challenges faced by Karsten International came in the form of FiveX. They integrated various functionalities of this platform to optimize their business operations. One of the most crucial aspects was the detailed insight into margins and costs at the SKU level, enabling them to identify specific products that were not profitable and make adjustments to increase their profitability.Another essential feature that Karsten International utilized is the email automation tool. This allowed them to send valuable information to customers, such as tutorials and useful tips for using specific products. This resulted in a reduction in the return rate and improved overall customer satisfaction.
David reports: "Thanks to email automation, we have not only improved customer satisfaction but also received positive reviews, which has strengthened our reputation in the market. Additionally, there was a decrease in the return rate, from 9% at the beginning of the year to just 3-4%. Moreover, the use of FiveX saves us about 16 hours of work each month, leading to significant cost savings. FiveX also provided us with the ability to have more control over our margins and costs, which has significantly contributed to our profitability. Thanks to FiveX, we have achieved our annual growth target of 30% already before Q4. Now that we are in Q4, the period when most sales occur, we are optimistic about exceeding our expectations for the year.”
Karsten International, active on various marketplaces such as Bol.com, Amazon, and Blokker, has already achieved their goals for this year. The company's growth is impressive, and they have big plans for the future. They aim to become less dependent on large marketplaces like Bol.com and Amazon and focus on attracting more customers to their own webshop. By offering product bundles and improving cost efficiency, they want to strengthen their unique proposition and become more competitive.Thanks to the support of FiveX and their ongoing growth, Karsten International is well on its way to achieving their objectives and strengthening their position in the market.
The success story of Karsten International illustrates how a thoughtful approach and the use of advanced e-commerce tools, like FiveX, can lead to impressive results. By gaining insight into margins, costs, and return rates, companies can become more profitable and improve customer satisfaction. Karsten International shows that with the right strategy and resources, even smaller players in the market can flourish and continue to grow.
"We no longer have to use analyses in Excel. It now only takes us an hour a week where we fill in the data and the rest goes by itself. In total, FiveX saves us about 20 hours a month."
