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FALTERING INTEGRATIONS FIXED

Tropeaka finds the perfect system for their retail and ecommerce operations

Before the digital transformation project

  • Tropeaka, a nutritional supplement business, knew what they wanted. They’d already signed up for a range of excellent software solutions. But they weren’t able to make them work together the way they needed them to.
  • But discrepancies between multiple Shopify stores, customer order details, and Starshipit were holding them back, and it was creating problems around maintaining stock supplies and getting accurate reports
  • They’d run into a problem where they “didn’t know what we don’t know;” and were unaware of the areas of their tech stack that could lead to bottlenecks and breakdowns

Tropeaka's top priorities for the transformation

  • Tropeaka needed to be able to sell at scale, with a system that could handle the weight of an enormous number of transactions
  • They also needed their software to be able to keep track of a complicated manufacturing process, to ensure products always remain in stock.
  • Tropeaka needed to make sure their entire tech stack was tightly integrated to manufacture, fulfill and ship as fast as possible to provide the best possible customer experience.
lean protein chocolate

The major contributors to
this project's success

Rhys Bennett
Rhys Bennett Account Manager, Waypoint

Account Manager, Waypoint Rhys Bennett

  • Worked closely with Tropeaka to map existing operational processes
  • Ironed out discrepancies between Shopify, Cin7 Core, and Starshipit
  • Helped create optimized processes to maintain stock levels, and implement detailed reporting

“I’d say we’ve made a significant difference to Tropeaka’s business.”

Areas of contribution

  • Worked closely with Tropeaka to map existing operational processes
  • Ironed out discrepancies between Shopify, Cin7 Core, and Starshipit
  • Helped create optimized processes to maintain stock levels, and implement detailed reporting
Caleb Marshall
Caleb Marshall Director, Tropeaka

Director, Tropeaka Caleb Marshall

  • Tropeaka provide a range of health, wellness and beauty products
  • Tropeaka director Caleb Marshall championed the Cin7 Core implementation at Tropeka
  • Working with Waypoint provided Caleb with peace of mind through having a partner he can rely on

“We have a great partner in Waypoint”

Areas of contribution

  • Tropeaka provide a range of health, wellness and beauty products
  • Tropeaka director Caleb Marshall championed the Cin7 Core implementation at Tropeaka
  • Working with Waypoint provided Caleb with peace of mind through having a partner he can rely on

Overview of the new retail and ecommerce system

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Retail and ecommerce

Cin7 Core tile

Inventory and operations

starshipit-icon

Shipping and fulfillment

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Accounting and compliance

Cin7 Core WMS tile

Inventory control, picking & packing

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System advantage

  • Working with Waypoint, and with Cin7 Core at the center of their operations, Tropeaka can now get speedy insights to their Shopify Orders, Stock and Fulfillment statuses.
  • Integrating Cin7 Core with Xero's powerful accounting software allows Tropeaka to automate key financial and inventory operations, and the increased efficiency has freed up key employee resources to focus on more strategic opportunities, helping the organization grow
  • Waypoint set up Cin7 Core so it worked seamlessly with their ecommerce software Shopify, and shipping and fulfillment system Starshipit.
  • Tropeaka now knows where their inventory is, what stage customer orders are at, and whether they can be fulfilled by Starshipit

Results of Tropeaka and Waypoint's work

Centralized hub with true scalability

  • Tropeaka can now get centralized and speedy insights to their Shopify Orders, Stock and Fulfillment statuses.
  • They’re now able to operate with true scalability and increased efficiency has freed up key employee resources to focus on more strategic opportunities, helping the organization grow
  • Tropeaka can guarantee that customers will get a great experience while ensuring that orders don’t go missing – every key employee in the organization knows where orders are, what stage it’s at, and whether it can be fulfilled
  • They’ve gained peace of mind in the knowledge that they have a great partner in Waypoint, who are on hand whenever they’re needed to help with any challenges that pop up, and ensure their system keeps working smoothly at scale

Tropeaka's story

Tropeaka is a nutritional supplement company, who provide Trusted Nutrition to Elevate Your Everyday™ – with health, wellness and beauty products, plus a wide range of products from proteins and certified organic superfoods to teas, coffee, vitamins and bars.

Tropeaka had a problem in common with a lot of high-growth small and medium businesses: they were struggling with the consequences of their success. They had an immensely high-volume business that relied on a lot going right across their supply chain, from manufacturing through to picking, packing, fulfillment, and shipping. They also knew that software was the best way to ensure their success, but things weren’t going right. Despite purchasing best-of-breed software products like Shopify, Starshipit, and Xero, the different elements of their tech stack weren’t talking to each other properly.

“The problem was not knowing the areas of a tech stack that could be a bottleneck or a breakdown,” explains Tropeaka founder and CEO, Caleb Marshall. “We didn’t know what we didn't know, and weren’t able to do things in a cost-effective but scalable way.”   

Tropeaka knew they needed to navigate this complicated landscape and untangle their existing software to make it perform for them. For this, they turned to software implementation experts Waypoint.

Finding the path forward with Waypoint

“Everything Tropeaka does is high volume and requires a really quick turnaround for customer satisfaction,” explains Rhys Bennett, Account Manager at Waypoint. To fix their existing software stack, Waypoint needed to look hard at their existing operations and how they interfaced with their business software.

The requirements were extensive: Tropeaka needed to be able to sell at scale, with a system that could handle the weight of an enormous number of transactions.  They also needed their software to be able to keep track of a complicated manufacturing process, to ensure products always remain in stock, and the entire tech stack had to be tightly integrated to manufacture, fulfill and ship as fast as possible to provide the best possible customer experience.

Every key employee in the organization knows where orders are, what stage it’s at, and whether it can be fulfilled

Caleb Marshall, Founder & CEO, Tropeaka

“Most of their issues stemmed from a need to optimize their many integrations,” Rhys says. “This meant ironing out discrepancies between Shopify, Cin7 Core, and Starshipit, as well as finding ways to keep stock levels and reporting consistent across solutions.”

A tight tech stack that can handle a heavy lift

A lot of businesses struggle with self-implemented tech solutions. It’s not that any given app is bad; it’s that when things are implemented piecemeal, the pieces often don’t fit right. But going back to a trusted software coach like Waypoint can help provide the expertise and big-picture view needed to make everything work together seamlessly, the way the company always knew it could.

Thanks to working with Waypoint, and with Cin7 Core at the center of their operations, Tropeaka can now get speedy insights to their Shopify Orders, Stock and Fulfillment statuses. They’re able to operate with true scalability, and the increased efficiency has freed up key employee resources to focus on more strategic opportunities, helping the organization grow.

“We can guarantee that customers will get a great experience while ensuring that orders don’t go missing – every key employee in the organization knows where orders are, what stage it’s at, and whether it can be fulfilled,” says Caleb.

But in addition to sharper operations, happier customers, and more fulfilled employees has come something even more important: the ability to stop worrying and get on with business – and life.

“We’ve gained peace of mind in the knowledge that we have a great partner in Waypoint,” Caleb says.  “We know Waypoint on hand whenever they’re needed to help with any challenges that pop up, and ensure the system keeps working smoothly at scale.”

“Waypoint are experts in their field”

With the hardest part of the implementation over, Tropeaka are now happy to have Waypoint on hand to help with any issues that might arise with their software stack – or to implement any new tool, process or product they might need, secure in the knowledge that it will be done well and work with their existing set-up.

“I’d say we’ve made a significant difference to their company,” says Rhys. “We’ve ended up being a trusted advisor for Tropeaka, and have been able to help with 3PL and EDI, as well as being a bridge between other software vendors. What’s more, Caleb is always happy to have us and knows he can run something by us and get a no-bull response back.”

For his part, Caleb is thrilled with the results Waypoint have achieved with Tropeaka, and the ongoing relationship they enjoy. “Waypoint are experts in their field, and we know that we can rely on them to provide solutions to some of our most complex operational challenges in our organization,” says Caleb.

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