ShipBob streamlined retail fulfillment with Orderful, reducing onboarding time by 62% by standardizing EDI processes and minimizing technical involvement.
ShipBob, a leading global supply chain and fulfillment partner to thousands of SMB and Mid-Market ecommerce merchants, was rapidly expanding its reach in retail fulfillment. Their proprietary software and global fulfillment centers helped merchants efficiently scale, while ShipBob handled everything from warehousing to shipping. But with this growth came new challenges. To manage retail distribution and dropshipping, ShipBob needed to handle a complex web of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) requirements, each tailored to different retailers’ unique compliance guidelines.
ShipBob relied on a managed service provider (MSP) to facilitate these transactions. However, the lack of standardization across retailers meant that every integration required manual customization, slowing down onboarding.
Seeking a solution that could standardize their EDI processes and reduce the time to onboard new retailers, ShipBob chose Orderful. Orderful’s platform offered a no-code, user-friendly solution that simplified EDI compliance, sped up onboarding, and minimized the need for technical intervention—positioning ShipBob as an EDI leader in the fulfillment space.
The Solution: Standardizing EDI and Reducing Engineering Workload
As ShipBob expanded its B2B fulfillment services, it quickly became clear that they needed additional solutions to support their rapid growth. Each retailer ShipBob worked with had its own compliance guidelines, requiring extensive customization and leading to slow onboarding processes. Using a managed service provider (MSP) for EDI didn’t alleviate the challenges, as it still required significant technical intervention from ShipBob’s team to adjust for every retailer’s specific requirements. Onboarding new retailers took 6-8 weeks, and the process was riddled with inefficiencies due to a lack of standardization.
ShipBob needed an EDI partner that could simplify this process, allowing them to standardize compliance across retailers, onboard new partners faster, and reduce the engineering workload. That’s where Orderful came in.
"We used to dread onboarding new retailers because of how long it took, but now we can do it 5 weeks faster. Orderful upgraded our entire B2B workflow."
Guneet Kaur Mac, B2B Product Manager at ShipBob
Why ShipBob Chose Orderful
ShipBob chose Orderful because of its ability to standardize EDI processes while minimizing technical involvement. One of the most critical aspects was Orderful’s capacity to manage the complexity of different retailers’ requirements by collating and mapping their guidelines into a single, streamlined system. This standardization helped ShipBob preemptively address technical challenges, allowing them to make necessary changes without scrambling to react to new retailer demands.
Orderful’s rules engine was a game changer. Before Orderful, ShipBob had to customize every transaction based on each retailer’s compliance needs, a process that consumed valuable engineering time. With the rules engine, ShipBob could now handle discrepancies—such as different part number formats or the need for multiple ISA IDs—without needing to make backend changes. The rules engine allowed ShipBob to adjust these details in real time, eliminating the need for manual fixes and significantly speeding up onboarding.
For example, when retailers required unique part numbers or UPC codes, the rules engine enabled ShipBob to swap out these details without engineering intervention. This flexibility saved time, reduced errors, and helped ensure ShipBob’s EDI transactions were compliant across the board.
Additionally, Orderful’s ability to handle real-time validation of transactions against compliance guidelines ensured that errors were caught and fixed instantly, further streamlining the onboarding process. This reduced the back-and-forth with trading partners, leading to more efficient onboarding and fewer delays. By implementing Orderful, ShipBob was able to cut onboarding time from 6-8 weeks to just 4 weeks, while also saving internal resources.
A Flexible Solution for a Changing Business
Orderful’s flexibility was also crucial when ShipBob’s roadmap changed suddenly. Typically, ShipBob worked with three core transaction types (850, 856, and 846), but when a major customer required additional 9-series transactions, Orderful quickly adapted to handle the new requirements. This agility allowed ShipBob to serve their customers without any major disruptions, proving that Orderful was the right partner to help them scale as their business evolved.
Responsive Support from Day One
Beyond the technical capabilities of the platform, Orderful’s hyper-responsive support made a lasting impact on ShipBob. From the very beginning, Orderful’s team was there to assist with the implementation process and provide ongoing support. Any questions or issues ShipBob encountered were addressed quickly, ensuring minimal downtime and smooth operations. Guneet Kaur Mac, ShipBob’s B2B Product Manager, praised the support, calling it “11 out of 10” for its responsiveness and effectiveness.
The Results: 62% Reduction in Onboarding Time
Results:
- 62% Reduction in Onboarding Time
- 100% Transaction Visibility
- 25x Faster to Go Live Than Previous EDI Solution
- Expert EDI Coverage
Since implementing Orderful, ShipBob has seen significant improvements in their EDI processes, allowing them to scale their B2B fulfillment operations with greater speed and efficiency.
Reduced Onboarding Time
One of the most impactful results was the drastic reduction in the time it takes to onboard new trading partners. Before Orderful, setting up a new retailer took up to 8 weeks due to the need for extensive customizations and testing. With Orderful’s standardized processes and no-code rules engine, ShipBob reduced this timeframe to just 4 weeks. Guneet Kaur Mac, ShipBob’s B2B Product Manager, shared, “We used to dread onboarding new retailers because of how long it took, but now we can do it 5 weeks faster. It’s a game changer.”
Error Resolution and Transaction Visibility
Orderful’s real-time validation and rules engine have had a significant impact on transaction accuracy. ShipBob now enjoys error resolution, catching and fixing issues instantly, rather than dealing with costly errors after the fact. Additionally, they now have complete visibility into all EDI transactions, allowing them to monitor and manage every step of the process with ease. “The ability to see everything in real-time has given us control we never had before,” Guneet said.
"The ability to see everything in real-time has given us control we never had before."
Guneet Kaur Mac, B2B Product Manager at ShipBob
Faster Time to Go Live
ShipBob has also experienced faster go-live times for new EDI integrations. Compared to traditional EDI solutions, they can now go live 5 weeks faster, allowing them to be more agile and responsive to customer demands. This flexibility has made ShipBob more competitive in a fast-paced industry, and they can now onboard new customers without the delays they previously faced.
With Orderful, ShipBob transformed their EDI process from a slow, manual system to an automated, standardized solution. The ability to reduce onboarding time and eliminate the need for constant technical intervention allowed ShipBob to focus on growth while ensuring compliance with every retailer’s unique requirements. By partnering with Orderful, ShipBob not only improved their internal processes but also enhanced their ability to meet customer demands quickly and efficiently.
About ShipBob
ShipBob is a leading global supply chain and fulfillment technology platform designed for SMB and Mid-Market ecommerce merchants to provide them access to best-in-class capabilities and to deliver a delightful shopper experience. ShipBob's technology provides merchants a single view of their business and customers across all sales channels to manage products, inventory, customization, orders, and shipments, leveraging real-time analytics and reporting, dedicated support, and access to over one hundred technology and retail partners. Merchants can outsource their entire fulfillment operations, utilize ShipBob's proprietary warehouse management system for in-house fulfillment, or take advantage of a hybrid solution across ShipBob's 50+ fulfillment center network in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. Learn more by visiting shipbob.com.
