Case Study:Unkamengifts

Home-Grown Business Stays Grounded with Customer-Focused Features from DYMO™ Endicia®

www.endicia.com1-800-576-3279 ext. 140

Client: Unkamengifts, a family business that sells handmade jewelry and jewelry supplies exclusively through Etsy, an

e-commerce website for handmade and vintage items.

Challenge: As the online business grew, so did the time and expense of

preparing and shipping packages, both domestically and

internationally.

Solution: DYMO Endicia Premium

Key Results:

• Reduces the time needed to prepare and ship packages by 90 percent

• Facilitates international shipping, accounting for 50 percent of the business

• Enhances customer care, via automatic e-mailing with tracking information

• Eliminates trips to the Post Office™

• Promotes a more professional appearance, thanks to scannable labels

Customer Background

The flag on the Helmrich family’s mailbox outside their Rolla, Mo., home and business is never lowered. In fact, it’s taped to

stay that way. That’s because every business day, as many as two bins of packages await pickup by a U.S. Postal Service®

carrier. The Helmrich’s operate Unkamengifts (uhn-KAH’-min gifts) an online business that sells handmade jewelry and jewelry

supplies to devotees worldwide through Etsy.

“When we started, we might have shipped one package a day,” said Karen Helmrich, who handles most of the business

chores for Unkamengifts, while 18-year-old daughter Leah, 14-year-old son Byron and husband Ralph create its products. “I

can’t believe how much we’ve grown.”

Fueling interest in Unkamengifts is the family’s near-exclusive use of Etsy, the global social commerce website devoted to

crafts, jewelry and other handcrafts. There, legions of fans have become enthralled with the zestful earrings and colorful

necklaces fashioned by Leah, the clever key chains and gratitude rocks created by Byron and the mesh-like chainmaille

jewelry materials that are Ralph’s specialty.

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The Challenge

At first, when the business started to boom, Karen hired an individual to help process shipments. That took some of the burden away from her and the family, but the process – filling boxes, preparing shipping labels and rushing to get boxes to the Post Office before its 5 p.m. close each day – remained slow and laborious.

“While the assistant freed us up more to focus on the creative side of the business, our process was too slow to keep up with the volume of orders we were getting,” added Karen. “And international orders? Those really slowed us down.”

At the time, the Unkamengifts’ shipping team – which could handle about 10 packages a day – would type up a shipping label for each order, print it out, tape it onto the box and place it in a bin that would be hustled to the Post Office.

“It would take us 10 to 15 minutes to get a package ready to be shipped,” noted Karen. “And it didn’t look very professional.”

Realizing their method, even with a dedicated helper, was slow, costly and potentially adversely impacting their reputation as a viable business, Karen – on the advice of fellow Etsy colleagues – began researching another uncommonly named company – DYMO Endicia. She signed up for a free trial with DYMO Endicia, an online ship-ping and mailing service – and Unkamengifts was suddenly transformed.

The Solution and Key Results

For more than a year, Unkamengifts has used DYMO Endicia Premium, printing professional labels with their thermal printer, reducing the time it takes to prepare packages by as much as 90 percent. Also, the software has a number of standard and customizable features — like pre-paid return labels and Stealth Postage, which hides the actual cost of shipping from recipients — designed to further improve both internal shipping practices and customer service.

For instance, Unkamengifts particularly values the online package tracking tool, which automatically emails a customer with information they can use to determine the status of the package throughout its domestic journey. Also, since the scannable labels include bar coding, “they just look more professional. That gives new customers — especially international customers — some comfort that they are dealing with a ‘real’ business,” said Karen.

Since implementing online shipping services via DYMO Endicia, Unkamengifts continues to expand dramatically. In fact, the company hit its 2010 sales goal within the first five months, and sales/shipments are roughly doubling every six to eight months.

“If we didn’t have DYMO Endicia, we would have to close our shop,” Karen said. “I can now ship a package – start to finish – in 90 seconds, and I never have to go to the Post Office.”

© 2011 PSI Systems, Inc. DYMO and the DYMO logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sanford LP or its affiliates. Endicia, Endicia Professional, Endicia Premium, Endicia Platinum Shipper and Stealth Postage are trademarks or registered trademarks of PSI Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Post Office, U.S. Postal Service®, USPS®, and Priority Mail®, are among the many trademarks of the United States Postal Service. DE-CASE-015, Rev 1