3
FULFILLMENT CENTERS IN THE EU
160+
E-COMMERCE BRANDS
About Hive
Hive is building a full-suite operations software for rapidly scaling D2C brands, covering the entire value chain, from sourcing to final delivery. After they raised more than €38 million in under 2 years, Business Insider identified the Berlin-based scale-up as the next potential European unicorn.
Watch the success story of Hive
“We needed a solution that allows us to connect seamlessly to many carriers—and we found it in Sendcloud.”
Challenge
More scalable D2C fulfillment
When just starting out, most D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) founders make raising brand awareness their top priority. But as soon as orders start rolling in by the hundreds, the focus shifts toward keeping track of inventory and orders while negotiating the same competitive carrier rates that big brands are getting.
Hive’s mission is to help D2C companies put these logistics needs on autopilot so they can refocus their energy back on building their business. To do this, they let D2C brands integrate their e-commerce stores with Hive’s own top-in-class warehousing solution.
Long-term, the company aims to reduce delivery times down to two days across Europe and down to next-day for their core markets. But to achieve this goal, they needed a solution that lets them offer a variety of delivery choices while ensuring all of their shipping data is synced and consistent.
Solution
Smooth connection to 15+ carriers and easy
data access via the Sendcloud API
Instant activation of new carriers
To help their customers expand quickly to new markets, Hive is constantly adding new carriers to their portfolio. With Sendcloud, they are able to activate any of Sendcloud’s 100+ carriers in just a few clicks.
“New carrier integrations usually require a lot of time and technical resources. But with the Sendcloud API, we can go live with a new delivery option in minutes.”
Using data to streamline fulfillment
With the Sendcloud API, Hive is able to centralize all data. This means they can sync the data from their customers’ shop systems, unify inconsistent carrier tracking data, and cross-check it all with data generated during the fulfillment process.
To further optimize the delivery for their customers, Hive has built an algorithm that compares different data points to select the right carrier for every parcel.
API-powered label generation at the push of a button
Yes—generating shipping labels is really as simple as that.
“We send this information to Sendcloud, which in turn provides us with the label for the respective delivery via the API connection. We can then simply print it out at the touch of a button.”
Impact
Scaled up to 200+ employees across 3 fulfillment centers
The complex shipping process is an obstacle to scaling for many online shops. By using the integration of Hive and Sendcloud, e-commerce companies can now hand over the logistics to experts and concentrate on what is important—growing their own business.
Over the course of Sendcloud and Hive’s partnership, Hive has grown into a team of more than 200 people processing a few thousand packages per day. Their revenue grew 10x, and they’ve just opened their third fulfillment center in Milan.
“Shipping is complex, so we’re happy we worked with Sendcloud from the start and we look forward to continuing our partnership.”
Oscar Ziegler
Co-Founder & CEO, Hive
860,000+
PARCELS PROCESSED
IN A YEAR
15+
CARRIERS SHIPPED
WITH
10x
REVENUE GROWTH
Ready to enhance your existing logistics with the Sendcloud API like Hive did?
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