XXL Nutrition ships over 100,000 orders a month across Europe. But as the business grew, so did the pressure on its development and support teams. Maintaining separate carrier plugins in Magento made it difficult to scale operations, implement changes, or offer a consistent customer experience. That’s why the team switched to Sendcloud six years ago. Today, shipping is fully automated, carrier setup is centralized, and shipping rules are easy to configure. The result: a leaner tech setup, fewer WISMO tickets, and a delivery experience that scales.
How a centralized shipping setup helped XXL Nutrition cut dev time and minimize support tickets
REGION
The Netherlands
Features
company Size
Enterprise
Integrations
Industry
Sports & Recreation
Self-service carrier configuration.
Adding new carriers, update rules, or handle exceptions
0
%
increase in pick-up point delivery.
Saving approximately €0.50 per parcel on delivery
Fewer tickets and WISMO questions.
Resolving delivery issues in just a few clicks
CHALLENGE
Fragmented shipping setup became a growth bottleneck
XXL Nutrition is one of Europe’s leading sports nutrition brands, shipping over 1.3 million parcels a year to customers across different countries. With such high volumes and a growing international customer base, shipping isn’t just a back-office operation, it’s a critical part of the customer experience.
But as the business scaled, XXL Nutrition ran into the limits of its shipping setup. Each carrier was connected to Magento through a separate plugin. With every change, whether adding a new carrier, modifying delivery windows, or applying rules for bulk shipments, developer time was needed.
That’s when Sendcloud stepped in. Co-founder Bas Smeulders sat down with Guus van Nunen (COO at XXL Nutrition) and Bram van der Loo (Customer Service Manager at XXL Nutrition) to discuss these bottlenecks and explore how a more centralized shipping setup could keep pace with XXL Nutrition’s growth.
“We’ve been using Sendcloud for six years now. It allows us to manage everything in one place, from shipping rules to customer communication, without relying on a large IT team to manage carrier integrations.”
SOLUTION
Self-managed shipping, built for scale
Self-managed shipping, built for scale
The fragmented setup slowed down operations, made it hard to scale efficiently, and created a disconnect between teams. When XXL Nutrition decided to switch to Sendcloud, The logistics team didn’t need to rely on developers anymore for carrier integrations and shipping logic.
“What’s great is that we can configure it all ourselves,” Guus explains. “If a package weighs more than 20 kg, it goes with carrier A. If it’s smaller, we route it through carrier B. We’ve set up all those rules on the platform.” Shipping is now fully centralized and automated, from carrier selection to delivery windows.
That same centralized setup also solved one of customer service’s biggest headaches: tracking deliveries across carriers, a task that once generated a flood of “Where is my order?” calls.
Improved tracking visibility, fewer support tickets
As Customer Service Manager, Bram experienced lots of inefficiencies before using Sendcloud. His team had to juggle multiple carrier portals and dig through different systems to find out where a parcel was, slowing down responses and dealing with frustrated customers.
“If someone called about a delayed delivery, we had to check the carrier’s portal, then maybe another, depending on the order,” Bram explains. “With more carriers and more services, that just didn’t scale. You lose the overview.
With Sendcloud in place, the team can now look up any shipment in seconds, regardless of carrier, service type, or delivery day, and take action directly in the same dashboard. The platform automatically syncs all shipping updates, and thanks to implementing AI they can match incoming customer questions with the right shipment data.
That means less manual searching, faster resolution, and fewer WISMO tickets. “As soon as we type in a few details, the order shows up and we can immediately take the next step,” Bram says. “We can generate labels, send replacements, or flag issues all in one place.”
Thanks to a centralized shipping setup, the pressure is taken off customer service, giving the team back to focus on customers instead of chasing parcels.
The fragmented setup slowed down operations, made it hard to scale efficiently, and created a disconnect between teams. When XXL Nutrition decided to switch to Sendcloud, The logistics team didn’t need to rely on developers anymore for carrier integrations and shipping logic.
“As soon as we type in a few details, the order shows up and we can immediately take the next step,” Bram says. “We can generate labels, send replacements, or flag issues all in one place.”
RESULTS
From operational fix to bottom-line results
What started as a solution to reduce developer dependencies turned into a company-wide efficiency win. With shipping rules automated and support teams working faster, XXL Nutrition is now shipping smarter, saving money with every order.
One of the most impactful changes? A +9% increase in deliveries to pick-up points, which are more cost-efficient and offer greater flexibility for customers.
Guus explains: “We save around €0.50 per parcel and we can actively steer volume towards those delivery options by adjusting the delivery window or preselecting certain methods. It’s faster, cheaper, and more flexible, so it benefits both us and the customer.”
On the operations side, Guus and his team use Sendcloud’s analytics tools to monitor costs, performance, and contractual compliance, all in real time.
“We ship about 4,000 parcels a day,” Guus says. “It used to take hours to check invoices manually. Now I get a full breakdown of every shipment, spot errors before they snowball, and even track carrier performance with our own data instead of just relying on what they tell us.”
Now XXL’s logistics setup is faster, more scalable, and ready for continued international growth.
€0.50 saved per parcel
More deliveries to pick-up points and optimized shipping rules lead to structural cost savings at scale.
More deliveries to pick-up points and optimized shipping rules lead to structural cost savings at scale.
Guus van Nunen
COO of XXL Nutrition
“We’ve grown pick-up point deliveries from 6% to 16%, saving around €0.50 per parcel. We steer that volume ourselves by adjusting delivery windows or preselecting certain shipping methods.”
Hours saved on support every week
Centralized shipment data helps support resolve delivery issues faster and reduce manual ticket handling.
Centralized shipment data helps support resolve delivery issues faster and reduce manual ticket handling.
Bram van der Loo
Customer Service Manager of XXL Nutrition
“As soon as we type in a few details, the order shows up and we can immediately take the next step. We can generate labels, send replacements, or flag issues all in one place.”
Full cost control
No more invoice surprises by monitoring costs, flagging issues, and staying on top of contractual agreements.
No more invoice surprises by monitoring costs, flagging issues, and staying on top of contractual agreements.
Guus van Nunen
COO of XXL Nutrition
“Before, checking shipping invoices took hours. Now I get a real-time overview of costs and catch discrepancies right away.”
Stronger negotiation position
With real-time shipping data it’s easier to negotiate better rates and hold carriers accountable.
With real-time shipping data it’s easier to negotiate better rates and hold carriers accountable.
Bram van der Loo
Customer Service Manager of XXL Nutrition
“Sendcloud gives us hard data on volume, performance, and costs. This strengthens our position during carrier negotiations.”
Smarter shipping, even at a million parcels a year
After optimizing shipping and gaining more control over carrier performance, the XXL team is now exploring how Sendcloud can help automate another time-consuming part of the process: support claims.
“We’re currently testing how we can automate damage and loss claims,” Guus shares. “It’s repetitive work no one enjoys, and Sendcloud is offering something smart to take that off our plate.”
As XXL Nutrition continues to grow across Europe, Guus sees Sendcloud as a scalable partner to help keep logistics efficient, no matter the volume or local complexity. “Even when we pass the million-parcel mark, we want to feel in control. That’s what Sendcloud enables. It helps us keep shipping smart as we scale.”
XXL Nutrition shows how smart automation, clear data, and the right partner can turn logistics from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage, for both internal teams and customers. Want to ship smarter too? Book a free demo and see how Sendcloud can help you scale with confidence.
