Case Study:
Compass Coffee
Overview
Compass Coffee was founded in 2014 by two Marines who, after years of drinking terrible
coffee on deployment, became obsessed with the quest for the perfect cup. What began
as a desire to unlock the secret to perfect coffee grew into something much more
significant. It was the realization that coffee is more than just a drink. It’s a ritual that brings
people together, facilitates human connection, and makes your day better.
Compass Coffee has since expanded to 16 cafes in and around the Washington, D.C. area where ‘Real Good Coffee’ is served and communities are formed. At the heart of it all is a relentless commitment to quality at every step – to ethical sourcing, masterful blending, and peak roasting in small batches – all to create an experience that is much more than just a cup of coffee.
Benefits and Key Outcomes
Improved order accuracy from 95% to 99%
Improved customer experience during the ordering process
Easy to learn UI (User Interface)
Reduced order processing times
Gained visibility into eCommerce order fulfillment KPIs
Smooth implementation
Challenge
With 16 locations and a rapidly growing eCommerce business, Compass Coffee needed a shipping solution that would integrate
with NetSuite and support its eCommerce fulfillment requirements. The company ships nationwide and guarantees next-day
shipping for all orders, but its order fulfillment processes weren’t automated and they lacked visibility into its eCommerce orders.
Compass Coffee strives to deliver an exceptional experience from the time an order is placed until it arrives at the customer’s
doorstep, which means delivering an accurate order on time, every time, and offering flexible shipping options.
“We want to make sure that our customers’ experience ordering online is just as good as the coffee and is just as good as if they
came into one of our cafes,” said Chas Newman, Production Manager at Compass Coffee. Prior to adopting ShipHawk, Compass
Coffee’s team spent a disproportionate amount of time on manual order fulfillment and verifying accuracy instead of growing the
company’s eCommerce division.
We were focused on finding the right tool and investing in a long-term solution rather than something
that will give us an immediate fix and that needs to be duct taped two months later. ShipHawk fit the bill.
Solution
Since implementing ShipHawk, Compass Coffee has been able to streamline the order fulfillment process and boost order
accuracy from 95% to more than 99%. “Increased accuracy, particularly in terms of packing the correct items and address
verification, with ShipHawk was the greatest benefit compared to our previous experience,” said Newman. “I can’t tell you how
many thousands of dollars we’ve saved because of ShipHawk’s verification tools. Even more important, we’ve maintained our
customers’ trust with the speed and quality fulfillment we’ve promised.” Out-of-the-box functionality was very important to Compass
Coffee because it needed a solution that it could get up and running immediately, then make changes as needed. The ShipHawk
team supported Compass Coffee every step of the way and even came out to its warehouse in Washington, D.C., to fine-tune the
solution and even help pack a few orders while they were there.
“What ShipHawk allows us to do is batch the administrative side of order fulfillment and then, as our team has time throughout the
day, they can continue to pick, pack and ship eCommerce orders,” said Newman. “The solution also notifies the customer in the
process of fulfillment.” ShipHawk has also helped Compass Coffee consolidate customer interactions. Before implementation, the
team spent a lot of time engaging customers to verify shipping details and other basic details. Now, that process is automated and
ShipHawk is able to leverage different shipping methods to ensure the shipping service level the customer selects is met while also
saving costs.
The solution is fast and easy to use, which makes processing a transaction almost instant. ShipHawk saves us on average 20 seconds in processing an order. That time really adds up though when you start doing 1,000 orders.