Case Study:
Outback Toys Automates Shipping
to Support 300% Seasonal Growth
Overview
Founded in Lititz, Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s, Outback Toys have been capturing the hearts of inquisitive children and committed collectors for nearly 30 years with its extensive selection of farm and construction toys and memorabilia from renowned brands such as Case IH, John Deere, Caterpillar, Ford New Holland, and more. Originally a division of Binkley & Hurst, an agricultural parts service and sales provider, Outback Toys emerged almost serendipitously. Customers visiting for agricultural parts were often directed “out back” to check out the growing selection of toys and Outback Toys
was born.
Today, the family-owned and operated company oversees a brick-and-mortar retail location with an integrated warehouse and a thriving eCommerce business. Approximately 90% of Outback’s business is order fulfillment and over 30% of that volume happens in the last six weeks of the year.
Benefits and Key Outcomes
Scales seamlessly to support a 300% increase in seasonal volume
Easy to use for new and temporary workers
Automated manual tasks
Removed the need to jump from multiple carrier portals to get rates
Challenge
Outback Toys faced significant challenges in expanding its shipping operations to keep pace with seasonal demand. The
company’s existing shipping solution was not scalable and was restricted to a computer at a pack station, resulting in
inefficiencies and lost business opportunities during periods of peak demand. “We struggled to ramp up to meet seasonal
demand so having a solution that allowed us to expand when our order volume expanded was crucial,” said Linford Martin,
Operations Manager at Outback Toys. Historically, the team would have to restrict order processing and labeling of packages to
full-time employees rather than have seasonal staff work on those tasks as it was a complex process that required internal
knowledge and attention to detail.
Shipping collectibles added a layer of complexity because Outback Toys uses cartons with smaller inner dimensions for added
protection and it needed an agile shipping solution that would automate the carton selection process.
In addition to scalability challenges, Outback Toys struggled to accurately project shipping costs because it could not factor in
dimensional weight. As a result, the company had to estimate shipping costs based on weight alone which was not a viable,
long-term option based on how carriers charge. Its previous system also didn’t support rate shopping in the shopping cart and
international shipping and related documentation, in particular, was costly and cumbersome. Difficulty onboarding seasonal
workers, restrictive user licenses, and integration issues with NetSuite and Outback Toys’ eCommerce solution further hampered
the team’s efficiency.
Solution
After implementing ShipHawk, Outback Toys accommodated a 300% increase in seasonal order volume and kept all sales
channels open for the first time in the company’s history. “With ShipHawk, we were able to set up additional processing stations to
support our seasonal packing line. It also allows us to use temporary labor and not have our customers experience any difference
in service in terms of accuracy,” said Martin.
“The implementation process was exceptional from our standpoint. From the moment our team started the implementation
process, the ShipHawk team was right there to support us,” said Martin.
Another benefit has been the continued partnership between Outback Toys and ShipHawk. “We’ve rarely had problems but in the
logistics and fulfillment industry, when something does go sideways, everything feels like an emergency just because of deadlines
and customer expectations. The responsiveness of ShipHawk support has been something that has helped us throughout the
process,” said Martin.
This year, because of the ease of use of ShipHawk, we had seasonal employees processing orders with the same accuracy that we would have experienced with full-time associates.