Package Mate utilizes Zoho Flow to automate their administrative tasks, resulting in savings of more than $65,000 AUD annually

The company

Package Mate is an Australia-based packaging solution provider that's been supplying their customers with top-notch, standard and custom ecommerce packaging solutions for secure shipping since 2021. They import their packaging solutions from Germany and Hungary to cater to the needs of Australian ecommerce companies that prioritize efficiency and time management. Their range of packaging options include durable shipping and mailer boxes, void fillers, plastic wraps, corrugated envelopes, wine and beer travel boxes, and various other packaging materials, including packing tables and tools.

Standardizing and streamlining order management

For any ecommerce company, streamlining its inventory and logistics management is critical to offer a seamless customer experience. The operations manager at Package Mate, Greg Szabo, knew this and wanted to ensure that their customers receive quality products along with an amazing logistics experience. He knew if he wanted to offer a comprehensive customer experience, the warehouse and their logistics vendors needed to be in sync. But just the people being in sync isn't enough; the data between the apps needs to be in sync as well.

Package Mate uses Zoho Inventory to manage and maintain their inventory at their warehouse, and they use Starshipit as their logistics management application. Szabo wanted to integrate these two apps so that, when he marks an order as packed in Zoho Inventory, Starshipit can access the necessary order details to create labels. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find a native integration between these two apps, and he didn't have the technical background to integrate them himself. By using Zoho Flow, though, Greg could solve the problem.

Now, when an order is marked as Package created in Zoho Inventory, the order details are used to create a new order in Starshipit. With the help of custom functions, details like the name and shipping address of the customer, delivery method, and shipping payment details, are fetched and passed on to Starshipit. There, a new order is created, which helps share shipping details with their logistics partner and print shipping labels.

Greg also created a complementary flow between Starshipit and Zoho Inventory using a webhook trigger. Now, Zoho Flow automatically updates the order record in Zoho Inventory with the shipping number and shipping partner information when they're updated in Starshipit. This helps them track each shipment and ensures it's always on time. With the help of these two flows, Package Mate can stay on top of each order and ensure their order management process is efficient and streamlined.

Automating merchant fee calculation

Whenever a customer pays for their order online, a transaction fee is charged to the seller by the merchant or payment gateway. This fee can be a flat fee or a percentage of the transaction amount. Each merchant has its fee structure, and the amount needs to be calculated accordingly by the seller. The amount due to the merchant can be found easily, but an accountant needs to validate the amounts due based on the fee structure of the merchant for each transaction.

"I'm not an accountant or a bookkeeper, nor does my role allow me the time or necessity to learn it. I wanted a system that would do it automatically based on certain formulas."

Greg SzaboOperations ManagerPackage Mate

Customers place their order on Package Mate's ecommerce site, which is hosted and maintained on Shopify. Greg wanted an integration between Shopify and Zoho Inventory that creates a new sales order in Zoho Inventory when a new order is created in Shopify. He also wanted the integration to automatically calculate the merchant's commission based on their fee structure.

By using Zoho Flow, he integrated Shopify with Zoho Inventory using custom functions. Now, when a new order is placed in Shopify, the order's data is passed to the custom function. The custom function not only calculates the merchant’s fee for that order but also formats the data of the order, which is needed to create a new sales order in Zoho Inventory.

Enhancing lead engagement

Anyone can place an order with Package Mate, but for larger orders, they collect contact details and reach out to the customer. The prospect details are first collected via a form that's created using Zoho Creator. The form collects details and then automatically creates a lead in Zoho CRM, allowing for prompt connection with prospects to understand their packaging needs.

Using Zoho Flow, they integrated these functions. Now, when a record is created in Zoho Creator, a lead is created in Zoho CRM and an email is sent to the team using Zoho Flow's send email action, to inform them about the lead and their requirements.

They also set up another flow that gets triggered after connecting with the prospect. When the prospect's information is updated in Zoho Creator, with the help of Zoho Flow, a note is added to the prospect's Leads module with the details of the meeting. This helps them have a complete record of their interactions with the prospect, along with encouraging the company to regularly follow up.

Package Mate has also integrated Zoho Forms and Zoho CRM, to help their customers and prospects connect with them. This flow gets triggered when a form is submitted in Zoho Forms; the flow, with the help of decisions, checks if the form is submitted by an existing customer or a new prospect. If it's an existing customer, Zoho Flow will fetch the customer's account in Zoho CRM and then add a note to it, along with sending an email to the team informing them about the submission. If it's a prospect, the flow will create a new lead in Zoho CRM and add a note to it, then send the team an email to inform them about the entry.

Benefits and ROI

"Zoho Flow is the powerhouse of Zoho One! Native app integrations inside Zoho One have their limitations, but Zoho Flow can easily address them. It has enabled me to use Zoho's applications as per my business, without making any process changes. It ensures that we can cater to more customers with the same resources. By automating our admin work, Zoho Flow has helped us save over $65,000 AUD/year."

Greg SzaboOperations ManagerPackage Mate

Package Mate uses Zoho Flow as a part of their Zoho One subscription. Apart from Zoho Flow, they also use Zoho Marketing Automation, Zoho Bookings, Zoho Books, Zoho Mail, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho CRM, Zoho Forms, and Zoho Inventory. As mentioned before, they also use Shopify and Starshipit. With Zoho Flow, they've built over 15 flows that help them streamline their business processes and operations.

Zoho Flow has ensured their admin work is automated, and this has resulted in savings of over $65,000 AUD/year. By customizing their integrations and workflows, they ensure that the correct information is readily available to the appropriate person at the appropriate time, without disrupting their current business process.

Moving forward

Package Mate is constantly growing and exploring ways to enhance their product line-up and business processes. Szabo believes Zoho Flow is essential for their growth, as it enables smooth integration of apps without disrupting business operations.