By adaptive - October 26th, 2015
Packing and preparing boxes and large envelopes have long presented a tricky proposition for many people, whether it’s logistics or materials. That’s what the folks at Shyp have seized upon as their business opportunity.
Wes Donohoe, head of product at Shyp recently discussed the company’s model with Open Mobile’s Robert Gray.
OMM: Why should people download your app and use Shyp?
Donohoe: Shyp is the easiest way to ship anything. We are disrupting an industry that’s seen no innovation in over 40 years based on a simple premise: Shipping something should be as easy as snapping a photo and entering a destination address.
When you send with Shyp, you don’t need to worry about packing your stuff or standing in line at the post office. Just open the app, and:
1 Snap a photo of what you want to send
2 Enter your shipment’s destination address
3 Request a pickup, and one of our couriers will arrive within 20 minutes.
We professionally package every shipment in our local warehouses, then compares prices across carriers to bring our customers the best rate for their shipping needs. Need to return something you bought online? We have a custom flow for that right in the app.
OMM: What is it about Shyp that has Silicon Valley backing you to the tune of more than $62 million?
Donohoe: If you can't get to the post office or you're strapped for time, Shyp is the easiest way to ship anything, anywhere in the world. We are reinventing a traditionally complicated, laborious and time-consuming task—that everyone has accepted as a terrible experience—and rethinking every step. The result is a delightful end-to-end experience that saves customers, on average, two hours each time they use the service—and it's all made possible with a just few taps on a smartphone.
OMM: I can think of older, less tech savvy customers who may not be able to download your app but would love your service. Do you have any methods of working with them?
Donohoe: We see people of all backgrounds use Shyp every day for their shipping needs and our simplicity and ease-of-use is what resonates with them most. That being said, we constantly look for ways to improve our service and make it better. If our customers (or people who’d like to be customers) tell us they’d like an alternative Shyp experience, we’ll build it.
OMM: With the app market more crowded than ever, how has Shyp broken through?
Donohoe: We provide a one-of-a-kind experience that solves a real pain point for customers. The consumer experience is effortless because our operations team does all the heavy lifting; this makes us stand out.
We have an average App Store rating of 4.5 stars.
OMM: How has your mobile product has aided your growth? And is it opening up partnership opportunities?
Donohoe: We are currently a mobile-only company, so our apps drive all of our customer growth. The way our app simplifies a traditionally laborious process has brought us many partnerships that we’re proud of. Last holiday season, for example, we partnered with Banana Republic to provide in-store gift wrapping and shipping. We also recently partnered with Rent The Runway to make it easier for their customers to return their rentals, as well as The Goodwill in all of our active markets to empower our customers to donate without leaving their homes.
OMM: Is there an argument that product now influences growth more than marketing?
Donohoe: Growth at any company relies on both marketing and product to excel at their different, but equally as important, functions. The best growth will be seen when marketing and product are aligned. Saying one does more to grow a business than the other is counterproductive.
OMM: Just how fast is Shyp growing?
Donohoe: Shyp has seen tremendous growth over the past year - its number of shipments have increased by 600 percent and customer growth remains steady at 20 percent, month-over-month. We are currently live in San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and have a beta live in Chicago.