Earlier this year, Australian motorcycle business EasyR embarked on a digital transformation. Facing challenges with its existing platform, the company sought to migrate from Neto to Shopify Plus, integrating Linnworks to support its operational requirements. 

The goal was to streamline inventory management, enhance order processing and create a scalable system. This system needed to be capable of handling EasyR’s extensive operations and Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory model. 

Swanky supported EasyR in its understanding and implementation of Shopify Plus and Linnworks, enabling the team to quickly leverage the full capabilities of this tech stack. 

The challenges

EasyR had reached a ceiling with Neto and could not continue to scale with the product. The business was looking to undertake a digital transition that would provide a 360-degree solution and support future growth. Outlined below are three key challenges the brand faced in this process. 

1. Legacy platform migration

As mentioned, EasyR needed to migrate from Neto, a legacy platform. This entailed: 

• shifting product data for up to 100,000 SKUs; 
• maintaining consistency across two warehouses; and 
• ensuring zero downtime to ongoing operations.

2. Operational overhaul 

This company has built its reputation on rapidly supplying the latest motorcycle equipment to its consumers. With Linnworks, EasyR can offer stock from four unique stock holding locations; two physical warehouses where best-selling SKUs are held, and two virtual warehouses where supplier stock, or ghost stock, can be accessed and ordered for same-day dispatch. 

One of the many complexities to overcome is submitting and tracking accurate inventory levels across four locations. This requires offering ghost stock to consumers on Shopify’s front end, and ensuring physical stock is picked, packed and dispatched before any new stock is ordered. 

3. Order fulfillment precision 

As with any ecommerce business, fulfilling orders correctly is vital to build trust with customers and minimise shipping costs. In this case, there’s an hour window where data feedback is critical – a lack of precision at this stage could result in over-ordering stock costing the business tens of thousands of dollars.

Our solutions 

The project addressed these challenges with a comprehensive approach as outlined below. 

1. Neto to Shopify migration

Executing a successful migration from Neto to Shopify Plus was the primary aim of this digital transformation. Swanky’s team consulted on this process, supporting EasyR’s in-house developers as they migrated data and design to the new Shopify store. 

Integrating Linnworks at an early stage also facilitated the simple transfer of product data, including SKU details, supplier information, and shipping properties, into Shopify.

By combining Swanky’s Shopify expertise with the developers’ in-depth knowledge of the Neto site, a secure and successful migration was completed. This enabled the brand to quickly leverage the power and flexibility of Shopify with no disruptions to ongoing sales and order fulfilment, preserving customer experience.

2. Cohesive tech stack to support operations

By integrating Linnworks into the business’ tech stack,  operational functions to ensure all service agreements were met and customers were satisfied with the delivery model’s efficiency.  

With Shopify configured as the primary sales channel, a robust integration and real-time synchronisation with Linnworks provides:

1. the unified management of inventory, orders and couriers; and
2. smooth order handling thanks to automation rules. 

For example, we utilised Linnworks’ dynamic multi-location options to push real-time inventory levels to Shopify. When an order is placed in Shopify, it’s downloaded in Linnworks where a custom macro evaluates which location the order needs to be dispatched from. If no stock is available in the physical warehouse, it will flag it as unavailable at the location it needs to be purchased from. With just two clicks a Purchase Order (PO) is raised and submitted to the supplier for same-day delivery. 

3. Automation and customisation

As mentioned, Linnworks was chosen for its flexibility and ability to create custom back-end flows. The implications of this ranged from instant label generation and submission of tracking updates with an Australian Post integration, to advanced flows and the enabling of JIT order management. 

Given the brand’s sophisticated supply and warehousing solutions and the risks involved, we implemented a rules-based automation process to split and dispatch orders accurately.We also created automations to ensure precise data transfer and mitigate the risk of over-ordering.

For example, one was able to indicate whether a new order could be dispatched immediately (because stock is available in a physical location), or whether it should form part of a PO. If an order contained a conflicting position, it would be clearly marked as ‘partially fillable’. Here, a PO can be raised for the out-of-stock items, delivered to EasyR the same day and the entire order then dispatched to the consumer. 

The result of these automations is a reduction in manual workload, faster delivery times and risk mitigation. 

The results

When new motorcycle trends emerge, EasyR will be able to mitigate any risk of over-purchasing stock by leveraging its Shopify Plus and Linnworks integration. Added to this risk reduction and future-proofing, results include:

• Enhanced efficiency – The automation of inventory and order management processes has saved significant labour hours.
• Higher customer satisfaction – Rules-based order fulfilment improves accuracy and minimises errors, leading to increased customer satisfaction and trust.
• Scalable operations – EasyR effectively manages up to 100,000 SKUs across multiple warehouses, positioning the brand well for future growth.
• Streamlined supply chain – Supplier coordination has improved, enabling faster and more reliable order fulfilment.

Considering a Linnworks and Shopify tech stack?

EasyR’s migration to Shopify Plus, coupled with the implementation of Linnworks, marked a transformative step in the business’ journey. By adopting a modern tech stack, it streamlined operations and positioned itself to scale efficiently in a competitive ecommerce landscape – without needing scale personnel (and the associated costs) in-line with revenue growth. 

In this case study we see the power of integrating innovative platforms to achieve seamless transitions and operational excellence. Get in touch to learn how our experts can support your brand’s growth with Shopify and Linnworks.