How P.Lousie Optimised Warehouse Operations with Helm

When your brand is growing fast, your warehouse needs to keep up. For P.Louise, a booming cosmetics brand, skyrocketing order volumes were exposing cracks in their fulfilment process. Inefficient picking routes, a high mispick rate, and the limitations of ShipStation were slowing them down and driving up costs.

They needed a solution that could streamline warehouse operations, cut down on errors, and speed up shipping, without adding unnecessary complexity. That's where Helm came in. By implementing Helm's advanced warehouse management tools, P.Louise optimised picking, automated shipping rules, and overhauled their label printing process, leading to faster fulfilment, fewer mistakes, and significant cost savings.

Overview

P.Louise, a fast-growing cosmetics brand, needed a more efficient way to manage their warehouse operations. With increasing order volumes and the limitations of ShipStation, they sought a solution that would streamline their picking and shipping processes. By implementing Helm, they achieved significant efficiency gains in warehouse picking and automated their shipping rules for optimal carrier selection.

Challenges

One of the biggest inefficiencies in P.Louise's operation was the picking process. Staff spent unnecessary time navigating aisles, sometimes covering extra ground due to inefficient route planning. Without a structured priority system, warehouse operatives relied on memory and personal experience, which led to inconsistencies and delays. This lack of structure contributed to an alarmingly high mispick rate, meaning nearly one in six orders contained errors. Each mispick resulted in costly repercussions, including additional shipping fees, customer service labour, and potential damage to brand reputation. The combined costs of mispicks - returns, reshipping, lost productivity - significantly impacted the bottom line.

ShipStation's shipping rule limitations introduced issues, as the system lacked flexibility in automating carrier selection. Staff often had to override rules manually or double-check orders, which slowed operations and increased shipping costs and misrouted orders.

Another major issue was label generation. P.Louise relied on bulk label printing, printing hundreds of labels in advance. Changes to orders made labels obsolete, causing wasted labels, mislabelling, manual reprints, and delays.