Shippit helps Baby Bunting grow sales and reduce costs

Who is Baby Bunting?

Baby Bunting is Australia’s leading specialty baby retailer, serving customers across Australia and New Zealand with a growing online channel representing nearly 25% of total sales.

The challenge

In 2024, Baby Bunting faced numerous challenges common to many retailers. Economic pressures were mounting, leading to cost increases and evolving customer expectations. The primary challenges included:

1. Online fulfilment optimisation: Baby Bunting needed to leverage its physical stores for online fulfilment effectively.
2. Cost management: Rising carrier costs required strategies to improve net delivery recovery.
3. Customer experience: Reducing split deliveries and enhancing overall customer satisfaction was crucial.
4. Geographical coverage: A significant portion (40-45%) of online orders came from regional and remote areas, increasing final mile costs.

As online sales accelerated and became a larger share of total revenue, scaling delivery speed and cost efficiency across the full store network became a strategic priority.

"We found it easy to expand online fulfilment across our stores with the scalability and agility of the Shippit platform."

- Allison Kraemer, Baby Bunting’s International Logistics & Fulfilment Manager for ANZ

‍The solution

Baby Bunting partnered with Shippit, Australia’s leading commerce delivery platform, to address these challenges. Shippit’s platform provided several key benefits:

1. Store activation for online fulfilment: With Shippit’s support, Baby Bunting activated 100% of its stores for online fulfilment within three months; optimised delivery costs and leveraged existing store labour without increasing rostered hours.
2. Integration and scalability: Shippit’s 100+ carrier integrations and CX delivery notifications, including Apple Wallet Order Tracking and real-time updates, allowed Baby Bunting to expand its online fulfilment without the need for extensive development. This infrastructure underpinned the introduction of same- and next-day delivery services, helping drive online sales growth and improving the customer value proposition and experience.  
3. Data-driven decisions: Shippit Insights empowered Baby Bunting with valuable data and insights, facilitating faster decision-making across supply chain, digital, finance, and CX functions.‍
4. Cost efficiency: The platform enabled Baby Bunting to manage and flex volumes between various providers, realising cost savings and optimising fulfilment networks. By opening up its entire store network to online fulfilment and optimising pick-and-pack and carrier selection logic, Baby Bunting optimised delivery costs while increasing speed to customers.

"We wanted to delight our customers and exceed their expectations, with a minimal increase in costs. We were seeing that our customers continued to shop with us, with a steady growth in our loyalty members."

- Allison Kraemer, Baby Bunting’s International Logistics & Fulfilment Manager for ANZ

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The results

Baby Bunting’s partnership with Shippit yielded impressive results:

1. Accelerated online growth: Online sales increased 18% year-on-year, growing from 22.4% to 24.8% of total sales. Baby Bunting attributed this growth to the rollout of same- and next-day delivery options and the scaling of 100% fulfilment from stores.
2. Operational efficiency: The Shippit platform’s scalability allowed Baby Bunting to quickly roll out new delivery options and easily integrate existing carrier accounts, ensuring cost-effective and timely deliveries.
3. Labour productivity and cost savings: By unlocking its entire store network for online fulfilment, Baby Bunting generated AUD$1.2m in labour optimisation - without increasing rostered hours.‍
4. New Zealand expansion: In New Zealand, Baby Bunting successfully leveraged Shippit to fulfil orders from its four stores and a 3PL in Auckland, ensuring quick and cost-effective delivery across the country. Ongoing supply chain optimisation efforts have generated AUD$0.5m in savings in H1, with a further AUD$0.4m in savings forecast in H2.

"Our fulfilment locations make use of Shippit and we adopt the practice of selecting the most cost-effective carrier for the order; the algorithms in the logic will display the choice of carriers and we select the most economical for the lane and weights of the order."

Looking ahead

As Baby Bunting continues to support new and expecting parents, the company plans to invest further in its online presence and enhance the customer experience from browsing to delivery. Future initiatives include publishing more products online, expanding core categories, and continuing to optimise delivery speed and fulfilment productivity across its store network. 

With online now representing nearly a quarter of total sales, fulfilment efficiency, delivery speed, and labour productivity are key levers for sustainable growth.

"Customers expect speed, flexibility, and multiple delivery options, while businesses must protect margins and manage rising costs. When you combine engaged teams with local inventory and strong omnichannel capability, ship-from-store becomes a competitive advantage built on trust, speed, and consistency.”

- Allison Kraemer, Baby Bunting’s International Logistics & Fulfilment Manager for ANZ