Mio Global gained worldwide success on a shoestring budget with Celigo’s Shipwire Connector for NetSuite

Mio Global, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, develops heart-rate monitoring technology products. They design and manufacture fitness tech products that provide continuous heart-rate monitoring without the use of a chest strap. Business has grown tremendously since 2011 with the addition of new products to their product line as well as a change in their business model.

Growing pains often come with starting and scaling a business. While the pain is easier to absorb when funding is readily available, scaling a company with limited financial resources is a daunting task, especially for businesses that sell and ship a niche product. What should you do if your sales are growing but your volume is not high enough to warrant maintaining your own warehouse? Despite the obstacles, Mio Global pushed ahead to grow into a multi-million dollar technology company while still keeping costs, time, and effort low. In 2012, Mio ramped up its direct-to-consumer business. Around this time, they developed a new product: a fitness-centric continuous heart-rate monitoring watch that did not use a chest strap via optical blood flow sensors. A user’s heart-rate data was broadcast via bluetooth low energy and was compatible with all smartphones, such as iPhone 4s and Galaxy S3. Outside funding was needed as Mio lacked sufficient funds to develop the product. The company started a Kickstarter campaign, which was a success. The aftermath, on the other hand, was “a complete nightmare” when the time came to fulfill and ship orders to their customers, with costs that went “through the roof” according to Inventory and Forecast Analyst Manager Tim Frazer. They were spending too much time, money and effort on shipping logistics. Their goal was to expand sales globally, and they needed a better way to handle the supply chain and logistics aspect of their business. Unfortunately, when Mio researched third-party logistics solutions, they found that most providers were far too expensive and required higher volumes than their needs allowed. Freight forwarding services were too cumbersome when issues like change orders arose, which would result in an unhappy customer who would post to social media blasting the company. While Amazon looked like a viable option, Mio wanted to be able to sell and ship from various international locations with a single point of contact on their end.

Mio was already using NetSuite and Celigo’s SmartClient, and when they learned that Shipwire had a connector for NetSuite that was provided by Celigo, the decision to move ahead with the two companies was a no-brainer. “We were more than happy to team up with Celigo to get that done,” Tim said. They liked the ability to go directly to someone every time their needs shifted or requirements changed. With the Shipwire Connector and Shipwire’s warehousing solution, Mio did not have to worry about fulfilling minimum requirements. “We knew we had growth, but didn’t know how big that growth would be,” Tim said, and using Shipwire would allow them to start off with a smaller volume and grow over time. The easiest part was that using Shipwire required no contract, so Mio was able to test out the service with a credit card. With the Shipwire Connector for NetSuite, Mio scaled easily and manageably without the need for extra employees or a warehouse. When orders come through, the company can simply complete the fulfillment process in NetSuite, and—almost like magic—a Shipwire warehouse worker picks, packs and ships products to customers.

• Freed up time for existing employees to work on higher-level work.
• Enabled easy growth on a shoestring budget.
• Picking, packing and shipping is streamlined and reduced to a simple press of the button, which boosted the company’s relationship with their customers.

• Saved the cost of having an extra employee be on staff to pick, pack and ship products to consumer.
• Saved the cost of having to sign large contracts with bigger warehouses.