Shoebaloo is a household name for the shoe-loving Netherlands. The brand has been offering designer shoes since the mid 1970s. In addition to the three stores in Amsterdam and the branches in Rotterdam and Maastricht, Shoebaloo also runs the webstore Shoebaloo.nl. Through this webshop, Shoebaloo serves a large part of Europe. Particularly during sales periods, the pressure on customer service increases tremendously. E-commerce manager Diek van Tol explains how Shoebaloo guarantees its level of service during peak periods with the Overflow Service from Salesupply.
Support for customer care whenever it’s needed
“The webstore was launched ten years ago with growth as a goal, and that is still our goal,” says Diek van Tol, who has been e-commerce manager at Shoebaloo for nine years. “We started with a small team and – definitely in the beginning – we did everything ourselves, including customer care. Just like the webstore itself, the team has grown substantially since the launch and there’s now a clear departmental structure in place. Four years ago, we noticed that our customer care department was no longer achieving the intended response times during peak periods. That’s when we started looking for a customer care partner specifically for dealing with the overflow during these peak periods.”
For three years now, Salesupply has been Shoebaloo’s regular customer care partner during the two annual peak periods – which have since grown into two three-month periods. “During the peak periods, the phone is transferred to Salesupply’s customer care team six days per week. The customer care agents are self-supportive and only when it is really necessary am I, or one of my colleagues (depending on the issue), called in. This structure is clearly defined and works extremely well.”
The advantages of Salesupply Overflow Service
For Shoebaloo, the major advantage of Salesupply’s Overflow Service is its scalability. “Scaling up the team internally for peak times is difficult, especially if you want to be able to offer high-quality service. This is not a problem for Salesupply; also during a peak period, the team is scaled up whenever it’s needed.”
“In addition, the customer care agents of Salesupply enter their notes directly into our system, which keeps us fully informed at all times. Which enables us to respond quickly on our site when we receive a certain question or comment more often. And because the lines of communication are so short, we can also easily and quickly adjust the team whenever that’s needed.”
The global ambitions of Shoebaloo
Shoebaloo continues to pursue its online growth ambitions. “We will continue to expand the webstore”, Diek declares. “Within Europe, but seeing that we are increasingly better represented there, we are definitely looking further abroad. Aside from that, trends such as delivery and returns management continue to be high on our agenda.”
