How a Fast Growing Shoe Brand Transformed Vendor Chaos Into a Scalable Marketplace System

When you sit down with the founder behind one of the fastest growing shoe brands in the region, you realise he is not driven by loud ambition. He is thoughtful and deeply aware of what happens when a business grows faster than its systems.

His brand scaled rapidly through partnerships with dozens of stores and regional vendors. For a while, everything worked smoothly. Orders flowed. Vendors shipped. Spreadsheets held the system together.

Until they didn’t.

“We reached seventy vendors without noticing,” he said. “And then it hit me — we were running a marketplace without a marketplace system.”

That moment changed everything.

When Vendor Growth Outpaces Operations

He shared how the business seemed to accelerate overnight:

• New stores joined each month
• Vendors needed custom pricing
• Each store required unique discount structures
• Monthly settlements grew more complex
• Returns were handled in a separate tool
• Orders jumped to nearly a thousand per month

The team handled it manually at first:

• downloading orders daily
• updating tracking sheets
• managing GST and margins
• reconciling payouts
• verifying vendor invoices
• producing reports manually

But the more they grew, the more unsustainable it became.

“It felt like we spent hours doing work that didn’t add value,” he said. “We were busy, not effective.”

What he needed wasn’t more people.
He needed more structure.

The Hidden Complexity Behind Multi Vendor Shoe Commerce

Outsiders assume vendor commerce is simple.

A customer buys shoes.
A vendor ships.
The brand earns a margin.

But the reality is far more complex.

A multi vendor shoe business must manage:

• order routing
• per vendor pricing
• store specific discounts
• GST and tax logic
• returns and exchanges
• settlement statements
• analytics
• monthly performance data
• slow moving SKU identification
• category level insights
• payout reconciliation
• syncing between Shopify and apps

“We weren’t short of orders,” he said. “We were short of operational clarity.”

The Moment Excel Stopped Being Enough

Excel worked for years.

Every formula felt familiar.
Every tab felt safe.

But scaling does not honour comfort.

The team struggled with:

• mismatched formulas
• manual errors
• out of sync return data
• duplicate orders
• month end chaos
• slow vendor settlement cycles
• missing performance insights

“By the time the file was updated, it was already outdated,” he said with a tired laugh.

They didn’t need a better spreadsheet.
They needed a marketplace system.

The Reflection That Shifted Everything

He shared a moment that changed how he thought about scaling.

“I once spent an entire weekend reconciling vendor payouts manually. I thought, if we’re drowning at 800 orders, what happens at 2,000?”

That reflection pushed him toward a more resilient, future ready system.

Where Shipturtle Entered the Journey

He installed Shipturtle out of curiosity, then joined a strategy call.

His question was simple:

“Can Shipturtle take over the entire vendor side without disrupting Shopify?”

The team walked him through what was possible:

• automated order routing
• per vendor margin and commission logic
• structured pricing and discount rules
• real time analytics
• automated payout summaries
• GST friendly invoices
• return and exchange workflows
• clear dashboards
• store performance comparisons
• B2B vs B2C routing
• filters across date, vendor, SKU, region
• exportable reports
• unlimited vendor scalability

“This is the operational layer we’ve never had,” he said.

How Shipturtle Transformed His Vendor Operations

Within weeks, the impact was clear.

1. Vendor Performance Became Visible

Top vendors, slow movers, SKU velocity, category insights.

2. Payouts Became Automatic

Margins, taxes, settlements — no manual intervention.

3. Pricing Finally Had Structure

Every vendor had its own formula and rules.

4. Order Management Became Faster

Routing, approvals, updates — all automated.

5. Return Handling Stopped Causing Conflicts

Clean, accurate data flowed directly from Shopify.

6. Reports That Took Days Now Took Minutes

Filtering by vendor, SKU, category, or date brought instant clarity.

For the first time, the business operated like a true multi vendor ecosystem.

The Moment He Knew They Were Ready to Scale

He set up a test vendor.
Assigned products.
Configured margins.
Placed an order.
Triggered a return.
Viewed the settlement.
Checked the analytics dashboard.

Everything aligned.

No manual steps.
No formula errors.
No outdated sheets.

“If this works with 70 vendors,” he said, “it will work with 200.”

Where the Marketplace Goes From Here

He is now preparing for rapid expansion.

Vendor count increasing.
Order volumes rising.
New retail partnerships forming.

But this time, he is not worried.

Operations are no longer fragile.

With Shipturtle powering the backend, the brand finally has:

• structure
• clarity
• efficiency
• scalability
• governance
• vendor trust

And most importantly, the confidence to grow without chaos.

The future of his multi vendor shoe marketplace is no longer uncertain.
It is ready.
Structured.
And built for scale.

Book a demo with us today!