Saffron Souk was built to celebrate the creativity of independent artisans and small brands across the Middle East. As a curated online marketplace, it gave these makers a platform to reach wider audiences and grow their businesses. But as the marketplace gained traction, the backend operations began to show strain. Managing orders across dozens of vendors with varying fulfillment timelines and shipping preferences had become chaotic. The team was buried in spreadsheets, manually assigning orders, and constantly following up with vendors—leading to delays, errors, and a poor customer experience.
Case Study
Bringing handmade treasures to life with Saffron Souk’s marketplace
Key Metrics
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100+ onboarded vendors
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5,000+ Product Listings
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B2C model implementation
IN CONVERSATION WITH
Shann Qasim
Co-founder
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INTRO
Saffron Souk, a Dubai-based marketplace, offers unique, handcrafted products from artisans worldwide, spanning fashion, jewelry, home décor, wellness, and gifts. The platform emphasizes supporting local artisans and promoting sustainable craftsmanship.As the business grew, managing operations became challenging with scattered order management and slow logistics. To streamline processes, Saffron Souk adopted Shipturtle, a multi-vendor order and shipping management platform.Shipturtle automated order routing, provided vendors with intuitive dashboards, and enabled real-time shipment tracking. With features like direct messaging and shared announcements, communication improved, and operations became more efficient. This allowed Saffron Souk to focus on scaling the business and supporting their creative seller community.
Saffron souk an online marketplace for unique, handcrafted products, partnered with Shipturtle
Our vendors are the heart of Saffron Souk. Shipturtle made it easier for us to support them with transparency, speed, and operational ease — and that’s been a real win for our community
Shann Qasim
Co-founder
BRIDGING GAPS WITH SOLUTIONS
Saffron Souk started its online store on Shopify, leveraging its robust e-commerce infrastructure to bring its vision to life. However, as its network of vendors grew and the catalog expanded, significant challenges emerged.
Manual Order Routing and Fulfillment Delays
The Challenge: As vendor numbers grew, manually assigning orders to individual sellers became tedious and error-prone, leading to fulfillment delays and poor customer experience.
The Solution:
Shipturtle automated order routing, instantly assigning each order to the correct vendor based on pre-defined rules. This streamlined fulfillment and ensured faster turnaround times without the need for constant team intervention.
Lack of Vendor Visibility and Coordination
The Challenge:Saffron Souk’s vendors had limited visibility into order statuses and shipping updates, often relying on manual communication to stay informed — causing inefficiencies and miscommunication.
The Solution:
Shipturtle provided dedicated vendor dashboards, giving each seller real-time access to their order details, shipping information, and fulfillment timelines — improving transparency and accountability across the platform. Shipturtle also enhances communication — merchants can share key announcements that are instantly visible to all vendors.
Fragmented Shipping and Tracking Experience
The Challenge: The marketplace struggled to offer consistent tracking and post-purchase communication, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and an increase in support queries.
The Solution:
With Shipturtle’s integrated tracking system, customers received real-time shipping updates automatically. This enhanced the post-purchase experience and significantly reduced the volume of order-related support requests.
Difficulty Scaling Vendor Operations Efficiently
The Challenge: Onboarding new vendors and maintaining operational consistency became increasingly difficult, limiting the platform’s ability to scale smoothly.
The Solution:
Shipturtle simplified vendor onboarding with a structured, self-serve interface and standardized workflows — enabling Saffron Souk to onboard more vendors quickly while maintaining operational efficiency and quality control.
At Saffron Souk, we believe in empowering makers — and with Shipturtle, we found a partner that empowers us. It helped us simplify the complexities of running a marketplace.
Shann Qasim
Co-founder
Shipturtle gave us the structure and automation we needed to move faster with accuracy & plan bigger
Shann Qasim
Co-founder
IMPACT
- Faster Fulfillment Cycles — Automated order routing and real-time vendor coordination reduced order processing time by up to 35%, ensuring faster deliveries and happier customers.
- Operational Efficiency at Scale — With centralized dashboards, automated workflows, and self-serve vendor interfaces, Saffron Souk could scale its operations without growing internal workload.
- Stronger Vendor Ecosystem — Vendors were empowered with transparent order management tools, boosting their confidence, accountability, and satisfaction on the platform.
- Enhanced Customer Experience — Real-time shipping updates and timely deliveries improved customer trust, reduced support tickets, and strengthened the brand’s reputation.
- Future-Ready Infrastructure — With a robust fulfillment and logistics foundation in place, Saffron Souk is now equipped to onboard more vendors, handle higher order volumes, and expand seamlessly.
Saffron Souk is dedicated to bringing handmade crafts from local artisans to global homes, offering unique, high-quality products while supporting sustainable practices and empowering local communities.
THE RESULTS
Saffron Souk is now ready to grow, with systems in place to replace manual processes and fix fulfillment bottlenecks.
As they continue expanding their artisan ecosystem across the Middle East and beyond, the focus is now on strengthening vendor relationships, enhancing the customer journey, and exploring new markets. With Shipturtle as a trusted partner, Saffron Souk is not just growing — it’s evolving into a smarter, more agile, and future-ready marketplace.
The journey ahead is one of innovation, empowerment, and continued celebration of the region’s most talented creators — backed by the right tech stack that makes it possible.
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