Health & Fitness
Dope Ropes
Jumping to new heights: from side project to demand surge through Shopify.
Inspired by pop culture of the 80s and 90s, Dope Ropes was founded by two brothers – Keon and Kaz Ghaharian, initially as a side project. They found the availability of decent jump ropes was really limited in the UK and there wasn’t enough information out there, so they wanted to challenge and change that.
Keon remarked, “It very much started as one of those basement business stories you hear about, with stock being held at my parent’s house!”
Since launch, the jump rope brand has reached great heights, particularly during the Coronavirus lockdown, with consumers looking to increase their fitness from the comfort of their own homes.
With J&J, I can stock more and make bigger supplier orders, resulting in cost savings there. In addition, I can now store bigger items such as mats and start selling a bigger range of products to customers.
Keon Ghaharian,
Co-founder
The Challenge
To set up Dope Ropes at our fulfilment centre double-time to meet the intense demand surge at the start of the first UK lockdown.
What we created
A speedy onboarding and setup experience that would alleviate the worry.
“Moving quickly was key, as I had orders coming in every day, and I felt confident from my initial calls with J&J that we could get up and running quickly. I think the onboarding process took just one day of my time, probably less.”
Before Dope Ropes came on board, Keon explained his order fulfilment was less than smooth sailing.
“I basically had all my stock in my parent’s house and my mum and I fulfilled orders maybe once or twice a week. We were packing the orders and driving to the local post office! That worked fine until lockdown hit. It became very difficult and time-consuming – we simply didn’t have the infrastructure to fulfil demand properly. I became worried that orders would be too slow getting out the door, which would lead to a bigger customer service problem.”
What we delivered
Aside from the initial rapid setup, for Dope Ropes, the time-saving benefit of outsourcing fulfilment is the biggest and most noticeable. Keon said, “I probably started to save two to four hours per day at peak by not having to fulfil in-house. The time-saving element is so crucial for growth, allowing you to focus on the business more in terms of marketing and development. There is no doubt that this has led to growth, both in terms of customer numbers and my business offering.”