Pupsentials, a customized embroidered goods company, was founded by Jake and Kyndall Chambers with the goal of sharing their love of dogs and art. In the beginning, they started with Kyndall's artistic talent, Jake's business prowess, and one embroidery machine. Together they offered highly detailed, embroidered images of customers' pets on sweatshirts.
In response to their high-quality, personalized product, Pupsentials' sales skyrocketed which challenged them to free operating cash, purchase machinery, and grow staff. On the back end of their business these goals meant getting quicker access to sales funds, securing necessary financing, and increasing their business credit.
To help them manage and continue their growth, Pupsentials looked to Shopify Finance, a suite of financial services provided through Shopify, including Shopify Balance, Shopify Capital, and Shopify Credit. Since partnering with Shopify, Pupsentials has:
- Achieved $5,000,000 in total revenue in two years
- Reduced order turnaround delivery time from 6-8 weeks to 5-7 days
- Grown employee headcount and acquired manufacturing tools necessary to accelerate growth
- Gained access to order funds and capital faster while decreasing reliance on multiple vendors
- Increased business credit while reaping larger percentage back rewards to reinvest into company
The Challenge: Accessing the cash needed to support growth
Like many winning ideas, the Pupsentials customer-embroidered sweatshirt began with a spark of curiosity and a dash of excitement. Initially however, Jake and Kyndall were told they were impossible to make. "We approached 42 local vendors and were told it couldn't be done because it was too detailed and had too many colors,” says Jake. “At that point we realized, either we were crazy or we were on to something." Undeterred, the couple decided to bet on themselves and purchase their first embroidery machine.
Not long after, thanks to a celebrity endorsement of their prototype, Pupsentials received 300 orders in one day. However, they could only produce eight shirts per day with limited staff and only one embroidery machine. "In the beginning, it was a labor of love because we had to work day and night," Jake says. “And those 300 people loved their sweatshirts and told their friends, and we kept getting more orders from that point."
What followed was a period of steady but challenging sales growth. "We would get orders organically but it was a challenge to keep up with production," Jake says. So, Pupsentials set out to increase their production capabilities and ad spending. But still, the company’s financial vendors kept their expansion on a leash with meager support and limited access to cash from their sales. They sometimes even punished the brand with credit holds due to how fast their product sold. Jake says, "At times, dealing with several vendors, it was really hard to get in touch with someone to even understand what the issue was." In response, Pupsentials was sometimes forced to turn down orders to ensure a quality customer experience.
The Solution: Centralizing financial solutions with Shopify
Realizing they needed an option more attuned to their financial needs, Pupsentials partnered with Shopify and took advantage of three offerings from Shopify Finance to free up cash, secure capital, and leverage business credit. It all started with filling orders.
Pupsentials chose to open a Shopify Balance account—the free financial account through Shopify where payments and transactions can be managed in one place—and with only a few clicks, they started to receive same day payouts from their sales.*
Suddenly, the speed of the brand’s growth became an asset and not a liability. "We saw results quickly with Shopify Balance, and it was a big difference maker," Jake says. “It helped us avoid the cash crunches we kept running into, which meant we could keep our operations flowing. It was also much easier to keep tabs on our cash than in the past when we were juggling multiple different accounts.”
From there, the next step for Pupsentials was to grow order capacity. Fortunately, they received a financing offer through Shopify Capital and were able to apply online within minutes. Once approved for the funding they needed, the brand began steadily adding the machinery and staff necessary to increase production. Jake says that, as a result, "We reduced our order lead time from 6-8 weeks to 5-7 days."
With their order capacity bottlenecks behind them, Pupsentials was able to next focus on maximizing their growth. Acting on a notice from their Shopify dashboard, they signed up for Shopify Credit—the pay-in-full cashback Visa(R) card from Shopify—which offered a higher spending limit and other advantages compared to their previous credit card. According to Jake the switch "enabled us to increase our ad spend, with better rewards and a higher percentage back in the form of statement credits."
The Results: Unleashing their full potential
Shopify Finance helped Pupsentials grow in two years from a bold and creative business idea, to an artistic and financial success, culminating with the company’s recent feature on ABC’s Good Morning America. “We were able to say ‘Yes’ to new opportunities like these because of the help and backing from Shopify Capital, which enabled us to invest in a strong backend to support our sales velocity,” says Jake. “We’ve achieved $5,000,000 in lifetime sales and expect to do that much again this year alone.”
Many entrepreneurs will attest, dealing with multiple vendors is never easy. By bringing multiple services into a single, ecommerce focused offering, Shopify was the perfect fit for Pupsentials. “Shopify Finance has really catered to merchants like us,” says Jake. “I can tell this ecosystem was built to really help us, versus some of the other platforms that may not have had sellers like us in mind, and definitely not all the products available. Having all the products in one place combined with the trust we have in Shopify makes it worth it for us.”
Jake believes the big difference was in how Shopify uniquely understood their business. “If we ever need to discuss anything, we’ve always had help from Shopify’s team, versus the other banks or products, they don’t really have the holistic view of the business, whereas I feel Shopify does. And they don’t really understand what we’re doing and how we want to accomplish that. Shopify understands ecommerce sellers like no one else does."
For Pupsentials, Shopify Finance helped make growth possible
- Achieved $5,000,000 in total revenue in two years
- Reduced order turnaround time from 6-8 weeks to 5-7 days
- Grew employee headcount and acquired manufacturing tools necessary to accelerate growth
- Gained access to order funds and capital faster while decreasing reliance on multiple vendors
- Increased business credit while reaping larger percentage back rewards to reinvest into company
Results may vary for every merchant. All loans through Shopify Capital in the United States are issued by WebBank.
Shopify partners with Stripe Payments Company and Celtic Bank for Shopify Credit. Card products are issued by Celtic Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc., and are subject to credit approval. See Issuing Bank Terms and Shopify Credit Program Terms
“Cashback” refers to rewards earned as a percentage discount on eligible purchases in the form of a statement credit. Restrictions apply. See Rewards Program Terms for details.
*Shopify Payments payouts are deposited in your Shopify Balance account within 5 business days. For most merchants, payouts typically take 1-3 business days. Payouts sent to an external bank usually take over a week longer to process
We wouldn’t be where we are today, on our way to $10 million in revenue, if not for Shopify. We saw results fast with their financial services, and have always been able to get the customer support we’ve needed. After working with multiple financial vendors in the past, we believe it makes a lot more sense to get these solutions together in one ecosystem.
