International prospects

Boda Skins was formed when British clothing designer Nathan Alexander met Ibo Sahan, a man who owned a small family-run leather factory in the hills of southern Turkey. The firm was quickly creating handmade leather jackets and marketing them online.

Since launching in late 2012, sales have doubled year-on-year and Nathan is determined that the delivery experience should reflect the luxurious nature of the products begin sold.

 “Our mission is to put magic into online retail by having an incredible customer experience,” says Nathan.

Since all of the company’s orders are placed online, Boda Skins has to label each shipment  accurately in line with the delivery information the customer has requested. By integrating the FedEx automated shipping solution within its website, paperwork and labels for each order are generated and printed automatically, saving the team valuable time. This process has been essential in ensuring the team’s high-quality service throughout the entire shopping experience, from initial purchase to timely delivery at the customers’ doors.

This means with a small team, Boda Skins can export more than 70% of its 11,000 jackets sold per annum to destinations including US, Germany, and Scandinavia.

Nathan says: “Trying to meet our customers’ expectations in terms of delivery timeframe was a challenge at first. Customers who shop online expect fast delivery, around in the world. So even though we were starting small, we needed to think big and go global. FedEx has been integral in helping us to achieve this.”

Due to the number of bespoke and standard collection jackets created by Boda Skins, and the international locations it delivers to, shipping is an integral component in the company’s process. Each jacket is imported to the UK via FedEx following its creation in Turkey to allow the team to add personal handwritten notes to each order, thanking customers for their business. All shipments are then sent using FedEx International Priority service, meaning orders within Europe and to the US are generally delivered within 1-2 days.

Boda Skins relies on FedEx Electronic Trade Documents to streamline its increasing number of orders through customs.

The company also has ambitious plans to expand into new markets, Japan in particular.