Agility unleashed: Swaggle scales pet care with Celigo’s integration power

About Swaggle

Swaggle is a fresh face in the pet care industry, supported by Coles yet operating independently to bring a personalised experience to pet owners. In a market dominated by established players, Swaggle set out with a mission to offer a unique, tailored approach to pet care through data-driven product recommendations and efficient, high-quality service. Swaggle’s journey started with a lean team, allowing them to make quick, strategic decisions in technology and operations — a critical advantage for a startup aiming to disrupt the industry.

The challenge

As a fast-growing startup in a competitive market, Swaggle was eager to build a tech stack that could match their rapid pace. They picked NetSuite as the ERP and Shopify as the ecommerce storefront and initially turned to a point-to-point connector to integrate them, hoping for a simple solution. However, this approach soon revealed its limitations. Errors in order processing cropped up, often related to discounts, taxes, and pricing inconsistencies, causing Swaggle’s team to spend valuable time on manual troubleshooting.

Mrudul Modh, Consultant at VNMT Solutions and former member of Swaggle’s tech team explained, “We were getting a lot of issues, and we had to deal with each order on its own merit … discounts, taxes, prices — errors for one thing or another. It was at that time we started to panic as to what we were going to do if we have 300 or 400 orders a day.”

Swaggle’s approach has always been to “release fast, fail fast,” Joseph Sette, Swaggle’s Head of Digital and Technology noted. With plans to reach upwards of 15,000 orders per month, Swaggle needed a solution that would provide reliability, scalability, and the power to seamlessly integrate with future systems.

“It was necessary for us to have a tool that will allow us to connect with multiple fronts,” said Modh, reflecting Swaggle’s desire for a platform that could handle not only Shopify and NetSuite but also future applications like 3PLs, fulfillment partners, and a dynamic inventory system. This was when Swaggle turned to Celigo.

The solution

Enter Celigo, the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) and a game-changer for Swaggle’s integration woes. Built on a low-code framework, Celigo offered Swaggle’s lean team the ability to set up robust, scalable connections without complex coding in just a few short weeks. With Celigo, Swaggle could swiftly bridge Shopify and NetSuite, stabilize order flows, and bring an end to the constant troubleshooting that had plagued their operations.

“Celigo has been a great tool for us. It’s low-code, no code, and it supports our philosophy of speed to market,” said Sette.

The speed of implementation proved crucial. Swaggle’s MVP launch was set to take place over the holiday season, a peak period for any retailer, therefore the team were worried about any potential hiccups. Fortunately, Celigo’s platform proved rock solid.

Modh remembers the anticipation: “I was going to be away for a couple of weeks during Christmas, which is when we had the MVP launch, and we were panicked about what would happen if some things didn’t go to plan. Luckily, I don’t think I received a single phone call or message about any issues while I was away.”

Celigo’s low-code platform also empowered Swaggle to react quickly to industry shifts. When rising costs from their original fulfillment partner threatened their budget, Swaggle integrated an alternative partner through Celigo, avoiding the need for labor-intensive code rewrites.

“Without Celigo, we would have to manually write code and do things to get something from end to end,” Sette said.

The bottom line

Swaggle’s integration story with Celigo reflects the essence of agility. With Celigo, they not only achieved reliable order processing, but they also found freedom from the manual troubleshooting that previously slowed them down. As Mrudul put it, “We’re not talking about the errors anymore. It was as smooth as it could potentially be.”

In the finance department, the impact was equally significant. Sette shared that Celigo’s solutions for Swaggle’s reconciliation processes increased efficiency by 200%, freeing up crucial time to focus on growth.

“Celigo’s endpoints and bank connections are increasing our finance coordinator’s time efficiency by 200%,” Sette said.

With Celigo in their corner, Swaggle has a powerful integration solution that supports their ambitions and empowers them to keep innovating in a highly competitive landscape. Swaggle is primed for future growth, ready to scale its operations and deliver uniquely tailored pet care experiences — without sacrificing agility or speed.

In an industry that often comes down to price competition, Swaggle has found a way to stand out by focusing on personalisation and customer experience. And with Celigo, they’ve built the integration backbone to keep those promises.