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In eCommerce, delivery is often treated as an operational necessity.
It needs to be fast, reliable and affordable. But how much can delivery actually influence whether someone buys, how much they're willing to pay and how they experience a brand?
At sync, we welcomed Douglas Holm, Head of Online at Myrqvist, alongside Sam Gibbons, Delivery & Returns Consultant at Ingrid, to explore how the footwear brand has turned delivery from a logistical challenge into a commercial opportunity.
Founded in Stockholm in 2016, Myrqvist was built around a simple idea: create timeless, high-quality footwear at a fair price. Designed in Sweden and handmade by skilled artisans in Portugal, the brand combines Scandinavian minimalism with traditional craftsmanship. From the beginning, Myrqvist has operated as a direct-to-consumer ecommerce brand, using Shopify to serve customers across 12 markets worldwide.
But international growth brought new challenges.
Managing multiple websites, four fulfilment stores, two 3PLs and increasingly complex delivery routes meant fulfilment could quickly become both a cost and customer experience challenge. The solution wasn't simply to find cheaper shipping. It was to rethink delivery altogether.
Delivery is more than an operational cost
The session began with a simple question: who has ever had a bad delivery experience? Almost everyone has a story.
A parcel that arrives late. An inaccurate delivery window. Unexpected delivery costs at checkout. An order split across multiple deliveries with no clear explanation. These might seem like small operational issues, but they can have a significant impact on the customer relationship.
As Sam put it, “There’s one untapped revenue and commercial lever left in ecommerce and that is delivery.”
For Ingrid, the opportunity is to move beyond simply managing delivery operations. Its agentic operating system learns from every order, every carrier scan and every shopper choice. It turns that context into decisions, so each customer gets offered more personalised delivery options.
For Myrqvist, this became particularly important as the business scaled internationally.
Turning delivery pricing into a data-driven decision
One of Myrqvist's biggest challenges was understanding how much customers were actually willing to pay for delivery. There is a natural tension between what it costs a retailer to fulfil an order and what a customer is prepared to pay for that service.
Get the balance wrong and either the retailer absorbs too much of the cost or the customer reaches checkout and decides the price isn't worth it.
For Douglas and the Myrqvist team, having the right tools meant they could start testing rather than guessing. “With Ingrid we're able to A/B test, which has proved really helpful in really pushing how much we're able to charge customers for what we call premium options.”
The results speak for themselves… By A/B testing their express delivery pricing, Myrqvist discovered they could increase the price from £9 to £15 without impacting conversion. They also reduced delivery costs by 40% by introducing free access point delivery, with a locker pre-selected at checkout. After consolidating their Shopify storefronts, they cut the operational work required by 92%.
Together, these results show how Myrqvist is using experimentation and smarter tooling to make more informed decisions, turning assumptions into measurable results.
Instead of treating delivery as a fixed cost, delivery could become something that could be tested and optimised. That becomes increasingly important as an international business grows and fulfilment costs have a bigger impact on the P&L.
Scaling internationally without scaling complexity
Myrqvist's delivery journey was partly driven by a very practical problem.
At one point, the team was managing seven different websites across markets. Today, the business has four stores that also act as fulfilment centres, alongside two 3PLs. That creates significant logistical complexity, particularly when orders need to be routed through different locations or split across multiple shipments.
For a team of just seven people, efficiency is critical.
The challenge is not only reducing fulfilment costs, but making sure that operational complexity doesn't become the customer's problem. As Douglas explained, managing split shipping and post-purchase information through separate emails and SMS messages can be confusing for customers.
Bringing that information together through a branded tracking experience on Myrqvist's own website creates an opportunity to make delivery feel much more seamless.
Make delivery part of the customer experience
One of the biggest challenges Myrqvist faced was providing accurate delivery information at checkout. Behind the scenes, the business has multiple fulfilment locations and logistics partners. But from the customer's perspective, the question is much simpler: When will my order arrive?
For Douglas, creating a more connected tracking experience is an important part of delivering the premium experience customers expect from the brand, and that experience shouldn't start at checkout.
Sam highlighted the importance of showing delivery options much earlier in the customer journey, including directly on the product detail page. “We're big advocates of showing your customers directly on the PDP all the different services that you have.”
A retailer might advertise free standard delivery on the product page, but only reveal other delivery options once the customer reaches checkout. By then, it may be too late.
Customers increasingly compare the full purchase experience across retailers, and delivery can play a role in whether they complete their purchase or look elsewhere. As Sam explained, even search traffic can be affected by how delivery information is presented. The implication is clear: delivery is part of the proposition, not simply an operational detail.
What's next for Myrqvist?
For Myrqvist, the next stage is about making delivery information even more connected across the customer journey.
One of Douglas's ambitions is to make all relevant data fully visible to agents. Imagine a customer asking for a pair of loafers for a wedding on Friday. Rather than simply knowing whether the shoe is in stock, the agent should be able to understand whether it can actually arrive in time. That means connecting product availability, fulfilment locations, delivery options and estimated arrival dates into one view.
The team also wants to integrate tracking and returns more closely with its support system, creating a smoother experience for both customers and the teams supporting them.
The lessons from Myrqvist's delivery strategy
Myrqvist's experience highlights several lessons for eCommerce brands looking to scale internationally.
Treat delivery as a commercial lever.
Delivery doesn't have to be viewed purely as a cost. Testing different options and prices can help retailers understand what customers value and are willing to pay for.
Use data to make delivery decisions.
A/B testing and delivery data can provide a clearer picture of customer behaviour than assumptions alone.
Don't hide delivery until checkout.
If delivery influences the purchase decision, customers need to know about their options early in the journey.
Make complexity invisible to the customer.
Behind the scenes, Myrqvist has multiple fulfilment locations, 3PLs and routing considerations. Customers simply need clear information about when their order will arrive.
Ultimately, Myrqvist's story shows that international growth isn't just about entering new markets. It's about building the infrastructure that allows a brand to scale without allowing operational complexity to become the customer's problem.
Delivery sits right at the centre of that challenge.
Done well, it can reduce costs, create new revenue opportunities and give customers more control over how they receive their orders. Perhaps most importantly, it can become another way for a brand to differentiate itself.
For Myrqvist, the opportunity is no longer simply to deliver a pair of shoes. It's to make the entire delivery experience feel as considered as the product itself.
