Meet the Winners of the 2020 Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade
While at ShipStation we’ve run a similar Sweepstakes the past 5 years, this was our first year partnering with our friends at ShippingEasy, ShipEngine, and ShipWorks to offer our best Sweepstakes yet: The Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade.
This was also our first year hosting a ShipStation Prize Draw for our users in the UK, which meant that we were able to help support two ecommerce businesses with tools and hardware ranging from label printers and a free year of shipping software, to custom branded packaging from our friends at Noissue.
After sending all of our 7,000+ submissions off for a random draw, we’re excited to finally announce our winners for 2020.
Congratulations to Moroscos Antiques and Littlewine for winning the Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade!
We sat down with each winner (on Zoom) to learn more about their businesses and how they plan to use their grand prize to help make shipping out orders easier and more efficient. Feel free to catch up with our Q&A, below!
Meet Our US Winner:
Joe Champan of Moroscos Antiques
Based in San Diego, CA
Tell us more about Moroscos Antiques. How did you get started and what is your mission?
As an adult, my brother and I had a business for a short time together. He continued in the antique business and now has an auction house in Texas, but I took the corporate route for a while and worked in finance and computer industries. I still loved antiques, so I continued to dabble in antiques as a hobby. About 20 years ago I started my online business when I was between jobs, and 10 years ago I decided to take on Moroscos Antiques full time.
My goal is to find unusual items and make them available to others who don’t have the time and the resources to look for these timepieces for their homes.
I’m also committed to respecting the environment. The antiques, the quality, and the craftsmanship of the antiques make them environmentally friendly. You feel good to know that what you have has already been around for 75 to 100 — or even hundreds of — years. And they keep their value, unlike new things. By making antiques available we keep junk out of the landfills and reduce manufacturing waste.
What are some of the coolest antiques you’ve found?
I’ve sold just about anything — from a 1930s fire engine to carousel horses and grand pianos. The coolest thing I have for sale right now is a cool Chinese vase. It’s hard to say how old it is. It could be a couple of hundred years old, but it might be newer. The craftsmanship is beautiful. It may be hard to notice, but it’s three separate pieces put together by the artist.
What do you plan to do with the Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade?
The tools are perfect for streamlining shipping! The printer looks fantastic, but all of the different tools will definitely be an upgrade for my shipping process. With ShipStation, I’m able to import my orders from multiple platforms into one place and being able to select the best shipping feature, and being able to print all my labels at once — even for multiple carriers — that’s so helpful.
What plans do you have for Moroscos Antiques during the holidays and for 2021?
It’s fun to go out and find things. Once there are no longer any COVID-19 restrictions we have now, I’m planning to open a small showroom in San Diego, by appointment only. Also, there are some nice outdoor swap meets in Southern California that I hope to participate in the new year.
Meet our UK Winner:
Daniela Pillhofer of Littlewine
Based in London, UK
Tell us more about Littlewine. How did you get started, and what is your mission?
Littlewine really just launched and kicked off this year, in April during the middle of the pandemic. I’m one of the two female co-founders in a heavily male-dominated industry, and we love to take that up as a challenge. We started as a bottle shop, and now also offer a wine club where you can receive between 2 and 6 bottles every month.
We’ve always had the promise that it’s not just about selling wine online — because I actually think it’s nicer to do in the shop — but we decided if we’re going to do something online it needs to be a little different. Our goal is to connect winemakers and consumers directly and bring what’s behind the bottle in front of the consumer.
We’re rooted in transparency and storytelling and are looking to connect people and nature through the lens of wine. And we also have a strong culture of sustainability — from our packaging to how we source and stock our wine.
What do you plan to do with the Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade?
Many of the prizes are already something we work with. The Noissue stickers and water-activated tape, for example, are things we’ve been using for our packaging since the beginning. We also considered getting an iPad for our logistics but didn’t really fit into our bootstrap budget at the moment. So, the Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade came in real handy! It’s still the early days for our brand, so everything helps!
What plans do you have for Littlewine during the holidays and for 2021?
Right now we’re in the process of fundraising. It’s still very early days for us. And I think fundraising is a very important element as soon as you realize you need others to believe in you to scale to different stages. Currently, we’re only shipping in the UK so that we can maintain the promise of offsetting all of the emissions from our shipments. It is our hope to explore more opportunities to expand to other markets in the near future.
Congratulations again to both of our Ultimate Ecommerce Upgrade winners! We’re so happy to help support all of our users during this busy holiday season, and enjoy highlighting businesses pursuing their ecommerce dreams. Stay tuned for our Holiday Gift Guide to see more of our users and their giftable products— from brands both big and small.
