A rather unexpected parcel arrived at BlueCyborg HQ this week, a Shopify award marking more than 10,000 orders processed through the store since 2023.
It is a milestone I am genuinely proud of, not only because of the number itself, but because of what sits behind it.
At the beginning of 2023, I made the decision to move the BlueCyborg website from OpenCart to Shopify.
OpenCart had served the business well, but I had reached a point where I was spending too much of my time developing the website, installing updates, fixing problems and making sure everything remained safe and secure for customers.
All of that work mattered, but it was taking time away from the parts of the business that actually needed me.
I wanted to spend more time helping customers, processing orders, finding new stock, developing products, preparing for events and generally running BlueCyborg, rather than constantly working on the machinery behind the website.
Moving to Shopify allowed me to do that.
Since making the switch, more than 10,000 orders have passed through the system.
BlueCyborg is still entirely run by one person, so I have personally processed every one of those orders. I have picked the products, packed the parcels, answered the messages and dealt with every customer who has needed help.
That makes 10,000 feel like a much bigger number.
It represents thousands of boxes, envelopes, labels, rolls of tape and journeys to get parcels on their way. It also includes countless conversations at conventions, online orders placed from across the UK and plenty of familiar names returning again and again.
One figure I am especially pleased with is the number of returns.
Despite BlueCyborg having a very generous returns policy, only four items have been returned during those 10,000 orders.
That does not mean mistakes never happen. They do, especially when one person is handling everything. However, it suggests that customers are generally receiving the products they expected, properly described, carefully packed and ready to use.
For a small independent retailer, trust matters far more than any order counter.
So, thank you to everyone who has bought something from BlueCyborg since the move to Shopify. Whether you ordered a single set of dice, discovered us at a convention, returned for another hand-painted original or simply recommended the shop to someone else, you helped make this possible.
There is no warehouse team hidden behind the website and no packing department processing the orders.
It is still just me, packing them one at a time.
Apparently, I have now done that more than 10,000 times.