Ten years ago, every Finnish company finally got the same opportunity to ship packages as large international players. Shipit was launched in June 2016 and that's when a story began that we are now celebrating. Over the years, we have grown into a comprehensive transport management system serving everyone from individual small entrepreneurs and online stores to large publicly listed companies.
It started with a simple observation
It all began with a question every small business owner recognizes: why does a package from Germany to Finland cost a fraction of what the same package costs the other way around?
Shipit's CEO Lari Pihlajapuro noticed that Finnish companies were stuck with an unfair cost structure. International trade often hit a wall when freight costs nearly as much as the product being sold. International and larger players could negotiate their prices down, but competitive freight rates were out of reach for a growing online store or a small exporter.
The solution came down to three words: faster, easier, and more affordable.
Making the service a reality meant convincing the carriers first
Turning the idea into a working service required more than technology — it required patience. And plenty of it.
"Not all carriers were immediately excited about the idea. I think we sent Schenker around 50 emails in different formats before we got the green light," Pihlajapuro recalls.
"But we fought our way through, because we wanted to give every company the same opportunities as the international players."
Step by step, trust was built, customer accounts were opened, and partnerships were formed. Shipit's customers gained access to all carrier services with a single registration — no contract negotiations, no minimum volumes.
Launch and first steps
The launch was delayed by six months due to an external update, time that was used to produce every possible guide for the site. The first release went smoothly. The first customer had managed to select the one add-on service that no one had thought to test, and the job was dug out of the data by the developer.
In August 2016, the Shipit team was buzzing with excitement: the first freight job had been completed. It was a canoe shipment from France to Finland, and that single job accounted for well over half of the entire month's revenue.
"Was it 50, or maybe 60–70 percent — a solid 500 euros either way," Pihlajapuro laughs.
In the early days, all kinds of things were tried. For a while, Shipit was part of the tori.fi world, until monthly costs tripled and customer enquiries started reaching the level of: "The freight is booked and I've already dismantled the bunk bed into pieces — there's no way I'm going to pack it."
Manual work was part of everyday life in the beginning. When the first customer requested invoicing, a CSV-based system was built where the accountant compiled the invoices and they were sent out manually by email. This continued until around 200 invoices were going out per month.
"In the beginning, I didn't even know what an API was. That and a couple of other things have become very familiar over the years," Pihlajapuro recalls.
From a small team to a growing organisation
In the early years, Lari and COO Sami handled everything themselves: sales, customer service, and everything in between. Sami even personally collected one shipment from an elderly lady's basement to make sure the package, in this case, photo albums, made it on its way.
On the technical side, the collaboration with Site Logic was close from the very beginning, and eventually Site Logic's developer Joni joined Shipit's own ranks — and has been part of the team ever since.
When sales exceeded €3.9 million, it was time to hire the first employee. We brought on Jonna, who is still with us today, currently serving as Customer Service Team Leader.
One registration, one system, and all carriers
In the early days, registrations came in one by one. But gradually, the service found its way to more and more Finnish companies and today, Shipit has helped over 40,000 business customers manage their shipments more efficiently. Along the way, we have seen countless companies grow from small operators into major players, and Shipit has been there to support that growth.
Today, the platform connects dozens of carriers, supports ERP and WMS integrations, offers dozens of ready-made e-commerce integrations along with its own Shopify integration and a comprehensive API — serving both an individual online store and the logistics department of a publicly listed company.
Ten years, the same mission
Over the years, Shipit has expanded, grown, and evolved, but the mission has remained the same: to improve Finland's competitiveness by providing a smooth, fast, and cost-effective way to manage shipments domestically and internationally.
The values on which the business was built: customer focus, innovation, responsibility, reliability, and collaboration — remain the foundation on which every new feature, partnership, and customer interaction is built.
"The ultimate goal of the service is to offer Finnish businesses the right shipping methods for all their sending needs, while at the same time improving Finland's competitiveness on the world stage," Lari Pihlajapuro wrote in Shipit's early days. Ten years on, it still holds true.
That is why we are here — and why we continue
Ten years ago, Shipit was born from one simple desire: to level the playing field and give small companies the same opportunities as large ones. That hasn't changed.
Every customer, whether a solo online merchant or a large international operator, receives the same attention, the same service, and the same commitment: to make shipping easier, faster, and more affordable than before.
In ten years, we have grown, developed, and learned enormously.
But one thing has remained the same from the very beginning: the customer always comes first. That is the reason we are here, and the reason we continue.