Customer Success Story: Thomann

Efficiency through process automation: Music retailer Thomann relies on claim.me for carrier claims management

With increasing shipment volumes and varying carrier requirements, claims management at Thomann has become increasingly complex and timeconsuming.

Thanks to claim.me, the music retailer has now established centralized, digital processes – reducing manual effort while enhancing transparency and efficiency.

Carrier claims: A cost driver with untapped potential

Data from Seven Senders shows that 3 out of every 1,000 parcels result in dispute cases. Of these, 50 percent qualify for a refund from the carrier. For every million parcels shipped, the number of claims amounts to 1,500. With a net order value of €100 per parcel, this can add up to as much as €150,000 in potential annual refunds. Inefficient and non-transparent carrier claim handling not only frustrates customer service teams and end customers, but it also leaves significant financial potential untapped.

The music retailer from Bamberg set out to find an efficient solution for claims processing. As Thomann continues to grow, scalability plays an important role, especially in claims management. Some carriers require claims to be submitted via email, which demands a large number of customized templates. Others use their own online portals, requiring all customer service agents to have individual access.

The training effort for these diverse processes is extensive. Tracking ongoing claims also proves difficult. “We wanted to eliminate the variety of processes used by different carriers,’’ says Lauerer.

Thomann’s path to a centralized claims system with claim.me

Thomann faced challenges similar to those Seven Senders had already overcome within its own customer service operations. Through a long-standing cooperation with Seven Senders in parcel shipping, Thomann learned about the claim.me software and decided to implement it within its own customer service processes. Thomann explains: “Together with our claims team, we identified the need for action and set out to find a solution that would quickly deliver improvements. claim.me is the right tool for this, offering us easy access to optimisation.”

Claims are an important issue for many businesses, but until now, there have been few solutions on the market that address this challenge. One option is to build an internal ticketing system, develop interfaces with every service provider, and optimize processes with each individual provider. However, this is often very time-consuming and cost-intensive. “claim.me is significantly easier and faster to use,” says Daniel Lauerer.

claim.me enables Thomann to consolidate all claim processes and streamline both submission and tracking:
“We can respond to carrier inquiries through the portal, view claim statuses at any time, and file appeals directly in the event of a rejection. We now operate within a single system. Approved claims are still paid directly to us by the parcel service provider.” Thomann currently estimates 15,000 to 20,000 claims per year: “We don’t have exact figures, which is another reason why a claims solution was – and still is – so important,” says Lauerer.

The first claims were submitted in November 2024 for DHL shipments within Germany, and claim.me has now been fully integrated into Thomann’s operations. “We’re a pilot customer for claim.me, and we can say that the collaboration is going very well. Any challenges that arise are resolved quickly and effectively. DHL is already well connected, and automation at UPS is still in progress.”

More transparency, efficient processes, and continuous improvement of the claims process

Users at Thomann who work with claim.me are enthusiastic about the support. Lauerer reports: “The feedback we receive is consistently positive. It’s great to be able to approach the claims process in a structured way and to engage in dialogue with service providers, some of whom also recognize the need for improvement in their own claims processes. It’s good to talk about it, reset everything, cleaning things up, and streamline where possible.

The goal is to use claim.me across all markets, enabling all claims to be submitted and tracked through a single system. The solution is also designed to determine a claim rate and improve it continuously. Lauerer concludes: “This service helps us create more transparency and better support the teams. We don’t just want to process individual claims efficiently; we also want to learn from the data and keep improving. We are very happy with the collaboration because claim.me truly responds to our needs and quickly delivers new features to the tool.”

Our other articles

Customer Success Story: Thomann

Efficiency through process automation: Music retailer Thomann relies on claim.me for carrier claims management

Carrier claims: A cost driver with untapped potential

Thomann’s path to a centralized claims system with claim.me

More transparency, efficient processes, and continuous improvement of the claims process

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