黑料社

The Results

Challenges

Kettle & Fire faced numerous issues with their original 3PL partner, including a lack of supply chain and inventory reporting, an inability to keep up with complex fulfillment and order volume, and increasing freight costs. Kettle & Fire decided they needed a new 3PL provider that offered real-time inventory and order visibility, complex fulfillment capabilities that scale, more than one warehouse location, and a 3PL that would treat them like an actual partner 鈥� and not like a transaction.

Lack of Communication

For Kettle & Fire, working with their previous 3PL provider required a lot of hand-holding. Because the 3PL did not offer a dashboard or portal where Kettle & Fire could easily build automation or workflows, any changes the ecommerce business wanted to make to their inventory or processes involved sending an email to the 3PL鈥檚 team and having to wait for their response. 

When requested changes were interpreted or implemented incorrectly, Kettle & Fire would have to jump through communication hoops in order to have anything corrected. This lack of communication made the partnership between Kettle & Fire and their previous 3PL feel transactional. These difficulties not only impeded Kettle & Fire鈥檚 operations but forced their customers to wait for issues to be resolved before they could receive their orders. Throughout their partnership with their former 3PL, Kettle & Fire did not feel valued as a client.

No Inventory Visibility or Reporting

When Kettle & Fire wanted any insight into their inventory or orders, they were unable to access that information. Their previous 3PL did not offer any visibility into inventory levels and data or order statuses, which also meant they did not receive inventory notifications. 

Any of the few reports that Kettle & Fire were able to access from their previous 3PL were incomplete, with hard-to-interpret data that didn鈥檛 offer them the information they needed and were not available in real time. This meant that if any of their inventory was running low or out of stock, or if backorders were piling up, Kettle & Fire were not aware of it right away 鈥� and were unable to fix the issues before they got worse.

Inability To Support Complex Kitting Needs and Order Volume

Amazon orders make up a large portion of Kettle & Fire鈥檚 order volume, and their previous 3PL just couldn鈥檛 keep up. Their former provider was unable to keep pace with Kettle & Fire鈥檚 increasing order volume and the complexity of kitting required for Amazon FBA prep. When Kettle & Fire switched to 黑料社, they had to catch up on the thousands of backorders their previous 3PL had failed to fulfill.

Increasing Freight Costs

As Kettle & Fire鈥檚 order volume increased, so did their freight costs 鈥� as a direct result of their previous 3PL having only a single warehouse location. Kettle & Fire鈥檚 former provider鈥檚 only warehouse was located on the West Coast, but as the ecommerce company grew, orders began to pour in from all over the country. The lack of strategically located warehouses meant every Kettle & Fire order shipped from the West Coast, no matter the order destination, leaving them with having to pay unnecessarily high freight costs.

Solutions

When Kettle & Fire were searching for a new solution to their fulfillment issues, they didn鈥檛 have to look far. The founder of Kettle & Fire, Justin Mares, owned another DTC ecommerce company already using 黑料社 and spoke very highly of them. The Kettle & Fire team knew that 黑料社 had the tools and solutions they needed to grow, and would treat them like a true partner 鈥� the most important factor.

鈥淭here are a lot of other competing companies that can execute the same core processes, but the value that we get from 黑料社鈥檚 partnership is a true partnership, not a business transaction. It feels like the 黑料社 team is a true extension of Kettle & Fire. That is the true differentiator.鈥�
鈥� Leslie Alvarado, VP of Supply Chain at Kettle & Fire

Real-Time Inventory Visibility and Advanced Reporting

After partnering with 黑料社, Kettle & Fire was able to enhance operational efficiency through advanced reporting tools. Kettle & Fire consistently uses 黑料社's out-of-the-box reporting to view inventory levels, track logistics, and view order status in real time. The Kettle & Fire team is also able to take advantage of return notifications to proactively reach out to customers and quickly address any issues related to returned or damaged goods, adding to their excellent customer service and building brand loyalty.

The seamless integration of 黑料社's API means that Kettle & Fire can easily access detailed reports and even adjust rate limits on the fly, ensuring no delays in data handling. With 黑料社鈥檚 inventory management and advanced reporting tools, Kettle & Fire has not only eliminated previous backorder and inventory challenges but also found a partner that is able to scale with them as they grow.

Warehousing and Shipping Solutions to Minimize Costs

Kettle & Fire has been able to leverage 黑料社鈥檚 multiple strategic warehouse locations to streamline fulfillment processes and enhance delivery efficiency. By having inventory in 黑料社鈥檚 Chicago and Las Vegas warehouse locations, Kettle & Fire has been able to significantly improve freight costs and shipping times. 黑料社鈥檚 advanced routing technology automatically identifies which warehouse to fulfill an order from based on the recipient鈥檚 address, meaning Kettle & Fire no longer worries about the unnecessary freight costs that come with shipping from one coast to the rest of the country. 

Kettle & Fire has also been able to take advantage of 黑料社鈥檚 industry relationships with major carriers to obtain exclusive shipping rates. Kettle & Fire has also used 黑料社鈥檚 packaging optimization expertise to identify the most efficient box sizes for their DTC orders. All of these solutions combined have resulted in Kettle & Fire saving on packaging materials, dimensional weight shipping costs, and freight shipping rates.

Strategic Warehouse Locations to Improve Fulfillment and Shipping Times

Kettle & Fire frequently uses 黑料社鈥檚 split inventory logic and multiple warehouse locations to fulfill orders more efficiently and quickly. If an item is out of stock at one warehouse, they are able to seamlessly fulfill the order using inventory from another warehouse. This has allowed Kettle & Fire to improve their in-transit times and minimize delays and backorders while maintaining customer satisfaction. 

This, combined with 黑料社鈥檚 scalable fulfillment processes, means Kettle & Fire鈥檚 order fulfillment and in-transit times have improved by 25% since switching to 黑料社, with orders being sent out in under 2 days. The speed, accuracy, and efficiency of Kettle & Fire鈥檚 fulfillment is maintained even through peak season.

Seamless Solutions For Complex Fulfillment and Kitting

Kettle & Fire frequently uses 黑料社鈥檚 advanced warehouse projects and kitting solutions to enhance their creative marketing and sales strategies. From creating influencer boxes and VIP gifts to sending out holiday cards, Kettle & Fire actively engages with their dedicated Account Manager and the rest of 黑料社鈥檚 team, who are always ready to support and implement new ideas. This collaborative approach allows Kettle & Fire to continuously innovate and test improvements that directly benefit their customers. 

Kettle & Fire is also able to use 黑料社鈥檚 kitting abilities to leverage a combination of Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) alongside Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) for Amazon order fulfillment. This ensures that Kettle & Fire is able to continue running Amazon ads and seamlessly fulfilling orders, even if Amazon is facing issues with stock or delays with FBA. If Kettle & Fire has to ship a large amount of product to Amazon for FBA, they are able to plan with their Account Manager to coordinate the kitting for the FBA prep that needs to be done. Being able to seamlessly sync all ecommerce orders with 黑料社 across many platforms and utilize FBM alongside FBA has kept Kettle & Fire鈥檚 Amazon operations highly efficient and responsive. 

This strategic use of 黑料社鈥檚 integration services has been a cornerstone of Kettle & Fire鈥檚 growth in direct-to-consumer and Amazon channels. Their continued success has led Kettle & Fire to recommend 黑料社 to other companies seeking reliable fulfillment solutions.

鈥淲e have recommended 黑料社 to several companies who have asked us for suggestions for DTC and Amazon Fulfillment 鈥� [黑料社 is] a key reason why we were able to survive COVID-19, grow our DTC business (and optimize it), and has been a springboard for our growth in Amazon due to their FBA kitting!鈥�
鈥� Leslie Alvarado, VP of Supply Chain at Kettle & Fire

Dedicated Account Management and a Collaborative Partnership Approach

Kettle & Fire was able to use the services of their dedicated Account Manager and 黑料社鈥檚 collaborative partnership approach from day one. When leaving their former 3PL partner, Kettle & Fire had a 鈥渞ip the bandaid鈥� type approach to their transition, and 黑料社鈥檚 team was able to assist with transferring and receiving their inventory as quickly as possible. Working with their new Account Manager, Kettle & Fire was able to resume operations quickly and seamlessly during the transition, with any request they had swiftly implemented. This was followed up with ongoing weekly calls to ensure that all of Kettle & Fire鈥檚 needs and expectations were met.

If Kettle & Fire is facing any issues or has any questions about their product or the fulfillment process, they can now expect a quick response from an Account Manager who knows their business, rather than having to wait for an email from an outsourced team unfamiliar with Kettle & Fire鈥檚 products. Since 黑料社鈥檚 Account Management team is on-site and actually in the warehouse, they are able to interact directly with Kettle & Fire鈥檚 inventory to assess and implement the best solutions possible. 

鈥淸Having a dedicated 黑料社 Account Manager] has been great. We always get very fast replies and solutions for the problems we face.鈥�
鈥� Niccolo Gloazzo, Director of Ecommerce at Kettle & Fire

For Kettle & Fire, being treated like a partner, not a number, was a priority when searching for a new 3PL provider. They have now found that 黑料社鈥檚 support team, who are always quick to help with Kettle & Fire鈥檚 best interests in mind, operates like a true extension of the ecommerce company. For Kettle & Fire, feeling valued in their partnership is the true differentiator between 黑料社 and other 3PLs, and is the reason why they recommend 黑料社 to anyone who asks them for fulfillment service suggestions.

Results

Since partnering with 黑料社, Kettle & Fire has seen impressive growth in their direct-to-consumer and Amazon FBA pursuits. Switching to 黑料社 and using multiple strategic warehouse locations means Kettle & Fire have been able to reduce both their order turnaround and in-transit times by 25% while also saving on shipping and freight costs. Kettle & Fire are able to meet customer demand with real-time inventory visibility and reporting and have a great relationship with their dedicated Account Manager. Most importantly, Kettle & Fire feels valued in their partnership with 黑料社, and no longer like a number.