Overview
Shipping food nationwide is expensive, especially if your product is perishable and requires expedited overnight delivery. Carriers want you to ship large volumes to achieve better discounts. But how do you reach those minimums when it costs you more than your product price just to ship a package?
Appleton’s Market Power Veggie Bites are sold in retailers and delivered to customers nationwide. Their fresh-frozen bites do not contain preservatives, so are very perishable and need to be shipped overnight.
The Challenge
A year ago, when they launched, Appleton's Market was only starting to build up volume. Carriers required that they ship around 100 packages per day minimum to extend further shipping discounts.
“When we launched we were in the middle of a pandemic. At the time, carrier ground services were backed up beyond anything we had ever seen - one shipment took 5 days to travel 30 miles and spoiled in transit. Yet spending $80 to overnight a $40 order was never going to make business sense.”
- Christina Appleton, Founder and CEO.
Carriers did not offer cost-effective solutions in a very crucial time. The entire food industry was uprooted overnight and avoiding shipping was not and still isn’t an option.
“The DTC model had to work because that is what customers demanded - the convenience and safety of having products shipped to their door.” she says.
The Solution
We've helped them break out of this chicken-and-egg dilemma. VNDR is a shipping platform that empowers perishable brands to scale, no matter how much or how little they ship. As Appleton’s Market was beginning to grow their e-commerce business, they did not have to worry about volume minimums, monthly fees, or extravagant shipping costs. They simply paid for what they shipped, providing the flexibility they needed as a start-up.
“There were no minimums or costs for us to join. We simply paid for our shipments when we decided to ship. This made it a very easy decision, why wouldn’t we want to save on shipping?”
Their shipping costs were cut to less than half as soon as they started using the platform. This opened up the entire country as their playing field so they could quickly scale to new markets. VNDR even protected their packages with time-in-transit insurance in case of delays and spoiled products, so they could ensure a positive customer experience and ship anywhere in the US with confidence.
The Result
Partnering with VNDR for their shipping needs helped Appleton’s Market launch in new markets, save a ton on shipping, protect their packages, and scale their business without any restrictions. The stable overnight shipping rates regardless of volume allowed them to make long term plans in expansion while keeping their COGS in check.
“VNDR has built an incredibly user-friendly interface that works really well with my Shopify store. It is a great one-stop shop to see all of my rate and configuration options and pick the one that works best for my business. Having the ability to send my products overnight has led to a lot of delighted customers and repeat business!”
How much did shipping with VNDR impact their business? Appleton’s Market grew their DTC business by 75% in the past year while paying 55% less on shipping and expanded from the west coast all the way to NYC.
“It came in clutch right when we needed it most and as we continue expanding VNDR is saving us thousands per week on shipping.”
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How does it work?
Never Ship Alone
Through our shipping community of 600+ perishable CPG brands, we can tap into rates only available to the largest companies in America. Our customers have saved hundreds of thousands in shipping fees in the past year alone. You can do the same by integrating VNDR with your store today.
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VNDR enabled us to ship our products even faster to our customers WHILE ALSO making it cheaper. Most of all, the platform is easy to use and their customer support is stellar. So happy to have partnered with them.
(CEO & Founder)
Before partnering with VNDR, we had no choice but to pass on our high shipping costs to customers which prevented many from ordering. Most of the negative feedback that we received had to do with the cost of our Overnight Shipping. VNDR has allowed us to decrease our flat rate shipping fees and offer Free Shipping nationwide for orders of $100 or more. We've seen a big uptick in orders from customers around the country.
(CEO)
VNDR has built an incredibly user-friendly interface that works really well with my Shopify store. It is a great one-stop shop to see all of my rate and configuration options and pick the one that works best for my business. Having the ability to send my products overnight has led to a lot of delighted customers and repeat business!
(CEO & Founder)
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