The problem isn't a missing feature, but what gets lost between systems

Across dozens of conversations with subscription brands, one pattern keeps surfacing more than any other: it's not that their subscription platform is missing a capability. It's that the systems around it don't share information.

A subscriber updates their card at checkout. The subscription platform never finds out, and the subscriber gets a dunning notice for a payment that actually went through. A subscriber pays their annual renewal through the storefront directly. The subscription platform doesn't see the payment and cancels them anyway. A subscriber changes their address. The subscription platform keeps the old one, and the next box goes to a house they don't live in anymore.

None of these are edge cases, and none of them are caused by a subscription tool doing its job badly. They're caused by billing, storefront, and fulfillment living in three different systems that were never built to update each other, so somebody finds out about the problem after the customer already has.

Nothing has to wait to be noticed

A card update. A pause. A new address. When a subscriber does something, it shouldn't take a separate system, a separate team, or a customer complaint for the rest of the business to catch up. Stord Subscriptions is built so a subscriber's action reaches billing, the storefront, and fulfillment the moment it happens, because all three run on Stord One Commerce, the same platform already handling checkout and fulfillment for ecommerce brands, instead of three systems someone has to keep in sync by hand.

Fixing the churn nobody's actually looking at

Most conversations about subscription churn focus on product fit or customer satisfaction. The bigger, quieter problem is structural. Recurly's research puts involuntary churn, the kind caused by failed payments rather than a customer wanting to leave, at 20 to 40% of total churn across subscription businesses. That's revenue walking out the door because a card expired or a retry never happened, not because anyone made a decision to cancel.

Stord's billing engine is built to close that gap: automatic retry logic, safeguards against duplicate charges or missed billing events, and alerts before a payment failure turns into a lost subscriber.

Give subscribers the option they actually want

Recurly's research also found that 38% of subscribers would rather pause a subscription than cancel it outright, if they had the option. Most tools make cancellation the easy path and treat pause as an afterthought, if it exists at all.

Stord Subscriptions gives customers self-serve controls to pause, skip, delay, or reschedule without opening a support ticket. It's a small design choice with a real effect: a subscriber who can pause for a month is a subscriber who's still a subscriber next quarter.

The moment right before someone leaves

We’re building configurable cancellation experiences that understand why someone wants to leave and give brands another path to preserve the relationship, from targeted offers to changes that better fit what the subscriber needs. Because the earlier a brand can offer a subscriber something other than goodbye, the more of those subscribers stay.

Same storefront, stronger engine underneath

None of this requires rebuilding a storefront. Subscription options appear alongside one-time purchases on existing Shopify product pages, using the same checkout experience customers already know. What changes is what happens after checkout: billing runs automatically, renewal orders are created on schedule, and everything flows into the same fulfillment workflow already in place.

The blind spot other platforms don't have to deal with

There's one part of the subscription lifecycle almost no subscription platform touches at all: what happens to the warehouse when a renewal spike hits, when a bestseller goes on backorder mid-cycle, or when demand planning doesn't account for how many subscribers just churned. Subscription software generally stops at the order. Stord doesn't, because fulfillment has always been part of what we do. It's not a bolt-on feature, it's the same infrastructure already running the physical side of the business.

Moving off your current subscription tool

Ask brands what actually scares them about switching platforms, and it's rarely the platform itself. It's the internal work: pulling in an outside agency, coordinating multiple departments, hoping nothing breaks mid-transition. That's a real cost, and it's the reason a lot of brands stay on a tool they don't love.

We're building Stord's migration path around minimizing exactly that kind of disruption, designed to preserve existing billing schedules and keep the subscriber experience consistent through the switch, so moving platforms doesn't have to become its own project.

Interested in early access? Reach out to your Stord contact, or get in touch at Sales@stord.com.

How This 29-Year-Old Founder Is Taking On Amazon Prime

Amazon spent two decades building Prime for itself. In this interview, Sean Henry explains the trillion-dollar problem he set out to solve at 18: independent brands don't have the infrastructure to compete with Amazon's speed, and no single brand can build that infrastructure alone.

Today, Stord powers over $10 billion in annual commerce and reaches one in four U.S. households, proof that closing the gap between Amazon Prime and everyone else is possible.

How AI and Robotics Will Change Next-Day Delivery Forever

Next-day delivery has become table stakes for every brand. In this interview, CTO Jacob Boudreau breaks down how AI and robotics are reshaping what's possible in fulfillment, not as a forecasting layer bolted onto old infrastructure—but as a physical intelligence layer trained on real orders, real packages, and real operational data.

First of all, thank you to Stord for hosting Future Commerce at the Spring 2026 Stord Summit, and for the opportunity to share our latest research on how AI is reshaping the way consumers discover, evaluate, and buy.

There was one slide in that presentation that deserved a longer pause than it got. It showed how much consumers trust AI compared to the channels brands have spent two decades paying for. In our survey of 1,000 US consumers, people told us they trust AI more than or equally to search engines (65%), brand websites (63%), social media (52%), ads (46%), and influencers (45%). 

The influencer number was the one that made us pause. Creators have spent a decade building the machinery of digital trust through faces, lifestyles, comment sections, and parasocial intimacy at scale. Their entire reason for being is rooted in trust, and they are now tied with a tool that has no face, no story, and no humanity. One that doesn’t particularly care whether you buy anything at all.

The reason came through clearly in our research. People are gravitating towards AI because they feel the platforms have no skin in the game. Their job is simply to aggregate the best, most trusted data and present it based on the context you’ve shared. While creators benefit from having a personality and distinct aesthetic that consumers can connect with, they are lagging in authenticity and objectivity. 

The Shift Started Before AI Showed Up 

Last December, we asked a bold question in our newsletter: Is this the cultural decline of TikTok? For years, the narrative had been that TikTok is where culture and discovery happen. Data even suggested that the short-from video platform would eventually eat traditional search’s lunch. We pushed back on that notion for a long time, but the data has finally caught up with our instincts. Sensor Tower’s daily download rankings showed TikTok sliding down the charts, falling as low as #37 in January. App deletions jumped 150% after the ownership changeover, and Harris Poll found that 60% of Gen Z, TikTok's largest user base, said they trusted the platform less than they used to.

The bigger story underneath this TikTok platform shift is that media diets are more fragmented than ever. Our survey of 1,000 consumers across the US, Europe, and Australia found that there is no single platform dominating the discovery and research stages of the shopping journey. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube led discovery on average, while TikTok, Pinterest, Google, and ChatGPT each pulled meaningful shares at different stages. Consumers are flocking to different destinations for entertainment, education, and influence, with each reflecting a distinct mode and mindset.

Consumers are interacting with commerce everywhere, which further validates our core thesis at Future Commerce: commerce is culture. What we buy reflects who we are, what we believe, who we want to become, and how we want to be perceived. As a result, shopping is not just something we do. It’s something we are. Our New Modes research bears this idea out. Nearly half of consumers told us they’re always keeping a mental list of things to buy, whether or not they're technically “in market.”

Millennials, interestingly, showed the strongest signals of perpetual purchase consideration. As a millennial myself, I can vouch for this firsthand. We’re at the stage where we're buying for our kids, our spouses, and sometimes our parents, with twenty to thirty tabs open in our brains at any given moment. And the most seismic shift in our research over the past six months is that AI has become the support system for exactly this mindset. When consumers described what shopping with AI felt like, the phrase that came up again and again was that it eases the mental load of having to do it all. That emotional reality matters more than any feature comparison.

Why the Influencer Spell Broke 

In the early days of creator culture, following someone felt like getting a tip from a friend who had genuinely tried the product and liked it enough to tell you about it. That feeling of closeness was the foundation of the entire model; it’s why influencer marketing worked. And those parasocial relationships ultimately turned Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok into commerce platforms. 

But that trust and credibility is fragile, and the business model has always been in tension with it. With every disclosed sponsorship, affiliate code, and suspiciously glowing haul video, consumers are left asking the same question: Did someone pay for this? If that’s the immediate reflect, the recommendation stops working even if the surface-level relationship, in the form of a follow, survives.

Our data captures the dichotomy directly. Some consumers told us influencers always seem like they're trying to sell something, while AI isn't. Others still lean into the authenticity of their favorite creators, the aesthetic, the life they relate to or aspire to. But everyone now knows the creators are monetizing the feed. And the trust gradient that opens up is decisive.

What has struck me most in our consumer research is the language consumers have used when asked how shopping with AI actually feels. In our holiday survey of 1,000 consumers, they reached for words like “companion” and “personal shopper.” The parasocial relationships people built with influencers are shifting toward psychosocial relationships with their AI of choice. 

You Can’t Buy Your Way Into This Channel 

For the past 20 years, brands could buy their way into discovery. Google sold keywords, Amazon charged listing fees and took margin on ads, and social platforms sold reach, first cheaply and then expensively. Brands paid at every layer because there was no other way through. But currently, there’s no reliable, paid placement inside an AI recommendation. There’s no affiliate architecture behind an answer, and no sponsored ranking. The only way into AI-powered conversations is to earn your place.

And the consumers AI platforms send to branded sites behave differently. Basket sizes are still small, but the conviction is unmistakable, and our research found that AI-recommended products carry a 16% higher conversion rate overall. These are shoppers arriving with their research already done and their decision mostly made, often landing directly on a specific product page.

The Intermediation Myth

The fear in every boardroom is that AI will cut the brand completely out of the equation. We call this the intermediation myth because our data tells the opposite story.

77% of consumers who received an AI recommendation still clicked through to the brand’s e-commerce site to continue researching, compare products, and experience the brand before making the final purchase. As my co-founder, Phillip Jackson, put it during our fireside chat, your brand has been reduced to a chat box in an AI conversation. If the shopper never clicks through, they never experience your brand at all. AI has effectively become the front door to commerce, but your site is still where the relationship happens. 

The same conviction that makes AI shoppers so valuable also makes them less forgiving. They arrive with higher intent, higher expectations, and much lower tolerance for friction. In our research, 58% of consumers said a poor website experience from a brand they love actively bothers them. And the gaps that lose them are often basic, such as unclear delivery practices, buried return policies, and hidden FAQs. 

Trust Is Won or Lost After the Buy Button 

If you take one line from our fireside chat, take this one from Phillip: “The post-purchase window is where trust is confirmed or broken.”

AI brought the shopper to your door. Your site converted them. The delivery promise, the tracking experience, the unboxing, and the returns process determine whether the whole chain of trust holds, and whether the signals feeding the next AI recommendation work for you or against you.

And these post-purchase experiences have a long-term impact because AI reads the public record of how you actually perform. Reviews, sentiment, customer complaints, and delivery experiences are all part of the new “intelligence engine.” As a result, a late delivery, which historically was deemed “one bad customer experience,” is now a data point that nudges an AI recommendation toward a competitor. A big marketing budget and clever creative can’t fix what operations break.

A team wouldn’t tolerate a paid campaign that underperformed by 20%, and they shouldn’t tolerate a fulfillment operation that drags review scores down by the same margin. Because if your current operation can’t consistently keep the delivery promise your customers expect, that’s a back-office problem that ultimately turns intoa discoverability problem. And frankly, it deserves the same urgency and the right partners that brands have always brought to their acquisition channels.

Your Site Has a New Job to Do 

The shopper arriving from AI just came from a contextual, conversational experience. Dropping them onto a static page squanders everything that brought them there. Future Commerce predicts that the e-commerce site will evolve from a transaction engine into a trust-building environment, richer in storytelling, UGC, and the kind of contextual content shoppers used to get from social. This is how brands can shape traffic with good friction. 

Branded bot experiences, how-to-use and how-to-style content, and post-purchase engagement that fits the mental state your customer is in at that moment, also continue the contextual experience they started with their AI. Think about what you can provide on-site at every step after the order, whether that’s delivery updates, installation guidance, or aspirational content. This is how trust is nurtured once consumers hit the “buy” button.

But as you build, remember that consumers are complicated and their expectations are sometimes contradictory. In our New Modes research, they asked for more deals relevant to their preferences (42%) and more recommendations based on purchase history (35%) and search history (34%), while also asking for fewer cart abandonment emails (27%), fewer location-based notifications (22%), and less AI-driven search on brand sites (21%). 

Consumers like AI, but on their terms. Personalization wins when it’s transparent and genuinely useful, and turns people off the moment it feels imposed. One warning Phillip offered for free is that if you make the experience too frictionless, you just push all the pain downstream to your CX team. Measure the friction and encourage consumers to slow down intentionally. 

Of course, this data only represents the present state. Advertising is making its way into these platforms, and agentic checkout may completely  reshape transaction flows. But the brands that provide fast delivery, accurate inventory, painless returns, and genuine reviews are building a track record that endures even after the paid layer is added. Those who wait for ad units will enter a channel where their competitors' operational credibility is already baked in.

The Most Honest Era Commerce Has Ever Had

For decades, there has been a gap between what brands say and what brands do, and an entire industry has existed to manage it. Creative covered for slow shipping. Paid reach covered for thin reviews. A good campaign could outrun a bad experience for quarters at a time.

That faceless tool we started with, the one with no story to sell, closes that gap, because it can’t read the promise. It can only read the performance. 

In a strange way, AI is forcing commerce to become what marketing always claimed it was. The story and the operation finally have to be the same thing. I’d argue that’s the best news operators have heard in a long time. For two decades, discovery went to the brands with the deepest media budgets. In this channel, it goes to the brands with the best track records. And track records only compound over time. Every on-time delivery, every accurate product page, every painless return is a deposit in an account that no competitor’s ad spend can draw down, and that keeps paying out after the toll booths arrive.

So the question “Why do consumers trust AI, and how can brands earn its recommendation?” has a more precise answer than “keep up with the technology.” Your brand needs to become the most trusted voice in commerce that technology can honestly vouch for.

The faceless influencer is already forming its opinion of you, one shipment at a time. Give it a good story to tell.

Teams aren’t waiting for software vendors to build them the perfect dashboard anymore. They’re building their own workflows in Claude, ChatGPT, and similar AI environments—connecting tools, writing prompts, and automating decisions in ways that would have required a developer two years ago. They’re becoming AI-native, and they’re moving quickly.

That shift changes what fulfillment software has to be. Having great data isn’t enough. Your data has to travel into the AI environments your teams are already building in, at the moment a decision needs to be made.

The New Fulfillment Data Problem

Fulfillment data doesn’t just matter to operations teams. A marketing lead needs to know inventory levels before a campaign goes live. A finance team needs fulfillment throughput to forecast accurately. A support agent needs order status before getting on a call with a customer. And a COO needs all of it before making a call on a promotion or a restock.

The problem isn’t that the data doesn’t exist. Stord captures it: orders, inventory, warehouse status, carrier updates, throughput, exceptions. But most brands have teams that could act on that data—marketing, finance, support, leadership—who aren't primarily working inside fulfillment systems. MCP is what makes Stord’s data available to all of them, in the AI environments they’re already in.

Only 9% of companies fully trust their data for accurate reporting,1 and only 17% report full visibility across their operations.2 The data exists. The opportunity is making it available to every team, in whatever context they're working in, at the moment a decision needs to be made.

The traditional answer has been better dashboards, better reports, better integrations. But AI-native teams don’t primarily work in dashboards. They build their own workflows in the AI environments they’re already in. MCP is how Stord’s data travels into those environments too, so every team, wherever they’re working, is pulling from the same live source.

What MCP Actually Is

MCP is an open standard that defines how AI models connect to external tools, systems, and data sources. It gives AI assistants a structured, secure way to interact with the systems a business already runs on.

Before protocols like MCP, connecting an AI assistant to a business system required a custom integration for every tool—a one-off engineering project each time. MCP replaces that with a single standard. Systems expose their data and capabilities once, and any MCP-compatible assistant can discover those tools, retrieve data, and trigger workflows through the same structured interface.

It works as a universal API layer for AI. Any AI environment that speaks MCP whether that's an assistant your team built, a general-purpose tool like Claude, or a purpose-built AI agent can reach that data through the same connection.

The answer to almost any operational question lives across several systems at once. MCP lets an assistant read them together, so you get answers that reflect the full state of your network rather than one slice of it.

Two Ways to Work with Stord’s Data

Stord exposes its fulfillment systems through an MCP server making it one of the earliest adopters of MCP in the industry, and that server supports two distinct ways of working.

The first is StordAI Chat, Stord’s native AI experience built directly into the platform. It’s purpose-built for fulfillment, with the operational context already loaded. An operator can ask “Which orders are at risk of missing today’s carrier pickup?” and get an answer that synthesizes signals across order management, warehouse operations, transportation, and inventory without switching systems or pulling a report. The same conversation that surfaces a problem can start resolving it: flagging affected SKUs to the warehouse team in Slack, drafting a heads-up to the carrier, and sending stakeholders a summary of what’s at risk and what’s already in motion.

As Stord continues building out its AI agent capabilities, StordAI Chat will be the flagship—the optimized, fulfillment-native experience designed to give operations teams the fastest path from signal to action.

The second is MCP, which ensures that Stord’s data is valuable everywhere else.

For brands that have already built AI workflows in Claude, ChatGPT, or similar environments, Stord’s MCP server means they don’t have to choose between the tools their teams have adopted and the data running their network. They get both. Stord’s live fulfillment data—orders, inventory, warehouse status, carrier updates—becomes available inside whatever AI environment they’re already working in, with the same accuracy and the same live systems underneath.

The logic is the same as with any great platform API. Salesforce has its own UI and AI layer, but its APIs let your data flow into whatever your team is building, and that openness makes the platform more valuable, not less. MCP does the same thing for AI-native teams.

Stord’s Data, Your Imagination

Stord makes fulfillment data accessible and actionable, but even we can’t anticipate every question your COO will want answered before a board meeting, every signal your marketing team will want to track before a campaign, or every lookup a support agent needs mid-call. That’s the point of MCP.

Once Stord’s data is reachable from any AI environment, each person on the brand's team uses it however they actually need to. The data becomes as useful as your team's imagination, not as useful as any one interface.

34% of businesses have lost revenue due to fragmented customer data.1 That's not usually a data availability problem; it’s an accessibility problem. The data exists. The opportunity is making it reachable to every team, in the moment they need it. MCP closes that gap.

What This Looks Like in Practice

True Classic, the apparel brand that scaled from launch to nine figures in a few short years, was an early test partner for Stord’s MCP integration. What changed for their team wasn’t a new dashboard or a faster report. It was autonomy.

Leaders across True Classic, not just the ops team, query Stord’s MCP directly through Claude and get a verified answer pulled straight from the live systems running their network. A leader can confirm available inventory in seconds, from whatever AI environment they're working in. They can time a promotion, adjust a campaign, or reallocate stock while the window is still open.

“Fully integrated to your MCP through Claude and I love it!” - Josh Bultz, Chief Operations Officer, True Classic

Every handoff removed is a decision that happens hours, sometimes days, sooner. That’s what it means to have fulfillment data that travels.

The Race Is On

Today’s e-commerce competition isn’t about having more data. It’s about getting the right answer at the exact moment a decision needs to be made in whatever environment your team is already working in.

Stord’s bet is that the best fulfillment AI experience and an open data platform aren’t in tension. They reinforce each other. StordAI Chat delivers the fastest path from signal to action for operations teams. MCP ensures that Stord’s data is valuable to every team across the brand, in whatever AI environment they’ve built.

Inventory imbalances, pick queue buildups, carrier delays—they’re already in your systems before they hit your customer’s inbox. The gap is how fast you can reach that signal from wherever you’re working. That gap is now closeable.

ATLANTA, GA — May 26, 2026 — Stord today announced a nearly $250 million Series F funding round at a $3 billion valuation, led by existing investors doubling down on the company’s accelerating growth and expanding market leadership. The round included Strike Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford,  G Squared, Bond, and Lux, among others. The raise accelerates Stord's mission to give every independent brand the complete commerce stack to own their direct consumer relationships. Alongside the raise, Stord announced Stord Labs, its dedicated environment for advancing physical intelligence. Stord is building what independent commerce has always needed and never had: the physical intelligence layer.

"For years, every independent brand has been left to figure out on their own how to compete against the consumer experience Amazon has spent decades and hundreds of billions building. By every measure, independent brands have been losing. Stord exists to level that playing field. We give independent brands the complete commerce stack: the fulfillment network, software, and AI, to deliver a consumer experience that surpasses Prime.  Our vertical integration and scaled network create compounding advantages that deliver better, faster, cheaper outcomes with every order we touch. As AI and physical intelligence advance across our platform, that advantage for our customers is rapidly accelerating.” — Sean Henry, Founder and CEO of Stord

Announcing Stord Labs

Stord Labs is a physical intelligence lab at Stord’s Atlanta headquarters where the company develops and validates agentic AI, robotics, and advanced automation against real orders on the same live operating system powering Stord's production network, before deploying proven innovations across nearly 100 facilities immediately, with no re-integration. The next generation of physical intelligence cannot be built in simulation or vendor demos. It requires real operational complexity, and Stord Labs is where that work gets done.

The connection between physical infrastructure, vertically integrated technology, and a massive and growing dataset creates a critical and compounding advantage. Stord’s ability to train models on live fulfillment data, across nearly 100 facilities, $15 billion in annual GMV, 8 billion data points per year, and packages reaching close to one in four U.S. households, means that every order processed makes the network smarter, faster, and cheaper to operate. Stord Labs is where that flywheel accelerates.

The Battleground for Independent Commerce

Amazon’s dominance, controlling more than one-third of U.S. online commerce, was built not on a superior storefront or payment system, but on Prime: the promise of fast, reliable, trackable delivery that permanently reset consumer expectations. Every consumer who has experienced Prime delivery now carries that expectation to every other checkout, on every other website, for every other brand. And as Amazon's relationship with both consumers and the brands it hosts grows increasingly fraught, the opportunity for independent commerce has never been greater.

The most consequential layer of commerce, what happens after checkout, has been left to every brand to figure out on its own. 

The math is unforgiving. When a brand wins a customer directly, they capture the full margin, the full data, and the full relationship: the ability to cross-sell, upsell, build subscriptions, and re-engage with precision. The moment a platform controls the customer, margin compresses, data disappears, and the brand becomes a commodity.

When Imran Jawaid partnered with champion fighter Sean O’Malley to launch doingwell, a performance nutrition and hydration brand, they understood this instinctively. To win, they needed Prime-level consumer experiences on their own terms, and an intelligence layer that helped them personalize each order to create the perfect consumer experience, not just move boxes.

“I’ve run over $50 million in product sales through Amazon FBA and watched three small 3PLs go dark on us with no warning. When we asked Stord to dekit a SKU so we could run a product test — something completely untestable inside Amazon’s system — they did it. The data drove some of the most important product decisions doingwell has made to date. Amazon makes you feel like a SKU. Stord makes us feel like a brand.” — Imran Jawaid, doingwell

Physical Intelligence Proven at Scale

Stord’s revenue has grown more than 10x over the past four years. The company powers over $15 billion in GMV annually, with its packages touching nearly one in four U.S. households every year.

That growth has a clear inflection point: 2023, roughly six months after the launch of ChatGPT. Stord’s vertical integration, owning the fulfillment network, the software platform, and the data layer simultaneously, positioned the company to move faster on AI than the broader industry. The results are evident across the business. The team ships products faster. Customers answer operational questions in natural language rather than running reports. The network is getting faster and cheaper per order. And the advantage that Stord provides brands is only accelerating. 

The company’s software business is growing faster than its overall business, having tripled in 2025. Software bookings more than doubled quarter over quarter in Q1 2026, driven by Stord’s Consumer Experience suite, Resolve, Protect, Unbox, Renew, and Engage, and an expanded AI suite including Chat, Search, and Feed.

Customers are noticing. As True Classic scaled from a DTC brand into a true omnichannel business, launching in Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, and its own retail stores, Stord provided the integrated commerce backbone that made it possible, across both physical operations and AI. 

“As True Classic scaled from a DTC brand into a true omnichannel business, Stord has been the fulfillment partner that made it possible. Their ability to manage complex kitting, multi-retailer compliance, and high-velocity D2C shipping from a single network gave us the operational backbone to grow without compromise. Meanwhile, we’ve become a top user of their AI features, which has accelerated our business insights and enabled our organization to move faster than ever.” — Josh Bultz, COO at True Classic

Stord’s win rate has grown alongside its product velocity. And continues to break away.

The company operates nearly 100 fulfillment locations worldwide, approximately 20 Stord-operated sites and 80 partner sites, all running the same Stord operating system. More than 1,000 brands, including AG1, True Classic, Goodr, Jolie, Native, and Fatty15, have chosen Stord to power their direct consumer relationships. Stord has completed 8 acquisitions, each exceeding its targets, and today its network includes more than 4,000 people, with over 200 dedicated to software engineering, product, data science, and physical infrastructure.

Investor Perspectives

"Commerce infrastructure gets built once. From our earliest conversations with Sean Henry, it was clear Stord was assembling something rare: software, physical infrastructure, and AI combined in a way that turns fulfillment into a competitive advantage rather than a cost center. We believe the rise of agentic purchasing will increasingly favor platforms where software and physical operations are deeply integrated. Stord is building that infrastructure. That is why Strike is proud to deepen our partnership in this round."  - John Lagomarsino Strike Capital

“Modern commerce has created enormous operational complexity for brands,” said Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner Perkins and Stord investor. “The next defining infrastructure layer has to connect the physical network, the software, and the intelligence layer behind every consumer experience. That’s what makes Stord so compelling. The company combines scaled fulfillment infrastructure, purpose-built software, and AI trained by the patterns of millions of deliveries. We believed in that vision when Kleiner Perkins first backed Stord in 2019, and our conviction has only grown as Stord turns fulfillment into a source of speed, clarity, and customer trust.”

Customer Perspectives

"We built ALOHA to be a brand people trust, and that trust lives or dies in the moments after checkout. Stord gave us something we didn't think was possible: the ability to deliver a Prime-caliber experience to our direct customers while protecting the Amazon relationship at the same time. Before Stord, we were catching problems after they cost us. Now with Stord AI, we catch them before they happen- and our DTC customers are getting something Amazon can't offer: a brand experience, not just a box." — Steven Gmelin VP Digital Sales & Strategy Aloha

"What sets Stord apart is the combination of network scale and technology that's honestly years ahead of what most fulfillment partners offer. During a period where supply chain disruptions have become the norm, that infrastructure has given Monos a level of operational certainty we can actually build around. StordAI has made that even more tangible — our team has real-time answers to questions that used to require back-and-forth with ops. Their communication matches the platform: responsive, transparent, and always in the spirit of partnership." - Victor Tam CEO and Co-founder Monos

"As Jolie has scaled, Stord has been an integral partner in helping us deliver and maintain a premium customer experience while growing our volume so quickly. Their platform and team have allowed us to scale fulfillment across both direct and wholesale channels, improve reliability, and create a much stronger post-purchase experience for our customers. StordAI has added another layer — our team can get answers about inventory and order status instantly, which means we spend less time managing operations and more time building the brand. Stord has allowed the Jolie team to focus on what matters."  - Arjan Singh Jolie | Co-founder

“StordAI Chat is a CEO’s dream. I can quickly answer any question like ‘how much inventory do I have on my inbound?’ or ‘how many weeks on hand do we have in this queue?’ without running a single report. StordAI Chat is answering questions people don’t even know they have. It’s really powerful.” — Nick Stachel, Head of Operations, Climatic Health

Amazon controls more than a third of U.S. online commerce, and it’s worth being precise about why. Not because their storefront is better. Not because their payments are better. Not because their ads are better.

Amazon wins because of delivery. Prime reset consumer expectations permanently: order by noon, arrive by tomorrow, tracked to the minute, with a promise that means something. Every consumer who has experienced Prime now carries that expectation to every other checkout, on every other website, for every other brand. That advantage has been Amazon’s alone.

For any merchant building their brand today, selling through a third-party marketplace is a choice that wins today and loses tomorrow. The moment a platform controls your customer, your margin compresses, your data disappears, and your brand becomes a commodity. When a brand wins a customer directly, they capture the full margin, the full data, and the full relationship. When that same customer migrates to a marketplace, they can pay up to 40% in fees, their data disappears, and the next time that consumer shops, they’re served a cheaper competitor on the same page.

The only way to surpass Prime is to build something that goes beyond it, built for everyone else, and that requires infrastructure that, until Stord, did not exist for independent brands.

That is what we’re announcing today: a $250M Series F at a $3 billion valuation, and alongside it, Stord Labs, our dedicated commitment to advancing physical intelligence, robotics, and next-generation AI for independent commerce.

“Amazon makes you feel like a SKU. Stord makes us feel like a brand. That’s the gap, and Stord is exactly built to fill it.” — Imran Jawaid, doingwell

1. The brands building on this platform.

The brands that are winning in independent commerce made a deliberate choice: to own their customer relationship directly rather than rent access to it through a marketplace. That choice is only as powerful as the infrastructure behind it. Commerce is a multi-trillion dollar category, and the brands that will define the next decade are the ones building direct, defensible relationships with their consumers, not the ones ceding that relationship to a platform.

Over 1,000 brands have made this bet with Stord, and the results are clear: they are winning.

AG1 ships a subscription supplement to consumers who have built their health routine around receiving it, where an on-time delivery doesn’t just fulfill an order, it powers a daily commitment to health. True Classic built one of the fastest-growing apparel brands in the country through direct channels and needs operations that hold up when demand spikes. Seed Health competes on a premium where the brand experience is inseparable from the product’s value.

Fanatics, IM8, Hairstory, Aloha, Monos, American Giant, goodr, Jolie, Native, Fatty15,  each one growing fast, each one protecting a direct consumer relationship they refuse to compromise on. Together, they’re part of a network whose packages now touch nearly one in four U.S. households every year.

“The brands winning in direct commerce today aren't just fulfilling orders faster. They're operating with better intelligence. Through StordAI we are giving valuable time back to our team so they can focus on our customers. Stord is the only fulfillment partner we've worked with where the technology meets the needs of our global operation. That matters when you're scaling across markets simultaneously." - Danny Yeung CEO and Co-Founder, Prenetics IM8

What these brands need is not a logistics provider. They need a partner who shows an accurate delivery promise at checkout and keeps it. Who turns the unboxing into a brand moment. Who converts a return into a retained customer. Traditional fulfillment providers stop at closing the box. Stord extends across every consumer touchpoint, pre-purchase through post-delivery, because that is where the consumer relationship is won or lost. That is what it means to be The Consumer Experience Company.

For Jolie, a premium showerhead brand where the post-purchase experience is inseparable from the product itself, that extends all the way into how their team operates day to day — including how AI has changed the speed at which they can make decisions.

“As Jolie has scaled, Stord has been an integral partner in helping us deliver and maintain a premium customer experience while growing our volume so quickly. Their platform and team have allowed us to scale fulfillment across both direct and wholesale channels, improve reliability, and create a much stronger post-purchase experience for our customers. StordAI has added another layer — our team can get answers about inventory and order status instantly, which means we spend less time managing operations and more time building the brand. Stord has allowed the Jolie team to focus on what matters.” — Arjan Singh, Co-Founder, Jolie

As True Classic expanded from DTC into true omnichannel — launching in Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, and its own retail stores — the complexity of managing kitting, multi-retailer compliance, and high-velocity D2C shipping from a single network would have broken most fulfillment relationships. It became a competitive advantage instead.

“Stord’s ability to manage complex kitting, multi-retailer compliance, and high-velocity D2C shipping from a single network gave us the operational backbone to grow without compromise. Meanwhile, we’ve become a top user of their AI features, which has accelerated our business insights and enabled our organization to move faster than ever.” — Josh Bultz, COO, True Classic

Monos, the premium travel brand, came to Stord needing the kind of operational certainty that lets a fast-growing brand actually plan around its supply chain rather than react to it.

“What sets Stord apart is the combination of network scale and technology that’s honestly years ahead of the standard 3PL offering. During a period where supply chain disruptions have become the norm, that infrastructure has given Monos a level of operational certainty we can actually build around.” — Victor Tam, CEO and Co-Founder, MONOS

2. Vertical integration and scale enable physical intelligence.

The fulfillment network, backed by industrial scale and operational excellence, is the physical foundation. The software layer, vertically integrated at every level of our stack, is what turns that foundation into a compounding advantage. And the intelligence layer is what makes that advantage accelerate with every order, every data point, and every customer interaction.

Stord built its technology from the inside out: the WMS was built by engineers inside operating warehouses, the TMS hardened against real parcel volume, the OMS built to orchestrate a live multi-node network, and the front-end Consumer Experience platform built by interacting with millions of consumers every year. When we layer AI on top of these systems, the intelligence learns from real data, optimizes real-world outcomes, and executes against reality, not a model. 

Stord’s growth has a clear inflection point that maps exactly to the rise of AI. Our acceleration began in 2023, roughly six months after AI became a production-grade tool, and our vertical integration is precisely why we could capture that opportunity faster than the broader industry

The results of our commitment to AI are visible across the business: the team ships product faster, customers answer operational questions in natural language rather than running reports, and the network is getting faster and cheaper per order.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Experience suite, Resolve, Protect, Unbox, Renew, and Engage, gives brands capabilities that directly improve conversion, retention, and lifetime value. We expanded our AI suite with Chat, Search, and Feed, with agents and an MCP server on the near horizon. The brands on the platform are noticing, and making decisions based on it.

“StordAI Chat is a CEO's dream! I can quickly answer any question like 'how much inventory do I have on my inbound?' or 'how many weeks on hand do we have in this one queue?' Now my CEO can get the answers he needs himself. StordAI Chat is answering questions people don't even know they have. It's really powerful.” — Nick Stachel, Head of Operations, Climatic Health

3. Stord Labs: building the Physical Intelligence layer.

Stord Labs is a 10,000 square foot physical intelligence lab where we test AI, robotics, and operational innovations against real orders before deploying them across our network.

Physical intelligence cannot be built in simulation. It has to be built on real orders, with real constraints, against real operational complexity. Stord Labs gives us that environment, a live testbed where new robotics configurations, AI-driven pick path optimizations, and next-generation hardware designs are validated before they touch our broader network of nearly 100 facilities.

The advantage here is structural. Most companies testing robotics are doing so in controlled environments with synthetic data. Stord Labs runs against $15 billion in annual GMV worth of real orders, which means the AI we develop there is trained on the richest operational dataset in independent commerce. Stord’s platform generates 8 billion operational events annually. That is the dataset our models train on, and it gets richer with every order.

Every robotics deployment, every automation improvement, every efficiency gain rolls out to a network that has already proven it can execute at scale, compounding the impact immediately.

4. The momentum.

For ten years, we have methodically built the infrastructure, technology, and scale from the ground up. The company is approaching $1 billion in revenue, having grown more than 10x over the past four years. 

It took us roughly four years to hit our first $100M; today we consistently add more than that every three months. 

We process over $15B in GMV annually. Since launching StordAI in March, we have seen over 100,000 unique interactions across 350+ brands that have quickly become power users out of our broader base. 

Our software business tripled in 2025 and is growing faster than our overall business. Software bookings more than doubled in Q1 2026 alone, with 7 live products seeing accelerating adoption. We have nearly doubled the engineering team while nearly tripling the speed and output of product delivery.

Stord has completed 8 acquisitions, each exceeding its targets, because the same platform, operational excellence, and applied intelligence powering Stord's network rapidly transforms every facility and customer base it acquires. Today, our network includes more than 4,000 talented people, with over 200 dedicated to software engineering, product, data science, and physical infrastructure and robotics. 

5. The flywheel and why it never stops compounding.

Every new brand that joins the Stord network improves outcomes for every brand already on it, and that compounding effect is showing up directly in how we compete and win.

More volume means better economies of scale for everyone. More facilities means more precise inventory placement and faster delivery times. More data means smarter routing, better demand forecasting, and more accurate delivery promises. More accurate promises mean more consumer trust, which means more repeat purchases, which feeds more volume.

This is not a simple software network effect. It is a physical network effect layered with a software and data advantage, and the combination is what makes it durable.

You cannot replicate a physical fulfillment network with code. You cannot replicate years of operational excellence and culture built from the ground up from behind a screen. You cannot substitute the billions of data points across our network continuously training our models. And you cannot hack your way to the tens of millions of U.S. consumers who have seen Stord on their doorstep.

The flywheel took a decade to reach the velocity it has today, and it is still accelerating. As the flywheel spins, our advantage accelerates, and is proven by our industry-shattering win rate. 

The opportunity ahead.

The largest and most celebrated companies being built today—SpaceX, Tesla, Anduril, Waymo, Atoms, Figure AI—operate at the intersection of software intelligence and physical execution. 

Their advantages compound in a way that pure software cannot replicate, because building and operating physical systems at scale creates a foundation that is genuinely hard to copy. 

The market has historically underestimated the complexity and defensibility of physical infrastructure at scale, and that underestimation is a meaningful part of what has allowed Stord to reach a position that is difficult to replicate. We prefer to be underestimated. 

Stord is one of the leading physical AI companies being built today, competing in one of the largest markets in the world. This is a trillion dollar opportunity. 

Every order that moves through our network ends with a real person waiting on a doorstep, tracking a package, opening a box. We built the operating system for that moment. We proved the flywheel. We proved operational excellence and culture. We assembled a world-class team of engineers, operators, and builders to keep that promise at scale. Now, AI, robotics, and even drone and robot-based delivery become the next frontier, not as technology for its own sake, but as tools to make that experience faster, cheaper, and more reliable than consumers ever thought possible. Every one of them deepens the physical intelligence layer and improves outcomes for every brand on the network.

We are The Consumer Experience Company. The physical intelligence layer for independent commerce is here. We have never been more certain of where this goes, or more excited to build it.

Onward,

Sean

The question was how to create this in a tangible way. Six months in, we had an answer. Stord Labs.

Stord Labs is a physical intelligence lab at our Atlanta headquarters. It replicates the core workflows of a modern fulfillment operation across receiving, storage, picking, packing, shipping, and returns, and runs real and synthetic orders through the same WMS and OMS systems powering our production facilities. It is where we build and validate the AI, agentic robotics, and operational innovations that power Stord's network.  These are real systems running against real operational complexity.

The demo problem

If you spend time in logistics operations, you learn quickly that vendor demonstrations are a poor proxy for real performance. A robotics system that runs beautifully in a controlled environment with a single product type and predictable order patterns can fail completely when introduced to the complexity of a real multi-client environment: mixed SKU profiles, variable order sizes, seasonal demand swings, and the constant variability that comes with running operations at scale.

Determining which technologies actually improve performance in a real environment is difficult. Testing these systems directly in live operations introduces disruption and potential chaos that no brand should have to absorb.

Stord Labs solves that problem. Our innovations face real conditions and are stress tested for performance. Real orders flow through the system. Real workflows create real pressure. And the data tells us the truth. These are not simulations in ideal scenarios, they are validated approaches that drive real outcomes.

How we built it

The design of the lab was deliberate. We replicated the operational zones found in a production facility: a storage and picking zone for robotics integration and inventory strategy experiments, a packing and consolidation zone for order assembly workflows, a flexible automation test area for agentic robotics pilots, and a control tower workspace for AI model development, real-time operational intelligence, and digital twin modeling. The agentic robotics work is where I am most excited. Traditional warehouse automation is scripted. Robots follow fixed paths and execute predetermined tasks. Agentic systems are different. The AI observes the environment, makes decisions in real time, and directs physical action dynamically. That closes the gap between what automation promised and what it actually delivers in a complex, variable, multi-client environment. Building and validating our agentic  systems requires the environment Stord Labs provides.

We can generate synthetic orders to simulate peak demand scenarios and route orders back through the system as returns to test reverse logistics workflows. We can run mystery shopping scenarios (placing orders the way a consumer would) to evaluate fulfillment speed, packaging quality, and the end-to-end consumer experience from checkout through delivery.

The goal was to build an environment rigorous enough to generate meaningful data but flexible enough to support the range of experiments we needed to run.

The rigor matters as much as the setup

A lab is only as valuable as the discipline applied to it. We designed Stord Labs around a simple principle: every experiment begins with a clearly defined hypothesis, success criteria, and measurement framework. We do not run experiments without knowing what success looks like in advance.

Technologies that demonstrate measurable improvement move into deployment across the network. Technologies that do not are discontinued quickly. No prolonged evaluations. No vendor-managed assessments. The data decides.

This sounds straightforward but it requires real discipline to maintain. Stord Labs is designed to move fast, measure clearly, and scale what works.

What this means for the network

Every improvement validated at Stord Labs flows across Stord's nearly 100 facilities worldwide. That is the part of this that I find most compelling.

Because Stord's technology and operations run on a single unified stack, a proven improvement doesn't need to be re-integrated or re-validated at each location. It deploys everywhere, across nearly 100 facilities, 20 of which we self-operate. When we validate a pick path optimization that reduces travel distance by a meaningful percentage, that improvement does not stay in Atlanta. It scales. When we validate a demand forecasting model that reduces stockouts, every brand on the platform benefits.

What comes next

We are just getting started. The first phase of Stord Labs is focused on establishing baseline workflows and running our initial experiments around picking strategies, inventory logic, and robotics integration. Over the course of this year, validated improvements will move into deployments across the network.

The real frontier is agentic AI and physical operations. Most AI in logistics today is analytical. It tells you what happened and suggests what to do. What we are building at Stord Labs is operational: AI that acts on real physical systems. Agentic powered robotics that dynamically re-route based on live order flow. Forecasting models that don't just predict demand but trigger inventory repositioning autonomously across the network. Pick optimization that changes what the robot does right now. Applied to real operational data, these systems produce outcomes that models built on synthetic data cannot replicate. The results we are seeing early are exactly what we hoped for.

In the near future we will also be opening Stord Labs to customers. Quarterly demonstration days will give brands on the platform a chance to see firsthand what we are testing. Selected partners will have the opportunity to co-develop solutions to their specific operational challenges inside the lab.

Stord Labs is how the physical intelligence era gets built at network scale. But more than that, it is how every improvement we make at 10,000 square feet compounds into a better consumer experience for every brand on our platform. Faster delivery. Fewer stockouts. More accurate promises. A consumer relationship that gets stronger with every order.

And the stakes are real.

In a market where most brands sell similar products and compete for the same customers, operational missteps have an outsized impact. One mis-shipment or delayed delivery can permanently erode loyalty. And negative experiences spread fast: shoppers tell an average of 16 people about a bad delivery interaction, compared to just 9 for a positive one.1

For e-commerce brands competing in crowded markets, operational agility is no longer optional, it’s a differentiator.

Change Is Not the Problem, Rigid Systems Are

Many brands struggle not because the market is unpredictable, but because their fulfillment operations are too rigid to adapt when it matters.

Most rely on multiple providers and technology systems that don’t talk to each other. Order management doesn’t sync cleanly with warehouse systems. Routing updates require manual entry across multiple portals. Spreadsheets stand in for real-time visibility. Small adjustments create oversized consequences: overselling, mismatched inventory, delayed processing, and overwhelmed support teams.

Manual processes make this fragility even more pronounced. A single incorrect pick can cost tens to hundreds of dollars once returns, reshipments, labor, and customer service time are factored in, and more for higher-value items. Over time, even a modest picking error rate can materially erode profitability due to customer churn and reputational damage. Multiply this across thousands of monthly orders, and accuracy issues alone can meaningfully drain a brand's bottom line.

Poor change management compounds these issues. Under pressure, many brands push system updates or operational adjustments into production without proper documentation, testing, or piloting. The ideas may be sound, but the rollout is rushed.

From a quality and compliance standpoint, the biggest risk isn’t change itself, it’s uncontrolled change. Without structured validation, even well-intentioned updates can introduce variability that's hard to detect until it impacts the customer.

Training lags behind the pace of change as well. Teams are asked to learn new tools and workflows on the fly, but then naturally revert to old habits under stress. Consistency erodes not from carelessness, but from a lack of structure for rapid, controlled adaptation.

How Stord Helps Brands Power Through Rapid Change

Brands that thrive today aren’t the ones trying to outrun every market shock. Tariffs, regulatory shifts, and global disruptions are inevitable, but how your fulfillment operation responds isn’t. 

That’s why it’s critical to partner with a fulfillment provider that’s built to adapt quickly and support smarter, more controlled operations through disruption.

Here’s how Stord engineers operational resilience for every brand we support:

1. Embed quality into every workflow

Quality isn’t a final checkpoint; it’s the architecture that shapes every process. Instead of rolling out sweeping changes all at once, new tools, routing rules, or processes are introduced through controlled, small-scale pilots. Each pilot includes checkpoints designed to validate accuracy and performance before scaling, so even urgent changes follow a predictable, stable path.

A clear demonstration of this approach is Stord’s Q1 2025 mock recall, which simulated a real-time product withdrawal across the fulfillment network. The exercise evaluated traceability, physical inventory counts, rapid product locking, and data retrieval, achieving greater than 99% inventory accuracy across facilities, with product locking completed in minutes. This reflects not just the precision of our systems, but the readiness of our teams to respond quickly and reliably when it counts.

2. Apply disciplined change management

Every operational adjustment, whether a system upgrade, a new picking workflow, or a carrier change, is carefully documented, reviewed across teams, tested in a controlled environment, and scaled only after results confirm it works. This discipline is what allows operations to move quickly without triggering the downstream variability that often accompanies rapid change.

3. Centralize data in a unified, real-time system 

Fragmented dashboards slow reaction times and obscure problems. By integrating order information, warehouse activity, labor performance, and carrier data into a single source, internal Stord teams and brand partners are better positioned to identify issues before they reach end consumers. For instance, if picking accuracy dips in a specific zone, or quality-control failures spike for a particular carrier, teams can trace the problem to its root cause and correct it immediately. Fast adaptation depends on early detection; reactive firefighting is simply too slow.

With 100+ system integrations, from ERPs and marketplaces to storefronts and warehouses, Stord One Commerce, Stord’s OMS, acts as a single source of truth for operations, helping automate critical practices like order routing, inventory planning, and capacity allocation. The platform gives teams dashboards and real-time metrics for orders, inventory, and fulfillment, supporting brands in shifting strategies without disruption.6

4. Align cross-functional teams

Adaptive operations require logistics, fulfillment, customer support, product teams, and leadership to share the same information and understand the downstream impact of every change. When everyone operates from the same operational truth, silo-driven friction decreases. Routing adjustments no longer blindside packing teams, and packaging updates don't jeopardize carrier compliance. Shared visibility helps turn change from a disruptive event into a coordinated, predictable process.

5. Invest in training and enablement

Rapid change only works when people can execute it consistently. Every new system or process is paired with structured onboarding, clear playbooks, hands-on coaching, and internal champions who reinforce best practices. By building knowledge and confidence into the organization, evolution becomes a habit, not a stress point. Technology only creates value when people are empowered to use it consistently and confidently.

Together, these practices are designed to help brands respond to volatility they can't prevent while staying reliable and competitive. By engineering fulfillment to absorb change efficiently, the goal is to help brands not just survive uncertainty, but operate more confidently through it.

Making Change Your Strategic Advantage

In e-commerce, change is constant. But chaos is optional.

The brands that succeed aren’t the ones who simply react faster. They’re the ones who build operations capable of adapting quickly and consistently, without sacrificing accuracy or the customer experience.

No brand should navigate volatility alone. The right fulfillment partner can help transform market turbulence into an opportunity to improve processes, make clearer decisions, and build operational confidence.

The true strategic advantage is reliability engineered for change, and the operational discipline to sustain it.

The last mile is your last chance to make a good impression. A slow, late, or damaged delivery can erase all the goodwill you built with a great product and a smooth checkout. 85% of consumers say they will never shop with a brand again after a single poor delivery experience.2 So, understanding where it breaks, and how to fix it, is the difference between a delivery that earns the next order and one that loses the customer for good.

The Four Problems That Break Last-Mile Delivery

Managing high delivery costs

The last mile is notoriously the most expensive part of the fulfillment process, accounting for 53% of total shipping spend.1 It comes down to inefficiency. You're sending individual drivers to dozens of unique stops, each with its own costs for fuel, labor, and vehicle maintenance. Shipping typically consumes 10-15% of a brand's total revenue,3 and that number keeps climbing. Brands that treat carrier selection as a fixed expense instead of an optimization opportunity are leaving significant money on the table.

Single-carrier dependency

When Pitney Bowes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy overnight in August 2024,4 most brands that relied on them for final-mile delivery faced 3 to 6 week disruptions and cost increases of 25% or more.5 Brands with diversified carrier networks absorbed the news and kept shipping. Carrier diversification isn't a hedge for extreme scenarios. It's basic resilience in a category where disruption is a routine event.

Failed deliveries and theft

A package requiring a second delivery attempt doubles the cost of that shipment. But the reputational hit is harder to recover from. 41% of Americans have experienced porch piracy,6 and the brands absorbing those losses aren't just paying for a replacement shipment. They're paying for a support ticket and the goodwill cost of a customer who now has a story to tell about the time your brand let them down.

The demand for faster shipping

Thanks to the expectations Amazon built, customers now treat two-day delivery as a baseline, not a premium. 21% of shoppers abandon their cart due to slow shipping, and 39% abandon because of shipping costs entirely.7 Meeting speed expectations isn't just about finding a fast carrier. It requires positioning inventory close to consumers that ground shipping can deliver in two days or less.

How to Stop Losing Customers at the Last Mile

Last-mile delivery used to mean moving pallets from a distribution center to a retail store. Now it means managing thousands of individual packages heading to different residential addresses every day. That shift has put enormous pressure on fulfillment networks and introduced a fresh set of challenges that can make or break a brand.

The volume problem is real. The complexity problem is real. The consumer expectations problem is relentless. Brands running 21st-century order volumes on 20th-century carrier contracts are going to feel all three. The good news: each problem has a fix.

Intelligent carrier selection

The most efficient route isn't always the cheapest one at the rate card. Smart carrier selection factors in zip-to-zip performance history, real-time carrier capacity, order attributes (fragile, oversized, high-value), and service level equivalency. If a carrier consistently underperforms on a specific lane, the system should know. If a cheaper service level delivers in the same window as a premium one, the system should find it. The result isn't just lower cost. It's better delivery performance, because you're not routing packages to carriers that will fail them.

Distributed inventory

One of the most effective ways to shorten the last mile is to shrink it before a single order is placed. Placing inventory in fulfillment centers closer to where demand is concentrated lets you offer two-day shipping at ground rates, without paying for air freight. Brands that move from one fulfillment node to multiple see reductions in both transit time and parcel cost simultaneously.

Proactive communication

Customers who receive shipping updates don't call your support team. Every notification that answers "Where is my order?" before the customer asks is a ticket that never gets opened. At roughly $5 per WISMO interaction,2 a brand processing 5,000 monthly orders with just a 10% inquiry rate is burning $2,500 a month on questions that better communication eliminates entirely.

A delivery promise built on real data

58% of consumers want to see an exact delivery date before they complete a purchase. Only 1% of brands provide one.2 "3 to 5 business days" is a guess. A delivery date powered by actual carrier performance and real fulfillment cycle times is a promise.

Connected systems

A great last-mile experience begins the moment an order is placed. When your Order Management System, Warehouse Management System, and carrier network are fully connected, information flows from checkout to doorstep without gaps. That connection prevents errors, speeds up order processing, and means your team can see the full lifecycle of every order in one place.

The Last Mile is Where Brands Win or Lose

Only 34% of brands delivered as promised in Stord's 2025 Mystery Shopping study. 14% missed their own commitments by an average of seven days.2 That means most brands are losing customers at the one moment they had complete control over. The good news is that none of these are unsolvable problems.

The brands that win the next five years won't just have better carriers or faster fulfillment. They'll have built something harder to replicate: a consumer experience that earns trust on every order, compounds into loyalty, and makes switching to a competitor feel like a step backward. That's not built by optimizing one piece of the last mile. It's built by treating the whole thing as a single, connected system where every decision, from where inventory sits to what a tracking page says, either strengthens or erodes the relationship with the customer.

Today, brands face a relentless threat from two directions:

• Expected, Recurring Disruptions: These are the predictable challenges, such as peak season shipping delays, annual labor negotiations, and seasonal weather events.

• Unexpected Crises: These are the shocks from seemingly unrelated events, like geopolitical turmoil, new border rules, or cyber-infrastructure failures.

The extreme sensitivity of the global logistics network to both predictable and unpredictable disruptions is best understood through the principle of the butterfly effect. This suggests that a very small change in one area can trigger massive, disproportionate outcomes elsewhere, which we refer to as the tornado effect.1

Whether we call these events Black Swans or just the cost of doing business, the mechanism is the same. A single event cascades through the network until it becomes a catastrophic problem for a brand. The real challenge today is not just surviving the next crisis. Brands must accept that the ground is constantly moving, which requires a fulfillment network that is agile enough to adapt with it.

The Ripple Effects of Real-World Disruptions

No brand today is completely isolated. The following real-world incidents show that the biggest threat to your business isn't if a disruption will happen, but when and where the next butterfly flaps its wings, and how powerful the resulting tornadoes will be.

1. Regulatory and Trade Policy Disruptions

Changes in trade policy are no longer slow transitions. They are now sudden disruptions that force brands to have robust strategies yesterday and to deploy them overnight.

A prime example is the immediate pivot in U.S. tariffs implemented in February 2026. Here, a temporary 10% import surcharge was imposed. Following a Supreme Court ruling on executive power, the administration turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to address international payment problems. This created a duty on nearly all goods entering the U.S. for a period of 150 days.2 This tax increase was a systemic shock that caused price hikes and administrative chaos at every port.

Consumers also feel the pressure of price increases. One recent study estimates that these import taxes will cost the average American household $2,512 this year.3 In response, many consumers simply delay their purchases, which can slow down overall e-commerce growth.

This movement toward restricted trade is a global trend. Following the U.S. abolition of its $800 de minimis exemption,4 other major economies followed:

• The European Union (July 2026): EU Member States have officially approved the removal of the €150 (~$171) customs duty exemption. Starting July 1, 2026, a flat €3 (~3.43) customs duty will be introduced for each item category in a parcel. This is a temporary measure until the new EU Customs Data Hub is operational in 2028.5

• The United Kingdom (March 2029): The UK government confirmed it will fully remove its £135 (~$179) customs duty relief.6 This change is expected to be fully implemented by March 2029 at the latest. It aims to create a level playing field for domestic retailers against high-volume e-commerce platforms.

For brands, these additional duties increase total costs, and the resulting complexity creates administrative chaos. It slows down fulfillment and lengthens delivery times for the end customer. Brands should have already restructured their fulfillment operations, moved closer to their customers, and implemented full data transparency for every single parcel. This includes the automated management of HS codes, verified origin data, and seller registration. These requirements fundamentally overhaul how international brands must operate.

2. Geopolitical Risk Disruptions

Global events far from a brand's headquarters can stop the flow of products by cutting off access to critical resources. A foundational example of this is the 2022 Ukraine neon gas crisis. At the time, Ukraine produced nearly 70% of the world's semiconductor-grade neon. When the conflict began, production halted and neon prices spiked by over 600%.7 This single butterfly event eventually led to a global shortage of microchips. It impacted everything from smartphone production to car manufacturing.

This pattern is repeating today with even greater intensity. The Middle East crisis that began on February 28, 2026, is the latest tornado hitting global trade. Following military escalations involving Iran, the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to commercial traffic. This waterway is considered the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. It normally handles one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.8

The ripple effects were felt instantly by brands worldwide:

• Shipping Surcharges: Major ocean carriers like Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd suspended passage through the region. They introduced war risk surcharges that added between $1,500 and $4,000 to the cost of a single container.9 Many vessels were forced to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope. This added 10 to 14 days to delivery timelines.10

• Air Cargo Capacity: Regional airspace and major hubs like Dubai and Doha faced severe restrictions. As a result, global air cargo capacity fell.

• Fuel and Energy Spikes: Oil prices surged within days of the conflict. Brent crude prices spiked toward $120 per barrel before stabilizing near $100 following emergency reserve releases.11 These spikes triggered immediate fuel surcharges that inflated shipping costs for brands globally. This impact was felt even by brands with no direct business in the Middle East.

These crises are a reminder that disruption in one region rapidly becomes an expensive problem for retailers everywhere. They force brands to re-evaluate their sourcing and logistics strategies immediately. When international trade relies on a few narrow straits, regional problems become global problems.

3. Technology & Cybersecurity Disruptions

In an e-commerce world, IT infrastructure is the backbone of logistics. A failure in a system, whether internal or a third-party service, can instantly stop orders, payment processing, or global visibility.

• Cyberattacks: The Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack (2021) is a cyberattack on the IT system of a fuel pipeline, an issue seemingly unrelated to retail, but still crippled last-mile logistics.12 The shutdown created panic buying and localized fuel shortages. Delivery fleets could not fuel their vehicles, leading to delivery delays and regional service disruptions across the US East Coast.

• Cloud Failures and Outages: A single point of failure in a major cloud computing region (like the 2025 Amazon Web Services outage)13 can take down thousands of interconnected services used for real-time inventory management, payment processing, and order fulfillment. Brands instantly lose the ability to function, leading to massive financial losses and customer frustration.

• Phishing and Breaches: Cybersecurity threats like the Shopify merchant phishing attacks compromise customer data and payment information.14 This triggers immediate brand reputation damage, loss of trust, and often forces costly security overhauls that divert capital from core fulfillment operations.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Not all disruptions are destructive. Some represent a necessary evolution in how commerce operates. The rapid rise of agentic AI is transforming traditional supply chain management by moving from prediction to action. These autonomous agents can automatically reroute shipments and rebalance inventory across warehouses using historical data and competitive intelligence metrics with minimal to no human intervention. While this transition requires technological overhauls, it creates an autonomous supply chain capable of recovering from shocks far faster than traditional models.

4. Infrastructure & Logistical Disruptions (Physical, Weather, and Congestion)

When physical assets or transportation networks fail, the result is an instantaneous, costly shock that bottlenecks the entire supply chain.

• Chokepoint Failures: The Suez Canal Blockage in 2021 saw the Ever Given halt approximately $9.6 billion worth of goods daily.15 The resulting port congestion spiked globally as delayed ships arrived en masse. Similarly, the recurring Canadian Postal Strike crisis demonstrates this systemic vulnerability perfectly. Major disruptions, including the rotating strikes in 201816 and the more recent national strike in late 2024 (and ongoing actions in 2025),17 caused brands to preemptively stop shipping or switch to expensive private carriers. This recurring labor instability illustrates how a physical stoppage in one carrier's network can cripple commerce.

• Extreme Weather Events: Natural disasters inject sudden chaos into the fulfillment ecosystem. For example, the Texas Winter Storms (2021) shut down critical chemical plants and energy grids.18 This failure in petrochemical production created severe shortages of resins and plastics, impacting packaging and core manufacturing components globally. Another example is Hurricane Ian (2022), which caused catastrophic damage that immediately halted last-mile and freight services in major U.S. markets, tying up inventory, and forcing weeks of costly rerouting.19 

5. Demand Volatility Disruptions

Unpredictable consumer behavior, from viral spikes that deplete stock to sudden drops that force markdowns, can overwhelm fulfillment capacity. This can lead to poor customer experience and brand damage.

• Viral Crises and Black Markets: The Labubu collectible craze is a perfect example of a market being outrun by hype.20 Pop Mart’s production and distribution capacity were quickly outstripped by "exponential growth." This led to products selling out in seconds and even the development of a black market, highlighting a severe breakdown in managed supply.

• Predictable Peak Failures: Even the annual peak season (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday rush) is an expected disruption that frequently leads to failure, particularly as the season approaches. Brands know the surge is coming, yet they routinely struggle to manage the immense pressure placed on their fulfillment infrastructure. This is a scalability vulnerability that highlights the risk of operating without a specialized logistics expert. The result is a cycle of predictable failures, such as labor shortages, carrier capacity crunches, and longer click-to-ship times that damage customer trust. Brands can break this cycle by adopting data-driven strategies and pairing these insights with the right technology and fulfillment partners that can help pivot from firefighting to preemptive action. You can read more strategies for peak season success in our Stord 2025 BFCM Guide.

6. Black Swan Disruptions

Defined as high-impact, rare, and unpredictable, these events paralyze operations and cause unprecedented financial losses across multiple sectors, often forcing the rewriting of entire business strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the ultimate real-world example of a Black Swan event for the global supply chain, permanently rewriting the rules of modern e-commerce. The initial global shutdowns led to supply chains grinding to a halt, forcing a complete operational scramble. While the crisis struck without warning, it fueled an undeniable boom in digital commerce. U.S. e-commerce sales, for instance, surged by a staggering 41.7% in 2020 over the previous year, compressing years of expected growth into a few months.21

This surge, however, was chaotic due to the radical shift in consumer buying behavior. Everyone immediately stocked up on essentials (like groceries and sanitation supplies) while dramatically skipping non-essentials. This created a massive whipsaw effect with two devastating consequences for brands.

On one side, boom brands (e.g., essentials and home goods) faced impossible spikes in demand, forcing urgent, costly investment in over-capacity. This included acquiring new warehouses, hiring sprees, and building emergency inventory, only to deal with massive inventory obsolescence and excess warehouse space years later when growth inevitably slowed.

On the other side, bust brands (e.g., apparel and hospitality) saw their demand vanish overnight. They were left with mountains of non-essential inventory that immediately turned into unsaleable liabilities, forcing widespread markdowns, massive losses, and ultimately, pushing prominent retailers into bankruptcy.

Critically, the pandemic spurred structural and behavioral changes that are still shaping commerce years later. The mass shift to remote and hybrid work remains prevalent, altering buying patterns and accelerating investment in home goods and technology while depressing demand for workwear and commuter fuel.

The pandemic proved that a single, unforeseen event instantly becomes an existential business threat and permanently restructures the entire retail landscape.

When, Not If: Getting Ready for Any Disruption

As our real-world examples prove, the risk to your brand may not always be large or predictable. But it is always interconnected and imminent.

Since disruption is a matter of when and where the next butterfly flaps its wings, brands can no longer rely on rigid, fragmented, or manually managed systems. Simply holding more inventory is a costly, insufficient defense. Instead, brands must build inherent flexibility that allows them to pivot almost instantly when a crisis hits. This structural shift is achieved by prioritizing:

• Real-Time Visibility: Gaining end-to-end control and predictive insight to spot the initial “flap” before it cascades.

• Decentralized Flexibility: Moving away from single points of failure by leveraging diversified inventory locations and networks.

• AI-Driven Execution: Integrating AI-powered solutions allows brands to move to rapid action by providing intelligent resolution for order exemptions, surfacing automated compliance recommendations, and enabling precision restocking.

The objective is not merely to survive the disruption, but to possess the structural agility required to thrive in the face of constant change. By partnering with a unified commerce and fulfillment expert like Stord, you gain the critical control, AI-powered insights, and scalable network necessary to rapidly reroute inventory, maintain service quality, and control costs during any disruption.

The future of your brand isn’t decided by the next flap of the butterfly’s wings, but by how you manage the resulting tornadoes.

Take junk fees from online ticket purchases, for example. Many customers have had the frustrating experience of selecting affordable tickets for a concert or event, only to reach the final checkout page and discover a stack of hidden service charges, handling fees, and processing costs that nearly double the total price. This bait-and-switch tactic has made consumers wary and reactive to any surprise fees.

In the case of online shopping, buyers know that almost every order will incur taxes and shipping fees, but they want to see an accurate and itemized presentation of those costs upfront. Failure to communicate these extra charges, along with other details like product descriptions, stock availability, shipping options, total costs, delivery promises, and return policies, can make end consumers lose trust in your brand.

Say a customer finds your product and decides to add five items to the cart. But once they go to the checkout page, they’re hit with surprises: only three are actually in stock, the delivery is in 2 days, but it is not made clear if it will or won’t be affected by an upcoming holiday, and the total is suddenly $15 more than expected.

When information isn’t clear and accurate at each stage in the buying journey, you increase the chances that the customer will abandon their cart. But clear, proactive communication can help offset these various points of friction. A message explaining the sudden change in stock availability, a notice on how the holiday may delay delivery by X number of days, a note about how the product price excludes taxes. Details like these show the customer that your brand is paying attention.

Of all the elements at checkout, clearly communicating taxes is often the hardest challenge for e-commerce brands. Unlike shipping, which is typically a flat rate or free after a price threshold when well-managed by a modern fulfillment provider, taxes vary depending on the product category, the location of a brand’s fulfillment center or warehouse, the location of the end consumer, and the country of origin if the product was imported. This variability makes it incredibly difficult for brands to calculate and display taxes accurately across platforms in real time. This complexity grows with scale as brands expand into more sales channels and new geographic markets, or offer broader product ranges.

While managing in-cart taxes may be difficult, it’s solvable. And the solution lies with your commerce enablement and fulfillment system.

Why Are Taxes So Complicated?

No two customers are taxed exactly the same way. That’s not hyperbole—it’s the reality of a fragmented global tax system that treats online purchases differently.

Note that what follows should not be considered tax advice. Sales tax regulations are subject to change and your local and federal governments. That said, there are common factors that typically influence in-cart sales tax computations:

Origin and Destination

Tax rules change depending on where your customer lives. Sales tax isn’t set at the federal level in the U.S. Though the federal government could theoretically levy a nationwide sales tax under Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has declined to do so.2 Currently, taxes are defined by state, city, county, and special tax districts.3 But not all states impose sales taxes at every level of jurisdiction.

For instance, Alaska does not have a state-level sales tax but allows local governments to levy their own.4 As a result, someone in one ZIP code could be charged a different rate than someone just a few blocks away. To figure out how much tax to charge, brands need to know whether a state uses origin or destination tax sourcing.5

In origin-based states, the tax rate is determined by the location where the order is shipped from, typically the seller’s warehouse or fulfillment center. In destination-based states, the tax is calculated based on the buyer’s shipping address. There is one state that uses mixed sourcing. Meanwhile, four states don’t charge sales taxes at all.

However, the final tax rate will depend on whether the sale is intrastate or out-of-state. Here’s a breakdown:

For example, if your warehouse is in Arizona and a customer places an order for delivery within the state, the tax applied would be based on the rules tied to the warehouse address. But if you’re fulfilling that same order from a warehouse in Colorado, you’d need to apply the rate that matches the buyer’s shipping address in Arizona.6 That could mean a different state rate and possibly additional local taxes.

Moreover, in California, city, county, and state taxes for intrastate sales are origin-based, and any extra local district taxes are based on the buyer’s address.7 However, for sales to customers outside California, all taxes are destination-based.

Product-specific Rules

Each state has different sales tax rules depending on the product category. Some states don’t tax clothing if they are priced below a threshold. Some tax groceries, but not soda. Some exempt electronics, but only if they are used for school or business. The list goes on. 

Now, you not only have to consider jurisdiction-based tax implications, but also product categories. This compounded complexity, when multiplied across thousands of SKUs and tens of thousands of orders, can become a logistical nightmare for brands, especially when it’s a mixed cart. And more often than not, that is almost always the case.

Here’s how sales tax for mixed carts can become complicated:

• When both taxable and non-taxable items are bundled together and sold as a single unit—like a gift basket or a product kit—rules vary widely by state:

  • Some states require sales tax to be applied to the full price of the bundle or kit.

  • Others allow the retailer to collect and remit tax only on the taxable items.

  • In some cases, if the taxable portion is considered de minimis (typically defined as 10% or less of the total sales price), the entire amount may be exempt from sales tax.8

• When mixed items aren’t bundled—just grouped in a package and shipped together—some states apply sales tax to the entire order, even if the exempt items are listed separately. While other states will levy taxes only on the eligible items in the cart, regardless of how they are presented on the invoice.

So if a customer places an order with four items and only one qualifies for a tax exemption, your fulfillment system must be able to instantly identify that distinction and apply the correct tax rules to each item. Failing to get this right can either: overcharge the customer and risk damaging your brand reputation, not to mention the avoidable support costs to process refunds, or undercharge and face compliance issues.

To get it right, your e-commerce platform, tax engine, and fulfillment system need to be in sync so that the correct tax logic is consistently applied for every product, in every location, every time.

Shipping Fees

Some states tax shipping fees; others don’t. In some cases, it depends on whether the shipping cost is bundled with the item price or listed as a separate line item at checkout.

Here are a few typical scenarios brands need to factor in:

• A state may consider a separately listed shipping fee exempt from tax, while another may tax it regardless of how it appears on the invoice.

• During a free shipping promotion, some states treat the shipping fee as “included” in the product price. So, the cost of shipping, even though it's not explicitly charged, is considered part of the total taxable amount. This means the entire cart value, including what would have been the shipping cost, becomes taxable.

For mixed orders containing both taxable and exempt items, some jurisdictions require the shipping cost to be split and taxed proportionally. Others take a majority-rules approach: shipping is fully taxable if most of the items in the order are taxable, and fully non-taxable if the majority of items are exempt.

Shipping-related tax differences become harder to manage as order volume increases. Manually handling these decisions is not sustainable, especially during sales spikes, seasonal peaks, or promotional campaigns with variable shipping options.

International Sourcing and Fulfillment

For brands that source raw materials and/or finished products from abroad, the cost to import in bulk into the US can become very expensive with added duties and taxes on top of the cost of goods and transport. The end of the de minimis exemption, ongoing trade disputes, and rapidly shifting tariff schedules have also made these costs far less predictable, introducing a level of volatility that makes forecasting margins significantly more complex.

One effective strategy to reduce these costs is to utilize a bonded warehouse or a Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Bonded warehouses are facilities licensed and regulated by U.S. Customs, where goods can be stored without paying duties until they leave the facility for U.S. consumption.9 FTZs are geographically defined areas in a country where goods can be received, stored, assembled, reconfigured, or even manufactured without incurring duties upfront.10 In both cases, if the goods are re-exported, they are exempt from U.S. import duties entirely.

But just as brands face tax and duty challenges when importing goods into the U.S., international customers often face their own set of surprises when ordering from U.S.-based stores. A common frustration is being asked to pay value-added tax (VAT), import duties, or local courier handling fees upon delivery, even when they’ve already paid in full during checkout. This usually stems from the limitations of many e-commerce platforms which aren’t equipped to calculate or display international tax obligations in real time.

For brands that source and fulfill across borders, a reliable, integrated fulfillment infrastructure and tax system is essential for maintaining compliance, protecting margins, and delivering a seamless customer experience in global markets.

Providing Reliable Tax Estimates

So, with all this complexity around sales taxes, how do some brands calculate and show them to the customer?

Most e-commerce platforms display an estimated sales tax at checkout. However, some brands do it without offering a clear explanation of what it means.

In many cases, customers are left digging through the FAQ or help pages for clarification. Without clear labels, some online shoppers may even assume that the estimate is final, only to be surprised later by a higher charge on their invoice.

Some brands are more proactive and include an icon (usually a “?”) next to the tax estimate, which customers can hover over to display a tooltip explaining that the final tax amount will be calculated after the order is processed, and that a confirmation will follow via text or email.

But there are cases where a customer already has a confirmation email with the final sales tax, only to receive another email hours later with an updated amount. Great if it’s lower, but when they see that the second final tax has increased, it can cause extreme frustration. In the worst cases, some aren’t notified at all and only notice the difference once their account is charged. 

This lack of transparency raises serious concerns about the credibility of your business.

Tax Accuracy in E-commerce

E-commerce brands should always aim for clarity, accuracy, and consistency in how they communicate tax information at every stage of the buying journey for every order.

To make that possible, brands need automated workflows that can pull in the right data and apply tax logic accurately in real time. Doing this effectively requires an integrated fulfillment system that is programmed to follow a clear decision framework in determining and calculating sales tax:

Step 1: Identifying the Shipping Destination

At checkout, the system must capture the customer’s complete shipping address. This enables automated identification of the applicable tax jurisdiction, that is, whether the order is subject to destination-based or origin-based rules, or whether the destination state is sales-tax exempt. Detailed address inputs, including city and ZIP code, are necessary to further determine if local or district-level taxes apply.

Step 2: Choosing the Fulfillment Origin

The system should be able to instantly identify which warehouse or fulfillment center is best positioned to fulfill the order. This origin point is critical to classifying the transaction as either intra-state or out-of-state. For out-of-state shipments, you'll need to determine whether your business has nexus in that state.

Step 3: Classifying the Product/s

The system must correctly tag each SKU in the cart by product category. This allows the tax engine to apply the correct tax treatment based on how the jurisdiction defines and taxes each product type. Accurate HS Code classification ensures the correct duties and taxes are applied at checkout. Errors here can lead to under- or over-collection, shipment delays, or poor customer experiences.

To support this, brands should leverage automated classification tools and expert-backed data. Solutions like Stord, through partnerships with providers like OpenBorder, help ensure HS Codes are properly assigned and maintained at checkout.

Step 4: Applying Tax on Shipping Fee

The system should apply the correct shipping tax rate based on the applicable laws of the jurisdiction determined in the previous steps. Best practice is to list shipping as a separate line item during checkout and on the invoice to ensure transparency and enable tax to be excluded wherever legally allowed.

Here’s a simple decision flowchart showing how your fulfillment system can determine when and how to charge accurate sales tax. It’s a general-use example and not exhaustive, but it outlines the key steps most systems should follow:

It’s clear how ad hoc processes make it extremely difficult to maintain consistency between the taxes at checkout and the actual fulfillment activity. An integrated commerce enablement and fulfillment system is often the only viable way to manage this complexity at scale without compromising the customer experience.

That need for integration becomes even more pronounced when selling internationally. Unlike most providers that rely on estimates, Stord’s robust duties and taxes calculator, powered by OpenBorder, delivers guaranteed landed costs, giving customers confidence in the total price they see before completing their purchase. Duties and taxes are also collected and remitted on behalf of brands, removing operational complexity and lowering the barrier to global expansion. Combined with Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) or Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU)11 shipping options and an optimized international checkout experience, this creates a seamless path for brands to scale globally and maximize conversion.

Optimizing Routing to Drive Real Savings for Customers

Since tax rates are influenced by location, there is significant potential in using fulfillment to drive cost savings for consumers. Other than ensuring the product arrives at the shopper’s door on time, you can also leverage routing decisions to help secure the most cost-effective rates for shipping and taxes.

After all, high extra costs at checkout can make almost 40% of online shoppers abandon their cart.1 Providing a fulfillment option that lowers the customer’s total cost without sacrificing speed or reliability can reduce friction at checkout and drive higher conversion.

This can be possible with a fulfillment setup supported by an integrated e-commerce software. Brands that continue to operate with fragmented systems, even with highly distributed networks, can still fall behind in delivering a competitive buying experience.

One solution is to partner with a commerce enablement and fulfillment provider, like Stord, that can give you the flexibility to tap into a well-established multinode network and provide real-time visibility into critical fulfillment data. Stord’s partnership with OpenBorder, a trusted provider of global trade compliance and cross-border solutions, also helps reduce the burden of tax compliance.

With these integrated capabilities, brands can instantly identify the jurisdictions and product categories tied to any given order, and then quickly determine the optimal warehouse locations for storing inventory, the best point of origin, and the route that offers the best rate for taxes and shipping while consistently meeting delivery promises.

Turn Tax Into a Trust Signal That Drives Conversion

Taxes will always be complex. But complexity isn’t the problem, opacity is. Customers don’t know how hard it is to calculate taxes accurately in real time. They just expect it to be right and clear. Any ambiguity, confusion, or inconsistency hurts the trust they’ve built with your brand. 

Resolving tax complexity doesn’t need a complete overhaul of existing systems. It requires reframing tax as part of the consumer experience. When sales taxes are calculated and presented accurately upfront, it becomes a signal of reliability that reinforces trust at critical points in the buying journey. And that trust is what drives conversions.

Effectively managing this entire journey through robust inventory control dictates what happens to a brand. Yet, this essential trip is constantly sabotaged by an expensive and unsustainable industry illusion, which is the belief that inventory control (the physical management of goods in the right place and right time) and compliance (the rules for moving them) are distinct and disconnected functions.

This flawed thinking treats compliance as a headache to be managed, rather than a system to be refined, and it's actively costing your business. The current cost of failure is staggering with brands losing up to 11% of their annual revenue because of poor inventory control, and stockouts alone account for 40% of lost sales as customers often switch immediately to competitors when items are unavailable.1 This devastation is rooted in a failure of execution. 

When brands treat compliance defensively, as a manual, overhead cost, they suffer disconnects within the operations that are the root cause of non-compliant shipments leading to punitive retail chargebacks, outdated inventory tracking resulting in product write-offs, and chaos that prevents scaling. We define this strategic flaw as the lack of quality in compliance. When compliance is managed manually, it fails under pressure, subjecting your business to preventable risk.

This can be addressed. Compliance should not be viewed as a burden, but a systemic structure for superior quality. We, then, move compliance from the expense table into a measurable driver of profit by enforcing process rules as the non-negotiable quality outcome within an integrated system.

The Problem of Ignoring Quality in Compliance

What happens when your inventory systems lack integrated quality in compliance? The financial consequences are immediate, tangible, and severe, dividing fulfillment into the following failure points.

Loss of Product and Trust

For brands dealing with sensitive products (supplements, food, or beauty), relying on manual FEFO (First-Expired, First-Out) processes is a gamble. Human error is inevitable, leading to a catastrophic cycle of:

• Financial Waste: Inventory nearing expiration must be written off, instantly draining capital.

• Regulatory Risk: Expired goods will ship to customers or retailers, leading to fines, chargebacks, and potentially recalls.

• Brand Damage: Consumer trust erodes, turning a loyal buyer into a competitor's customer.

This exact crisis was crippling the supplement brand, V Shred. Their struggle with external checks and manual spreadsheets resulted in lost product, lost trust, and constant inventory write-offs, creating a massive hidden cost in their supply chain. This is the guaranteed outcome when inventory control, specifically expiration management, is treated as a manual checklist rather than a system-enforced compliance rule. This crisis was resolved by deploying a system that enforced FEFO rules automatically, eliminating manual spreadsheet errors and restoring customer trust.

Chargebacks and Churn

The financial loss continues into the shipping process, where every complex order is a potential penalty. When systems fail to enforce mandates across B2B, wholesale, and subscription channels, revenue acceleration stalls:

• Punitive Fines: Missed retail routing guides, inaccurate UCC labels, or late deliveries trigger massive retail chargebacks. These are pure profit loss imposed by large retailers.

• Customer Service Load: Inventory mispicks and flawed kitting (assembling multi-SKU orders) generate excessive customer service tickets (WISMO, wrong item shipped), which dramatically raises overhead and destroys retention.

• Growth Barrier: The chaos becomes unscalable. Complexity forces brands to pull back from profitable retail partners or halt new product launches.

The oral care leader, quip, suffered from this bottleneck. The complexity of perfectly assembling their subscription boxes while flawlessly managing their diverse retail partnerships was a constant source of friction, threatening to turn their fulfillment operation into an unmanageable liability.

To secure their growth, quip implemented a comprehensive quality assurance solution that enforced perfect, error-free assembly of their complex subscription and retail orders, turning operational liability into flawless execution.

Compounding Costs of Non-Compliance in B2B

Retailer chargebacks are non-negotiable fees applied instantly for non-adherence to any vendor rule, eating directly into your profit margin.

Industry data reveals the reality of this risk, including:

• Significant Revenue Loss: Retailer compliance chargebacks can reach upward of 20% of an entire invoice,2 which is a direct and non-recoverable deduction from your revenue.

• Punitive Flat Fees: Violations like missing or incorrect labeling can incur flat penalties of up to $100 per occurrence,3 compounding rapidly across thousands of shipments.

• Major Retailer Mandates: Companies like Walmart penalize suppliers 3% of the item value for late or incomplete deliveries through their On-Time In-Full (OTIF) program.4

Failing to build technology that systematically enforces these complex B2B compliance standards means accepting these chargebacks as a fixed, unscalable cost of doing business. While you could attempt to build proprietary infrastructure to meet every routing guide, that specialized, high-risk effort is time-consuming, requires scarce expertise, and comes with a massive, upfront cost. The smart, fast path to quality in compliance is partnering with a provider like Stord, who has already built and perfected the technology to mitigate the risks for you.

Implementing Systemic Quality in Compliance

The solution to these threats is not better manual labor. It is embedded, structural quality in compliance. Stord proves that verifiable quality is not accidental. It is the non-negotiable output of compliance programs built directly into an integrated system.

Stord transforms regulatory and inventory risk into reliable profit potential. The system digitally commands strict quality standards for every fulfillment step.

Process Control to Ensure Inventory Integrity

• Systemic Integrity: We replace reactive checklists with proactive validation. Every movement within the facility is digitally verified against your business rules, ensuring that physical stock matches your digital record in real-time.

• Continuous Data Reconciliation: Instead of relying on periodic manual audits, our system uses continuous data flows to identify and resolve discrepancies immediately. This ensures the highest level of data hygiene and financial reporting accuracy.

• Specialized ICQA Oversight: Our Inventory Control & Quality Assurance (ICQA) teams act as the guardians of the shelf. They leverage our proprietary technology to investigate root causes of friction and implement permanent process improvements to prevent reoccurrence.

Technology Enforcement

• Stord WMS Leverage (S1W): Our proprietary WMS enforces strict process discipline across every inventory transaction (receiving, putaway, picking, packing).

• Guaranteed Compliance: The technology guides the process, minimizing human deviation. This guarantees compliance with rules like FEFO and kitting instructions.

• BI Platform for Actionable Insights: We transform raw WMS data into real-time intelligence. This enables continuous measurement and strategic improvement of compliance.

Proof of Compliance

These statistics represent the measurable benefits of Stord’s systemic compliance:

It is important to note that securing inventory and eliminating chargebacks is not a task that can be outsourced blindly. It is a shared, tightly coupled responsibility between the brand and its fulfillment partner. The brand owns the definition of compliance while the fulfillment provider owns the execution of those rules at scale. True quality in compliance is achieved only when accountability is mutual and objectives are aligned.

The Cost of Compliance Inaction

There is a high price to pay for brands that still lack quality in compliance. This manual, reactive approach guarantees that your margins will remain choked by chargebacks, write-offs, and avoidable errors. It’s a hidden, unscalable cost on every order you ship. Are you willing to keep paying that cost?

It's time to leverage an integrated system to enforce quality. Stord ensures that quality in compliance is the means by which your brand achieves speed, accuracy, and profitability simultaneously. By partnering with Stord, you gain system-enforced accuracy, scalable compliance with retail mandates, and the reduction of hidden operational loss.

However, by standing still, you guarantee that your current inefficiencies and inaccuracies will continue to hurt your profitability, slow your growth, and divert resources away from innovation. The cost of compliance inaction is too high to ignore.

Global e-commerce sales are expected to exceed $6.86 trillion in just 2 years,1 with more than 2.8 billion people shopping online worldwide.2 As the industry grows, so does the volume of data generated across every customer interaction, inventory, order, shipment, and return.

For many brands, this means managing millions of data points across marketing, sales, fulfillment, and logistics. Properly analyzed, this data can reveal customer behavior trends, identify operational inefficiencies, support demand forecasting, help optimize fulfillment strategies, and more. These insights ultimately power the decisions that allow brands to improve performance and deliver better customer experiences.

However, transforming raw data into actionable insight is a process that is slow by design. Data moves through analysts, into reports, up to leadership, then back down as decisions. Every handoff adds hours.

As analysts pull data from their WMS, check carrier feeds, cross-reference routing rules, and surface a root cause, hours have already passed. In an industry where customer expectations continue to accelerate, these delays can translate directly into lost revenue, dissatisfied customers, and missed opportunities to resolve issues in real time before they compound.

The Data-to-Action Problem

Technology has steadily evolved to close the gap between data and action.

In the early days, producing a single report often took between 4-10 hours of manual work.3 Analytics platforms cut that by more than 50%.4

At the same time, however, the very technologies that streamlined analytics also helped accelerate the growth of digital commerce itself. As e-commerce platforms, marketing tools, and fulfillment systems became more sophisticated and widely adopted, the scale and speed of online commerce expanded rapidly. With that expansion came a new challenge: a dramatic increase in both the volume and complexity of the data being generated.

Today’s e-commerce brands operate across dozens of interconnected systems: storefronts, marketing platforms, warehouse management systems, transportation networks, customer experience tools, and more. At a global level, the amount of data generated each day is growing at an extraordinary pace, increasing by roughly 22% year over year.5 Each platform produces continuous streams of data that must be collected, reconciled, processed, and interpreted before they can inform business decisions. As a result, even well-equipped commerce teams still often require hours or days to move from raw data to actionable insight, despite modern analytics infrastructure.

Thus, the challenge has remained the same: how to turn data into decisions as quickly as possible.

AI doesn’t just speed up reporting; it eliminates the lag between data and decision entirely. Rather than simply accelerating reporting workflows, AI is redefining how insights are generated, compressing processes that once took hours or days into minutes (even seconds), and enabling organizations to move from reactive firefighting to proactive intervention.

AI and E-Commerce

Insights from Stord’s State of AI in E-Commerce Report reinforce how AI will not simply optimize existing e-commerce workflows; it will fundamentally reshape how digital commerce operates. 

For brands and operators, AI is rapidly moving from a supporting tool to a core operational layer within commerce technology stacks. It can power product recommendations, fraud detection, dynamic pricing, customer support automation, demand forecasting, warehouse optimization, and more. These AI capabilities allow brands to operate faster, more efficiently, and with greater precision than ever before.

But one of the most powerful and intuitive applications of AI has emerged through a simple interface: Chat - the ability to ask a question and receive an answer instantly.

For consumers, this has fundamentally changed the way they shop online. Stord’s recent AI sentiment survey found that 51% of consumers have used AI for online shopping, with 17% using AI conversational tools regularly to help find the products they need. This represents approximately 135 to 140 million e-commerce consumers in the US actively relying on AI in their shopping journeys today.6 Consumers already use AI to find products in seconds. The irony is that the operators fulfilling those orders are still waiting hours for a report to tell them why something went wrong.

Now imagine bringing that same capability into e-commerce operations.

Instead of navigating multiple dashboards or waiting for analysts to generate reports, an operator could simply ask a question and receive an immediate, data-backed answer. A fulfillment manager could ask why shipping delays are increasing, or a warehouse operator could instantly identify which area is experiencing the highest processing latency.

For e-commerce brands managing complex and rapidly dynamic operations, the ability to access insights through simple conversation isn’t just an incremental improvement, it removes the analyst as the bottleneck entirely.

Ask, Answer, Action

We process $10B+ in commerce annually across hundreds of brands. We see this problem every day - at real scale, in real operations. That’s why we built StordAI differently.

What sets Stord apart from the many companies rushing to adopt AI is how these capabilities are built. Rather than layering generic AI tools onto existing systems, each AI-powered capability is designed to solve the most critical operational challenges that e-commerce brands face every day. One of which is the complexity of transforming massive volumes of data into actionable insights quickly enough to drive real-time action.

To solve this problem, Stord introduced a powerful new capability within the StordAI platform: StordAI Chat.

StordAI Chat reimagines how brands interact with their data. Through a conversational interface, operators can quickly access insights across their commerce operations, analyze fulfillment performance, investigate shipping delays, explore inventory trends, and identify operational bottlenecks in seconds. In fact, field studies in enterprise environments show measurable gains in throughput when AI assists. Teams using AI are significantly more productive, completing 12% more tasks on average and finishing them 25% faster.7

This capability is particularly valuable in an environment where operational conditions change rapidly. Sudden spikes in order volume, carrier disruptions, inventory shortages, or fulfillment bottlenecks can emerge with little warning, and the ability to diagnose these issues immediately allows teams to respond faster and prevent small problems from escalating into larger operational disruptions.

With any AI-powered tool, reliability and accuracy are critical. Businesses must trust that the insights they receive reflect the real conditions of their operations.

What makes StordAI Chat different is the data foundation on which it is built. The system is trained on millions of fulfillment and logistics data points generated across Stord’s network: orders, inventory, workflows, routing logic, shipping events, compliance codes, historical performance, and more.

Because it is built specifically for e-commerce logistics and fulfillment, StordAI Chat understands the metrics and operational dynamics that matter most to commerce operators. It does not simply generate answers; it generates answers rooted in the real data of your business.

Taking Action at the Speed of Commerce

E-commerce has always been driven by data, but the competitive advantage lies in how quickly businesses can turn that data into action.

For years, brands have relied on dashboards, analytics teams, and reporting tools to interpret operational performance. While these have improved visibility, they could not eliminate the time delays between identifying an issue and responding to it. By enabling instant analysis of complex operational datasets, AI allows businesses to move from insight to action at the speed modern commerce requires.

The brands winning in the next five years won’t just have better data. They’ll have eliminated the gap between seeing a problem and fixing it. That’s what we’re building.

For most brands in Europe and the UK, penetrating the US market represents the ultimate growth milestone.

With annual retail sales surpassing the $1 trillion mark1 (around €847.8 billion or £731.7 billion) in 2025 and forecasts projecting steady growth over the coming years, the American market offers a combination of scale and momentum that only few regions can rival.

Recent industry data and brand outcomes show that UK and EU companies are increasingly targeting the US as a strategic growth market. One British fashion brand rapidly scaled its US customer base by nearly 200%2 and is expanding its retail footprint across major US cities, while other UK digital‑native brands report double‑digit3 US sales growth. Broader market analysis also cites the US as a key international opportunity due to its scale and online consumer base, reflected in cross‑border e-commerce interest among European retailers.4

However, while the prize is enormous, success in the US is far from guaranteed.

What Makes the US Market So Attractive

For EU and UK businesses accustomed to operating in relatively mature and harmonized European markets, the American landscape feels fundamentally different. Three forces define it:

• Scale: An immense consumer base exceeding 340 million people,5  representing one of the world's largest unified economic markets.

• Spending power: Higher average per-capita spending6 that translates into greater revenue potential compared to most European markets.

• E-commerce maturity: Delivery expectations shaped by decades of competition, and more recently by Amazon's relentless focus on speed and convenience.

Recent estimates underscore just how concentrated global e-commerce power has become with the US accounting for roughly 38.2% of worldwide online sales in 2025, just behind China’s 39.2% share and far ahead of other major markets such as Japan, the UK, Germany, and South Korea, each of which contribute only single-digit portions. China’s dominance, however, is driven largely by scale, with hundreds of millions more digital shoppers. By contrast, the US’ strength is rooted in consumer purchasing power. US GDP per capita exceeds $80,000 compared with roughly $13,000 in China on a nominal basis, and even after adjusting for purchasing power, Americans generate about three times more economic output per person.7 

This means the US market delivers significantly higher value per consumer, including some of the highest online revenue per capita among major e-commerce economies. For brands, that dynamic means marketing dollars in the US can go further, targeting a smaller but more affluent, higher-converting audience rather than dispersing investment across a much larger, lower-spend base.8

The mechanics of entering the US extend far beyond location and payment processing. While European brands have long differentiated through product quality and heritage, success in America increasingly hinges on operational excellence, particularly in fulfillment and logistics. What was once a back-office function has evolved into a strategic lever that directly shapes customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

For European brands, this is often the hardest lesson to internalize. A compelling product and a polished website are necessary, but not sufficient. US consumer expectations demand not only strong products, but equally strong operations. The most successful brands understand this before entering the market, not after encountering costly setbacks.

The Hidden Complexities That Derail Expansion

Several high-profile EU and UK brands illustrate the challenges of expanding into the US. In 2013, Tesco’s Fresh & Easy exited the US after investing more than $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion at the time),9 unable to compete with entrenched grocery players. More recently, British beauty retailer The Body Shop closed all US stores and ceased operations after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March 2024.10 UK lifestyle brand FatFace also exited the US entirely,11 shutting all locations amid weak profitability and broader restructuring. 

Continental European retailers have also found the US difficult to crack. France’s Carrefour’s late-1980s hypermarket experiment closed by 1993 after failing to adapt the format to American shoppers.12 A Netherland brand Royal Ahold’s acquisition-driven US expansion later unraveled when accounting irregularities surfaced at its American subsidiary, forcing earnings restatements, regulatory scrutiny, and eventually the divestiture of the business.13 

Together, these examples reveal how even the most storied European brands can be humbled by the American market. Think of it like a military campaign waged across an ocean wherein the invading force arrives with prestige and ambition, but its supply lines are stretched thin. Inventory, staffing, and brand consistency all have to be managed from thousands of miles away, while local competitors fight on home turf, armed with better market intelligence, established infrastructure, and faster logistics. The decisive battles rarely happen on the sales floor. They're won and lost in these operational realities, long before a customer ever walks through the door.

1. Navigating Tax Jurisdictions

For European brands accustomed to harmonized value-added tax (VAT) regimes, the move to the US state-based tax system represents one of the most significant operational adjustments in international expansion.

In Europe, national VAT rates typically hover around 21–22%,14 applied uniformly within each country. That consistency provides predictability. Businesses understand the rules, reporting frameworks are standardized, and compliance occurs at the national level.

The US operates very differently. Rather than a single consumption tax, more than 12,000 sales-tax jurisdictions exist across states, counties, and municipalities each with its own rates, rules, and product-taxability definitions, and all with frequently changing rates.15 While combined state and local rates averaged about 7.5% as of 2026,16 and far lower than European VAT, the complexity far exceeds the rate differential.

Unlike VAT, which is collected throughout a logistics network and offset at each stage, US sales tax is applied only at the final consumer transaction. That spares European brands from managing tax on business-to-business activity, but it introduces an intricate compliance burden once goods begin shipping to US customers.

In practice, the same product may be taxed in California but exempt in Tennessee. Some states tax clothing; others do not. Digital goods, food products, and services each face different rules depending on location.

Pricing psychology also shifts. Whereas VAT-inclusive pricing is standard in Europe, US shoppers expect sales tax to appear at checkout. That seemingly small distinction influences conversion rates, merchandising strategies, and promotional messaging.

The concept of “nexus” or the connection triggering a tax collection obligation has also expanded significantly following the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair Supreme Court decision.17 For European brands, this means that simply storing inventory in a US fulfillment center can create a taxable presence in that state, even if the company has no other operations there.

Each state where a brand has nexus requires registration for a sales tax permit, regular collection from customers, periodic remittance to tax authorities, and annual reconciliation and reporting. Managing this across multiple states manually is practically impossible.

2. Regulatory Considerations Beyond Taxation

Different product categories are subject to distinct federal regulatory requirements in the US. For example, food and cosmetics fall under the oversight of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), electronics may require Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification, and children’s products must comply with Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards. Importantly, the European “CE” marking does not automatically confer access to the US market as separate US-specific approvals are often required.

The same goes for documentation. In the US, customs declarations, country-of-origin marking, and product labeling demand a level of precision that often exceeds what many European brands encounter domestically. Even minor errors like incorrect Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes or non-compliant labeling can trigger customs holds, secondary inspections, or requests for correction, delaying clearance and disrupting inventory availability. 

These delays often translate directly into added cost. Once cargo exceeds its free time at port, storage and demurrage can run from roughly $75 to $300 per container per day,18 and sometimes far higher depending on the terminal and equipment type. Even modest holds can add thousands of dollars to a shipment, with a 10-day delay alone potentially generating $1,000 to $3,000 in penalties,19 before factoring in relabeling, bonded handling, or expedited re-shipping to recover lost time. More serious compliance issues can result in denied entry or seizure altogether. With US ports ranking among the costliest globally for demurrage and detention, what begins as a minor documentation error can quickly escalate into a material operational expense.

3. Meeting Unforgiving Consumer Expectations

The American consumer mindset differs significantly from European shopping behaviors. US shoppers have been conditioned to expect near-unlimited product selection, highly competitive pricing, and fast, reliable delivery shaped by decades of intense retail competition and, more recently, the Amazon effect.

By comparison, European consumers are generally more accustomed to curated assortments in physical stores, somewhat higher price sensitivity tied to perceived quality and sustainability, and greater acceptance of longer delivery windows when reliability and product quality are assured.20 While European shoppers value quality, brand heritage, and ethical sourcing, they often do not expect the same combination of hyper-convenience, speed, and broad availability unlike their American counterparts.21 This gap in expectations means that brands successful in Europe may need to adjust both their operational capabilities and customer experience strategies to meet US standards.

Much of this difference is structural rather than cultural. Geography, infrastructure, and trade integration shape what “normal” service looks like in each region. Industry benchmarks illustrate how delivery realities differ:

Meanwhile in the US, research indicates that in 2025, the average delivery speed is at 2.47 days,27 with more than 40% of American consumers expecting delivery within two to three days as a baseline.28 Same-day delivery has likewise become the new normal for most shoppers, with 80% wanting this service and 30% seeking it for free.29

This creates an interesting dynamic for European entrants. Americans are not inherently more impatient than European consumers, but they have been accustomed by domestic retailers to expect certain baseline service levels. Failing to meet these expectations doesn’t just mean lost sales; it means never getting a second chance to make a good first impression.

Amazon alone accounts for roughly 41% of US e-commerce,30 meaning nearly half of all online dollars flow through a single platform that has set the bar for delivery speed, return policies, and customer service. Competing doesn’t necessarily mean matching Amazon’s resources, but it does require understanding what Amazon has taught American consumers to expect.

4. The Returns Reality

With US retail returns approaching $900 billion annually,31 efficient reverse logistics are essential. Fast refunds, simple processes, and local return addresses protect conversion rates and loyalty.

European brands must recognize that, like EU and UK consumers, US shoppers expect convenient, no-cost returns. Emerging practices in Europe such as fees or restrictions on returns, particularly in fast fashion,32 are unlikely to be well received in the US. Restrictive policies, complicated processes, or customer-paid return shipping create friction that can drive shoppers to competitors. To note, more than half of US consumers expect free return shipping,33 making it a baseline requirement for competitive parity.

Additionally, when returns are easy and convenient, 73% of customers are more likely to make repeat purchases.34

5. Regional Fragmentation Requires Local Strategy

The US functions less like a single, uniform market and more like a network of distinct regional economies shaped by different climates, cultures, and consumer preferences. In that sense, it is not unlike the European Union itself. Just as brands in Europe navigate meaningful differences across countries, languages, and local buying habits, success in the US requires recognizing the equally nuanced variation across states and regions. The key distinction is that these differences exist within one regulatory and commercial framework, which can create the illusion of homogeneity even when consumer behavior is far from uniform.

Adapting currency display, sizing conventions, and measurement systems is therefore only the starting point. To gain traction, brands must go further, localizing product assortments, marketing strategies, and operational models to reflect regional demand patterns.

For example, a UK apparel brand may convert to US sizing, but winter outerwear will see stronger demand in the Northeast, while lightweight, breathable fabrics perform better in the Southwest. Marketing must also reflect local context: campaigns that resonate in coastal urban centers may not translate in other regions without adjustment. Similarly, a French organic snack brand that succeeds in health-conscious markets like California or New York cannot assume identical reception in other parts of the country without tailoring its positioning and distribution approach.

Region-specific strategies, spanning assortment planning, inventory allocation, fulfillment networks, and messaging, are essential for EU and UK brands seeking to scale in a US market that is unified legally, yet highly differentiated in practice.

6. Extreme Seasonal Concentration

US seasonality is intense. Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) and holiday shopping frequently account for 30–50% of annual e-commerce revenue,35 with US online sales during Cyber Five (five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) reaching around $44 billion last year.36 By contrast, while these events have grown in Europe and the UK, the impact is smaller and more spread out. In the UK, for instance, the four-day BFCM weekend sales in 2025 totaled about £3.8 billion ($5 billion).37 European shoppers also spread purchases across a longer promotional season and other holiday events. 

This highlights that EU and UK brands entering the US must prepare for a compressed, high-stakes seasonal peak in demand that differs fundamentally from European patterns. Without flexible capacity and scalable infrastructure, brands risk losing their biggest revenue opportunity of the year.

7. Volatile Trade Dynamics

Global trade policy has become increasingly dynamic, with tariffs and trade restrictions shifting based on economic and political factors, and recent developments have added uncertainty for EU and UK exporters. Just this year, the US-imposed tariff to the UK and six EU member-countries rose to 25% in relation to the recent Greenland dispute, with higher rates on specific categories such as steel, aluminum, autos, and certain industrial goods.38 

At the same time, the Supreme Court’s recent decision39 to strike down a set of sweeping import tariffs underscores how quickly trade rules can evolve, not only through executive action, but through judicial intervention. For brands expanding between the US and EU/UK, this reinforces a critical reality that sourcing, pricing, and margin models must be built for volatility, as today’s duty environment can shift in either direction with limited notice.

These tariff structures directly impact product economics considering that when duty rates rise for particular categories or countries of origin, brands must adjust pricing, reassess sourcing strategies, or absorb margin pressure. The speed and effectiveness of these adjustments often determine whether brands maintain market position or lose competitive ground in the US.

Why Infrastructure Matters More Than You Think

The path to US market success for EU and UK brands requires a fundamental strategic reorientation. While product differentiation and brand heritage remain important, they are no longer sufficient in a market where operational excellence has become the primary battleground.

European brands must acknowledge that entering the US is not simply an extension of their existing playbook. It demands treating logistics, fulfillment, and customer experience with the same strategic rigor traditionally reserved for product development and marketing. The most successful international entrants recognize this reality early, building operational capabilities before scaling rather than attempting to retrofit infrastructure after market entry.

This means carefully evaluating regional demand patterns, understanding the true cost of compliance across multiple tax jurisdictions, preparing for extreme seasonal concentration, and establishing reverse logistics capabilities that meet American return expectations. It also requires accepting that tariff volatility and regulatory complexity are ongoing operational realities, not one-time hurdles to overcome.

For most EU and UK brands, building this infrastructure independently represents an enormous capital investment with significant execution risk. The alternative, which is partnering with experienced US fulfillment providers, offers a proven pathway to market entry that balances speed, flexibility, and cost efficiency. The right fulfillment provider brings not just warehouse space, but established regional distribution networks, tax compliance expertise, customs clearance capabilities, and the technological infrastructure necessary to meet American delivery expectations from day one. And when tariffs or policies shift unexpectedly, your partner must have the capabilities and expertise to get your brand around these volatile changes no matter what.

However, not all fulfillment partnerships deliver equal value. Selecting the right partner requires understanding which capabilities truly matter for your specific category, customer base, and growth trajectory.

In Part 2, we’ll examine the critical criteria EU and UK brands should evaluate when choosing a US fulfillment partner.

A well-designed returns process creates a smooth, positive experience for the customer, making them more likely to shop with your brand again. On the back end, it ensures that returned items are handled efficiently, whether they’re being restocked, repaired, or liquidated. This entire journey is a core part of your brand's overall consumer experience, and getting it right can turn a negative experience into a moment that builds loyalty and trust.

Why Do Customers Make Returns?

Returns can feel like a major headache, but they’re also a goldmine of customer feedback. When you dig into the reasons behind them, you get a clear picture of what’s working and what isn’t.

Most returns fall into a few common categories:

It Didn’t Fit

For any brand selling apparel, accessories, or items with specific dimensions, this is likely your number one reason for returns. In fact, 65% of online shoppers have returned an item because it didn't fit.1 This is the fundamental challenge of e-commerce: customers can't try before they buy.

To combat this, your product pages need to work harder. Go beyond a simple S-M-L chart. Provide detailed measurements for each size, notes on the model’s height and the size they’re wearing, and descriptions of the fabric and fit (e.g., slim fit, runs large). The more information you give, the more confident your customers will be in their purchase.

It’s Broken

Nothing sours a customer experience faster than receiving a broken item. When 56% of customers return products due to damage or defects,1 it’s a clear signal to look at your quality control and shipping processes.

The problem could be a manufacturing flaw that wasn't caught, or it could be that your packaging isn't sturdy enough to withstand the journey. A reliable fulfillment partner plays a huge role here, ensuring every item is inspected, packed securely, and handled with care. Protecting your products in transit is essential for protecting your brand’s reputation and your bottom line.

It’s Not What I Expected

This category covers everything from a color that looks different in person to a material that doesn't feel the way a customer imagined. This often comes down to how you present your products.

Use high-resolution images from multiple angles, include videos, and write descriptive copy that accurately captures the item’s look and feel. Managing the consumer experience starts with setting clear, honest expectations from the very beginning.

Building an Effective Returns Management System

Building an effective returns system means looking at every step. The goal is to create a workflow that’s painless for your customers and efficient for your business. When you get it right, you can turn a potential point of friction into an opportunity to build loyalty.

A streamlined process minimizes costs, gets products back into your inventory faster, and shows customers you value them, even when a purchase doesn't work out. It’s about creating a positive feedback loop where smooth operations lead to happier customers, who in turn become repeat buyers.

Authorize Returns Smoothly

A complicated or confusing return process can feel like a penalty to a customer who is already disappointed. When you make returns easy, you send a clear message: you value their business and stand behind your products. This simple act of goodwill is incredibly powerful. In fact, 92% of customers are more likely to shop with a brand again if the return process is simple.2

Instead of forcing customers to call or email your support team, give them a simple online portal where they can start the process themselves. This empowers them and frees up your customer service team for more complex issues. A self-service option should be easy to find on your website and require just a few clicks to complete. By making the authorization step straightforward, you reduce frustration and show customers that you respect their time. This initial interaction sets the tone for the entire consumer experience and can make all the difference in whether they shop with you again.

Handle and Restock Inventory Efficiently

Once a returned item arrives at your warehouse, the clock is ticking. Processing a single return can cost a business anywhere from 20% to 65% of the item’s original price,3 so efficiency is key to protecting your margins. Your team needs a clear, repeatable process for inspecting items, deciding if they can be resold, and getting them back into available stock.

A robust warehouse management system (WMS) is crucial here. It allows you to quickly update inventory levels as soon as an item is cleared for resale, ensuring your stock counts are accurate across all channels and preventing you from selling something you don’t have.

Process Refunds and Exchanges Quickly

After a customer sends an item back, they’re waiting for one thing: their refund or exchange. The faster you can process it, the better. You can speed things up by setting rules to automatically approve returns that meet your policy criteria, flagging only the exceptions for manual review.

Just as important is keeping the customer informed. Use automated emails or texts to notify them when their return has been received, when it’s being processed, and when their refund or new item is on its way. This transparency builds trust and reduces “Where is my refund?” inquiries. An integrated order management system (OMS) can help manage these automated workflows and communications seamlessly.

Integrate Returns with Your Fulfillment

The most effective returns systems are fully integrated with your outbound fulfillment operations. When your systems are connected, you can automate tasks like generating return shipping labels and tracking incoming packages.

Using a single, unified platform to manage all your sales channels also gives you a complete view of customer behavior, helping you understand why returns happen in the first place. This data is invaluable for making smarter inventory decisions, improving product descriptions, and ultimately reducing your return rate over time.

Optimize Your Returns With the Right Tech

Handling returns efficiently isn't about having more people; it's about having the right technology. A smart tech stack transforms your returns process from a manual, time-consuming task into a streamlined operation that benefits both you and your customers.

The right tools don't just manage the logistics, they create a better customer experience, reduce the burden on your support team, and provide you with invaluable data to improve your business. By connecting every step, from the customer initiating a return on your website to the item landing back on your warehouse shelf, technology creates a seamless flow that saves time, money, and headaches.

Final Thoughts

When every brand is competing for attention, superior service is how you win. Your returns process is a huge part of that service. A fast, hassle-free return can be a “wow” moment that customers remember and share with others.

By making the experience positive, you show that you care about the customer even after the sale is complete. This level of service, powered by efficient fulfillment and reverse logistics, can become a core part of your brand identity and a reason customers choose you over a competitor.

In contrast to DTC (direct-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business) fulfillment is a specialized discipline built around large, infrequent orders, retailer-specific packaging requirements, and freight transportation. A process optimized for small e-commerce orders will quickly break under these demands.

What is B2B Fulfillment?

At its core, B2B fulfillment is the process of sending products to another business rather than directly to an individual consumer. Think of it as shipping in bulk to a retail partner, a distributor, or another company that will then sell your products to their own customers. Instead of packing one t-shirt for a single online shopper, you’re preparing pallets of t-shirts to be stocked on a department store’s shelves.

This model is the backbone of traditional retail and wholesale operations. It involves a different set of logistics, requirements, and relationships than direct-to-consumer sales. A solid B2B fulfillment strategy ensures your products arrive at their business destinations on time, in the right condition, and compliant with the retailer’s specific rules, which is crucial for maintaining strong partnerships and scaling your brand’s presence in the market. These product orders are often shipped via freight and must meet strict standards set by the receiving company.

Getting this right is a game-changer.

A single late or incorrect shipment can disrupt your customer’s entire operation, whether that means empty retail shelves or a stalled production line. That’s why having a rock-solid process is non-negotiable. An efficient B2B fulfillment partner can help you reduce shipping errors, lower operational costs, and simplify inventory management. When your B2B logistics run smoothly, you can confidently expand your retail footprint, knowing you can meet the demands of larger partners without a hitch.

Choosing a B2B Fulfillment Partner

The right B2B fulfillment partner should feel like an extension of your own team, helping you grow and keep your retail partners happy. But finding that perfect fit means looking beyond just a price quote. B2B fulfillment comes with its own set of unique hurdles. Sending bulk orders to other businesses involves different processes, technologies, and compliance standards than shipping directly to a consumer. You need a partner who understands these complexities and has the infrastructure to support your brand as it scales.

When you’re vetting potential partners, it’s easy to get lost in the details. To simplify the process, focus on four key areas: technology, network, expertise, and support.

A provider that excels in these categories will do more than just ship boxes; they’ll become a strategic asset that helps you reduce errors, manage inventory more effectively, and expand your retail footprint with confidence.

Seamless Tech Integration

Behind every smooth B2B fulfillment operation is a powerful, well-integrated technology stack. Getting large, complex orders to business customers on time and in full doesn’t happen by accident—it requires a fulfillment partner whose systems provide end-to-end visibility and control across inventory, orders, and shipments, ensuring operational efficiency.

Two core systems power this process: the Order Management System (OMS) and the Warehouse Management System (WMS). The OMS acts as the central hub for the entire order lifecycle. It captures orders from multiple sources and provides a unified view of customers, inventory, and order status across the fulfillment network. For many B2B brands, upgrading legacy systems to a more sophisticated OMS is essential to keep pace with modern retail customer expectations.

Once orders are released for fulfillment, the WMS takes over to manage operations within the warehouse. The WMS directs every activity, from receiving inbound inventory to picking, packing, and shipping outbound orders. For B2B operations in particular, a robust WMS is critical for handling complex inventory requirements like batch and lot tracking, ensuring the right products are selected and shipped correctly.

Supporting both systems is the standard language of B2B commerce: Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This enables the automated exchange of documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices, between your fulfillment partner and your retail customers’ systems. Because many retailers enforce strict EDI and routing guide requirements, a partner with strong EDI capabilities is essential. 

Ultimately, a fulfillment partner with a robust tech stack and reliable integrations reduces manual errors, helps prevent costly chargebacks, and ensures that orders flow smoothly from retailer systems through order management and into warehouse execution, strengthening your ability to deliver consistent, reliable service to your retail partners every time.

An Infrastructure and Network That Scales With Your Growth

Your business goals aren’t static—and your fulfillment partner shouldn’t be either. As your brand grows, enters new retail channels, and secures larger accounts, your fulfillment needs will evolve as well. Choosing a B2B fulfillment partner that can scale with you ensures you can expand without running into operational bottlenecks that slow growth.

Because B2B orders are large and heavy, they typically ship via freight on pallets rather than through parcel carriers like USPS or FedEx. This introduces a new set of logistical challenges, particularly in ensuring timely and cost-effective delivery. To manage this efficiently, look for a provider with a flexible, distributed network of warehouses. A strategic warehouse footprint allows inventory to be positioned closer to your retail partners’ distribution centers, which can significantly reduce transit times and shipping costs. Many modern providers also use smart shipping optimization technology that automatically analyzes factors such as shipment size, weight, destination, and required delivery dates to determine the most efficient and cost-effective freight option.

Just as important is the ability to scale operational capacity. As your brand grows and secures larger retail partnerships, order volumes and shipment complexity will increase. A strong B2B fulfillment partner should be able to expand alongside you, handling larger orders, higher volumes, and more demanding retail requirements without compromising speed or accuracy. 

With the right scalable infrastructure and logistics network in place, you can pursue new retail opportunities with confidence, knowing your fulfillment operations are ready to support the next stage of your growth.

Proven Industry Expertise and Compliance

B2B fulfillment is a world of its own, with strict rules and requirements that vary by retailer. Big-box stores have specific guidelines for everything from pallet configurations and shipping labels to barcodes and EDI protocols. These value-added services add a layer of complexity to your fulfillment process that can be difficult to manage in-house.

This is where expertise is non-negotiable. Partner with a provider that has deep experience in B2B retail fulfillment and a proven track record of meeting complex compliance requirements. They should act as your guide, ensuring every shipment is prepared correctly. This expertise helps you avoid unnecessary fees, manage your inventory more efficiently, and build a reputation as a reliable supplier.

Strong Support From Onboarding to Ongoing Operations

Before making the switch, have open conversations about your needs, expectations, and key performance indicators (KPIs). A good partner will work with you to create a detailed onboarding plan that covers everything from migrating your inventory to integrating your sales channels, ensuring there are no disruptions to your business or your customers.

However, strong support shouldn’t end once onboarding is complete. When an issue arises—and in logistics, it eventually will—your partner must also be responsive and ready to help. So, look for a provider that offers dedicated support from real people who understand your business.

You are a customer, too, so you should expect professional and helpful service from your fulfillment team. The right partner will be proactive not only during onboarding, but throughout the relationship, helping you navigate challenges and keep your operations running smoothly every step of the way.

Final Thoughts

Deciding to hand over a piece of your operations is a major step. For many growing brands, managing B2B fulfillment in-house starts as a necessity but quickly becomes a barrier to scale. You might find your team spending more time packing boxes and coordinating freight than focusing on product development or customer relationships.

Choosing a B2B fulfillment provider isn’t just about choosing who can get your boxes out the door. It’s a strategic move to access expertise, technology, and infrastructure that would be incredibly expensive and time-consuming to build yourself.

A great partner should handle all the complexities of retailer compliance and freight logistics, freeing you up to do what you do best: grow your business.

ATLANTA, March 5, 2026 — Stord, The Consumer Experience Company, powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery, and post-purchase experiences for leading brands, today announced a major expansion of StordAI - adding Chat, Search, and Feed capabilities that transform raw operational data into real-time intelligence, actionable insights, and clear recommendations across the entire commerce stack, all through a conversational interface.

The same experience available in modern leading AI technology, to search, learn, and action through conversation, is now available in ecommerce operations. These assistants are a meaningful step forward in how brands operate, providing intelligence that helps teams cut through operational noise, surface critical insights faster, and turn the complexity of modern fulfillment into a scaling advantage.

The suite launches with three interconnected assistants: 

• Chat (a conversational AI launching in beta today)

• Search (a universal context-aware discovery engine for any order, any data, any insight)

• Feed (a personalized intelligence stream that surfaces opportunities and risks before they become problems). 

Together, they give growing brands a new kind of operational clarity that previously did not exist. 

Why This Matters: Commerce Is Broken

E-commerce operations today run on fragmented data, siloed systems, and human intuition stretched to its limit. The numbers tell the story:

• $1.77 trillion in global losses from inventory distortion, out-of-stocks and overstocks that erode margin and destroy customer trust.

• 70% of shopping carts abandoned, with delivery clarity the most-cited decision factor.

• 58% of consumers demand estimated delivery dates, but only 1% of brands provide them.

• 25–35% of support tickets are “Where Is My Order?” inquiries, exceeding 50% during peak.

• 38.6% of retailers cancel 1 in 10 orders due to inventory inaccuracies.

Every one of these failures traces back to the same root cause: brands are making critical decisions with incomplete information, on systems that were never designed to think.

“Brands today are running 21st-century consumer expectations on 20th-century infrastructure. The data to solve these problems has been trapped in silos for decades. Stord’s vertically integrated platform brings it all in one place. What’s been missing is the intelligence layer to make it useful, autonomous, and state-of-the-art. That’s what this next chapter of StordAI delivers.” - Sean Henry, CEO & Co-Founder, Stord

What’s New: Three Capabilities, One Intelligence

This expansion of StordAI introduces three tightly integrated capabilities, each designed to eliminate a different layer of operational friction:

1. Chat — Your Team’s Smartest Assistant  [LIVE IN BETA TODAY]

Chat is a conversational AI assistant embedded directly into the Stord platform. Ask it anything about your business, in plain language, and get an instant, data-grounded answer.

What it does: Chat connects to every layer of operational data including orders, inventory, shipments, carrier events, routing logic, compliance rules, and historical performance and synthesizes answers in seconds that would otherwise take teams hours or days of cross-referencing reports, exporting spreadsheets, and scheduling meetings.

Real examples brands can ask today:

• “Why was order #482901 delayed and what carrier was responsible?”

• “What is our real available-to-promise inventory on SKU 1423 across all nodes?”

• “Which SKUs are trending toward stockout this week?”

• “Can we run a flash sale on Product X without overselling?”

• “How is this product performing vs. forecast in the Southeast region?”

Why it’s different: Unlike generic AI assistants, Chat is built on real commerce data: millions of actual shipment events, billions of dollars of transactions flowing through Stord’s network. Every answer is grounded in a brand’s operational reality, not hallucinated from a general-purpose model. Type a question and get a synthesized answer.

Chat is available free to all Stord customers and rolling out this week.

2. Search — One Bar to Find Anything  [COMING Q2 2026]

Search is a universal discovery engine that replaces the need to navigate across multiple systems, dashboards, and reports. One search bar. Any order. Any data point. Any insight.

What it does: Search provides context-aware results that understand commerce operations. Type an order number and see its full lifecycle. Type a SKU and see inventory positions, velocity, and risk signals. It unifies OMS, WMS, ERP, carrier, and CX data into a single point of access.

3. Feed — Intelligence That Comes to You  [COMING Q2 2026]

Feed is a personalized intelligence stream that eliminates dashboard fatigue. Instead of logging in and hunting for problems, Feed surfaces what matters most, proactively. Brands can easily restructure the feed through Chat interface to create goals while ensuring clarity on daily demands.

What it does: Feed monitors operations continuously and delivers prioritized, actionable alerts: inventory risk signals, delivery disruptions, promotion performance anomalies, demand shifts, and emerging opportunities. It learns what each user cares about and adapts over time.

Why it matters: Today, operators check dashboards reactively. Feed flips that model allowing problems and opportunities to be discovered well before they become a disruption.

The Vision: Intelligence That Grows with Your Brand

This expansion of StordAI represents a significant step in Stord’s AI roadmap, giving brands intelligent assistants today that lay the foundation for what comes next. The immediate value is clear: teams spend less time digging through data and more time making high-impact decisions.

“Generic AI doesn’t solve commerce problems. AI grounded in real operational data does. StordAI is built on tens-of-millions of real shipment events and billions of dollars of commerce flowing through our system. Today, we are giving brands the assistants they’ve been asking for. - Sean Henry, CEO & Co-Founder, Stord

This trajectory is what positions Stord as the leader in AI-powered e-commerce; built not just on technology, but on the unmatched depth and breadth of real-world commerce data that trains, validates, and grounds every AI capability.

Built on a Proven AI Foundation

Today’s expansion builds on StordAI’s existing portfolio of AI-powered tools already in production:

• Estimated Delivery Dates (EDD) - Dynamic, AI-powered shipping predictions that increase checkout conversion.

• Intelligent Order & Inventory Summaries - Instant natural-language explanations of any order’s status and routing.

• Workflow Automations - AI-optimized routing, kitting, and exception handling rules.

• Instant Compliance Code Recommendations - Automated product classification for regulatory accuracy.

Chat, Search, and Feed expand these capabilities under one intelligence layer, making the whole dramatically greater than the sum of its parts.

Q & A  with Sean Henry, CEO & Co-Founder  

Q: What’s new with StordAI, in the simplest terms?

A: We’ve expanded StordAI with three new capabilities that turn the massive amount of data we already capture — across orders, inventory, shipping, compliance, and more — into instant, usable intelligence. Chat lets you ask questions in plain English. Search lets you find anything instantly. Feed tells you what you need to know before you even ask. Together, they help brands operate faster and scale with confidence.

Q: Why launch this now? What’s changed in the market?

A: Two things converged. First, the AI technology matured to the point where we can deliver grounded, reliable answers from complex operational data, not generic chatbot responses. Second, the pressure on brands has never been higher. Consumer expectations keep rising, margins keep compressing, and the operational complexity of omnichannel fulfillment is overwhelming teams. Brands need intelligence, not more dashboards. This next iteration of StordAI delivers exactly that.

Q: How is this different from other AI tools in e-commerce?

A: Most AI in e-commerce is surface-level consisting of generic models plugged into a single function like demand forecasting or customer service chatbots. StordAI is different because it sits across the entire commerce stack. It’s trained on real operational data from billions of dollars of actual transactions. It is plugged into real-world execution and can take real-time action on packages and operations moving in the physical world. It is a manifestation of “PhysicalAI”. That grounding is everything. 

Q: Is this available to all Stord customers? What does it cost?

A: Chat launches in beta today and will be available to all Stord customers. We want every brand on our platform to experience what AI-powered operations feel like. Search and Feed will roll out to customers in Q2 2026.

Q: What can brands literally do with Chat on day one?

A: From today, any brand on Stord can open Chat and start asking questions about their operations: order status, inventory levels, shipping performance, carrier issues, SKU trends, promotion risks, regional performance, anything they’d normally need to dig through reports or schedule a meeting to answer. The response is instant, grounded in their actual data, and synthesized in plain language.

Q: What is Stord’s long-term AI vision?

A: StordAI is about giving brands the most capable AI in e-commerce.This is AI that helps teams move faster, see more clearly, and make better decisions at scale. 

Q: What makes Stord uniquely positioned to lead AI in e-commerce?

A: Data. Full stop. Stord powers the full commerce lifecycle including pre-purchase, checkout, fulfillment, delivery, post-purchase, and more for the world’s most demanding brands. That means we have the deepest, richest dataset in the industry: millions of shipment events, inventory movements, carrier interactions, and customer signals. AI is only as good as the data it’s built on. Our data is unmatched, and so is the intelligence we can deliver.

Expanding into the US is one of the most attractive growth moves available to European brands, and one of the most humbling. The market is massive, genuinely open to quality products, and willing to pay premium prices when the value is real. But scale and receptiveness don’t guarantee success. Complex tax jurisdictions, stringent regulatory requirements, demanding consumer expectations, evolving trade environment, and intense seasonal volatility create a landscape that’s easy to misstep in, and the brands that stumble rarely get a second chance to make the same first impression.

What separates those that scale from those that quietly exit often comes down to the operational decisions made before the first order ships.

Why Building In-House Doesn’t Make Sense

The instinct to own your logistics is understandable. Control feels safer. But in the US, building a proprietary fulfillment network from scratch means committing millions in capital expenditure1 before a single order ships, absorbing months2  of lead time to get operational, and taking on the full burden of compliance, carrier management, and returns infrastructure in a market you're still learning.

Experienced fulfillment partners have already solved these problems at scale. They bring established networks, integrated technology, and hard-won operational expertise, converting what would be a fixed infrastructure cost into a variable expense that scales with revenue. For brands that want to test the market, iterate quickly, and preserve capital for brand building and customer acquisition, the case for partnership over ownership is straightforward.

How Distributed Fulfillment Changes the Economics

Distributed warehousing fundamentally changes the delivery speed equation. Rather than shipping every order from a single coastal entry point, strategic inventory placement across multiple fulfillment centers enables 2–3 day ground delivery to the vast majority of the US population, improving transit times while dramatically reducing transportation costs by enabling regional rather than national shipping for most orders.

For instance, shipping from Los Angeles to New York via 2-day air typically costs $23–$72 per package. Ground shipping from a Midwest fulfillment center to either coast runs $8–$18. For brands shipping 1,000 packages per month, that gap translates to $18,000–$64,000 in monthly savings while simultaneously improving delivery speed and customer satisfaction.3

Note: All figures are pulled from stated UPS rates. These can be significantly reduced through Stord Parcel.

For growing brands shipping 1,000 packages per month, shifting to regional fulfillment could reduce transportation costs by $18–$64 per package, saving $18,000–$64,000 monthly, while also improving delivery speed and customer satisfaction.

But before goods reach a fulfillment center, the economics are shaped further upstream. Ocean freight remains central to any US entry strategy, and costs vary widely. On major Europe-to-US trade lanes, a full container in 2025 typically runs $2,000–$6,0004 before fuel surcharges, port fees, and inland transport. Timing shipments strategically, choosing between Full Container Load (FCL) and Less Than Container Load (LCL), and leveraging consolidation programs through fulfillment partners can meaningfully influence total landed cost.5

For brands importing at volume, Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) introduce another layer of strategic flexibility. These designated areas allow imported goods to be stored or processed with deferred or reduced customs duties until they enter US commerce, a meaningful advantage for brands managing high-value inventory or uncertain demand timing. A UK luxury goods brand could store inventory in an FTZ near a major port, deferring duty payments until items are actually sold, improving cash flow and reducing exposure on slow-moving SKUs. A European electronics brand importing components could perform light assembly within the FTZ, potentially qualifying for more favorable tariff classifications than fully assembled imports would attract.

As brands establish their US footing and begin to scale, fulfillment complexity tends to grow in a different direction, outward, across channels. Seamless omnichannel fulfillment becomes increasingly important as brands consider retail partnerships or physical locations alongside their DTC operations. More than a third of US consumers have placed orders online for in-store pickup,6 reflecting strong demand for options beyond home delivery. Fulfillment infrastructure that supports shipping to stores, buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), and in-store returns of online orders adds the flexibility brands need to meet customers wherever they shop. Providers with integrated B2B systems, distributed networks, and end-to-end inventory visibility allow brands to manage orders across channels efficiently, optimize stock placement, and scale omnichannel operations without the fragmentation that typically accompanies rapid growth.

Underpinning all of this is technology. A fulfillment provider with an integrated, full-stack commerce enablement platform delivers real-time inventory visibility across multiple locations, a capability that becomes essential as operational complexity grows. Knowing exactly what's available, where it's located, and how quickly it can reach customers enables more accurate delivery promises and reduces costly overselling. This visibility extends to inventory performance metrics, helping brands understand which SKUs to position where, how much safety stock to maintain, and when to initiate replenishment, particularly valuable for European brands navigating ocean freight lead times and unfamiliar demand patterns in a new market.

Ultimately, the right fulfillment partner doesn’t just execute logistics, it absorbs the operational complexity that can quietly overwhelm brands in an unfamiliar market. 

How Stord Powers US Market Entry for EU and UK Brands

What separates capable fulfillment partners from the rest comes down to a handful of core operational areas. Stord’s commerce enablement platform is built around exactly these — combining distributed fulfillment infrastructure, integrated technology, and operational expertise to enable brands to launch and compete in the US without building expensive logistics networks from scratch.

Delivering Speed and Reliability at US Scale

Competition in US e-commerce is defined by execution. Consumers accustomed to Prime-like experiences don't just prefer fast, predictable delivery, they expect it, and brands that miss that bar rarely recover the relationship.

Stord’s strategically located fulfillment centers enable 99% US population coverage in under 2 days, paired with 99.9% order accuracy, helping brands meet the fast, dependable delivery standards that many retailers struggle to achieve consistently. Inventory can be positioned in new regions in weeks rather than months, without fixed capital investment, while Stord One Warehouse orchestrates the entire flow from receiving and storage to picking, packing, and outbound shipping, with real-time visibility across all fulfillment nodes.

Preparing for Peaks and Plateaus

The US retail calendar is highly seasonal, with demand spikes around back-to-school, Cyber Week, and the holiday period. Fulfillment partners absorb this volatility through flexible staffing and shared infrastructure where capacity scales up during peak periods and contracts during slower months, allowing brands to pay only for the space and labor they actually use. This model helps avoid the capital trap of building warehouses sized for peak demand that remain underutilized for most of the year. For EU and UK entrants, it also simplifies inventory strategy where brands can stage inventory closer to demand centers, rebalance stock dynamically, and respond to regional sales patterns without managing multiple standalone facilities.

Stord enables that with Stord One Commerce, a platform that connects order, inventory, and fulfillment data across multiple facilities and sales channels, integrating with existing ERPs, marketplaces, and warehouse systems to give brands a unified operational view of their e-commerce operations. The platform provides real-time visibility into inventory and order status across locations and helps orchestrate workflows and routing decisions from a single system, reducing the fragmentation that often accompanies multi-state expansion.

Navigating Regulatory, Customs, and Trade Complexity

For many EU and UK brands, the bottleneck isn’t demand but the operational weight of customs procedures, documentation requirements, and multi-party coordination – each a potential source of delays, misclassification, or unexpected fees.

Tariff volatility, tighter customs enforcement, and the gradual erosion of de minimis-led parcel shipping are making direct cross-border fulfillment harder to rely on as a scalable strategy. What once served as a low-risk way to test US demand now exposes brands to higher duties and less predictable landed costs, prompting a shift toward bulk importation and localized distribution.

Stord supports this shift by helping brands bring products into the US in bulk and then store and ship them locally, rather than sending individual orders from overseas. Inventory is brought into the US through consolidated freight, positioned within Stord’s distributed network, and delivered locally, reducing repeated customs touchpoints while improving cost control and delivery performance. By connecting inbound logistics, inventory placement, and fulfillment execution within a single operational framework, brands can adapt to evolving trade conditions without rebuilding their logistics strategy from the ground up.

Enabling Sales-Tax Readiness

US sales tax bears little resemblance to the VAT systems EU and UK brands are accustomed to. There is no single national rate; a patchwork of state and local jurisdictions governs what’s owed, each with its own rules on sourcing, taxability, and economic nexus thresholds. Liability can shift based on where inventory is stored, where an order ships from, and where the customer lives, making clean operational data just as important as tax logic.

Stord’s platform helps brands operationalize compliance through the infrastructure and visibility it provides. Stord One Commerce connects inventory, order, and fulfillment workflows across locations, giving brands a unified view of where goods are stored, shipped from, and delivered which are critical inputs for managing state-by-state obligations. By integrating with existing ERPs, marketplaces, and third-party tax engines, the platform enables consistent transaction-level data to flow into compliance systems, supporting accurate calculation, collection, and reporting without manual reconciliation. Combined with distributed fulfillment and real-time inventory visibility, this approach helps EU and UK brands scale into the US while keeping tax management embedded in day-to-day operations rather than treated as a separate, manual process.

Turning Returns Into Repeat Business

Online return rates in the US commonly reach around 19% of orders,7 making reverse logistics a core operational function rather than an edge case. US consumers expect the process to be frictionless, and brands that fall short risk losing the repeat purchase before they’ve had a chance to earn it.

Stord integrates returns into the same infrastructure used for outbound fulfillment, connecting customer-initiated returns, warehouse processing, and inventory updates within a unified platform. Flexible return methods combined with domestic processing enable faster inventory recovery, lower shipping costs, and a post-purchase experience that meets US consumer expectations without requiring a standalone reverse-logistics operation.

Branded Packaging as a Growth Lever

In the US, packaging is part of the product. The unboxing moment has become a brand touchpoint in its own right, shaped by years of DTC growth and a social media culture that rewards presentation and perceived premium value. Arriving in plain, generic materials can quietly undercut even the strongest brand positioning, particularly when competing against digitally native US brands that treat every box as a marketing surface.

Stord Unbox embeds branded and semi-custom packaging directly into the fulfillment workflow through configurable packaging programs and kitting capabilities, allowing brands to introduce custom inserts, messaging, and presentation elements at scale, turning each shipment into a retention and acquisition moment without compromising the speed and efficiency required for nationwide distribution.

Turning Opportunity Into Lasting Success

The US market is attractive to EU and UK brands for good reason. It’s massive, remarkably open to quality products and new brands, and offers premium pricing when the value is genuine. But scale and receptiveness alone don’t guarantee success. Brands need the operational backbone to actually deliver on what American consumers expect.

The smart path is measured, not rushed. European brands that pair strong products with reliable fulfillment partners avoid the capital risk, compliance missteps, and delivery failures that derail market entry. They convert fixed infrastructure costs into variable expenses that scale with revenue. They gain months of speed to market. They focus resources on brand building and customer acquisition rather than warehouse operations and carrier contracts.

The US market rewards brands that take operations as seriously as products. For those willing to invest in both and work with partners who already understand the terrain, the opportunity isn’t just big. It’s achievable.

For e-commerce brands, the delivery experience is the new storefront. It is often one of the few physical touchpoints you have with your customers, and it leaves a lasting impression. A fast, on-time delivery with clear communication can turn a one-time buyer into a loyal fan. On the other hand, a delayed package, a missed delivery window, or a damaged item can quickly lead to frustration, customer complaints, and negative reviews.

Getting last-mile deliveries right requires a specialized approach and a deep understanding of the complexities involved. A great last-mile courier does more than just drop off packages; they provide the technology, reliability, and flexibility needed to streamline operations, control costs, and deliver the kind of experience customers now expect.

What is Last-Mile Delivery?

Think of your supply chain as a relay race. You’ve sourced your products, managed your inventory, and fulfilled the order. Now, it’s time for the final handoff – getting that package into your customer’s hands. This last leg of the journey is what we call last-mile delivery, and it’s arguably the most important part of the entire race. It’s the moment your brand physically arrives at your customer’s doorstep, shaping their final impression of your business.

While it might seem like a simple trip from point A to point B, this final step is notoriously complex and expensive. In fact, it can account for more than half of your total shipping costs.2 You’re no longer moving pallets of goods between warehouses; you’re delivering individual packages to countless unique addresses, each with its own set of variables like traffic, building access, and customer availability. Getting this step right is a critical part of your business strategy that directly influences your bottom line and brand reputation.

If your last-mile delivery is slow or inefficient, it can lead to unhappy customers, higher costs for your business, and lower profits. A smooth handoff here ensures the positive experience you’ve built so far isn’t lost at the very end.

What Last-Mile Delivery Options Can You Offer Customers?

In a world of endless choices, the delivery experience can be the one thing that sets your brand apart. Customers don't just want their products; they want them on their terms. Offering a variety of delivery options shows that you understand and respect their time, which is a fast track to building loyalty. When you provide options that fit different lifestyles and urgencies, you’re not just selling a product; you’re selling convenience. Let’s look at a few of the most impactful delivery choices:

Same-day and next-day service

The demand for instant gratification is real, and fast shipping is no longer a luxury; it’s an expectation. Offering same-day or next-day delivery can dramatically reduce cart abandonment and capture sales from customers who need an item right away.

This is especially powerful for businesses in urban areas or for products like last-minute gifts or urgent necessities. By leveraging a distributed fulfillment network, you can position inventory closer to your customers and make these rapid delivery speeds a reality for your brand.

Scheduled delivery times

Have you ever worried about a package sitting on your doorstep all day? Your customers do, too. Allowing them to schedule a specific delivery window gives them peace of mind and a sense of control. This option is a game-changer for high-value items or for customers living in apartments or busy neighborhoods where package theft is a concern. It’s a premium service that shows you value your customers’ schedules as much as they do.

Weekend and after-hours delivery

The traditional 9-to-5 delivery window doesn’t work for everyone. Many of your customers are at work during the day and can’t be home to receive a package. Offering delivery on evenings or weekends is a simple but incredibly effective way to cater to their real-world schedules. This flexibility can be a major deciding factor for a customer choosing between you and a competitor.

How to Choose the Right Last-Mile Courier

Picking a last-mile courier is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your business. This partner is the final touchpoint your brand has with a customer, and their performance directly reflects on your brand. It’s not just about getting a box from point A to point B; it’s about delivering on the promise you made to your customer.

As you evaluate your options, focus on these key areas to find a partner that aligns with your brand’s standards and can support your growth.

Speed and reliability

In a world of two-day (and same-day) shipping, your customers expect their orders to arrive quickly and on time. A reliable courier is non-negotiable. The final leg of delivery is the most complex part of the shipping journey, so you need a partner who has mastered it.

Look for couriers with a strong track record of on-time deliveries and clear communication protocols for when things go wrong. Ask about their success rates, how they handle unexpected delays, and what their process is for failed delivery attempts.

Your courier’s reliability is your brand’s reliability.

Coverage and scalability

Your last-mile partner should be able to reach your customers wherever they are today and wherever they might be tomorrow.

Before committing, review a courier’s coverage map to ensure they service your key markets. Discuss their capacity to handle your volume during peak seasons and their plans for expanding into new regions. A partner with a scalable last-mile network ensures you won’t have to switch providers as your business expands.

Technology and integration options

When vetting a fulfillment partner, ask about their technology stack. Can their systems easily connect with your order management system or e-commerce platform? Seamless integrations are key to automating processes and reducing manual work. Long gone are the days of paper maps and manual route planning.

Moreover, customers expect to know where their package is at all times, from the moment it leaves the warehouse until it arrives. This is where a partner with a great consumer experience platform with real-time last-mile tracking becomes essential. When customers see exactly where their order is and when it will arrive, it gives them peace of mind and reduces “where is my order?” (WISMO) inquiries.

A reliable fulfillment partner should have the tech stack to dynamically adjust routes based on real-time conditions, ensuring packages get to customers on time and your business isn't overspending on transportation.

Cost and pricing transparency

Last-mile delivery can account for more than 50% of total shipping costs.2 While it’s tempting to go with the cheapest option, it’s more important to find a partner who offers value and transparency.

Ask for a detailed breakdown of their pricing structure. Are there hidden fees for fuel, residential deliveries, or weekend service? A great partner will provide clear, predictable pricing so you can manage your budget effectively. And the best one would have the capability to offer you savings on your last-mile deliveries. Stord Parcel, for example, can help brands save up to 15-20% per package.

Reverse logistics

A package that doesn’t make it to the customer on the first try is more than just a delay; it’s a drain on your resources and a hit to your reputation. Every failed delivery requires coordination, reattempts, and additional handling, effectively doubling your last-mile cost for that order while leaving your customer frustrated and uncertain.

The challenge doesn’t stop there. Reverse logistics (returns, exchanges, and undeliverable items) can quickly become a hidden operational burden if not managed properly. A complicated or slow returns process creates friction at a critical moment in the customer journey, often discouraging shoppers from purchasing from your brand again.

On the other hand, a last-mile courier with an efficient, well-integrated returns system helps you recover value, reduce manual work, and maintain customer trust. In this highly competitive e-commerce environment, a smooth reverse logistics process is just as essential as a successful outbound delivery.

Last-Mile Delivery Is Key to Customer Satisfaction and Scalable Growth

This final step is often the most complex and expensive part of the fulfillment journey. Getting the last mile right is a game-changer.

For growing brands, finding a partner that aligns with your standards and supports your long-term plans for growth is the first step toward building a delivery experience that keeps customers happy and protects your bottom line.

Last-mile courier services vary widely in their speed, reliability, coverage areas, and technological capabilities. The best solution for your brand depends entirely on your products, your customers’ locations, and their expectations. Finding a partner with a broad network and integrated software that can offer you a tailored last-mile strategy allows you to build a flexible, optimized delivery experience.

On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources v. Trump that the broad tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) did not authorize the import duties imposed in 2025,1 a decision that could upend a large portion of duties collected under that law. Estimates suggest $170 billion or more in tariff revenue could be subject to refund,2 highlighting the scale of the disruption faced by importers and brands.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision limiting the use of the IEEPA as a vehicle for broad-based tariffs marks a meaningful shift in trade policy direction. Over the past year, tariffs imposed under IEEPA authority affected goods from major trading partners including Canada, China, and Mexico, adding cost pressure and forcing brands to react quickly to policy volatility.

IEEPA, enacted in 1977, grants the executive branch authority to regulate commerce during declared national emergencies (50 U.S.C. §§ 1701–1707).3 Historically, it was not used as a primary tariff mechanism. Its expanded application introduced significant uncertainty into sourcing and fulfillment strategies, particularly for e-commerce brands operating on tight margins and high inventory costs.

For many of the DTC and B2B brands we serve, this meant restructuring sourcing, repositioning inventory, renegotiating carrier contracts, and in some cases passing costs on to consumers simply to remain viable.

Let me be clear, this ruling does not erase tariffs entirely, nor does it make things suddenly easy for brands. It could potentially remove a source of uncertainty and give brands a moment to reassess, reorganize, and build resilience into the way they source, stock, and sell products. Uncertainty is still the only certainty. President Trump is already taking action and is planning to reinstitute an across the board 10% global tariff, is assessing ways to institute new tariffs, and will likely explore other options as well. 

Bottom line, brands need to be prepared for more changes in the coming days and weeks.

What This Ruling Means for Brands

Over the past 18 months, brands of all sizes have grappled with rapidly rising tariffs and a dramatically more complex trade environment. In 2025, the overall U.S. effective tariff rate spiked dramatically, rising as high as an estimated 20-28% of imports at points in the policy cycle, the highest level in nearly a century.4 These levies didn’t just influence landed cost; they forced companies to rethink suppliers, fulfillment, and pricing strategies.

In sectors like apparel and consumer goods, these costs were often absorbed rather than passed directly to consumers, squeezing margins and elevating risk. Tariff volatility also drove inventory hoarding and accelerated shifts in vendor strategies.

The Supreme Court decision does not mean a return to the pre-2025 trade environment. But it does remove a layer of unpredictability from future tariff authority, giving brands a clearer basis for planning ahead.

The Refund Opportunity — And Why Brands Need to Act Now

Analysis from the Penn-Wharton Budget Model indicates that more than $175 billion in tariff collections could be at risk of refund depending on how the ruling is implemented.2 While refund processes are still being defined and may take months or years to resolve, importers have already filed over 1,800 protective cases in the U.S. Court of International Trade to preserve refund rights.1

What brands should do now:

• Archive and organize tariff payment data: Track duties paid, classification codes (HTS), and country-of-origin information.

• Work with brokers and legal counsel: Understand eligibility windows and procedural requirements for potential refund claims.

• Evaluate classification accuracy: Misclassified goods can inflate duty costs and slow customs clearance. Tools exist to audit entries and identify overpayments.

This is where infrastructure becomes a competitive advantage. Brands operating on integrated platforms with real-time inventory and transaction visibility, like Stord’s OMS, already have leverage in diagnosing historical tariff exposure and preparing data for future action.

“This is a massive win for importers, but a very uncertain road ahead for refunds. Don't wait, calculate your exposure and get all of your data together now so you're prepared once formal guidance is provided.” - Raphael Sorser, CEO and founder of Dutywise a full service drawback brokerage.

Brands should also engage consultants and legal firms with deep trade expertise to assess what viable paths exist for refund claims. The legal posture will evolve as implementation guidance emerges. The tariff refund landscape will continue to evolve as implementation guidance emerges; having experienced advisors at the table ensures your brand is positioned to move quickly once refund mechanisms are set in place.

Don’t Expect Full Stability Yet — The Environment Is Still Complex

If the last several years have taught us anything, it’s that trade policy can change faster than operations can pivot.

The administration has signaled that even with IEEPA tariffs curtailed, other statutory authorities remain in place5:

• Section 301 (Trade Act of 1974) - used to impose tariffs in response to unfair trade practices, most notably on Chinese imports since 2018. These tariffs still affect roughly $300B+ in goods annually.

• Section 232 (Trade Expansion Act of 1962) - national security-based tariffs, including those on steel and aluminum, remain in effect.

• Section 122 (Trade Act of 1974) - authorities plan to use this trade power to impose an across-the-board global 10% tariff

Beyond these longstanding authorities, uncertainty remains around countries with which the U.S. had negotiated separate trade agreements. The IEEPA was leveraged in many cases to bring companies to the negotiating table. With the Court limiting that authority, there’s a real question of whether those countries will recalibrate their commitments or back away from previous arrangements now that the leverage once assumed by the President is less certain. For brands, this adds another layer of unpredictability to planning, sourcing, and cost forecasting.

Moreover, as analysts note, trade policy may be redeployed under alternative legal authorities that serve similar economic policy goals. Cost pressure and operational complexity are not going away anytime soon. Many brands anticipated this uncertainty and ran lean on domestic inventory, holding back stock until the Court’s decision was announced. As a result, there may be a sudden influx of imports as companies adjust to the new legal landscape, creating potential short-term congestion at ports and across fulfillment networks.

This environment demands that brands think beyond “refunds” and toward structural resilience. Nearshoring, diversified sourcing, and domestic inventory positioning are trends we do not expect to reverse regardless of this ruling.

The smartest brands are using this moment not to unwind resilience strategies, but to harden them.

What Resilience Looks Like Going Forward

The last several years have made one thing clear: volatility is structural. The brands that outperform in this environment are not the ones waiting for clarity. They are the ones building systems designed to function through uncertainty.

"Tariffs are becoming less of a trade policy issue and more of a supply chain design issue. For e-commerce brands, the real advantage now comes from fulfillment flexibility and the ability to adjust sourcing lanes, reposition inventory across nodes, and manage landed cost dynamically. Companies with distributed fulfillment strategies will be much more resilient to this new level of policy volatility." - Mohannad Gomaa, Consulting Partner and Supply Chain professor at Georgetown

Diversify Sourcing

Relying on a single production geography can expose brands to sudden policy risk, labor disruptions, geopolitical tension, and freight volatility all at once. The strongest operators are building multi-regional sourcing strategies: nearshoring where speed matters, dual-sourcing critical SKUs, and continuously evaluating alternative suppliers before they’re urgently needed. Flexibility is now a core capability in e-commerce. Diversification doesn’t just reduce risk; it increases negotiating leverage, shortens lead times, and gives brands alternatives when conditions change overnight.

Rethink Import Routes

Many brands ran lean on domestic inventory, holding back stock until the Court’s decision was announced. This creates the potential for a sudden influx of imports, causing short-term congestion at ports and added pressure on fulfillment networks. To navigate this, brands should rethink traditional import routes and leverage platforms with real-time freight visibility and flexible lane options that allow teams to pivot when needed.

Invest in Technology & Visibility

You can’t manage what you can’t see. Commerce platforms that provide real-time visibility into SKU-level performance, inventory positions, landed costs, and duty exposure turn uncertainty into quantifiable variables. When leadership teams can simulate tariff outcomes by country, by product, by channel, they move from reactive decision-making to strategic rebalancing. Moreover, procurement teams equipped with AI-driven forecasting and analytics tools consistently report higher readiness to navigate policy shifts because they’re not guessing but modeling the changes and possible outcomes that come with sudden shifts in policy. Visibility compresses response time. And in volatile markets, response time is margin.

Operationalize Scenario Planning

Leading firms treat trade policy the same way they treat demand forecasting or capacity planning: as a scenario to be modeled. They stress-test their fulfillment networks against multiple tariff outcomes. They quantify the impact of shifting production from one geography to another. They evaluate how changes ripple through working capital, pricing strategy, and customer experience. This eliminates reactive firefighting and replaces it with proactive execution.

What This Means for Stord and Our Customers

At Stord, we’re managing over $10 billion in annual commerce and served nearly 20% of U.S. homes in 2025. That level of volume, across thousands of SKUs and a broad mix of DTC and B2B brands, gives us unique insight into what brands are actually experiencing on the ground. That vantage point shapes how we build.

Our recent acquisitions of Shipwire and Ware2Go, along with the launch of our new Dallas fulfillment center, were made in part with the thesis that uncertainty creates opportunity for brands willing to consolidate with a single, trusted partner.

Over the last year, we’ve also expanded internationally through asset-light partnerships, including new 3PL relationships across the EU and UK via Shipwire, and high-growth international customers like IM8. through increased network density, improved carrier rates, and stronger purchasing power across regions. Every new facility and every new brand improves the unit economics of the network for everyone inside it.

Those new facilities and customers have also positioned Stord to better support overseas brands that may prefer to keep operations abroad following the ruling. Not every company will reshore. Not every company should. Some will double down internationally, possibly optimizing fulfillment closer to demand centers outside the U.S. Our global footprint gives brands optionality. They can localize inventory where it makes the most sense while still operating inside a unified commerce infrastructure.

We are also currently evaluating several potential additional acquisitions in international markets to further enable Stord to support brands around the globe.

No Status Quo

This Supreme Court ruling is a reset, not a return to the old normal. Refund pathways may open, and the legal basis for tariffs has narrowed, but the landscape of international trade will continue to evolve.

What brands must do now is not wait for clarity but build systems that can adapt to uncertainty, leverage data to optimize decisions, and deploy technology that turns complexity into a competitive advantage.

The Supreme Court ruling is another dramatic shift in the ongoing turmoil brands have faced with the changing tariff landscape. Our job at Stord is to make sure they come out of this period stronger, faster, and never disrupted by trade policy again.

If you are unsure what this ruling means for your brand, let's talk. We are here to help.

Logistics tracking is that command center. It gives you the complete visibility and control needed to see your entire operation at a glance, from a warehouse in California to a customer in New York. This is a strategic necessity for any brand serious about scaling.

This guide breaks down what to look for in a North American logistics tracking solution, helping you choose the right tools to keep your business moving forward.

What is Logistics Tracking?

At its core, logistics tracking is the continuous monitoring of your shipments from the moment they leave the warehouse until they reach your customer's doorstep. Think of it as the “Where's my package?” feature, but scaled for your entire fulfillment network.

This process uses a combination of hardware and software, like GPS, IoT devices, and transportation management systems (TMS), to give you a real-time view of your inventory in motion. It’s about having a complete, transparent picture of your fulfillment process, which is fundamental to running a successful e-commerce business today.

The process begins when a shipment is prepared. Each package or pallet receives a unique identifier, usually a barcode or an RFID tag. As the shipment moves from the fulfillment center to a truck, through a sorting facility, and onto a last-mile delivery vehicle, this identifier is scanned at various checkpoints. Tracking technologies then provide continuous location data between scans. All of this information feeds into a central platform, like an Order Management System, that gives you and your customers a single, accurate source of truth for every order from start to finish.

Why Tracking is Essential for Your E-Commerce Business

Effective tracking allows you to provide proactive and accurate updates, which directly impacts the consumer experience you provide.

Internally, the data generated by tracking systems is invaluable. It helps you identify bottlenecks, optimize delivery routes to reduce fuel costs, and improve on-time performance. Real-time visibility also helps prevent lost or stolen shipments, saving you the cost of replacements and insurance claims. Ultimately, tracking gives you the operational insights needed to make smarter, data-driven decisions that strengthen your entire logistics operations.

More Accurate Information in Real-Time

A key reason tracking is essential is that inaccurate or slow updates can quickly erode customer confidence. One of the most common frustrations in logistics is tracking information that is either wrong or slow to update.

You might see a package marked as “out for delivery” for two days straight, or a shipment that appears stuck in a single location with no new scans. These issues often happen when tracking systems rely on manual scans or when data takes too long to sync between a carrier’s handheld device and their central system.

Inefficient or outdated logistics tracking systems can directly affect the customer experience, leading to an influx of support tickets and a drop in customer trust. It also makes it difficult for your team to give customers accurate answers when they call asking for an update.

Order Visibility Across Multiple Carriers

Tracking becomes even more critical when your fulfillment network involves multiple logistics partners. Your operations likely include freight carriers for long-haul moves and local couriers for final-mile delivery, yet not all of these systems communicate with one another.

When a shipment is handed off from one carrier to another, you can hit a “blind spot” where tracking visibility disappears until the next scan occurs. This lack of end-to-end visibility is a major challenge, especially for complex B2B retail shipments. Without unified tracking, you’re left piecing together updates from different websites, making it nearly impossible to maintain a single, real-time view of inventory in motion.

A Single Source of Truth

A strong tracking system also ensures data consistency across your logistics ecosystem. When systems aren't fully connected, you often end up with conflicting information.

Your Warehouse Management System (WMS) might show an order as “shipped,” while the carrier’s tracking portal says it’s still “awaiting pickup.” These discrepancies occur when data isn't synchronized in real time across platforms, creating confusion for both internal teams and customers. They also undermine your ability to use data effectively for forecasting or performance analysis.

With a single source of truth, you can be confident in the information guiding critical business decisions.

What to Look for in a North American Logistics Tracking Service

When evaluating a fulfillment partner, it’s easy to assume their tracking capabilities all function the same way. But the difference between a basic system and a great one lies in how well it supports your operations and customer experience.

An effective fulfillment tracking system should do more than show where a package is. It should give you the visibility, data, and control needed to make smarter decisions, anticipate problems, and deliver a consistently reliable post-purchase experience for your customers.

Before committing to a provider or booking a demo, start by looking inward. Consider the scale and complexity of your business. A high-volume DTC e-commerce brand has very different tracking needs than a company managing complex B2B retail distribution. The right fulfillment partner will offer tracking capabilities that address your most pressing operational challenges while working seamlessly with the systems you already rely on.

The goal is to gain comprehensive visibility and control while making your team’s job easier and giving your customers confidence in the status of their orders. As you compare providers, focus on these essential capabilities:

Real-Time Shipment Visibility

A fulfillment provider should offer real-time visibility into the exact location and status of every shipment. The best systems provide instantaneous updates so you’re never working with outdated information. This shifts your team from being reactive to proactive.

Instead of scrambling to solve a delivery issue after a customer complains, you can see a potential delay as it’s happening and take action. This level of insight is fundamental to modern fulfillment and allows you to manage your operations with confidence, ensuring you can always give your customers accurate and timely information.

Automated Alerts and Notifications

A strong fulfillment tracking system keeps everyone informed without manual effort. Automated alerts and notifications should update both your internal team and your customers at key milestones, such as when an order leaves the warehouse, encounters a delay, or is successfully delivered.

These proactive updates make order management more efficient while significantly improving the customer experience. When shoppers receive consistent communication, it builds trust and reduces the number of support inquiries your team must handle. Over time, the data generated from these alerts can also help you identify trends and optimize your shipping strategy.

Seamless System Integration

A tracking solution can have all the best features in the world, but if it doesn’t connect with your existing tech stack, it will create more problems than it solves. A fulfillment provider’s tracking platform must connect effortlessly with your other essential business systems, like your OMS or WMS.

Seamless integrations ensure that data flows freely between your platforms, giving you a single, unified view of your operations from inventory to final delivery. This eliminates information gaps, supports better reporting, and enables data-driven decision-making.

Be sure to verify whether a provider offers pre-built integrations with the tools you already use, like Shopify, NetSuite, or an existing ERP. If you operate on custom systems, ask about API capabilities to ensure flexibility as your business evolves.

A Centralized Dashboard for End-to-End Oversight

Managing shipments across multiple carrier portals can quickly become time-consuming and error-prone. A fulfillment partner should provide a centralized dashboard that consolidates all tracking information into a single interface.

This “single source of truth” gives you at-a-glance visibility across carriers, orders, and exceptions, making it easier to monitor performance and resolve issues quickly. With a robust system in place, your team can streamline workflows, generate comprehensive reports, and maintain high-level control over logistics without relying on manual checks or disparate systems.

Final Thoughts

Having access to tracking data is a great first step, but the real value comes from how you manage and act on that information. Simply reacting to problems as they pop up isn't a strategy for growth.

A proactive approach to tracking helps you get ahead of potential issues, keep your customers happy, and find opportunities to make your e-commerce business more efficient. It’s the difference between telling a customer, “I'll look into why your package is late,” and saying, “We noticed a potential delay with your shipment and have already rerouted it to get to you as quickly as possible.”

This shift from reactive to proactive management is crucial for scaling your business. It requires setting up systems and processes that don't just report on what happened, but also help you anticipate what might happen next.

Want to learn how Stord can turn order tracking from a simple monitoring tool into a powerful growth driver for your brand? Talk to one of our experts today.

It is no surprise that AI adoption is accelerating and teams are racing to deploy it. But the oversight is treating implementation speed as a strategy. Too many organizations pursue AI initiatives without a clear path to how it creates value. In the rush, they overlook a critical truth. Most warehouse and fulfillment operations are not ready for it.

Some facilities still operate under an infrastructure that prevents intelligence from compounding. Adopting AI into a broken operation is the equivalent of handing a caveman an advanced navigation tool with real-time weather radar and predictive wildlife tracking. “This will revolutionize your hunting,” you tell him. But he will only stare at the glowing rectangle, try to use it as a club, and go back to following tracks in the mud.

This is what happens when warehouses try to “fix” operational chaos with AI. It is a powerful technology, but it is useless when everything else operates in a completely different paradigm.

The gap between wanting AI and being ready for AI is where most implementations fail. At Stord, our infrastructure, data, and fulfillment model are designed to support intelligent automation at scale. This is how AI delivers real results, and why most warehouses must first get their fundamentals right before expecting AI to transform their operations.

Why AI Doesn’t Work for Everyone

Implementing AI in a warehouse or fulfillment center isn’t simply a matter of plugging in new software or deploying the latest automation tools. True success starts with building the right operational and technological foundation. Without this foundation, AI can underperform or even create new inefficiencies. 

Here are some factors that can limit the effectiveness of AI–powered solutions:

1. Not Understanding Where AI Shines and Where It Stumbles

Not understanding what AI is meant to do is far riskier than not adopting it. AI excels at prediction. With large, rich datasets, it can forecast demand, spot emerging patterns, anticipate volume spikes, identify bottlenecks, and model labor or equipment constraints.

But day-to-day operations require split-second judgment, exception handling, and contextual awareness. It is in this aspect where machine learning has long been relied on in warehouse operations. Machine learning does things that are rules-driven and tied to immediate feedback loops, such as slotting logic, path optimization, and labor planning. Meanwhile, AI struggles with nuance. Meaning, while an AI-enabled system might know how to prioritize orders by volume or delivery promise, only a human can see the exceptions like whether it’s a VIP order, a high-value B2B shipment, or a sensitive customer complaint.

Thus, the opportunity lies in layering AI where it’s strongest, rather than replacing human judgment with it altogether. AI is strongest in forecasting, early detection, and scenario planning, but it needs to be embedded in machine learning-driven workflows for optimized, real-time execution. AI shapes what’s coming; humans and machine learning run what’s happening now.

2. No Standardized Workflows

Becoming “AI-ready” requires getting to “workflow-ready” first. Without a solid foundation, AI has no levers to pull and no mechanisms to influence day-to-day operations.  

In a warehouse, this starts with directed work. If the operation doesn’t already use tools like directed putaway, directed picking, directed receiving, or system-driven task orchestration, then AI has nothing to direct. It can predict work, prioritize tasks, and surface insights, but without structured execution layers, those insights can’t translate into action on the floor.

AI adoption requires various operational disciplines to be effectively implemented and utilized. It requires clean, consistently applied tasks definitions, standardized processes across shifts and areas, reliable and complete data capture, and a culture of continuous improvement. 

3. Data Quality and Availability

AI is only as strong as the data it’s built on. In a warehouse, that means accurate, comprehensive visibility into inventory levels, SKU locations, cube and weight data, velocity, order status, picking and packing activity, and workforce availability.

But AI itself isn’t consuming raw, real-time floor data. The real-time layer comes from the machine-learning engines and rule logic inside modern WMS systems. This includes capturing movements, adjustments, and exceptions as they happen and converting them into structured signals AI can reliably use. Machine learning handles the immediate truth; AI handles the forecasting and optimization built on top of it.

However, most warehouses still run on fragmented systems where inventory is in one platform, orders in another, shipping in a third, which results in inconsistent counts, mismatched availability, and manual checks to reconcile what the floor actually has.

When your data ecosystem is only stitched together with workarounds and siloed tools, AI isn’t a decision engine. It’s an expensive guess generator.

4. Cost vs. ROI Considerations

The real power behind automation is the software. Intelligent orchestration systems (Warehouse Execution Systems, Warehouse Management Systems, and AI-driven optimization tools) coordinate fulfillment end-to-end, including batching, order selection, kitting, inventory management. Physical automation looks impressive, but paired with smart software, it becomes transformative, driving speed, accuracy, and lowering cost per order.

That transformation, however, comes with a significant price tag. Entry-level automation involving conveyance, sensors, and basic robotics may be quoted in the $95,000 to $560,000 range.5 But once you factor in AI integration, long-term software licenses, cloud infrastructure, and headcount for technical support, the true cost often climbs to more than $1 million. Comprehensive systems with advanced robotics, automated storage/retrieval, and full AI orchestration can reach several million dollars.6

Automation hardware is one layer, but AI adds another. The ROI depends on whether order volume, throughput requirements, or labor costs justify both investments. For smaller or low-volume facilities, the upfront spend may outweigh the benefits. For larger operations, the combination of automation and AI-enabled orchestration delivers measurable returns by collapsing inefficiencies and scaling fulfillment intelligently.

5. Lack of Change Management and Staff Training

Even advanced AI is only as effective as the people acting on its insights. Studies show that 80% of warehouses adopting AI cite a lack of skilled workforce or adequate training as a major hurdle.7 Resistance mainly comes from floor managers, group leads, and supervisors. These are individuals responsible for exception management, wave planning, and work release. These roles rely on 10, 20, even 30 years of accumulated judgment, making “trust the system” a much bigger leap than simply following a handheld device.

AI magnifies the challenge to adopt since inputs are less transparent, its outputs are probabilistic, and its recommendations often optimize for the whole warehouse rather than individual departments. That can feel counterintuitive to operators who have spent decades optimizing their own areas. If packing is the bottleneck, for example, making picking faster doesn’t improve throughput; it just creates congestion. AI forces a cultural shift from local optimization to building-level flow management.

Without strong change management, AI recommendations get ignored, overridden, or applied inconsistently. Untrained staff introduce new inefficiencies. Redesigned workflows may look faster on paper but create confusion and bottlenecks in practice. And when the building is slammed—trucks waiting, orders backing up—teams fall back on what they know. Familiar workflows feel safer under pressure, even when the AI-driven ones are objectively better.

Successful AI adoption requires far more than upfront training. It demands sustained reinforcement, transparency around how decisions are made, alignment of incentives, and proof that AI truly makes supervisors’ jobs easier, not just theoretically better for the organization, but measurably better for the people running the floor.

How Stord Uses AI to Transform Warehouse Operations

With fully integrated systems, standardized workflows, and real-time data, Stord ensures that its AI tools enhance fulfillment operations rather than complicate them.

Here is how we expertly implement AI-powered capabilities to supercharge our warehouses and fulfillment centers:

1. Smarter Forecasting and Inventory Optimization

One of the biggest impacts of AI in fulfillment is significantly improved demand forecasting. Traditional forecasting methods in warehouses often rely on historical sales averages or manual judgment, which can struggle when demand is volatile or influenced by external factors. AI-enabled forecasting, on the other hand, can process large and dynamic datasets, including past sales, emerging market trends, social-media–driven demand spikes, promotions, weather patterns, macroeconomic shifts, and product seasonality.

Studies show AI-driven forecasting can reduce forecast error by 20–50% compared with traditional methods,8 improving accuracy from a typical 60–75% with conventional approaches to 85–95% with AI.9  This improvement translates into tangible operational benefits, including lower stockout risk, reduced inventory costs, and greater agility in responding to real-world shifts, giving warehouses the ability to act on demand signals faster and more reliably than manual processes.

At Stord, we help brands transform AI-driven insights into actionable operational decisions across our fully integrated fulfillment network. For example, a seasonal apparel brand can use AI to analyze historical demand alongside external factors, such as an unusually cold winter, to forecast spikes in orders for winter apparel earlier than usual. These forecasts feed directly into Stord’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Order Management System (OMS), automatically informing inventory allocation and ensuring that the right products are positioned in the right facilities across our network.

Similarly, when a retailer launches a national promotion, AI models can account for timing, regional engagement, and historical purchase patterns to predict demand at the distribution center level. Leveraging our integrated network and real-time visibility, Stord can proactively route inventory, prevent local stockouts, and accelerate fulfillment—giving brands confidence that their customers receive the right product, at the right time, from the right location.

By combining intelligent forecasting with WMS and OMS automation, Stord helps brands minimize overstocking, reducing carrying costs, while simultaneously preventing stockouts to keep popular items available and protect revenue. Our system also enables smarter, automated replenishment cycles that adjust in real time as conditions change, creating a network that is responsive, cost-efficient, and focused on delivering the best possible customer experience.

2. AI-Driven Warehouse Management

To manage our own fulfillment centers, Stord built a fully integrated WMS called Stord One Warehouse. Unlike legacy WMS platforms that rely on rigid workflows and on-premise infrastructure, Stord’s system is designed to be flexible, API-driven, and deeply integrated with the rest of its fulfillment and commerce enablement platform. This foundation allows Stord to embed AI-powered decisioning and automation directly into warehouse operations, improving speed, accuracy, and labor efficiency.

AI-enhanced benefits include cycle counts and scans. Stord One Warehouse supports scan-based inventory tracking, barcode verification, and paperless workflows, which help reduce human error and increase real-time accuracy. AI can flag anomalies like mismatched quantities or misplaced SKUs, and prioritize which bins should be cycle-counted first based on risk.

For example, if the system detects that a high-velocity product has inconsistent scan data across shifts, it can automatically schedule it for an early cycle count before the variance leads to stockouts or inaccurate replenishment.

3. Data Analytics and Proactive Decision-Making

AI plays a central role in helping the company analyze the huge volumes of data generated across its fulfillment network. Everything from order volumes and inventory movements to picking rates, dock utilization, inbound delays, and carrier performance. Traditional dashboards can show what has already happened, but Stord’s AI-enabled analytics focus on what is happening right now and what is likely to happen next.

By running continuous analyses on these data streams, AI can quickly surface operational risks and opportunities that would otherwise take hours, or even days, for humans to detect. This has shifted Stord’s operations from being reactive to a proactive, exception-driven model. 

4. Measurable ROI and Continuous Improvement

Stord continuously tracks key performance metrics including pack-out speed, throughput, and labor productivity to quantify the impact of AI and automation. By monitoring these metrics in real time, the team can fine-tune AI models, optimize workflows, and scale capabilities while minimizing operational risk.

With this data-driven approach, AI moves beyond theory to become a tangible, measurable driver of operational efficiency. Brands can see clear ROI through faster order fulfillment, higher labor productivity, reduced errors, and improved throughput across facilities. Stord’s experience shows that AI delivers results only when embedded into the core of fulfillment operations, not treated as a bolt-on tool, turning predictive insights into actionable efficiency gains that directly impact the bottom line.

For 2026, Stord’s work in AI will continue to accelerate. We’re making some of the largest technology investments in our history, including hiring more than 50 experts and specialists to build the next generation of fulfillment-focused AI and machine-learning capabilities. Many of these systems are already in active development. This will enable more adaptive labor and work-release engines, deeper predictive models that tie together inventory, transportation, and real-time floor activity, and orchestration layers designed to make operations increasingly autonomous.

The goal isn’t to bolt AI onto existing workflows, but to rebuild the underlying architecture so intelligence is embedded throughout the platform. AI has become a company-wide priority, shaping how we design products and how our network evolves. What’s live in our facilities today represents only the beginning of a larger shift toward smarter automation, clearer visibility, and more self-optimizing fulfillment for the brands we serve.

Turning AI Insights into Operational Excellence

AI is powerful but only when implemented thoughtfully. For many organizations, fragmented data, inconsistent processes, or unprepared staff prevent AI from delivering results. Stord demonstrates the opposite: a strong foundation allows AI to drive speed, accuracy, and efficiency across its network.

From predictive forecasting to autonomous robots, from real-time labor insights to exception management, AI enhances human decision-making and creates warehouses that are faster, safer, and more resilient.

AI alone doesn’t create efficiency. It’s the combination of clean data, standardized workflows, intelligent automation, and human expertise that unlocks its true potential. When implemented this way, AI doesn’t just support fulfillment. It redefines what’s possible for modern e-commerce.

Long before “AI transformation” became a buzzword across every industry, machine learning (ML) models were already powering critical e-commerce operations behind the scenes. From predicting customer demand and personalizing experiences to optimizing fulfillment and managing inventory across channels, ML has been a quiet engine driving growth, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. 

While ML is technically a subset of AI, for operational purposes it’s more useful to think of them as serving distinct roles. For e-commerce brands, ML refers to the mechanism that enables systems to learn from data, recognize patterns, and improve over time.1 AI, by contrast, represents the broader capability of a system to make intelligent, coordinated decisions across multiple functions. And though AI dominates headlines as the future of commerce, it’s ML that has been delivering measurable results for years.

In practice, ML is built to answer tactical questions in real-time like “Which products are likely to stock out?” “Which supplier is likely to miss their delivery window?” “Where is congestion likely to occur in the warehouse today?” or “Which orders are likely to be returned?” 

Meanwhile, AI handles strategic coordination such as “Which preventive actions should be taken to avoid stockouts with minimal margin impact?” “How should sourcing and production be rebalanced to mitigate supplier risk?” “How should labor, automation, and workflows be reallocated to prevent congestion?” “How should fulfillment, packaging, and return policies be adjusted to reduce returns?”

This distinction matters because many organizations still treat ML and AI as interchangeable, a misunderstanding that can undermine results. Premature AI adoption often backfires when systems are launched without a strong foundation. Industry reports show that up to 85% of all AI models/projects fail because of poor data quality or little to no relevant data.2 More than 80% of AI initiatives never reach production3 due to organizational and operational gaps. In 2025 alone, 42% of companies abandoned most of their AI efforts,4 citing cost, data privacy, and security risks as the top obstacles. Within supply chains fewer than 30% of AI pilot projects advance to deployment, with the majority stalling because organizations underestimate the complexity of scaling from controlled pilots to production environments.5

Understanding these challenges sets the stage for practical application. By starting with ML for well-defined problems and layering AI for coordinated decision-making, e-commerce brands can move beyond pilots and demos to systems that deliver measurable and scalable day-to-day improvements. 

ML as the Predictive Engine vs. AI as the Strategic Orchestrator

Understanding where each technology adds value clarifies what readiness actually requires. The strategic imperative for e-commerce brands is to recognize that ML provides the “what will happen” insight, while AI provides the “how we respond as a unified system” orchestration.

Assessing Your Brand’s Actual AI Readiness

Not every e-commerce brand is ready to adopt AI, and moving too quickly can waste investment, create operational confusion, and lead to failed initiatives. 

Use the checklist below to evaluate your current capabilities and prioritize your next steps.

Your brand needs better ML first if: 

• Demand forecasting relies primarily on historical averages or spreadsheets

• Inventory decisions are made manually or through basic reorder point logic

• Fulfillment optimization is minimal; operations rely heavily on experience and intuition

• Channel allocation happens reactively rather than based on real-time profitability signals

• Data exists across systems but is inconsistent, siloed, or difficult to access

• Tech stack handles basic transactions but provides little optimization or intelligence

Next steps:

1. Build clean, structured data foundations to support ML capabilities

2. Integrate data across commerce platforms, fulfillment systems, and channels

3. Begin implementing ML-powered insights across key areas such as demand forecasting and inventory optimization

Your brand is ready for AI if:

• ML is embedded and performing reliably in daily operations

• Core operational datasets are clean and consistent

• Existing systems can support AI, including cloud capabilities and API availability for integration

• Coordination across multiple sales channels, fulfillment centers, or regions is manual

• You have an organizational culture that embraces innovation and change management

Next steps:

1. Define objectives and identify areas with biggest ROI opportunities

2. Establish governance, security, and assemble the right team

3. Begin launching strategic pilot programs to realize value

4. Use AI to coordinate decisions across marketing, operations, and other areas across the organization

How Stord Built AI Readiness at Scale

Stord spent a decade building its ML capabilities before layering in AI. 

By vertically integrating proprietary technology with a national network of physical fulfillment operations, we created a continuous feedback loop where every order fulfilled, every inventory decision made, and every carrier selected feeds back into increasingly intelligent systems. While most providers bolt together disparate systems or rely on third-party data, our unified platform captures clean, structured operational data at the point of execution.

Our ML infrastructure evolved over years of deployment across critical operational systems, models that now process millions of decisions daily, each one refining performance through continuous learning. This operational maturity became the foundation for introducing AI to coordinate strategic decisions at the platform level.

The lessons from that journey apply broadly:

• Data quality determines everything. Operating a fulfillment network with international coverage taught us that clean, timely operational data matters infinitely more than sophisticated algorithms. The best model trained on poor data loses to a simple model trained on excellent data every time.

• Integration is the competitive moat. Early ML systems produced impressive predictions that often went unused. Real value only arises when those predictions are embedded directly into operational workflows, making intelligence automatic rather than advisory.

• Trust compounds from reliability. Teams adopted ML-powered systems only after they consistently proved more accurate than human judgment. Adoption wasn't mandated; it was earned through operational results that made the old ways obviously inferior.

Today, Stord’s AI systems enhance and accelerate decisions that once required weeks of manual analysis. ML predictions are continuously synthesized and executed directly through Stord’s fulfillment network and tech stack so intelligence drives action, not dashboards. Inventory is predictively positioned across the network, cross-channel demand is orchestrated in real time, and disruptions are resolved automatically, with human review reserved only for true exceptions.

For instance, Stord Parcel applies AI-driven optimization to automatically select the lowest-cost shipping method and the best carrier that meets delivery expectations for every order. Brands cut per-package shipping costs by 15–20%, reduce shipping distance by 27%, deliver orders 2+ days faster, and improve last-mile performance at scale. These compound in massive performance gains through lower costs, faster delivery, and operations that adapt automatically as volume and complexity grow.

Strong Foundations Win the AI Race

AI readiness is not purchased through software or consulting services. It begins with machine learning, which is only as effective as the data that feeds it. Clean, consistent data comes from disciplined operations, integrated systems, and teams that treat accuracy as seriously as growth. Disconnected platforms, inconsistent processes, and siloed systems do more than slow work; they prevent ML from learning and make AI ineffective.

Once ML delivers reliable, measurable results, AI can be layered on to scale intelligence and coordinate strategic decisions. Human judgment remains essential to bridge insights into meaningful action. The brands winning in AI-driven e-commerce are not those rushing to implement AI. They are the ones patiently building ML foundations, embedding discipline into operations, and creating systems that turn raw data into actionable intelligence.

ATLANTA, February 11, 2026 – Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery, and returns for today's leading brands, today released its 2026 State of AI in E-Commerce Report. The research examined consumer adoption patterns, enterprise deployment challenges, and operational implications across the e-commerce ecosystem, revealing a disconnect between consumer expectations for AI-powered experiences and brands' ability to deliver them at scale.

The traditional e-commerce model is being displaced by AI-mediated experiences in which intelligent agents handle discovery, evaluation, and increasingly, transactions themselves. Stord’s research reveals that 51% of consumers have already used AI for online shopping, up from 38% in 2024, while 17% now use AI regularly. This consumer adoption is outpacing enterprise readiness by a significant margin: while 88% of organizations report using AI in at least one core function and 92% plan to increase investment, only 7% have reached fully scaled deployment, and 99% still lack the framework necessary for full integration. The operational bottleneck is most acute in fulfillment and logistics, where 74% of supply chain leaders identify AI as their primary 2026 driver but only 29% have the infrastructure to execute. 

"Most brands have invested heavily in their product and their marketing, but operational foundations have not kept pace," said Craig Stewart, SVP of Product at Stord. "Our research shows that a scalable consumer delivery experience is now the biggest barrier to growth in e-commerce. AI is changing how consumers shop, but brands can't win with better algorithms alone; they need an integrated fulfillment infrastructure that turns digital recommendations into repeatable and differentiated performance on every order at scale."

The report follows Stord's launch of multiple AI-powered solutions in February 2026. New capabilities include an AI-Powered Estimated Delivery Date that uses millions of historical shipments to improve in-cart conversion; Intelligent Order and Inventory Analysis that gives operators instant SKU-level summaries and next-step recommendations; Workflow Automations that help brands diagnose and manage complex fulfillment rules through natural language; and Instant Product Compliance Recommendations that streamline hazmat, harmonizing, and shipping code validation. These tools, many offered free to Stord fulfillment customers, lay the groundwork for the company's broader agentic commerce roadmap, including demand planning, CX chatbots, and autonomous opportunity identification for brands.

Stord helps brands close the gap between digital intent and physical execution through integrated commerce-enablement that combines fulfillment services with AI-powered technology. By unifying visibility across order management, inventory, and logistics, brands can ensure that AI recommendations translate into reliable outcomes.

The full 2026 State of AI Report is available for download at https://www.stord.com/reports/state-of-ai-2026.

While factors like cost still influence decisions, 65% of online shoppers cite product quality as their top decision factor.1 At the same time, 80% of consumers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products.2

This shift means brands can no longer rely solely on what they sell. They must also differentiate through how they sell. The new drivers of loyalty are service, experience, and reliability: how customers feel when they interact with a brand, how consistently that brand delivers on its promises, and how seamless every touchpoint feels.

That’s why delivery, shipping, and fulfillment have evolved from back-end operations into core elements of the brand promise. From the moment a customer clicks “buy” to the moment the package arrives (and even through the return process), fulfillment directly shapes customer perception, loyalty, and long-term value.

Yet many brands still rely on fragmented fulfillment systems. In a world where convenience and reliability define success, this fragmentation is more than a technical issue, it’s a competitive risk

As the global e-commerce industry is projected to reach $8 trillion within the next few years,3 the ability to deliver reliably, efficiently, and seamlessly has become a strategic imperative. Fulfillment is no longer just about shipping boxes; it’s about creating meaningful moments of connection. 

Why Fragmented Fulfillment No Longer Delivers

Historically, brands managed fulfillment in silos: multiple platforms for selling products, another provider for picking and packing, yet another for inventory/order/warehouse management systems, and still more for delivery and so on. Each stage required constant oversight and manual labor that made operations costly and prone to errors. 

Below are the typical steps and processes of a fragmented fulfillment model:

Relying on a traditional fulfillment model exposes the brand to serious risks. Slow deliveries, manual order errors, and shipping from distant warehouses drive up costs and frustrate customers. Without real-time tracking or proactive updates, loyalty suffers as shoppers turn to faster, more reliable competitors. Rising labor expenses, frequent returns, and escalating logistics costs further erode margins, making the legacy model increasingly unsustainable.

These challenges are further intensified by economic volatility fueled by inflation, tariffs, rising fuel costs, and interest rates. Layer in workforce shortages, outdated infrastructure, and more frequent climate disruptions, and the result is an industry under immense strain.4

Industry innovations led by giants like Prime have further reshaped consumer expectations on parcel shipment around speed, reliability, cost, and flexibility. Same-day or next-day delivery, real-time visibility, and the ability to reroute items on demand have become the new standard.

According to the 2025 DHL eCommerce Report,5 delivery remains the No. 1 conversion killer for businesses, with 81% of shoppers abandoning their carts when preferred delivery options aren’t available. The 2025 Stord Mystery Shopping Report6 further revealed that 85% of consumers would not shop with a brand again after a poor delivery experience.

Stord’s Mystery Shopping Report also showed 58% of shoppers want to see an exact delivery date before committing to a purchase. Similarly, a McKinsey & Company survey discovered that half of all online shoppers actively track their shipments, underscoring how transparency, reliability, and precise delivery expectations now define the modern buying experience.7

Taken together, these datasets underscore a clear truth: the future of e-commerce depends on a comprehensive fulfillment solution including smarter delivery.

What Exactly Makes Fulfillment “Smarter”?

Smarter fulfillment goes beyond simply picking, packing, and shipping. It’s about efficiently orchestrating the entire fulfillment journey. A truly smart fulfillment network reimagines e-commerce operations around agility, technology, network optimization, flexible delivery options and even more efficient reverse logistics. Here are its key capabilities:

1. Warehouse and Fulfillment Proximity Optimization

Instead of relying on a single central hub, smarter fulfillment networks strategically distribute inventory across multiple fulfillment centers. Orders are fulfilled from the location closest to each customer, minimizing transit time, cost, and damage risk while enhancing overall service. This interconnected system integrates inventory, carrier, order, and delivery data to enable faster, more accurate decision-making.

2. Network Flexibility and Carrier Leverage

While some brands remain tied to a single provider or shipping method, others optimize smarter fulfillment networks that allow them to partner with multiple carriers often through a 3PL or logistics network to distribute volume strategically among them. This multi-carrier approach enables selection based on delivery speed, cost targets, or specialized needs (e.g., hazardous materials, cold-chain, or high-value goods). The result is greater flexibility, improved negotiating power, and optimized service levels.

3. Technology-Driven Orchestration and Visibility

Even when brands use multiple carriers to fulfill orders, managing them can remain challenging without robust technology and the right platform. A fulfillment partner with smarter systems provides real-time visibility, intelligent carrier routing, dynamic decision-making (such as selecting the optimal carrier, warehouse, or delivery method), and financial optimization.

For example, if a customer selects expedited shipping but lives near a fulfillment center, the system can automatically switch to lower-cost ground shipping without needing to compromise the delivery speed and service quality.

4. Special-Service Support and Modular Delivery

Instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, a smarter system allows brands to leverage a variety of delivery modes based on need and preference such as cold-chain for perishables, haz-mat for regulated goods, parcel vs. pallet vs. freight, and same-day to standard delivery. This flexibility ensures delivery methods are aligned with both product requirements and customer expectations.

5. Smarter Handling of Reverse Logistics

Smarter fulfillment extends beyond outbound shipments to post-purchase processes. Automated, reliable handling of returns through designated return networks reduces customer frustration and supports retention, completing a seamless fulfillment experience.

6. Smart Cost and Margin Levers

While smarter fulfillment appeals to customers through convenience and reliability, it also delivers long-term benefits for brands by improving service and driving profitability. By selecting optimal carriers and routes, fulfilling orders from the nearest facility, and adjusting shipment methods (intelligent downgrading) when appropriate, brands can significantly reduce costs. Although implementing these systems requires investment, the long-term gains include higher revenue, fewer errors, and reduced expenses from manual labor and redundant processes.

7. Future-Ready Innovation: Drones, Robots, and Autonomous Vehicles

More than just warehouses, trucks, and boxes, smarter fulfillment is about preparing for tomorrow’s automation. Emerging technologies such as AI, drones, delivery robots, autonomous vehicles and other innovations are seen reshaping logistics, with the drone delivery market projected to reach $4.40 billion by 20308 and ground-based delivery robots expected to grow to  $2.8 billion in the same period.9 A future-ready fulfillment network is one that can adopt, leverage, and seamlessly integrate these innovations to deliver a complete fulfillment experience that is efficient, reliable, and cost-effective.

Powered by automation, data, and agility, here is a sample of how a modern, connected fulfillment process works:

From Fragmented to Smarter Fulfillment: A Side-by-Side Comparison

The shift from traditional fulfillment to an integrated, intelligent network represents far more than a technological upgrade, it’s a strategic transformation. This evolution moves brands beyond manual, siloed operations toward a connected ecosystem that unifies data, automates decision-making, and continuously optimizes performance.

This translates to a fulfillment network that not only drives efficiency and scalability but also elevates the entire customer experience, from the moment they click “buy” to post-purchase engagement and beyond.

To better gauge the impact, below is a side-by-side comparison of fragmented fulfillment versus a smarter, integrated fulfillment model:

The Future of Fulfillment is Already Here

Fragmented fulfillment solutions are no longer enough. As automation accelerates, consumer expectations rise, and supply chain disruptions become the norm, only brands built on flexible, connected, technology-driven fulfillment models will truly thrive.

Smarter fulfillment is no longer just an operational improvement. It’s the cornerstone of scalable, adaptive, and resilient commerce for the future.

Partnering with a fulfillment provider that offers this integrated suite of services gives brands a distinct strategic edge. This smarter approach to fulfillment strengthens brand reliability, allowing businesses to focus on growth, product innovation, and the customer experience rather than day-to-day logistics management.

At Stord, our mission is to democratize smarter delivery and the entire fulfillment experience by empowering both global enterprises and emerging brands to access flexible, high-performance delivery networks powered by advanced technology and multi-carrier ecosystems. By breaking down the barriers to next-generation fulfillment, we ensure that every brand, regardless of size, can win on experience, efficiency, and reliability.

Because in today’s trillion-dollar e-commerce industry, success is no longer defined by what you sell, but by how you deliver it.

For e-commerce brands, Amazon represents a highly attractive channel for growth. Its marketplace offers access to a massive customer base, provides powerful search and discovery features, and enables businesses to expand their reach far beyond traditional retail boundaries. Small brands can scale rapidly, while established companies can diversify revenue streams through Amazon’s multifaceted ecosystem.

A central driver of Amazon’s customer loyalty is Prime, the company’s paid membership program. Launched in 2005 with free two-day shipping as its headline benefit, Prime has expanded over the years to include streaming entertainment, exclusive deals, grocery benefits, and more. In 2023, Amazon relaunched and expanded elements of the Prime program, including widening Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) enrollment and updating its premium shipping policies.4

Amazon’s $14.99-a-month program reports more than 200 million Prime members globally,5 with estimates exceeding 180 million members in the U.S.6 Prime members consistently outspend non-members. Average annual spending per Prime customer ranges from $1,1707 to over $1,400, more than double that of non-Prime shoppers.8

Access to Prime customers represents a major opportunity for brands focused on customer acquisition and growth. Prime customers are a loyal, high-value segment with stronger purchase frequency and higher lifetime value. Products carrying the Prime badge benefit from increased visibility and consumer trust, driving a significant boost in conversion and sales velocity. However, earning the Prime badge is challenging. Amazon enforces strict performance requirements, including fast fulfillment metrics, on-time delivery, and low cancellation rates, through an often rigorous trial and eligibility process. Many sellers struggle to meet these thresholds, especially when handling fulfillment independently.

Earning The Prime Badge

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)9 has traditionally been the most accessible path to Prime eligibility. Under the FBA model, sellers transfer inventory into Amazon’s fulfillment centers, where Amazon assumes responsibility for storage, order processing, shipping, customer service, and returns. Products enrolled in FBA automatically qualify for Prime, provided inventory remains available within Amazon’s network. FBA allows brands to accelerate Prime eligibility without building or managing their own logistics capabilities. However, this also means giving up control over your brand's fulfillment and customer experience.

Inventory is positioned and moved according to Amazon’s internal logic, limiting a brand's ability to optimize inventory allocation, respond to demand shifts across channels, or control inbound and outbound costs. Fulfillment and storage fees fluctuate and have increased over time. In fact, Amazon just recently rolled out an increase in fulfillment fees for third-party sellers by an average of $0.08 per unit sold.10 This creates significant margin pressure particularly for products with lower price points or slower turnover.

Moreover, brands enrolled in FBA ship orders using uniform Amazon packaging, which prevents the use of branded boxes and marketing inserts, unless enrolled in the Ships in Product Packaging program, but even so, the level of customization remains limited. Customer data also remains largely inaccessible, which restricts visibility into buyer behavior and post-purchase engagement. Over time, many brands find that with FBA, fulfillment becomes decoupled from their broader commerce strategy and ultimately limits their ability to differentiate.

In contrast, under the Seller Fulfilled Prime11 program, brands retain control over inventory placement and fulfillment operations while committing to Amazon’s Prime delivery and service standards. Eligibility requires successful completion of a trial period, followed by ongoing compliance with strict metrics related to delivery speed, on-time shipment rates, cancellation thresholds, and customer experience outcomes.

To prequalify for SFP, brands must meet the following criteria over the past 90 days12:

• Have shipped at least 100 seller-fulfilled packages

• Have a cancellation rate less than 2.5%

• Have a valid tracking rate greater than 95%

• Have a late shipment rate less than 4%

To pass the trial, brands must meet the following requirements12:

• Participate for 4 weeks (28 days)

• Ship 100 or more packages from Prime trial orders

• Have an on-time delivery rate of at least 93.5%

• Have a valid tracking rate of at least 99%

• Have a seller-initiated cancellation rate of less than or equal to 0.5%

• Consistently ship Prime packages each week of trial

• Met the following delivery speed requirements, by size tier:

Products become eligible to display the Prime badge only after successfully passing the SFP trial and securing full enrolment in the program.

To maintain eligibility, brands must match Amazon’s delivery expectations across large portions of the country, manage peak-season volume without service degradation, and maintain near-perfect execution across every Prime order. Failure to meet these benchmarks can result in removal from the program.

However, only a few brands can build and maintain this service level internally without additional capital investment in logistics infrastructure and ongoing operational overhead. Many sellers attempt to bridge this gap through third-party logistics providers. Traditional 3PL models often fall short of Prime requirements due to static warehouse networks, fragmented technology, limited automation, and inconsistent service-level performance. These constraints make it difficult to sustain Prime eligibility without frequent intervention and exposure to risks.

This has ultimately led to a growing interest in fulfillment providers that can support SFP at scale.

Seller Fulfilled Prime Powered by Stord

Seller Fulfilled Prime imposes some of the most demanding operational standards in modern e-commerce. Stord already performs at this level, efficiently meeting Prime delivery expectations while helping brands preserve control and visibility over their fulfillment.

Stord’s SFP solution supports nationwide one- and two-day delivery coverage, same-day order processing, and Saturday fulfillment. Brands that partner with Stord consistently achieve 99%+ on-time fulfillment. These results are driven by Stord’s strategically distributed fulfillment network and its fully integrated commerce enablement and technology stack, which synchronizes order routing, inventory positioning, carrier selection, and real-time performance monitoring across all nodes and channels. These capabilities enable brands to consistently meet Amazon’s SFP delivery and service benchmarks, even during demand spikes and peak sales periods.

Stord’s acquisition of Ware2Go in May 2025 further strengthened its fulfillment network and service density. The expanded coverage increased geographic reach and reinforced Stord’s ability to support SFP programs at scale across a broader range of product profiles.

At scale, Seller Fulfilled Prime becomes Stord Fulfilled Prime: a Prime-eligible fulfillment model built for reliability, visibility, flexibility, and brand-controlled growth.

Stord Fulfilled Prime provides brands with Prime visibility without relinquishing ownership of the customer experience:

• Inventory placement and replenishment remain aligned with forecasting and omnichannel demand planning.

• Margin economics are significantly improved, particularly for bulky, seasonal, or lower velocity SKUs that are expensive to store in Amazon facilities where fees increase with size and dwell time.

• Orders ship in branded packaging with hyper-personalized branded inserts, preserving brand presence throughout the post-purchase experience.

• Returns management and customer service quality remain under brand control, allowing consistent and clearer standards for communication and issue resolution while maintaining better post-purchase customer relationships.

From a marketing perspective, Stord Fulfilled Prime strengthens a brand’s position on Amazon. Products qualify for the Prime badge with competitive delivery promises that support conversion and search visibility. Brands retain pricing flexibility supported by improved fulfillment economics. Branded fulfillment execution reinforces differentiation and storytelling within a marketplace environment that often limits both.

Stord-Powered Prime Fulfillment, Brand-Controlled Growth

As opposed to optimizing around Amazon’s fulfillment model, Stord Fulfilled Prime allows brands to scale Prime fulfillment on their own terms.

Prime eligibility becomes part of a broader fulfillment strategy that supports long-term brand trajectory rather than becoming a source of constraint. Inventory strategy, fulfillment standards, margin structure, and customer experience remain aligned under a single infrastructure built to meet Amazon’s requirements at scale.

Stord manages the operational demands of Seller Fulfilled Prime, so brands can focus on growing their brand.

ATLANTA, February 3, 2026— Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering commerce across seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery, and post-purchase for today’s leading brands, announced today that it has reached an agreement with American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) to assume the Dallas fulfillment center, previously operated by Quiet Logistics (Quiet). In addition, Stord will become the preferred fulfillment provider to former Quiet customers.

“This deal ensures continuity for customers,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “As brands everywhere assess and reimagine their business to be more resilient, this agreement creates stability and unlocks access to Stord’s global network reach and market-leading commerce enablement technology for their former customers. We are excited to expand our global network and accelerate our mission with the addition of this Dallas facility.”

Stord’s meteoric growth over the past decade has led to numerous market expansions, acquisitions, and new offerings earning the trust of hundreds of leading e-commerce brands. This expansion in the Dallas market makes Stord one of the most tenured operators in the industry, driving one of the largest fulfillment networks in volume and reach.

This news follows Stord’s acquisition of Shipwire from CEVA Logistics at the start of this year. These two expansions follow a record-setting 2025 for Stord that included the acquisition of Ware2Go from UPS, a $200 million dollar Series E at a $1.5B valuation, and a $40 million investment in Hebron Kentucky modernizing an expansion facility and 500+ new jobs.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ATLANTA, February 2, 2026— Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering commerce across seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery, and post-purchase for today’s leading brands, announced today multiple e-commerce specific AI solutions - AI-Powered Estimated Delivery Date, Intelligent Order and Inventory Summary, Workflow Automations, Instant Shipping Codes - aimed at improving conversions and operational efficiencies. All of these tools are available or in early access today, many provided free of charge to Stord fulfillment customers, and set the stage for an ambitious roadmap of more products throughout the year and beyond.

“Stord is building the tools needed for brands to provide an uncompromising consumer experience that rivals what was previously only attainable by industry giants. Stord’s AI offerings are yet another example of the innovative approach we are pursuing to help brands build loyalty and grow their consumer base by improving every single step in the e-commerce process. Being able to take our data set of millions of orders and apply it towards meaningful AI solutions for brands is precisely how Stord will level the playing field for brands of all sizes,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

AI-Powered Estimated Delivery Date

Nearly 70.19% of all e-commerce carts are abandoned, and 12% are due to unclear delivery dates. Brands are struggling to accurately communicate their delivery promises despite massive expenditures to unlock faster delivery.

Stord’s AI-powered estimated delivery date (EDD) solution improves add-to-cart conversion, in-cart conversion, and delights e-commerce end consumers with simple and transparent delivery promises. Stord’s AI-powered EDD deploys a unique set of data parameters and AI algorithms to provide greater accuracy and operational flexibility for partnering brands. As end consumers flow through the online sales process, the estimated delivery date is updated based on numerous factors and millions of historical Stord shipments. Brands can easily validate and implement free shipping thresholds and articulate their entire delivery promise to all end consumers with the built-in A/B testing tools engine. Based on industry averages, by correcting and articulating a more accurate delivery promise brands can potentially recapture 5-10% of abandoned cart revenue from their online storefront.

Intelligent Order and Inventory Analysis

E-commerce brands are inundated with data across their orders and inventory records. A typical retailer can carry approximately 10,000 SKUs in inventory and over 43% of small brands do not track inventory in real time. These problems compound as brands scale their customer base and their product lines. Stord AI now offers intuitive insights and summaries for both orders and inventory down to the SKU. With one click of their mouse, operators get brief summaries detailing what happened to any order or current inventory status with quick hit suggestions on any necessary next steps. This supercharges customer experience teams for even more rapid “Where Is My Order” resolutions, saving on manual costs and upleveling the consumer experience. This year, Stord will automate these processes further through full agentic workflows. 

These AI-powered suggestions improve inventory management and help to ensure necessary products are always on hand, slow products are paired into clever kitting offerings, and brands have total control over their global inventory from anywhere in the world.

Workflow Automations

As brands grow they often implement dozens if not hundreds of workflows to help manage every edge case in the fulfillment process. These rules operate to automatically determine how each and every order is fulfilled down to the shipping label and branded insert. 

With Stord AI, brands can now quickly review, diagnose, and understand which workflows impacted any order. In time, brands will be able to more efficiently create exception logic, assess effectiveness of their workflows, and build new rules using natural language.

“E-commerce brands have complex rules and operational procedures for handling their orders. It is common for brands to have hundreds of rules in operation,”  said Craig Stewart, SVP of Product and Engineering at Stord.  “Managing those rules can very quickly become complex, and result in sometimes unexpected behaviours. Stord AI gives our customers the ability to cut through that confusion, offering unparalleled levels of configuration within our rules engine in a simple, easy to manage interface.”

Instant Product Compliance Recommendations

During the preparation phase of a new product, brands are legally required to have accurate product codes and information for importing, taxes, consumer safety, shipment requirements, and more. Traditionally, brands had to endure a lengthy validation process, reviewing and checking every hazmat, harmonizing, and shipping code. Inaccurate codes can expose brands to fines and blocked deliveries.

Stord AI is designed to help brands by allowing them to simply enter their product description language, then reads, assesses, and suggests potential codes for review and approval. Stord AI also scans product summaries and associated codes and suggests corrections if any potential discrepancies are identified. Through this process, brands can improve compliance efforts without massive time expenditures or complex knowledge of nuanced code requirements. 

The Road Ahead - Demand Planning, Agentic Commerce Solutions, and more

These solutions are only the beginning for Stord. Already, AI and machine learning algorithms are at work on our existing tech stack improving our parcel carrier routing, warehouse operations, and internal efficiencies. Stord AI is composed of several teams of dedicated engineers, and these capabilities are being implemented externally for customers and internally for newfound productivity. These products lay the foundation for comprehensive agentic solutions in 2026. In the near future brands can expect deeper demand planning capabilities with AI insights and recommendations, CX and reverse logistics chat bots, and agentic solutions to find and grow opportunities in their existing business.

“AI is being discussed at the biggest and smallest e-commerce brands around the world, but there is massive confusion on what tools are truly needed and what providers can deliver on those needs,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “These products, and our roadmap, sets Stord as the obvious choice. Now brands can instantly add the e-commerce AI tools they need and have them work effortlessly with the rest of their fulfillment and commerce activities. While AI is reshaping e-commerce, having the right AI tools will be the most important decision brands make this year.”

These new products follow after recent major announcements by Stord including the acquisition of Shipwire from CEVA Logistics at the state of the year, a record-setting 2025 that saw the acquisition of Ware2Go from UPS, a $200 million dollar Series E at a $1.5B valuation, and a $40 million investment in Hebron Kentucky modernizing an expansion facility and 500+ new jobs.

The New Consumer’s research on the collision between technology, sentiment, and American spending habits revealed that while consumer sentiment is sinking, spending continues to climb. E-commerce just hit $1.2 trillion, doubling in just five years, despite nearly half of Americans believing we're in a recession.

Their Consumer Trends Survey, which tracks 3,000 consumers every few months, confirmed this pattern. Anxious shoppers aren't spending less; they're redirecting their money toward channels that reduce friction and increase confidence. And increasingly, those channels are AI-driven.

How Economic Anxiety Creates New Barriers

The keynote revealed that anxiety doesn't stop people from wanting things; it just makes every decision feel heavier. Even small purchases now come with a mental checklist: “Do I really need this? Is this responsible?”

Then there’s the justification burden. Some purchases trigger the need to explain to a partner, a budget spreadsheet, or your future self. Every dollar feels like it has a shadow version that could have gone toward savings or debt. That opportunity cost makes even small choices stressful.

Add endless options to the mix, and decision fatigue kicks in. People don’t stop wanting the product; they just find the process exhausting. So they stall. They research more, compare more, read more reviews, and often walk away without buying.

This shows how anxiety changes the rules rather than killing demand. Shoppers gravitate toward environments where the right choice feels obvious, validated, and quick. Because in this climate, friction is a deal-breaker.

Why AI-Powered Channels Win Anxious Buyers

The findings demonstrated exactly why platforms like TikTok Shop and Amazon are dominating anxious buyers. TikTok Shop generated over $500 million1 in U.S. sales during Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend alone. Its strength lies in collapsing discovery, validation, and purchase into seconds.

The AI-driven feed doesn’t just display products. It demos them through creators, surrounds them with social proof, and enables purchase with a single tap. No long consideration cycle. No checkout form. No time for doubt.

Compare this to traditional e-commerce, which moves through multiple steps:

That’s seven chances to lose an anxious shopper. TikTok has virtually none. As the presentation put it, it's “Gen Z’s QVC,” but unlike traditional QVC's scripted hosts and phone-in orders, TikTok’s commerce is native to culture, creator-driven, mobile-first, and socially validated.

Amazon plays a different game: reassurance at scale. It retains 70% of monthly active users not because it’s the cheapest, but because it feels like the safest choice. Three-quarters of consumers believe Amazon has the best selection. Two-thirds believe it has the best prices. Whether that's always true doesn't matter; the perception removes the need to compare shops.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT has quietly become the research engine for anxious shoppers, now with over 800 million users.2 Two-thirds of Gen Z use it to double-check purchases, and it rolled out its own AI shopping assistant for Black Friday.3 For younger consumers, AI advisors are now among the top five most trusted sources, twice as influential as they are for older generations.

This threatens Amazon’s “default destination” status. When the buying journey starts with a prompt instead of a search bar, everything changes. 

If AI can’t find your product, or can’t explain why it’s worth choosing, you’re basically invisible. Most brands write descriptions for people, with emotional, marketing-driven language. AI, on the other hand, wants structured data: specs, use cases, comparisons, reviews. Without that, it just points shoppers elsewhere.

Generational Differences and the Looming Power Shift

One of the most compelling points of the keynote was the generational differences and the looming power shift. Right now, purchasing power is inverted from future potential.

During Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend, Boomers dominated at $13.2 billion, followed by Gen X at $12 billion, Millennials at $10.6 billion, and Gen Z at just $1.2 billion.4

But Gen Z grew 12.9% year-over-year, fastest of any generation. Their buying power is limited by college debt and early-career earnings, but they’re building habits that will compound over decades. Brands overindexing on Boomers and Gen X risk being unprepared when spending power shifts.

Gen Z discovers brands through TikTok and YouTube and cross-checks everything on Reddit. They’re skeptical of polished marketing. They gravitate toward trend-forward basics and avoid high-ticket items that require long, stressful decision cycles.

Millennials are the most optimistic about AI and are deeply influenced by creators. Half have purchased products because of a podcast ad. But they’re fatigued by subscriptions; subscription walls trigger immediate resistance.

Gen X and Boomers trust institutions more than creators. They expect clear contact information and generous return policies, and find minimalist sites untrustworthy. Apps requiring downloads or two-factor logins are quickly abandoned. And more importantly, they can afford big-ticket purchases. Boomers alone spent $730 million on electronics over Black Friday weekend.4

Economic anxiety is universal. But purchase behavior and long-term value are not. Brands focusing only on today’s biggest spenders risk being irrelevant when the power curve shifts.

How to Compete in an AI-Dominated Marketplace

Here are the key takeaways from Dan’s keynote presentation:

Prioritize AI Discovery Over Your Website

ChatGPT handles 21% of information-seeking queries now, just like Google. That percentage is expected to double within a year, then double again.

If AI can’t find your product, explain why it’s better, or recommend it confidently, you’re basically invisible on the fastest-growing discovery channel. The brands that show up in AI recommendations aren’t just writing for people; they’re structuring their product information so machines can understand it.

That means clear specs, real use cases, and honest comparisons. Less brand voice, more clarity. This isn’t just a tweak to marketing. It’s a real shift from persuading humans to helping AI explain your product for you.

Ruthlessly Eliminate Friction

Map every step between discovery and completed purchase. How many clicks? How many form fields? How many page loads? Each one is a moment where anxiety kills the sale.

Winning brands don’t make shoppers jump through seven steps. They keep it to one or two. TikTok Shop is simple: see it, tap it, buy. Amazon does the same: search it, one click, done. If your checkout still requires account creation, you’ve already lost the anxious buyer.

Integrate commerce where attention exists. If your customers are on Instagram, enable Instagram Shopping. If they're researching on YouTube, put buy links in descriptions. Meet them where they are.

Build on Established Platforms

The findings pointed out that Meta AI has two-thirds awareness despite being functionally weaker than ChatGPT. Distribution beats functionality.

Google and Meta reach billions daily. Building on their platforms beats building standalone experiences requiring consumer effort to discover. Too many brands invest in proprietary apps fighting uphill against platforms consumers already trust.

If your strategy is “drive traffic to our site,” you're competing against the default behavior of anxious consumers: sticking with platforms they know.

Invest in Creator Relationships, Not Just Ads

Half of Gen Z and Millennials purchased something because of a podcast ad, because someone they trust endorsed it. 40% would buy from their favorite podcast host. That’s distribution through trusted advocates who’ve already built trust for you.

Find creators your customers already trust. Give them products. Let them use them authentically. Pay for endorsement, not scripted talking points. One authentic creator recommendation reaches anxious buyers more effectively than a million impressions from interruptive ads.

Build Trust Through Reduced Friction

It’s not something you ask for. You build trust by eliminating every reason not to trust.

If customers research obsessively, as they should, make the information they need instantly accessible. Use AI, tutorials, and detailed reviews. Provide validation before they even ask for it.

When uncertainty arises, remove it. Offer easy returns, display real-time inventory, and be transparent with pricing. Give customers confidence at every decision point.

Anxious customers won’t wait for friction. Make buying effortless: one-click checkout, saved payment methods, auto-filled forms. Remove every obstacle so worry never has a chance.

They trust people, not institutions. Collaborate with creators they follow, let trusted podcasters endorse you, and appear in the AI tools they consult. Don’t ask for trust—borrow it from voices they already believe in.

Toward an AI-Shaped Consumer Economy

If there’s one thing the keynote made abundantly clear, it is that consumers are worried about money—but that worry is not stopping them from spending. It is simply reshaping how they spend.

The brands winning today are not waiting for confidence to rebound. They understand that anxious buyers are actually easier to convert when friction is removed. Companies built for AI-driven discovery and effortless purchasing are capturing resilient demand and building loyalty through seamless, reliable experiences.

Anxious buyers are not the problem. Friction is. Remove it and you do more than capture a sale. You turn worry into trust and trust into loyalty that lasts well beyond the current economic uncertainty.

For e-commerce brands, the question is not whether consumers will buy, but whether you are making it simple enough for them to say yes.

Onboarding isn’t a transition phase. It’s the foundation that determines whether your fulfillment operation will thrive or fail under real-world pressure.

Failing to transition fulfillment effectively is a massive risk: 85% of consumers say they won’t return to a brand after a poor delivery experience.1  Moreover, poor systems integration causes 30–40% of fulfillment disruptions during transitions.2  For mid-market brands, just one failed fulfillment transition can result in millions of dollars lost in revenue and customer retention.3

Bad onboarding compounds into operational failure. Systems might visibly collapse in month six, but the collapse began in week two. The difference between operations that scale and those that fail is the rigor of onboarding.

Where Traditional Onboarding Goes Wrong

The Dual-Track Disaster

Most onboarding efforts fall apart immediately because brands are forced to run two disconnected tracks at once. Technical teams handle API integrations and system configs while operations teams receive inventory and build warehouse workflows.

These tracks almost never sync. No one sees the gaps until it’s too late.

Integration complexity is consistently underestimated because it always looks fine until it isn’t. Systems timestamp differently (EST vs. UTC), round weights differently, and map data differently. 83% of shippers say collaborative implementation determines long-term success,4 yet most providers still operate in silos.

These mismatches cascade fast. Duplicate SKUs drive wrong picks. Order-ID mismatches break ERP reconciliation. Incorrect service-level codes downgrade shipping. API rate limits that worked in testing fail under real load.

Then come organizational handoffs: sales overpromises, engineering builds in isolation, operations receives incomplete information, and customer success inherits unresolved issues.5 Once problems surface, accountability fragments and fixes slow down.

The Cost Spiral Nobody Talks About

Implementation fees for 3PL software run $2,000–$25,000.6  That’s the sticker price. The real cost is far higher, particularly when these integrations are delayed or faulty.

Every bad fulfillment event destroys future revenue. Inventory sits idle in transition while storage fees climb. Emergency expediting to clear backlogs costs 3–5× normal freight rates. Internal teams spend days in crisis mode instead of focusing on growth.

The damage doesn’t stop at immediate losses. Fulfillment failures reshape customer behavior in measurable ways: the next purchase is delayed by an average of 7.22%, annual spend drops 12.70%.7 One bad shipment doesn’t just dent today’s revenue; it sets off a chain reaction of lost trust and reduced loyalty that compounds over time.

The transition window is the most dangerous moment. Brands are exposed, customers are watching, and recovery is hardest. That’s the cost spiral nobody accounts for until it’s too late. 

The Testing Illusion

Most fulfillment providers proudly announce they've completed User Acceptance Testing (UAT). The systems passed. The integrations work. Time to go live.

But UAT rarely reflects reality. What happens when 100 flawless test orders become 1,000 live orders with bundles, international routing, or carrier APIs behaving differently in production?

Edge cases aren’t edge cases at scale; they’re a daily reality. Without live order validation, brands use customers as beta testers. Bottlenecks, misaligned printers, insufficient packaging, and broken pick paths only surface once real money and real trust are on the line.

This is the hidden pain of traditional onboarding: a fragile process that multiplies risk, drains resources, and erodes customer trust before growth can even begin.

How It Should Be Done

One Team, Start to Finish

Bring the teams together. The engineer who configured your routing logic should be on the warehouse floor during your first live orders. They should watch pickers move through lanes, monitor pack times, and adjust rules in real time.

This hybrid model, where engineers are trained in both systems and warehouse operations, removes silos and increases accountability. Technical decisions directly affect physical workflows, and the same team owns both.

Gates That Actually Mean Something

Effective onboarding follows seven distinct phases, each with objective pass/fail criteria:

• Volume & Growth Scoping – Quantify current volumes, growth trajectories, constraints.

• Future‑State Design – Engineer workflows and data flows for scale.

• Controlled Integration Testing – Validate APIs and mappings under load.

• Brand‑Led UAT – Brand verifies workflows before launch.

• Live Order Testing – Real orders surface edge cases.

• Phased Go‑Live + Monitoring – Ramp gradually, track metrics in real time.

• Extended Hyper‑Care – Intensive post‑launch support to stabilize operations.

Each gate enforces discipline against the pressure to “just launch.” Integration testing isn’t complete until 100 consecutive orders process without error. Live order testing doesn’t pass until accuracy exceeds 99.5% and pack times meet benchmarks. These aren’t ceremonial milestones; they are operational safeguards. They decide whether a launch scales or spirals.

Real Orders, Real Warehouse, Real Consequences

Leading providers don’t just simulate transactions. They process real customer orders in small, controlled production batches before full launch.

Engineers are on the floor watching the first picker, checking packaging fit, validating label scans, and monitoring throughput. Physical load exposes problems no sandbox ever will.

Onboarding is complete only when real customer orders behave exactly as designed.

The Hyper-Care Phase: When Real Partnership Shows

Most providers treat go-live as the finish line. High-performing partners treat it as the start.

Hyper-care is ongoing. The same team that built the integration monitors accuracy, cycle times, service levels, and customer feedback daily. Issues are resolved immediately because the people who caused or discovered them are the ones fixing them.

This is when trends emerge, optimizations deliver ROI, and systemic weaknesses either get resolved or metastasize. Keeping the original team engaged prevents small failures from compounding into chronic operational debt.

What This Means for Your Brand

If you're evaluating fulfillment partners, here's what to ask:

• Who builds my integration, and who will be standing in the warehouse during the first live orders? If the answer involves multiple teams and handoffs, dig deeper.

• What does your testing process actually test? Sandbox testing is table stakes. Do they process live orders before full launch?

• How long does hyper-care last, and who provides it? Two weeks with a customer success manager isn't enough. A month or more with the original implementation team should be the standard.

• What happens when we need custom logic? Can their implementation team build and deploy it, or will it go into a product roadmap queue for six months?

• Show me your gates. What are the specific, measurable criteria for advancing through each phase of onboarding?

The reality: 90% of Fortune 500 companies rely on at least one fulfillment provider.8  The difference between companies that scale and companies that stumble isn’t just choosing the right partner. It's understanding that onboarding is where the partnership is made or broken.

The Foundation Everything Else Stands On

In software, you can launch a beta, patch bugs, and iterate every week. In fulfillment, you get one shot. The first orders through a new system are real orders from real customers with real expectations. There are no rollbacks for mis-shipped packages and no patches for broken trust.

Onboarding isn’t a technical hurdle. It’s the operational foundation of your brand experience. Brands that treat it as a strategic investment gain resilience during peak seasons, earn compounding customer trust, and scale with confidence. Brands that underinvest spend their time firefighting preventable issues.

The quality of onboarding today decides the trust you earn tomorrow. In e-commerce fulfillment, customers won’t wait for you to catch up.

TikTok Shop offers a combination of viral visual content and seamless shopping experience. While the opportunity is significant, brands considering it should prepare to navigate both the new e-commerce marketplace and its dynamic social media platform often populated by a younger audience.

TikTok Shop officially launched in September 2023, marking its entry into the social commerce space already populated by established players. In 2024, even with Instagram Shopping's earlier launch in March 2017 and an estimated global Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) exceeding $37 billion,1 TikTok Shop has shown remarkable traction with a GMV of $33.2 billion.2 Data from 2024 demonstrates TikTok Shop’s swift rise in a short period with 26% of US social shoppers using the platform compared to Instagram Shopping's 21%.3 In 2025, TikTok Shop’s GMV is reportedly at $100 billion.4

Repeat conversion on TikTok Shop also appears to be high, with roughly half (49.7%) of its social shoppers making a purchase at least once a month—a higher frequency compared to users on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.5

The US market has emerged as one of TikTok Shop’s largest, generating a GMV of around $9 billion2 in 2024. Therefore, even if your primary focus is the US market, TikTok Shop is a channel you can't afford to ignore.

Fueling this impressive growth is TikTok's massive and highly engaged user base. With over 1.5 billion active users globally and over 120.5 million in the US alone,6 it offers access to a giant pool of potential customers that spans diverse demographics and interests.

Its effectiveness in driving brand growth can be attributed to the following:

1. Shoppertainment and Impulse Buys - TikTok has combined entertainment and commerce, creating a “shoppertainment” space.7 Consumers are more receptive to this brand messaging of evoking emotions and fear of missing out (FOMO). A significant portion of users engage in impulse buys, often due to emotional factors and the immediacy of its LIVE shopping events.8

2. Influencer Trust - The emphasis on creator-driven content and user-generated content (UGC) builds trust and authenticity.7 About 71% of consumers trust recommendations from influencers,9 which makes collaborations and UGC powerful drivers of purchase intent on TikTok.

3. Hyper-Personalized Discovery - Its algorithm, known to deliver hyper-personalized content, is driving product discovery at an unprecedented scale. Users are 1.7 times more likely to discover new products on TikTok compared to other social media platforms.10 This enhanced discoverability naturally feeds into the shopping experience.

4. Seamless In-App Purchase - This experience reduces friction, letting users go from product discovery to purchase without leaving TikTok.7 Data suggests that every step removed in the purchasing process can increase conversion.11

These factors can shorten the traditional marketing funnel and create a prime ground for e-commerce growth, which US brands are already witnessing firsthand.

For instance, PacSun, a US retailer focused on youth apparel and accessories, reported that their TikTok Shop sales on Black Friday 2024 alone were 3 times higher than their total Black Friday sales from the previous year.12 They have also sold nearly half a million pairs of jeans through TikTok livestreaming in just 18 months.12

Several other brands have also found strong sales performance on TikTok Shop13 as shown in the table below.

Beauty has also been a significant driver with brands like Tarte Cosmetics, One Size, uCoolMe Lashes, and The Ordinary earning over $104 million in revenue combined on the platform.14

For forward-thinking brands aiming for broader market reach and potential increase in ROI, TikTok Shop is a vital component of an effective marketing and sales strategy.

Understanding the potential of TikTok Shop is just the start. To leverage this platform for sustainable e-commerce growth, you need to learn how to capture fleeting user attention, guide them to your TikTok Shop, and consistently deliver value that transforms one-time viewers into loyal, repeat customers.

Setting Up Your TikTok Shop

Setting up your TikTok Shop is like setting up your storefront in a bustling new marketplace. You want it to be easily accessible, visually appealing, and ready to transact.

To start, you should navigate the TikTok Shop Seller Center. This is your central hub for managing all aspects of your TikTok Shop. The registration process is designed to be user-friendly so you can easily sign up using just your phone number or email.

Your region should be set to the US to proceed with region-specific seller guidelines. Upon signing up, your account will be verified as belonging to a US-based seller.

You can find a step-by-step guide on how to register on TikTok’s website. Just follow the steps and you can start selling your products on the platform.

Once your TikTok Shop is up, you can add products by following this guide.

While TikTok Shop welcomes a wide variety of products, certain categories and product types tend to resonate particularly well with its user base. Visually appealing products, impulse-buy items, and those that lend themselves well to demonstrations or storytelling in short-form video often see strong traction.

Consider how your existing product catalog aligns with these trends and identify hero products that can shine in a video-first environment.

Driving Traffic and Conversions

For your brand to thrive on TikTok Shop, you should know how to convert the attention you get into tangible sales.

Organic Growth

While paid advertising can offer a direct route to visibility, nurturing organic growth on TikTok Shop builds a more sustainable and engaged customer base.

Regularly posting high-quality, entertaining, and informative content keeps your audience engaged and encourages repeat visits to your profile and shop. For instance, a food brand might post daily recipe snippets showcasing ingredients available in their shop, while an apparel brand could share styling tips and outfit ideas featuring their latest collections.

Consistency signals to the algorithm that you're an active and valuable content creator, increasing your chances of appearing on the coveted FYP.

Just like on the broader TikTok platform, relevant and trending hashtags are vital for discoverability on TikTok Shop. Research hashtags specific to your niche, product categories, and current trends on TikTok’s Creative Center.

Combining broad and niche hashtags can help you reach a wider audience while also targeting specific buyer intent. For example, a handmade jewelry brand might use #handmadejewelry alongside more specific tags like #statementearrings or #artisanjewelry.

In addition to visuals, using popular sounds can significantly boost visibility. Integrate these authentically into your brand's voice and product offerings. Jumping on a trend that feels forced or irrelevant can alienate your audience.

Consider how brands like Duolingo have cleverly integrated trending sounds into their educational content, making it both entertaining and brand-relevant.

Community-building is also important in growing your TikTok Shop. Actively responding to comments, answering questions in real-time during LIVE sessions, and building a sense of community around your brand builds loyalty and encourages interaction. Running polls or Q&A stickers in your stories can also be effective ways to engage your audience and gather valuable feedback. For example, a beauty brand could host a LIVE Q&A session addressing skincare concerns and highlighting relevant products available in their shop.

Moreover, engaging with relevant creators in your niche by commenting on their videos, duetting their content, or even sending them products for potential organic reviews can expose your brand to their audience. This leverages the trust and authenticity that creator recommendations often carry.

Take how Sugar Rush Sweeties partnered with several creators, including @sophdouglas_ who’s short video promoting the Valentine's Sweet Mix had over 2.5 million views.

Paid Advertising on TikTok Shop

TikTok's advertising platform offers a way to reach specific demographics and drive targeted traffic to your shop. Understanding the available ad formats can help make smart decisions for your brand:

In-Feed Ads

These ads are designed to blend seamlessly with the organic flow of TikTok's "For You" Page, increasing their likelihood of capturing user attention. They can be highly effective when they are visually appealing and align with the platform's style. TikTok offers various objectives for in-feed ads, including driving traffic, product views, and conversions.

Bee Inspired Clothing strategically leveraged in-feed ads. They began with extensive A/B testing to pinpoint viral content formats. A consistent stream of authentic GRWM (Get Ready With Me) user-generated content was deployed, meticulously tailored to resonate with their target demographic. This data-driven and audience-centric approach yielded a 25% CPA reduction, achieved 8 million campaign views, and drove a 3x increase in follower acquisition.15

Spark Ads

Use the power of authenticity by amplifying your top-performing organic content or successful creator collaborations. By turning these existing videos into ads, you leverage inherent trust and social proof to drive engagement and traffic to your shop with a native feel.

The Farmer's Dog, a premium e-commerce dog food provider, targeted US pet enthusiasts aged 25+ on TikTok to optimize subscriber acquisition and reduce CPA. Utilizing Spark Ads for authentic brand engagement, they partnered with creators for UGC to strengthen message impact. Precise audience segmentation further refined targeting. Within two months, this focused approach yielded lower CPAs at scale and a 5% conversion rate increase.15

Video Shopping Ads

Imagine showcasing your product catalog directly to users actively browsing content relevant to your niche. These visually appealing ads appear within user feeds or dedicated product carousels, as shown below. It allows seamless product discovery and direct purchases without users ever leaving the TikTok environment.

A special type of video shopping ads is LIVE Shopping Ads. Your brand can capitalize on the immediacy and engagement of live video by promoting your upcoming or ongoing LIVE Shopping events. These ads directly encourage users to tune in, interact with your brand in real-time, and make instant purchases of featured products.

Search Ads

Tap into the power of user intent with TikTok Search Ads. This format appears within search results when users actively type in keywords relevant to your products or niche, as seen on the screenshot below.

By aligning your ads with specific search queries, you connect with customers who are actively seeking solutions or products like yours, driving highly qualified traffic to your TikTok Shop.

Other Ad Types

• Top Ads: Positioned strategically at the top of the FYP for a fixed duration, Top Ads guarantee high visibility during peak user engagement times. This prime real estate offers an excellent opportunity to capture immediate attention and direct a significant volume of users to your TikTok Shop.

• Carousel Ads: Delivered seamlessly within the in-feed experience, Carousel Ads allow you to feature up to 35 product images that users can swipe through at their own pace. This format is particularly effective for showcasing a diverse range of products, highlighting different features, or telling a more comprehensive brand story, with the Video Shopping Ads (VSA) version enabling direct links to individual product pages within your TikTok Shop.

• Branded Hashtag Challenge Ads: While not directly focused on immediate sales, this encourages widespread UGC creation around a branded theme. By inspiring users to create and share videos featuring your hashtag, you significantly boost brand awareness and engagement. Strategically integrating calls-to-action to explore your TikTok Shop within the challenge description or through supplementary ad formats can indirectly drive sales and product discovery.

• Branded Effect Ads: Create memorable and shareable brand experiences with Branded Effects, such as custom stickers, filters, and special effects that TikTok users can incorporate into their own videos. This playful format fosters organic brand integration within user-generated content, increasing brand visibility and affinity, which can ultimately translate into increased interest and traffic to your TikTok Shop.

Successful paid advertising on TikTok Shop requires careful targeting, compelling creative content that resonates with the platform's audience, and continuous optimization based on performance data.

Integrating TikTok Shop with Your Existing E-commerce Ecosystem

A significant advantage for brands already operating on established e-commerce platforms is the seamless integration. For instance, Shopify provides integrations with TikTok Shop through their app store.16 Similar integration exists with platforms like WooCommerce and BigCommerce, which lowers the barrier of entry for many e-commerce businesses.

Integrating your TikTok Shop into your existing infrastructure can help optimize efficiency and provide a consistent customer experience. 

Brands offering an omnichannel experience see an 89% higher customer retention rate compared to those with fragmented systems.17 Therefore, a unified approach can lead to smoother flow from product discovery on TikTok to fulfillment and post-purchase support.

Order Fulfillment

As sales volume in your TikTok Shop grows, efficient fulfillment is critical for sustainable growth. Leveraging a comprehensive solution like Stord, particularly the One Commerce Order Management System (OMS), offers a significant advantage. This can act as your central hub, integrating with your TikTok Shop (depending on current API availability or through platform connectors) to streamline the entire fulfillment process.

The OMS orchestrates the complexities of order routing, picking, packing, and shipping through Stord's strategically located warehouse network, which enables faster and more cost-effective delivery to TikTok customers. Additionally, its infrastructure is designed for scalability. Your brand can seamlessly adapt to the unpredictable spikes in demand often seen with viral TikTok trends. This ensures consistent delivery speed and quality, even during peak periods.

Customer Service

Customers interacting with your brand through TikTok Shop expect the same level of service they receive on your primary e-commerce site. A unified customer service system allows your team to handle inquiries, address issues, and manage returns from all channels in a consistent and timely manner. This might involve integrating your TikTok Shop with your existing CRM or helpdesk software.

According to a Zendesk report, 69% of customers expect consistent service across all channels.18 This means a customer reaching out via TikTok direct message should receive the same level of support as one contacting you via email or your website's live chat.

Inventory Management

Selling on multiple platforms demands meticulous inventory management to prevent overselling and customer disappointment. Integrating your TikTok Shop with a robust Inventory Management System (IMS) provides real-time stock visibility for proactive adjustments.

Many sophisticated IMS solutions offer seamless integrations across various sales channels.

For instance, integrating with Stord’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) gives you a centralized and complete view of your inventory. You can track your stock from arrival to shipment for TikTok customers.

This WMS often includes features like cycle counting and demand forecasting, vital for optimizing stock levels amidst TikTok's trends. Using this solution with your primary e-commerce store and, directly or indirectly, with your TikTok Shop, you can have accurate TikTok Shop listings to prevent overselling and maximize customer satisfaction.

Marketing Analytics and Attribution

To understand the ROI of your TikTok Shop efforts, integrate its performance data with your broader marketing analytics. Robust tracking mechanisms allow you to attribute sales and customer acquisition to specific TikTok campaigns, content, and even creator collaborations. 

Utilizing TikTok Shop's native analytics alongside your existing marketing analytics platforms provides a complete view of your marketing performance and informs future strategy and budget allocation. The UTM parameters in links from your TikTok content and ads can help track conversions in platforms like Google Analytics.

Without unified analytics, you might underestimate the impact of a viral TikTok video that leads to a surge in sales on your main e-commerce site.

Measuring Success and Iterating

Vanity metrics like likes and views can be encouraging, but they don't always translate into tangible business outcomes. For sustainable growth, you need to focus on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that directly impact your bottom line and establish a culture of data-driven iteration on your TikTok Shop.

• Conversion Rate: Percentage of viewers who make a purchase after engaging with your content or visiting your shop. Track conversion rates from different traffic sources (organic videos, LIVE Shopping, paid ads) to understand what's most effective. For instance, you might find that LIVE Shopping events have a higher conversion rate compared to standard in-feed video ads.

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Understanding how much it costs you to acquire a new customer through TikTok Shop is vital for assessing the channel's profitability.

• Average Order Value (AOV): This metric reflects the average amount spent per order on your TikTok Shop. Strategies like product bundles, upselling during LIVE sessions, and offering free shipping above a certain threshold can help increase AOV.

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): While it might take time to gather significant data, tracking CLTV for customers acquired through TikTok Shop will reveal their long-term value to your brand. Customers acquired through authentic engagement and community building might exhibit a higher CLTV compared to those acquired solely through paid advertising.

• Repeat Purchase Rate: Percentage of customers who make more than one purchase from your TikTok Shop. A high repeat purchase rate signifies customer satisfaction and loyalty, often fueled by positive experiences and the community aspect of the platform. Repeat customers spend significantly more than new customers, often up to 300% more over their lifetime.19

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): For your paid advertising efforts, ROAS is a critical metric

  • Below 1:1: You are spending more on ads than the revenue you are generating directly from those ads. This is generally unsustainable in the long run unless you have very specific non-revenue goals (e.g., initial brand awareness push).

  • 2:1 ROAS: For every $1 spent on ads, you generate $2 in revenue. This might be a break-even point for some businesses after considering cost of goods and other expenses.

  • 3:1 ROAS: For every $1 spent on ads, you generate $3 in revenue. This is often considered a good starting point for profitability for many e-commerce businesses.

  • 4:1 ROAS or higher: This is generally considered a very healthy and profitable ROAS.

• Engagement Rate (Beyond Likes): While overall engagement is important for visibility, delve deeper into metrics like product link clicks, "add to cart" actions, and time spent viewing product showcases. These indicate a higher level of purchase intent.

• Website Traffic and Conversions from TikTok: If you're also driving traffic from TikTok to your main e-commerce website, track referral traffic and the conversion rates of those visitors to understand the broader impact of your TikTok presence.

Data Analysis and Continuous Improvement

Simply tracking KPIs isn't enough; the real value lies in analyzing the data and using those insights to continuously improve your TikTok Shop strategy.

Experiment with different content formats, calls-to-action, product placements, and even LIVE Shopping formats. Use A/B testing to determine what resonates most effectively with your audience and drives higher conversions. For example, test different opening hooks in your videos or different product showcase layouts.

TikTok's analytics provides valuable data about your audience demographics, interests, and the type of content they engage with. Use this information to refine your targeting for both organic and paid efforts and tailor your content to better suit their preferences.

If you're collaborating with creators, track the performance of their content in terms of views, engagement, and, most importantly, the sales they generate through affiliate links or dedicated promotions. This data will help you identify high-performing creators for future collaborations.

Stay attuned to new trends, sounds, and features. Analyze how successful brands are leveraging these changes and identify opportunities to adapt your strategy accordingly.

Pay close attention to comments, direct messages, and reviews on your TikTok Shop. This qualitative data can provide valuable insights into customer sentiment, product satisfaction, and areas where you can improve the customer experience.

Growth Opportunity on TikTok Shop

The brands that thrive on TikTok Shop are those that embrace its dynamic culture, speak its visual language, and build genuine connections with its community. They understand that entertainment value often paves the way for commercial success, and they use the power of content to build trust and drive purchase intent. They also recognize that TikTok Shop isn't an isolated venture but an integral part of a cohesive omnichannel strategy.

The opportunity presented by TikTok Shop is immense. It's a chance to tap into a massive and engaged audience, leverage innovative shopping features, and potentially achieve significant ROI. But like any new frontier, it requires a willingness to learn, experiment, and adapt.

Are you ready to build your brand within it?

ATLANTA, January 5, 2026— Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery and returns for today’s leading brands, announced today it has closed its acquisition of Shipwire, a subsidiary of CEVA Logistics on January 1st. This acquisition continues Stord’s expansion as one of the largest fulfillment networks in volume and reach by adding an additional 12 locations, stronger presence in the EU/UK, plus continued access to CEVA’s extensive global network of warehouses through Shipwire’s existing logistics agreements.

Shipwire’s technology division was also acquired, bringing additional expertise and capabilities to Stord’s existing order management system (OMS) with proprietary B2B integrations. Furthermore, Shipwire’s heavy efforts towards developing an AI-enabled platform, which is already connected to over 200+ e-commerce shopping carts, marketplaces, and ERP softwares, will also be implemented into Stord’s ecosystem. This supercharges Stord’s AI initiatives and builds upon Stord's previously announced investments into the space, with over 50 crucial hires across 2025 and early 2026.

Founded in 2006, Shipwire focused on unlocking professional-grade warehousing, global shipping, and fulfillment to smaller and rapidly growing e-commerce brands. Over the subsequent years, Shipwire expanded its technological competencies with full-service fulfillment and shipping solutions. These services have been widely adopted by brands shipping larger and bulkier products. Shipwire has also attracted leading brands across apparel, consumer electronics, consumer goods, food & beverage, and health & beauty. Shipwire’s strong performance and growth led to a  2011 acquisition by Ingram Micro, and later acquisition and integration into CEVA Logistics as part of the purchase of Ingram Micro’s Commerce and Lifecycle Services division in 2022.

“Joining forces with Stord is a decisive move that accelerates our logistics technology and intelligent supply chain vision,” said Marcelo Wesseler, CEO of Shipwire. “Our customers, technology, and proprietary AI applications, fit perfectly with Stord’s existing customer base and impressive suite of software offerings. I look forward to a bright future for both the Shipwire teams and customers under Stord’s stewardship.”

Through this acquisition, Stord customers will gain improved access to the CEVA Logistics global network, as CEVA manages more than 120M square feet of contract logistics warehouse space around the world. Newly acquired Shipwire customers will now enjoy accelerated AI software development timelines across existing OMS, WMS, EDD, and more, while also realizing Stord’s market-leading consumer experiences and parcel pricing. 

“By acquiring Shipwire, Stord is even better positioned to help brands of all sizes deliver unparalleled consumer experiences on every order, every time, anywhere in the world,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “This unification brings together two of the most accomplished technological companies in the fulfillment space, and will set Stord to be the dominant AI-leader as brands race to find and implement the technology they will need to stay competitive. I am elated to welcome both the teams and the customers to Stord, and look forward to accomplishing amazing things together.”

This acquisition follows the successful integrations of Fulfillment Works, ProPack, Pitney Bowes E-Commerce Fulfillment, and most recently Ware2Go from UPS into Stord’s network. These acquisitions continue to reinforce Stord as one of the most dominant fulfillment providers in overall volume and the leading developer of e-commerce technologies. These acquisitions are strategic, accretive expansions to Stord’s comprehensive approach to commerce enablement, which has cemented Stord as The Consumer Experience Company.

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of a record breaking Black Friday Cyber Monday performance with a 54% year-over-year increase on Black Friday and 51% increase in orders on Cyber Monday, all while reducing click-to-ship times by over an hour on every order. Stord also recently announced a massive multi-year investment in Kentucky, building out a new fulfillment center and hiring over 500 new employees.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

ATLANTA, December 18, 2025— Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery and returns for today’s leading brands, announced a partnership with the commonwealth of Kentucky and Governor Andy Beshear to invest over $40 million dollars and create over 500 jobs in Hebron, Kentucky. 

Over the next five to ten years Stord will invest over $40 million dollars which will be directed towards modernizing an existing warehouse with automations and installing Stord’s existing AI-capable technologies like proprietary Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Transportation Management System (TMS), and more. This capital will also support hiring and training over 500 employees. These roles will follow Stord’s existing “Growing at Stord” initiative, which prioritizes career development and internal mobility. In 2025, internal promotions at Stord were up 3X year-over-year from 2024.

In 2024, Stord acquired Pitney Bowes’ E-commerce Fulfillment business and the 520,000 square foot facility in Hebron. Stord’s acquisition ensured that over 300 employees were retained. Stord further expanded with an additional 300 contractors to support growth and reinvestment within Boone County. These individuals help drive huge results including a 105% year-over-year order growth during the Black Friday Cyber Monday period alone. Since the acquisition, the Hebron node has evolved into a cornerstone of Stord's worldwide fulfillment network. This center and local team has been instrumental in facilitating commerce for top brands and powering over $10 billion in annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) network-wide. 

In a time of shifting trade policies and increasing consumer demands, both online and physical retailers are actively looking for reliable partners. These partnerships must offer the resilience to meet shopper needs quickly, while also providing complete visibility and the benefit of economies of scale through operations in the United States, Canada, and globally. This shift for brands has driven significant new business, an expanding list of centers, and propelled Stord on a series of acquisitions. With these new market trends expanding Stord’s depth of service in Kentucky has become crucial to maintain this trajectory.

“Companies like Stord, Inc. are reinvesting across Kentucky, creating new jobs for our people and showing that our commonwealth is a place where businesses succeed and grow,” said Governor Andy Beshear. “Our economy is booming, and announcements like this are helping us continue to create a brighter future for all of our people. I want to thank Stord’s leaders for their belief in the commonwealth and congratulate them on this exciting next step in Boone County.”

The new building will add an additional 525,000 square feet of Class A warehouse with an additional 8,772 square feet of second floor space ready for optimization, with 49 dock doors. The facility will also include a comprehensive value-added services for brands including kit assembly and embroidery. The building is conveniently located near Stord’s existing center and easy access to Kentucky International Airport, I-275 and I-75/71.

“Stord is extremely honored and electrified to see our relationship with the people of Kentucky deepen in such a meaningful way,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “Over the past decade, Stord has been well positioned to adapt and grow through critical moments in the e-commerce space. This durability has allowed us to grow while others shrink. Being able to now use the mounting demand for our solutions in service of the commonwealth of Kentucky is a privilege. We have deeply enjoyed our existing operations in Hebron and cannot wait to see how this expansion progresses over the next decade and beyond.”

This investment follows a tremendous 2025 for Stord featuring a $200 million funding round, acquisitions of Penny Black and Ware2Go from UPS, the creation of a robust partnership network, 6 consecutive quarters of smashing growth projections, and increasing efforts towards AI technologies with 50+ new roles focused specifically on accelerating an ambitious roadmap in 2026. Stord’s commitment to Kentucky joins similar investments from brands like Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation’s electric battery plants, AESC’s gigafactory, Toyota’s expanding electric manufacturing operation, and many more. Stord is proud to be an active participant in the growing economy and people of Kentucky.

This projected growth means carriers are expected to handle more than 2.3 billion packages this holiday season. We’ve already seen evidence of the impact these high surges in volume have on delivery networks. In December 2024, FedEx’s on-time rate dropped to 91.8% from 98.3% the year before, UPS fell to 96.5% from 98.7%, and USPS fell to 90.4% from 96.5%  These significant drops in percentage points for delivery performance translate to delays, missed delivery promises, replacement orders, and refunds. According to our recent Mystery Shopping report, 85% of shoppers say they would never shop with a brand again after a poor delivery experience. This can mean tens of thousands of dollars in lost lifetime value from a single peak-season failure, not to mention the downstream impact on reviews, acquisition costs, and brand reputation.

But here at Stord, we’ve consistently delivered 99.9% on-time delivery performance even during peak. And this achievement isn’t a matter of luck; it’s the result of preparation, clarity, and responsiveness. Over the years, we’ve found that the most resilient and high-performing peak operations rest on a strong foundation built around people, processes, and planning discipline.

Here are the principles that consistently drive strong performance across high-volume networks:

1. Focus on People First

Peak is powered by the individuals on the floor. When teams feel supported and engaged, performance follows.

That support starts with creating energy, whether through incentives, raffles, or contests that make the season feel motivating rather than overwhelming. It also means making long shifts more manageable with meals and small, thoughtful touches that remind team members they’re valued. Clear, structured onboarding also helps new team members ramp quickly and confidently, while a consistently clean and safe environment reinforces that their well-being comes first.

Recognition matters too. Calling out strong performance regularly and publicly builds momentum, pride, and a sense of shared purpose during the busiest weeks of the year. And just as important is encouraging rest. Fatigue leads to poor decisions, so breaks need to be treated not as downtime but as essential to keeping quality high. Even the basics, restrooms and break spaces that are clean, stocked, and easy to access, have a meaningful impact on morale.

Finally, reducing friction at the start and end of each shift helps set the tone for the entire day. Evaluating parking flow, entry paths, and site access can ease stress before work even begins.

A people-focused operation is a resilient operation.

2. Set Up Outbound to Flow

Outbound readiness determines how smoothly peak volume moves through the network.. That begins with resetting and cleaning outbound bins well ahead of demand so teams aren’t scrambling when volume hits. Getting ahead on replenishment ensures that pickers aren’t forced into stop-and-start rhythms that drain speed and create unnecessary bottlenecks. Consolidating high-velocity SKUs where it reduces walk time helps keep the floor efficient during the busiest stretches, while aligning workstations and pick paths specifically for peak conditions gives teams the structure they need to move quickly and accurately.

In peak season, every second counts. Preparation on the front end reduces errors and increases speed on the back end.

3. Engage All Partners Early

Carriers, fulfillment teams, and external service providers are extensions of your brand’s operation. Strong peak performance depends on aligning with every partner in the chain. That alignment starts with sharing volume expectations and pickup cadence early, giving partners the clarity they need to staff and plan appropriately. It also means establishing clear escalation paths and communication protocols so that issues can be resolved quickly rather than ricocheting through the network. Ensuring partners understand the daily operating plan helps them anticipate pressure points instead of reacting to them, and including them in pre-peak briefings when appropriate builds a shared understanding of goals, constraints, and success metrics.

4. Communicate and Stay Transparent

Clear communication is one of the strongest levers in peak execution, especially when the pace accelerates and teams are expected to make fast, accurate decisions. During peak, uncertainty can create hesitation, and hesitation slows the entire network. But when teams understand not just what’s happening, but why, they move with confidence and purpose. That’s why effective communication has to be intentional, frequent, and rooted in transparency.

Teams perform better when they understand:

• What volume is coming — clear forecasts help team members anticipate the day’s workload rather than being surprised by sudden surges.

• Why swings occur — explaining the drivers behind spikes or lulls gives context that reduces confusion and frustration.

• What the business outlook is — even a brief view into broader business performance helps teams see how their work contributes to the company’s goals.

• Where risks exist — calling out bottlenecks, labor gaps, inbound delays, or system vulnerabilities prepares teams mentally and allows them to prioritize intelligently.

• How leadership is preparing — when employees see the plans, contingencies, and support being put in place, it reinforces that they’re not facing peak alone.

Transparency builds trust, and trust accelerates decision-making during high-pressure moments.

5. Expect Variation and Plan Around It

Forecasts are essential, but they are rarely perfect during peak periods. It’s important to expect daily variation and update plans frequently as new data emerges. Labor, replenishment, and outbound plans should be adjusted using the most current forecast while progress is tracked throughout the day so teams can act quickly when performance falls behind plan. As volume rises, increasing the frequency of check-and-adjust cycles becomes critical, since higher volume demands tighter control loops.

Ultimately, the best operations are not the ones with perfect forecasts, but the ones that adapt quickly when those forecasts change.

6. Plan for Contingencies

It is not uncommon for something to inevitably go wrong during peak. But the true differentiator is not whether issues occur but how quickly teams can recover. To enable rapid recovery, it’s essential to identify single points of failure in advance and create backup plans for labor, equipment, carriers, and system dependencies. Leaders should be empowered to make swift decisions. Short, focused daily standups should be used to surface issues early. 

Preparedness builds confidence, and that confidence enables fast, effective recovery.

7. Capture Lessons Learned

Peak is a cycle. The observations and opportunities from this season become the preparation pillars for the next.

Documenting issues and successes in real time allows teams to capture root causes while details are still fresh. Recurring gaps should be converted into training, standards, or process changes, and a simple peak playbook should be built and refined each year. Input from all teams involved ensures a comprehensive view of what worked and what needs improvement.

A disciplined lessons-learned process strengthens your brand’s fulfillment network year after year.

Scaling Through The Peak

Peak exposes gaps, highlights strengths, and creates momentum for improvement that lasts far beyond the season. When teams understand the plan and see leadership invested in their success, brands can turn volatility into confidence and complexity into capability.

When organizations embrace peak as a continuous loop – plan, execute, learn, improve – they transform a period of intense pressure into a strategic accelerator. Forecasting becomes sharper. Recovery becomes faster. Collaboration becomes stronger. And the entire network becomes more capable with every season.

In the end, peak is not just a challenge to withstand; it is an opportunity to scale. Brands that build a strong foundation around their people, their practice, and purpose will become better equipped for the growth ahead.

First of all, thank you to Stord for hosting me at your Fall 2025 Stord Summit and for the opportunity to share the philosophy and out-of-the-box actions we took to build The Honest Company.

Before I co-founded The Honest Company, I was deep in the trenches of the non-profit world, running an organization called Healthy Child Healthy World. My roots are in environmental science, and my life’s work has been obsessed with the integrity of what goes in, on, and around our bodies.

In the world of advocacy, we had the science, we had the data, and we had all the content. But we weren't always moving the needle. I realized a fundamental truth that changed my entire professional trajectory. The key to achieving real influence and driving change is not the data itself. It’s not about content, it’s about context.

How do you tell that essential, often scary, story? Who is the trusted messenger? How is it emotionally delivered? That's the definition of Brand with a big 'B.' It means we weren't just focused on a logo or a cheesy slogan, but on building the fabric of emotion (the conscious and compassionate connection) that you wrap around your product.

For instance, I strongly promote communicating your story in your company’s “About Us” page. That page should be so rich and so deep that it should move you. Telling your story is an intentional connection and the foundational act of building trust. When people know your story and relate to it, that’s when business happens. As you connect to more and more people, you start moving the market.

Building Radical Connection

We knew that establishing context over content and connecting with customers required us to be relentlessly relational from day one. This became our strategy for growth.

My co-founders and I built the company to solve the confusion and fear articulated by Jessica Alba, "What do I need to buy?" We realized the market didn't just need better products but a trustworthy source. This is why we launched with 17 products, aiming to be a comprehensive portfolio of trust right out of the gate.

But the products alone weren't enough. We needed to embed human connection into our core principles. As a co-founder and Chief Product Officer, I did something unconventional to solidify this bond. I personally committed to taking 30 to 50 customer calls per week.

This intense focus was on the most critical segment, which are the passionate 2-3% of our customers. This group includes both the highly aggravated customers (the "fires") and the ecstatic early adopters (the "ignite" element). This was essential because the feedback from this small, powerful base provided the fastest, most effective mechanism for correcting flaws, fueling product innovation, and amplifying our authentic mission to the wider market.

As we grew, my availability became limited, but I always maintained a rotation:

• Five Happy Customers: To celebrate, amplify our story, and understand what was working.

• Five Unhappy/Churned Customers: To learn exactly where we failed. You must talk to the people who just cancelled.

• Five New Customers: To hear their "why" for choosing us and build immediate rapport.

If you’re a founder or an executive and you’re not talking to customers, you’re missing the point. You are in the people business first. This connection is the persistent act of listening that validates the customer and builds that unshakeable connection. We made them feel seen and part of the family.

Empowering Customers to Outsource Their Trust

The personal phone calls and the creation of our portfolio were the very mechanisms by which we built connections that allowed us to earn customer trust.

Our deep listening gave the customer a voice and positioned us to be the resource they could trust. Parents didn't want to be "weekend toxicologists." They needed to be empowered and feel safe to outsource their trust. By creating a trustworthy product suite, we committed to being the knowledgeable standard bearer so that the customer could focus on their family, not the ingredient labels.

Hearing them, understanding them, and solving for their deepest pain points are what earned us a seat at their kitchen table.

Education-First: A Safe Space to Learn and Trust

We didn't just sell safe products but we also built a movement through education. We leveraged powerful human emotions as a catalyst, starting with moms, who are a great force on the planet.

Why moms? Because they are an incredible voice box and amplification mechanism. They can tell the story and showcase the integrity of the science and standards. My job is to teach moms so they could validate and accelerate our mission.

We also cast a shadow on the incumbents, like when we pointed out that major baby shampoo brands contained known carcinogens. We were provoking and prodding them, but we were also shining a light on a positive solution. That it's possible to do better.

Crucially, we spoke to our customers like they were taking a collegiate-level course. I didn't water down the science. I taught them about parts per billion and why that amount (equivalent to a drop of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool) still matters in toxicology.

This level of transparency and respect creates the deepest possible connection and validates total trust. If your brand doesn't have a science-based mission, find the deepest possible truth in your purpose, whether it’s craftsmanship, sourcing, or ethics, and teach that. When you share the rich science behind your standards or the truth in your purpose, your customers become powerful advocates, helping you achieve our mission to change the market.

Focus on the Mission, Not the Competition

We weren't built to worry about who our competitors were. We were built on a mission to connect and collaborate. Our victory wasn't just sales but watching massive incumbents like Pampers and Huggies create internal SWAT teams dedicated solely to copying us. They were forced to change their standards because of the standard we set.

The biggest unlock for our growth was getting the customer's permissibility to expand into new categories. People trusted us with their baby wipes, so they granted us the right to enter beauty and infant feeding. Trust is the key to brand extension.

As a founder, while doing all the connection and trust-building with customers, it’s also important to recognize the team. Remember the wisdom of my father: Be team-focused. Your team is grinding hard, and they need to be seen and honored. Build that internal kinetic energy, because a brand's mission is only as strong as the people driving it.

When you ensure your team is valued and consistently pursue that deep, consistent relationship with your customers, you create a loyal community. This connection built and trust earned is a relationship for life.

Trust is Your Most Important Asset

At the end of the day, connection is what generates trust, and trust is the currency that drives successful mission-driven commerce.

Trust is not given. It is earned over time and consistency. People are naturally drawn to those who are obsessed and passionate, even borderline fanatics, because they are seen as someone who is caring so deeply about something. This level of unrelenting commitment piques curiosity and, more importantly, grants you their trust. When people trust you, they don't just buy your product—they become advocates, fight for your brand, and grant you the permission to extend into new categories.

Take the connection and trust to heart, and value your team for lasting impact. Don't be afraid to lead with your conscience, to show the gritty, imperfect truth, and to acknowledge that you are also always learning. When you consistently honor that human connection where you make everyone feel seen, heard, and respected, you can achieve the goal of transforming the marketplace for the better, one loyal, trusting customer at a time.

ATLANTA, November 19, 2025 – Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless checkout through delivery and returns for today's leading brands, has been named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and energy tech companies in North America, now in its 31st year. This marks the third time Stord has been recognized on the prestigious list.

Stord's 425% revenue growth from 2021 to 2024 reflects a transformation in how e-commerce brands approach their operations. As consumer expectations continue to rise and competition intensifies, brands are moving away from piecing together disparate third-party logistics providers, carriers, and software systems. Instead, they're embracing integrated platforms that unify technology with physical fulfillment to deliver the speed, reliability, and transparency customers now demand.

The recognition underscores Stord's position as a technology leader in the e-commerce industry. While traditional fulfillment providers treat software as an afterthought, Stord has built proprietary technology from the ground up, including order management systems, warehouse management systems, and intelligent routing algorithms, that give brands real-time visibility and control across their entire supply chain.

"Being named to the Technology Fast 500 for the third time confirms that consumer experiences power commerce growth," said Sean Henry, CEO and Co-founder of Stord. "The brands winning in e-commerce today understand that to grow they need to provide every customer with exemplary experiences across the entire pre-purchase through post-delivery journey. And the only way to effectively achieve that at scale is through a true integration of commerce enablement technology and physical fulfillment.  When these work cohesively, brands are able to boost loyalty and grow regardless of market disruptions. That's the future of e-commerce, and the adoption of this approach by our customers is driving our consistent momentum."

Stord's proprietary technology stack provides brands with end-to-end orchestration from the moment a customer clicks 'buy' through final delivery and returns. This unified approach enables brands to increase cart conversion through accurate delivery promises, reduce shipping costs through intelligent carrier selection, and improve customer lifetime value through reliable execution, all within a single integrated platform.

"We're honored by this recognition," said Jacob Boudreau, CTO and Co-founder of Stord. "This growth reflects the work our team has put into building technology that solves the problems brands face every day. The vertical integration of operator-built software with physical logistics capabilities delivers the kind of real-time orchestration and intelligent decision-making that brands need to out-compete at scale and delight consumers."

Hundreds of leading DTC and B2B companies have adopted Stord's commerce enablement platform to gain the operational capabilities and technological sophistication previously available only to retail giants, while maintaining the flexibility and speed required for growth.

ATLANTA, November 3, 2025 – Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery and returns for today's leading brands, today released its 2025 Mystery Shopping Report: "Are U.S. E-Commerce Brands Delivering on Consumer Expectations?" The comprehensive study evaluated over 250 e-commerce transactions across leading brands in Nutrition & Supplements, Apparel & Accessories, Beauty & Personal Care, and Food & Beverage, revealing a critical disconnect between what consumers expect and what brands actually deliver in the full-cycle purchase experience.

As e-commerce sales approach $1.6 trillion in the U.S., brands have invested heavily in digital storefronts and customer acquisition. Yet Stord’s research reveals that operational foundations have not kept pace. Operational gaps translate directly into lost sales and eroded customer trust.

"Most brands have invested heavily in their product and their marketing, but are not meeting critically important consumer expectations on every order," said Sean Henry, CEO and Co-founder of Stord. "Our research shows that a scalable consumer delivery experience is now the biggest barrier to growth in e-commerce. For brands to see success in a saturated environment, they must be able to create a holistic experience that starts with the marketing and flows all the way through to the product arrival at their front door. Failing to do so risks customer loyalty and lost market share."

The study examined the end-to-end customer journey across pre-purchase, delivery, unboxing, and returns and compared them to an internal survey panel of over 1,000 U.S.-based online shoppers. The findings reveal that brands are losing customers and revenue at every stage:

• Cart Recovery: 93% of brands don't send abandoned cart reminders. For a brand generating 1,000 monthly orders with a $50 average order value, recovering just 5% of typical abandoned carts could generate $13,000 in incremental monthly revenue.

• Delivery Reliability: Only 34% of brands delivered as promised, 14% missed commitments by an average of 7 days, and 40% made no delivery promise at all.

• Communication: Only 12% of brands send order updates via SMS, despite 56% of consumers preferring text notifications. 6% fail to provide real-time tracking.

• Product Integrity: 12% of products arrived damaged, with consumers stating this would prevent them from shopping with the brand again.

• Returns: 12% had no returns policy, 26% left terms vague, and 10% imposed restocking fees, creating friction that discourages trial.

Stord helps brands close these consumer expectation gaps through an integrated platform that combines fulfillment services with commerce enablement technology. By positioning inventory closer to customers through a global fulfillment network and purpose-built technologies, brands can reduce delivery times and costs while maintaining the visibility and control needed to meet consumer expectations consistently.

The full 2025 Mystery Shopping Report is available for download at stord.com/reports/mystery-shopping-2025. 

Apparel is one of the most sought-after products in e-commerce. From niche streetwear drops to subscription -based basics and luxury Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands, apparel represents one of the most competitive online retail categories. Yet, while the apparel itself drives instant customer acquisition, its fulfillment determines whether buyers stick around for the long-term.

Unlike categories with stable demand year-round, apparel logistics must handle extreme volatility. Apparel demand can be impacted bflash sales, seasonal spikes, viral influencer campaigns, and high return rates. Meeting these challenges requires more than simply shipping boxes, but also a deliberate fulfillment strategy that balances speed, cost efficiency, compliance, and brand control.

For a brand to succeed, you must learn about apparel brand fulfillment best practices, including custom packaging options with third-party logistic (3PL) providers, the impact of DTC packaging compliance regulations, and practical frameworks for scaling from in-house operations to sophisticated third-party fulfillment partnerships.

What Are the Challenges of Apparel Fulfillment

Apparel fulfillment has its own set of challenges, such as:

1. High Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) Counts and Variability

Apparel brands often manage hundreds or thousands of SKUs across sizes, colors, and styles. Seasonal and limited-edition drops add complexity to forecasting and inventory allocation.

2. High Return Rates

Average return rates in apparel is at 30%, with some reports as high as 50%1. It’s not always about the size because about 13% return the items due to receiving damaged goods and 16% due to mismatch in online descriptions or images1. Due to this, reverse logistics becomes as important as forward fulfillment.

3. Volatile Demand

Viral TikTok campaigns or influencer partnerships can cause inventory spikes overnight. Brands must be able to flex warehouse labor and capacity without losing service levels.

4. Customer Expectations

Apparel shoppers expect fast, reliable delivery, and even with free returns included. Brand presentation during unboxing is increasingly viewed as part of the overall product experience.

What Are the Apparel Fulfillment Best Practices

Optimize Inventory Placement

Apparel brands serving customers nationally can’t rely on a single fulfillment center. Long shipping zones increase transit times and costs, risking abandoned carts.

Best Practices:

• Multi-node fulfillment: Place inventory across multiple regions (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) to reduce time-in-transit.

• Demand-based allocation: Use historical order data and forecasting to distribute SKUs strategically across nodes.

• Safety stock buffers: Account for higher-than-expected order surges during launches or holiday sales.

Action Tip: Use a Warehouse Management System (WMS) that enables real-time inventory visibility across nodes, allowing automated order routing from the closest warehouse.

Build a Returns-First Strategy

Returns are not just inevitable in apparel, but are a core part of the customer journey. Mishandling them breaks trust and retention.

Best Practices:

• Clear categorization: Route unworn and resaleable items back into inventory quickly while identifying damaged or non-resaleable goods for donation or liquidation.

• Self-service returns portal: Simplify the return experience for customers while reducing manual support overhead.

• Returns data analysis: Identify patterns (e.g., recurring size issues with specific SKUs) and feed insights back into product development and merchandising.

Action Tip: Track return reasons at the SKU level and use insights to adjust product descriptions, sizing charts, or photography to reduce future return rates.

Leverage Custom Packaging Options with 3PLs

Packaging is often an overlooked growth lever. For apparel brands, unboxing is the first physical interaction customers have with the brand. Custom packaging options with 3PL providers can reinforce brand identity while managing logistics costs.

Best Practices:

• Branded mailers or boxes: Incorporate logos, colors, and messaging to create a memorable unboxing experience.

• Eco-friendly solutions: Many apparel customers value sustainability. Recyclable or compostable packaging can build loyalty.

• Right-sizing packaging: Optimize dimensions to reduce shipping costs while protecting garments.

Action Tip: Balance brand experience with operational simplicity. Too many packaging variations can slow down packout and increase error rates. Work with a 3PL that supports both branding and efficiency.

Stay Ahead of DTC Packaging Compliance Regulations

Apparel shipments must comply with both domestic and international DTC packaging compliance regulations. Oversights can cause delays, fines, or even denied entry into certain markets.

Best Practices:

• Labeling: Apparel packaging must include accurate product details, size, fiber content, and country of origin (per FTC guidelines in the U.S.).

• Sustainability regulations: Certain markets (e.g., the EU) enforce strict rules around recyclable or reduced-plastic packaging.

• Retailer-specific compliance: Brands selling wholesale in addition to DTC must also meet packaging and labeling standards for retail partners.

Action Tip: Audit packaging annually for compliance across all sales channels. Ensure your 3PL can adapt to evolving requirements—especially if you sell internationally.

Design Fulfillment for Subscriptions and Drops

Apparel brands increasingly rely on recurring revenue through subscription boxes or limited-edition drops. Both create unique fulfillment pressures.

Best Practices:

• Subscription kits: Build flexible kitting processes to assemble curated boxes at scale.

• Drop readiness: Pre-label and stage inventory before launches to handle sudden spikes in orders.

• Surge staffing models: Ensure your fulfillment partner can quickly scale labor during flash campaigns.

Action Tip: Run “mock drops” or stress tests with your fulfillment provider to ensure systems and staffing can handle sudden volume surges without sacrificing accuracy.

Automate Order Routing and Carrier Selection

Apparel orders vary in size and weight, from lightweight T-shirts to heavy winter coats. Manual carrier selection adds unnecessary cost and delay.

Best Practices:

• Dynamic routing: Automate carrier selection based on cost, speed, and delivery promise.

• Multi-carrier strategy: Avoid reliance on a single carrier to mitigate regional delays or surcharges.

• Real-time tracking: Provide customers with proactive updates to reduce “where is my order?” inquiries.

Action Tip: Choose a fulfillment platform that integrates with major carriers and automatically optimizes routes, balancing cost and speed on every order.

Quick Apparel Fulfillment Checklist

To help you evaluate your apparel fulfillment strategies, use the decision-making framework below:

Inventory Management

1. Are SKUs distributed across multiple nodes for speed and cost savings?

2. Does your WMS provide lot-level or batch tracking for product recalls if needed?

Returns

1. Do you have a clear process for resaleable vs. non-resaleable returns?

2. Is returns data informing product design or merchandising decisions?

Packaging

1. Are you leveraging custom packaging options with your 3PL while balancing cost and efficiency?

2. Is your packaging compliant with DTC packaging compliance regulations in all markets served?

Customer Experience

1. Do you provide accurate delivery promises and proactive tracking updates?

2. Are subscription boxes or product drops supported with scalable kitting and surge staffing?

Scalability

1. Can your current fulfillment strategy flex during peak seasons or viral demand spikes?

2. Do you have contingency plans for carrier delays or disruptions?

Future Trends in Apparel Brand Fulfillment

The next wave of apparel fulfillment will be defined by flexibility and sustainability. Emerging trends include:

• On-demand micro-fulfillment centers near urban hubs to enable same-day or next-day delivery.

• AI-driven demand forecasting to predict SKU-level demand across regions and prevent stockouts.

• Circular logistics models where returned apparel is refurbished, resold, or recycled more efficiently.

• Eco-compliant packaging that aligns with stricter sustainability regulations and consumer expectations.

Winning Customers with Flexible Apparel Fulfillment

Scaling apparel fulfillment successfully requires a careful balance of speed, cost control, compliance, and customer experience. From custom packaging options with 3PL providers to ensuring DTC packaging compliance regulations are met, every logistics decision impacts customer loyalty and long-term growth.

Apparel brands that invest in fulfillment best practices today will be better positioned to handle tomorrow’s demand surges, regulatory shifts, and competitive pressures.

To learn how Stord can support your apparel brand fulfillment best practices needs, talk to a fulfillment strategist today.

Automation has become the buzzword of every logistics and e-commerce conversation. From robotics to AI-powered sortation, automation promises speed, precision, and scalability. But it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Simply introducing technology does not guarantee value. In fact, when done at the wrong time or under the wrong conditions, it can slow you down and cost more than it saves. Industry reports indicate that as much as 73% of automation projects fail to deliver because they automate broken processes instead of fixing them first.1

So, what does it take to reach the gains that automation promises?

1. Understand Your Process

Before you invest in equipment, invest in understanding how your process actually works. Automation magnifies both efficiency and inefficiency.

A process ready for automation should be:

• Repeatable: The steps must follow a clear, documented flow with minimal variation in inputs or sequences. If operators are constantly improvising, the machine will fail to execute its programmed task correctly.

• Predictable: Volume and flow must have a quantifiable range and predictable peaks. Automation only realizes its ROI when running at consistent, high-volume capacity; if your process is subject to erratic, untracked swings, you'll be left subsidizing expensive idle time.

• Robust: The system must consistently deliver expected outcomes, even when facing common variables. This is where software and physical process meet. For example, to achieve an internal target like near-perfect inventory accuracy, your inputs (label quality, item placement, and scanning protocol) must be robust enough to prevent data errors before the product ever hits the conveyor.

Your inputs matter as much as your flow: label quality, training, and packaging uniformity. Even small inconsistencies can compound into major downtime.

2. Understand Your Business

Automation pays for itself only when volume and consistency reach critical mass. Every system has a breakeven threshold. Below it, you are subsidizing idle capacity. Above it, you are compounding efficiency.

Example: If a sorter costs $2 million and saves $2 per package in labor once throughput exceeds 40,000 parcels a day, running it at 20,000 units per day doubles your payback time. Or worse, it never pays back at all.

Readiness looks different across segments:

• 3PLs automate to scale across diverse client profiles.

• Retailers automate to standardize the unique customer experience, especially as 71% of customers expect personalized experiences and seamless journeys, and 76% get frustrated when that didn’t happen.2 

• B2B operations emphasize precision and predictability.

• B2C operations prioritize flexibility and speed.

Knowing which game you are playing shapes the ROI equation.

3. Understand Your Investment

Money is the easy part. The harder investment is time. Time to ramp, train, and stabilize. Operators who have spent years on manual push systems need to learn to pull work through automation.

Even with good equipment, initial productivity typically starts significantly below design throughput and ramps up as teams learn and stabilize. This initial stabilization period is a necessary operational reality that must be factored into the ROI timeline.

Then come the hidden investments:

• Preventive maintenance programs: Required to identify component wear and prevent catastrophic failures that result in costly, unscheduled downtime.

• Spare parts inventory: You must hold critical components on-site to reduce repair time from days to hours, protecting against supply chain delays for specialized equipment.

• Process consolidation: The commitment to permanently retiring manual processes and aligning all facility activity around the new automated flow to maximize utilization.

Automation is not plug and play. It is a discipline.

4. Start Small, Build Smart

Don’t plan to go big immediately. Analyze your processes, volumes, and investment triggers critically. There may be smaller or sub-processes that can deliver meaningful gains.

Instead of a full-scale overhaul, focus on simple, scalable wins that target high-repetition tasks and eliminate manual error:

• Pallet wrapping: Automating this repetitive, injury-prone task standardizes stability and reduces labor.

• Labeling: Automated print-and-apply systems ensure label quality, position, and legibility, which are essential inputs for downstream sortation and shipping.

• Auto bagging: A solution to speed up packaging for high-volume, small-item DTC orders, addressing the pressure for fulfillment speed.

• Case packing: Automating the packaging of uniform items into master cartons to improve throughput consistency for B2B or retail shipments.

These targeted automations can then be integrated into the broader flow through basic conveyance, building the foundation for larger automation in the future.

Another natural entry point: Sortation. Directing parcels or inventory to outbound destinations is high volume, high repetition, and low variation. This makes it the ideal use case for automation without the complexity of automating the entire receipt-to-ship process in one leap.

Emerging technologies like collaborative robotics, AI-driven optimization, and cloud-based automation control systems are shifting the model from big bang investments to incremental, data-driven evolution. The best operators are learning that automation no longer has to be all or nothing. It can evolve with the business.

5. Implementation Realities: What Happens After the Switch Is Flipped

Even the best-designed automation plans meet their biggest challenges after go-live. Integration, vendor alignment, and change management often determine whether ROI is achieved or missed.

As mentioned previously, more than 70% of automation efforts fail. This isn't due to poor technology, but because of weak readiness and execution. Integration, process design, and training drive the real results.

To measure success, focus on KPIs beyond labor cost:

• Error rate reduction (%)

• Throughput variance by hour/day

• Uptime vs. downtime ratio

• Flexibility score (handling mix shifts)

• Payback period (in months or years)

6. System Integration

One automation installation that I encountered ran as a standalone unit with minimal connection to the Warehouse Management System. This created barriers to adoption and barriers to performance tracking.

Configuration had to be done at a local terminal outside the Warehouse Management System. This led to misalignment between the broader floor operation and the automated equipment.

Origin scans and reject data from the two systems were different. That difference complicated troubleshooting and complicated metric review.

The lesson was clear. Integration is as important as machine function. Build for one source of control and one source of data. Provide easy access to configuration and to performance analytics.

7. Vendor Partnership

Choosing the right integrator can determine whether an automation project succeeds or struggles. For complex or high-spend initiatives, the largest names in the industry are not always the best fit.

When evaluating partners, consider how important your project is to their business and whether their backlog will delay your timeline.

In a prior role, we selected a regional integrator over a national firm for three key reasons:

1. They could meet our compressed installation timeline.

2. Our project and the promise of future work represented meaningful business to them, aligning incentives for shared success.

3. Our internal team needed hands-on post-installation support given our limited experience operating and maintaining automated equipment.

That decision proved invaluable. The project had its challenges, but it received priority attention from the integrator's leadership down to the team on the floor. Major escalations were handled directly by the CEO and his leadership team. At one point, spare parts were flown in by private jet to minimize downtime. That level of responsiveness would have been unlikely with a large national provider.

Sometimes the right partner is not the biggest one, but the one most invested in your success.

8. Change Management

One of the most challenging automation projects I encountered had nothing to do with the equipment itself. The real failure was in how we managed the change within the warehouse.

The new automated system required orientation, spacing, and proper package placement, which is a pull process that demanded a shift in behavior from a workforce used to push systems (dump and go). Our failure to prepare the team for that change created inconsistency, leading to frequent downtime and high reject rates.

In hindsight, I would have engaged the workforce much earlier, before installation even began. Design walkthroughs, discussions about how pull systems differ from push systems, capturing employee concerns, and building standard operating procedures with clear training certifications would have built ownership from day one.

Automation succeeds or fails as much in hearts and minds as it does in hardware.

9. The Taste Test

I’m a strong proponent of automation, but at the right time and for the right processes. Half-baked automation delivers exactly what you would expect: a poor tasting investment.

When done right, automation compounds value across your operation. It improves predictability, consistency, and customer experience. When done wrong, it locks in inefficiency at scale. The difference lies in readiness, not ambition.

The question is not “Should we automate?” but “Are we ready to automate?”

Partnering for Automation and Optimization

As I begin my next chapter at Stord, I’m excited to focus on innovation that earns its keep. This includes automation and technology investments that create measurable and scalable value for our customers and teams. My new role is specifically designed to solve the very issues I’ve described here, such as readiness and the gap that plagues most automation initiatives.

The difference between a broken investment and a real advantage lies in timing and connection. By partnering with Stord, you gain a unified approach that ensures your automation drives network-level efficiency.

So, what's your automation readiness score? Share your own implementation experiences with us and let’s learn from each other!

When it comes to direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, the packaging is the first physical impression. It bridges the digital promise of your brand with the real, tactile customer experience. Yet, many brands overlook how packaging impacts conversions, retention, and profitability.

Customers judge a product before they even open it. They consider whether it arrived intact, how difficult it was to unbox, and if the packaging reflects your brand’s values (like sustainability). A poor experience here can quietly kill repeat purchases, even if your product is outstanding.

This begs the question: how to know if your packaging is costing you conversions?

How Packaging Impacts Conversions

1. Customer Experience and Unboxing

A branded, intuitive unboxing experience builds excitement. Clunky, oversized, or generic packaging signals a lack of care, and customers notice. Unboxing is particularly powerful in categories like beauty or subscription boxes, where the packaging becomes part of the product itself.

2. Shipping Costs and Pricing Perception

Inefficient packaging drives up dimensional weight (DIM weight) charges, inflating shipping costs. Brands that absorb these costs may lose margin; brands that pass them to customers risk higher cart abandonment.

3. Product Protection and Returns

Damaged products due to flimsy packaging are a silent conversion killer. Each damaged delivery erodes trust, increases return costs, and discourages future purchases.

4. Brand Alignment

Consumers increasingly buy from brands that reflect their values. Packaging that's misaligned, like using excess plastic for a "sustainable" brand, creates dissonance and can harm retention.

Signs Your Packaging Is Costing You Conversions

How do you know if packaging is holding your brand back? Look for these red flags:

• High Cart Abandonment at Checkout: If shipping fees are driving customers away, your packaging dimensions may be inflating carrier costs.

• Customer Complaints About Waste: Comments like “too much plastic” or “oversized box” in reviews or customer service tickets point to packaging dissatisfaction.

• Rising Return Rates for Damages: Frequent reports of crushed, leaking, or broken items highlight inadequate packaging protection.

• Flat Repeat Purchase Rates: Even without direct complaints, poor packaging can erode the excitement that drives repeat purchases.

• Negative Social Sentiment: Customers share unboxing experiences online. If your packaging never appears, or appears only as criticism, you’re missing a valuable organic marketing channel.

When to Introduce Custom Packaging

Many brands hesitate to invest in branded or specialized packaging, fearing added cost. But knowing when to introduce custom packaging is critical to balancing customer experience with operational efficiency.

Stage 1: Early Growth (0–1,000 orders/month)

Focus on functional, protective, and cost-efficient packaging. Branded inserts or stickers can add personality without complexity.

Stage 2: Scaling (1,000–10,000 orders/month)

Transition to branded boxes, mailers, or sustainable options. This is often when packaging starts to influence repeat purchase rates and social sharing.

Stage 3: Mature DTC Operations (10,000+ orders/month)

Invest in advanced custom packaging, such as tiered designs, subscription-specific packaging, or influencer-ready unboxing experiences. Partner with 3PLs that can manage kitting and bundling alongside custom packaging workflows.

As a rule of thumb, introduce custom packaging when your brand identity and order volume justify the investment. You’ll know this once you can measure the ROI through increased repeat purchases or reduced shipping inefficiencies.

Eco-Friendly Packaging Fulfillment as a Growing Differentiator

Sustainability is no longer optional. Customers expect eco-conscious packaging, and failure to deliver can hurt conversions.

Why Eco-Friendly Packaging Matters

• Customer loyalty: Gen Z and Millennials especially prefer brands with sustainable practices.

• Regulatory shifts: Packaging regulations in the EU, Canada, and certain U.S. states are tightening.

• Cost efficiency: Right-sized, lightweight, recyclable packaging often reduces DIM weight charges.

Options for Eco-Friendly Fulfillment

• Recyclable or compostable mailers in place of poly bags.

• Biodegradable void fill instead of plastic bubble wrap.

• Right-sizing tech to reduce wasted space.

A 3PL experienced in eco-friendly packaging fulfillment can help balance sustainability with cost and scalability, ensuring compliance while supporting brand values.

How to Evaluate Your Packaging’s Impact on Conversions

To determine if packaging is costing you sales, follow this evaluation framework:

Step 1: Collect Data

Start by gathering hard numbers. Track your damaged order rates to see how often products are arriving in poor condition. You should also measure average cart abandonment rates and cross-reference them with high shipping fees to see if inflated costs are driving customers away. Finally, monitor your repeat purchase rates to see if customers are coming back, as a poor unboxing experience can silently hurt retention.

Step 2: Gather Customer Feedback

Next, listen to your customers. Review support tickets specifically for complaints about packaging, like items being broken or the box being too big. Survey your customers to ask directly about their unboxing satisfaction, and keep an eye on your social media channels for unboxing mentions (both good and bad) to gauge public sentiment.

Step 3: Calculate Shipping Efficiency

Look at the financial side of things. Audit your carrier invoices to find out if you're being hit with high dimensional weight (DIM) charges. It's also smart to compare your packaging costs against your product value to ensure you're not overspending on a basic box.

Step 4: Benchmark Against Competitors

See what your rivals are doing. Take a close look at how competitors in your category present their packaging. Are they creating buzz with an unboxing experience? If they are, and you're not, you might be missing out on valuable organic marketing and customer excitement.

Step 5: Test Packaging Alternatives

The final step is to experiment. Run A/B tests with different packaging formats to see what works best. Then, compare their performance by looking at your conversion rates, customer reviews, and repeat purchase rates to see which option delivers the best results.

Common Packaging Pitfalls for DTC Brands

Even with the best intentions, it's easy for DTC brands to make mistakes with their packaging. These seemingly small errors can have a big impact on your bottom line and your brand's reputation. Here are some of the most common packaging pitfalls to watch out for.

• Oversized Packaging: Too much empty space not only wastes materials but also drives up DIM weight costs.

• Inconsistent Branding: Mixing packaging types or failing to deliver a consistent unboxing experience undermines brand perception.

• Excessive Complexity: Highly customized packaging that slows fulfillment or increases error rates can backfire.

• Ignoring Returns Packaging: Customers expect easy returns. Packaging that isn't resealable or return-friendly creates friction and damages trust.

Case Scenarios: How Smart Packaging Drives Business Results

Beauty Brand Facing Flat Retention

A beauty subscription company noticed stagnant repeat purchase rates. Surveys revealed customers viewed the packaging as “cheap” compared to competitors. By introducing branded, eco-friendly boxes with inserts, retention rose 12% in three months.

Supplement Brand with High Shipping Costs

A supplement startup was paying inflated DIM weight charges due to oversized packaging. Switching to right-sized, recyclable mailers reduced per-order shipping costs by 18% and lowered cart abandonment tied to shipping fees.

Beverage Brand with Damaged Returns

A functional beverage company struggled with dented cans and leaking bottles. By upgrading to reinforced eco-friendly cardboard dividers, damages dropped by 40%, cutting returns and improving customer satisfaction.

The Future of Packaging in DTC Fulfillment

Packaging is evolving from a cost center to a competitive advantage. Leading DTC brands are leveraging:

• Personalized packaging experiences (dynamic inserts, tiered branding).

• Tech-driven right-sizing solutions that optimize costs and sustainability.

• Eco-conscious designs that align with customer values and regulations.

• Integrated 3PL workflows that ensure custom and sustainable packaging scale smoothly.

In this landscape, packaging directly influences not only conversion but also long-term loyalty and brand equity.

Why Strategic Packaging Is Key to DTC Growth

Knowing how to know if your packaging is costing you conversions requires digging into customer feedback, shipping data, and repeat purchase trends. By identifying the right moment for when to introduce custom packaging and prioritizing eco-friendly packaging fulfillment, DTC brands can leverage packaging to scale the business.

Discover how Stord can optimize your packaging and lower costs. Contact our  fulfillment strategist now.

The average consumer’s willingness to wait for orders decreased from 2.36 days in 2022 to 2.15 days in 2023, with variations depending on the product category. Health, pharmaceutical, alcohol, and financial products have shorter expected delivery times, ranging from 1.59 to 1.73 days. Meanwhile, online shoppers are slightly more patient with categories like automotive and fashion, where wait times can stretch up to 2.5 days.1 This shift in expectations is further supported by a McKinsey survey2 showing that across categories, nearly 90% of consumers are willing to wait a maximum of 3 days for delivery. Patience drops exponentially beyond that point, with longer wait times often leading to customer dissatisfaction and lost sales.

To keep pace, many brands are distributing inventory across multiple locations to stay closer to demand and maintain delivery speed even during peak periods. Proactive communication can also help offset a less than ideal delivery experience. Over 90% of consumers are willing to wait longer for an order to arrive so long as it has been clearly communicated.3 Messages like “Need it by [date]? Order before [date].” is a great way to shape expectations around delivery, preserve trust, and maintain a positive customer experience. That said, proactive communication should be partnered with a reliable, distributed fulfillment in order to reduce the strain of peak season demand.

While a single-node setup is a practical approach in the early stages as it allows for tighter control over operations, inventory, and costs, it becomes less effective as demand scales and peaks. Once order volume increases and customers spread out geographically, relying on one fulfillment center can impact your bottom line.

For example, take a fast-growing brand that continues to fulfill every BFCM order from a single facility on the East Coast. As orders start pouring in from California, Washington, and Texas, each parcel still leaves from the same location, regardless of the final destination. When customers on the West Coast start experiencing higher shipping costs and order delays, frustration builds and complaints start rolling in.

At this point, the weaknesses of a single-node model become harder to ignore. Longer shipping distances lead to slower deliveries. In an attempt to maintain delivery promises, brands may turn to air or expedited ground services. But that speed comes at a steep cost. Absorbing those costs can squeeze margins, especially when shipping costs alone typically eat up 10-15% of a brand’s total revenue.4 On the other hand, passing those costs on to the consumer risks backlash over high shipping fees.

At the same time, the end of the de minimis threshold has amplified the need for brands to switch to domestic multinode fulfillment. By repositioning inventory into the U.S., brands can mitigate the risks brought by sudden trade policy changes. However, brands that operate using a centralized or single-node infrastructure for order fulfillment may find it increasingly difficult to meet these rising customer expectations and realize the advantages of switching to domestic fulfillment.

For brands determined to remain competitive, it may be time to move toward a multinode fulfillment strategy that can support seasonal peaks and long-term growth.

What is Multinode Fulfillment?

Multinode fulfillment refers to a distribution network where businesses store inventory and fulfill orders using multiple strategically located facilities or ‘nodes’ that bring products closer to end consumers. It’s the same principle that powers the logistics behind retail giants. They leverage their vast network of fulfillment centers and 3PLs to enable two-day or even same-day shipping across much of the U.S.

At the heart of this strategy is the concept of shipping zones, a major factor that impacts both cost and delivery speed. Shipping zones are geographic regions defined by carriers like UPS, FedEx, and USPS based on the distance between the origin (your warehouse or fulfillment center) and the destination (your customer). While the general principle is similar, each carrier may have slightly different zone definitions and calculations based on their own network and infrastructure. Generally, the farther a package has to travel, the higher the shipping zone and the more it costs to ship.

For example, an order shipped from New York to New Jersey may fall into Zone 2, while that same package shipped to California could be Zone 8.5

While domestic zone structures are distanced-based, international zones depend on the country-to-country relationship. For instance, sending a package from the U.S. to Europe may follow a different zone model than sending one to Asia, even if the distance travelled is similar. International zone mapping is influenced by tariffs, customs, and trade regulations of the origin and destination countries.

Once a package arrives in the destination country, however, it will go through the same logic of local shipping zones to determine the additional shipping costs for the final mile of delivery.

So whether shipping domestically or internationally, reducing shipping zones remains one of the most effective ways to optimize your fulfillment network for both cost and speed, and multinode fulfillment is how you make that happen.

Considerations for Going Multinode

Not every business needs a multinode fulfillment strategy. While the model offers distinct advantages in speed and scalability, it also introduces new layers of logistical complexity and cost. The decision to adopt a multinode fulfillment strategy hinges on several key considerations:

Order Volume and Growth

Order volume is often the first indicator that it may be time to shift to a mul tinode fulfillment strategy. Brands fulfilling over 1,000 orders per month,6 especially with consistent month-over-month growth, should begin assessing whether a distributed fulfillment model could enhance performance and reduce costs.

Moreover, there’s also a need to take into account order predictability. Multinode fulfillment relies on demand forecasting and order history to accurately place inventory across nodes. Brands need strong, trackable SKU-level data to identify which products should be stored where.

If historical order patterns show consistent regional demand, such as a high volume of specific SKUs shipping repeatedly to the West Coast, that’s a sign that splitting inventory across locations could reduce shipping time and cost. In addition, if your brand is seeing consistent, predictable demand for international customers, leveraging a multinode approach can help minimize the cost volatility of international trade. Sending products in bulk to local warehouses overseas can help reduce tariffs, duties, and international shipping fees compared to fulfilling individual direct-to-consumer (DTC) cross-border shipments.

On the other hand, brands with sporadic or unpredictable order volumes may find multinode strategies premature. Without reliable historical data or trends to guide decisions on how and where to place inventory, brands risk overstocking or facing stockouts in certain regions, both of which can quickly undermine any operational advantage.

Customer Size and Spread

Increasing order volume, especially from new regions, typically signals that your customer base is expanding. Keeping track of the origin of each order can reveal clear regional patterns. Once a consistent concentration of orders begins to emerge from a particular area of the country, it may be time to consider placing the right inventory in that region. Doing so allows you to serve a growing segment of your customer base more efficiently.

By adding a fulfillment node nearer to a significant cluster of end consumers, the brand can shorten delivery windows, reduce parcel costs, and strengthen its competitive position in that market, all while alleviating pressure on the original facility.

Understanding where your customers are and how their geographic distribution shifts over time is key to knowing when a single-node model is no longer sufficient.

Service Level Commitments

Delivery promises, like guaranteed two-day or next-day delivery, are often what push brands toward a multinode strategy. This becomes especially critical in categories where fast delivery is a key differentiator—think commodity products in saturated markets with minimal variation between competitors. When everyone is selling similar products of the same quality and price point, delivery speed becomes a great deciding factor.

A distributed network allows brands to position inventory closer to high-demand zones, reducing transit time and expanding the ability to aggressively meet delivery promises without relying on costly express or air freight services.

This is exactly the kind of advantage enabled by fulfillment providers like Stord, whose distributed fulfillment network offers 99.5% U.S. coverage in under two days. With strategically located facilities and partners across the country, Stord helps brands expand premium service level reach without building out infrastructure on their own.

This kind of capability is especially valuable for fast-scaling brands that need flexibility and speed, less the overhead and operational complexity of managing multiple warehouses and fulfillment centers directly.

Moreover, a multinode fulfillment strategy adds a layer of resilience. Disruptions such as power outages, extreme weather events, warehouse shutdowns, or worker illness can cripple operations in a single-node model. With multiple fulfillment centers, brands can reroute orders and maintain service levels even during unexpected interruptions.

Product Characteristics

The type of product being sold heavily influences the viability of a multinode approach. Apart from the distance between the order’s origin and destination, the shipping rate will also depend on the order's weight and dimensions. Shipping large, heavy, or bulky items across long distances significantly increases parcel costs.

Here’s an illustrative comparison for a large, bulky package weighing 60lbs with dimensional weight applied, shipping from ZIP 10001 (NYC) to various zones using UPS’ 3 Day Select7:

All figures pulled from stated UPS rates. These can be significantly reduced through Stord Parcel.

That same item, when shipped from a fulfillment center in the Midwest or on the West Coast instead of the East Coast, may only need to travel to Zone 4 instead of Zone 8. In this case, adding a new node made it possible to cut parcel costs by more than half. These savings scale quickly when applied across hundreds or thousands of orders per month.

If your product catalog includes these types of items, and you’re seeing consistent regional demand, adding just one additional fulfillment node can deliver substantial savings for your brand and lead to better end consumer experiences by minimizing both transit time and per-unit shipping cost.

However, brands that offer highly customizable or made-to-order items may find multinode fulfillment more challenging. These products often require specialized handling, longer lead times, or centralized production, which makes distributing inventory across multiple nodes inefficient or operationally risky. In such cases, a centralized model may still be the best fit until production and fulfillment can be standardized.

Infrastructure and Operational Costs

The cost of going multinode is significant, and brands need to evaluate it holistically. This includes not only the costs of storage, labor, and shipping, but also systems integration, inventory management software, and coordination across facilities. The operational overhead of managing multiple warehouses each with its own receiving, picking, packing, and shipping processes should not be underestimated.

However, costs can often be offset by efficiencies. Shorter delivery times, reduced parcel costs, and improved customer satisfaction can drive stronger business outcomes over time. Faster fulfillment can lead to fewer cart abandonments8 and better customer retention.

Ideally, total shipping costs should stay below 15% of your brand’s average order value (AOV).9 Anything more than that puts pressure on your margins. A good benchmark to monitor is when shipping costs begin to eat up almost 10% of your brand’s total revenue, it may be time to seriously consider a shift to a multinode fulfillment model.

Partnering with a reliable fulfillment provider like Stord can also ease the financial and operational burden of going multinode. Rather than building your own physical infrastructure or exploring the complexity of managing multiple 3PL relationships, brands can leverage Stord’s integrated network and platform to centralize visibility, automate fulfillment workflows, and streamline inventory distribution. This allows brands to scale their logistics operations without proportionally scaling overhead or system complexity, making multinode execution more accessible and cost-efficient from day one.

Scaling Smart with Multinode Fulfillment

For the right brands, at the right stage, multinode fulfillment opens the door to faster delivery, stronger regional coverage, better service level performance, and more scalable and sustainable growth.

Understanding when to make the shift, and when not to make the shift, is just as crucial as the strategy itself. The decision should be driven by data and involve careful planning and operational readiness.

A well-timed move to multinode can transform fulfillment into a competitive advantage. The brands that succeed will be the ones that scale their logistics with intention, precision, and a clear focus on the consumer experience.

For many direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, the U.S. market provides a large and competitive playing field. But growth plateaus, increased competition, and customer acquisition costs often push brands to look beyond domestic borders. Expanding internationally can unlock new audiences, diversify revenue streams, and strengthen brand equity.

Yet the leap is not without risk. International shipping adds complexity in logistics, compliance, and customer experience. Moving too early drains resources; waiting too long risks missed opportunities. So the question is: when to start shipping internationally?

Fulfillment Models for International Expansion

The logistics of global growth can be broken into three models:

1. Cross-Border Shipping from a Domestic Warehouse

• Best for: Testing demand in new markets with minimal upfront investment.

• Pros: Simple, no need to pre-position inventory.

• Cons: Long delivery times (5-15 days), higher shipping costs, and higher cart abandonment rates.

2. Regional Warehousing Through a 3PL

• Best for: Brands with consistent demand in a specific region.

• Pros: Faster delivery, lower per-order shipping costs, and local returns processing.

• Cons: Requires forecasting accuracy and local compliance setup.

3. Hybrid Model

• Best for: Brands scaling into multiple regions with uneven demand.

• Pros: Combines the flexibility of cross-border with the speed of local fulfillment.

• Cons: Requires advanced inventory management across nodes.

The Right Timing for International Shipping

Expanding into international markets can be a powerful growth driver, but success depends on timing and preparation. Not every brand is ready to go global, and knowing when to make the leap is just as important as how you execute it.

Here are the signals that suggest your brand may be at the right stage:

1. Consistent Domestic Growth

If you’ve proven product-market fit in your home market, built a loyal customer base, and established reliable fulfillment operations, you’re in a stronger position to expand. Without a stable domestic foundation, international challenges will only magnify.

2. Organic International Demand

A clear indicator is demand already showing up at your digital doorstep: high traffic from outside your home country, abandoned carts with international addresses, or customers asking if you ship abroad. A healthy benchmark is when 10-15% of visitors come from international markets or when requests for global shipping are frequent.

3. Established Market Fit

A brand is ready for international expansion when it understands not only where demand exists, but also how local market conditions may affect performance. This includes knowing whether your product category resonates in a given region, accounting for cultural nuances, and identifying how local competitors may shape customer expectations.

4. Margins That Can Absorb Added Costs

International expansion introduces higher fulfillment costs—shipping, duties, returns. Brands need to model landed costs by region and confirm their margins can sustain the higher costs without eroding profitability. If your domestic margins are already thin, expanding globally may create more risk than reward.

5. Operational Capacity and Infrastructure

A strong signal of readiness is having the operational capacity to deliver a seamless international customer experience. This means working with partners that have true global reach, ensuring your OMS/WMS can manage multi-currency, multi-carrier, and multi-node complexity, and providing accurate delivery timelines at checkout. It also means having a clear fulfillment strategy, whether that’s starting with cross-border shipping, investing in local fulfillment, or both.

6. Returns Management

International returns are one of the most complex aspects of global commerce. Being ready means having a clear process for who bears the cost of returns, whether they will be centralized domestically or managed regionally, and how resaleable versus non-resaleable items will be handled.

How to Prepare for International Duties and Tariffs

One of the biggest challenges in international shipping is navigating duties and tariffs. These costs, imposed by governments, can vary by country, product category, and shipment value. Mishandling them can lead to surprise charges for customers, customs delays, or even rejected shipments. Here are key steps to help your brand prepare:

1. Understand HS Codes Every product must be classified under a Harmonized System (HS) code.1 This determines the duty rate. Misclassification can cause delays or fines.

2. Decide Between DDU vs. DDP

   • Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU): The customer pays duties and taxes upon delivery. But it can create a poor customer experience if these fees are unexpected.2

   • Delivered Duty Paid (DDP): The brand covers duties upfront, creating a seamless checkout experience. Preferred for customer satisfaction but requires accurate cost modeling.3

3. Forecast Landed Costs Calculate the full landed cost for international orders: product + shipping + duties + tariffs + handling fees. Transparency prevents sticker shock.

4. Plan for Tariff Volatility Trade policies shift quickly. Build flexibility by diversifying fulfillment locations and monitoring tariff changes in key markets.

Pro Tip: Build a “duty calculator” into your checkout flow so customers see a fully landed price before purchase.

Action Steps for DTC Leaders

Once the timing is right to expand internationally, execution becomes the make-or-break factor. Here are steps to building a resilient, scalable fulfillment strategy while avoiding the most common pitfalls that trip up global growth:

1. Select the Right Entry Strategy

Evaluate whether to start lean with cross-border shipping, accelerate delivery with regional warehousing, or balance both with hybrid models. Emerging micro-fulfillment hubs4 can also provide flexibility and speed without heavy capital commitments.

2. Build Compliance Foundations Early

Customs documentation, HS codes, and clarity on DDP vs. DDU terms must be embedded into operations. Compliance readiness prevents costly delays and protects the customer experience.

3. Present Localized Total Costs

Go beyond simple product pricing by factoring in duties, tariffs, shipping, and last-mile fees. Present the true total cost upfront clearly shown in the local currency, with applicable taxes and preferred payment options to create a seamless experience that feels native to each market. Transparent, fully landed pricing reduces cart abandonment and builds trust.

4. Establish a Returns Framework

International returns are often the first major operational challenge. Provide localized drop-off options and in-market processing to help reduce costs while preserving customer loyalty. When returns are treated as an afterthought, the result is a weak process that erodes both trust and margins.

5. Pilot Before Scaling

Test your fulfillment, compliance, and returns processes in one priority market before rolling out to others. A measured pilot ensures systems are stress-tested and scalable. Expanding into too many markets all at once spreads resources thin. Focus on one or two high-demand, manageable trade environments first.

Real-World Case Scenarios

Apparel Brand Testing Canadian Market

A U.S.-based apparel brand saw 15% of web traffic from Canada. They began with cross-border shipping from their New Jersey warehouse. After confirming consistent demand, they partnered with a Canadian 3PL to cut delivery times from 7 days to 2 days, reducing cart abandonment.

Supplement Brand Scaling Subscriptions to the EU

A supplement brand with a growing subscription base tested EU demand through cross-border shipping. But long delivery times caused churn. Transitioning to regional fulfillment in Germany enabled 2-3 day delivery and improved customer retention by 18%.

Beverage Brand Managing Cold Chain in Asia

A functional beverage brand tested demand in Singapore through cross-border air freight but faced spoilage risk. They shifted to local cold chain warehousing, which allowed them to maintain product quality and protect margins.

Final Thoughts

Deciding when to start shipping internationally is one of the most strategic calls a DTC brand can make. The right timing depends on demand signals, margin readiness, and operational capacity. Preparing early for international duties and tariffs and designing scalable fulfillment for international expansion ensures you enter new markets with confidence.

Want to learn how Stord can support your brand for international shipments? Talk to one of our experts today.

• Wardrobing - Purchasing items for temporary use, then returning them as new.

• Item Swapping - Returning a cheaper or counterfeit item in place of the original.

• Empty Box Returns - Claiming an empty package was received.

• False Damage Claims - Intentionally damaging items to justify a return.

• Friendly Fraud - Disputing legitimate charges with a bank to claim that a purchase was never made.

All these methods exploit numerous vulnerabilities, including those in returns tracking and verification. The financial consequences can be significant. For every dollar of fraudulent return, retailers lose an average of $3.752. This amount accounts for the cost of the product, shipping, and labor.

However, brands face a complex challenge, which is balancing fraud prevention with the need to provide a seamless, customer-friendly returns experience. End-consumers expect fast resolutions and convenient return options, making it difficult to implement stringent fraud measures without negatively impacting customer satisfaction.

A September 2024 survey found that 60% of U.S. retail professionals say charging customers for returns has resulted in an increase in adoption of their free return methods,3 if those options exist. Moreover, 76% of consumers consider free returns when deciding whether to shop with a brand4. This data highlights the pressure on retailers to offer appealing free return options. However, offering free returns can increase the likelihood of fraudulent return attempts, as customers may feel less financial risk when returning items. Therefore, offering a comprehensive returns service while minimizing fraud requires a strategic approach.

Challenges of Returns Processing and How Brands Can Handle Them

Returns processes often rely on basic tracking methods, such as standard shipping labels and basic barcode scans. While these methods provide initial visibility, they can present vulnerabilities if not coupled with rigorous downstream verification.

In some standard e-commerce operations, this lack of detail leaves room for manipulation. For example, a fraudster could purchase a high-value electronic item and then return a box filled with cheap filler material using the basic return label. Your system would register the return as “in transit,” and if you are handling a high volume of returns, the empty box might not be immediately flagged. By the time the package is assessed, the fraudster hopes to have already initiated a refund and moved on. This is why, within Stord’s system, the use of basic labels is always followed by a comprehensive assessment and cataloging process before any refund is issued or inventory adjustments are made.

However, it's important to acknowledge that for brands relying solely on basic labels without thorough verification, the risks are significant. Given the rise of sophisticated fraud, basic methods when used in isolation, are simply not enough.

E-commerce brands also face a complex decision regarding returns management, each with its own set of challenges:

1. External Returns Providers

These are providers who focus solely on managing returns. While these providers handle the physical returns process, their use can increase costs, lengthen timelines, and create data complexity. Records are now isolated in a separate platform and a brand will incur additional shipping costs moving returns back and forth between returns providers, fulfillment centers, and other locations.

This option can often force brands to issue refunds before inventory is thoroughly checked. It can significantly increase the risk of fraud. Alternatively, it can lead to lengthy returns processes, which can frustrate customers and damage brand reputation.

2. In-House Returns Management 

Managing returns in-house provides complete control over product verification to minimize fraud. However, it increases headcount and adds complexity to limited warehouse or returns locations, resulting in higher operational costs and potentially longer processing times.

3. Integrated Fulfillment Provider

Partnering with a competent fulfillment provider reduces extra transportation fees by returning products directly to those fulfilling new orders. If the provider has robust systems and processes, they can efficiently verify and restock inventory, often leveraging existing damaged goods management solutions.

This option requires a reliable provider and seamless returns integration within the Order Management System (OMS) for complete visibility.

Rigorous Tracking and Verification for Returns Fraud Detection

Many effective returns processes rely on a combination of careful receiving procedures and robust inventory management. At Stord, the use of basic carrier tracking is followed by a detailed assessment of each returned item upon arrival at our fulfillment center.

A dedicated returns team meticulously scans and assesses each item to determine its status. This information is automatically added to the OMS to give brands SKU-level visibility into their total inventory status. Returned items are tracked, and any anomalous behavior is flagged to facilitate investigations of suspicious repeat returns. This process, powered by Stord Returns and our dedicated team, protects brands from returns fraud through the rigorous tracking and rapid verification of a product before issuing a refund.

Stord's system also utilizes data analysis within the OMS to identify recurring return patterns that may suggest fraudulent activity. These patterns can trigger alerts to prompt further investigation into potentially suspicious returns.

Protect Your Bottom Line Against Returns Fraud

Returns fraud remains a persistent challenge for e-commerce brands, but its financial impact can be managed. By strategically partnering with providers who implement robust returns strategies and investing in reliable returns management tools, your business can significantly offset the risks, minimize financial losses, and, ultimately, secure your bottom line.

Subscription commerce has exploded across categories like beauty, supplements, apparel, and beverages. Whether it’s a monthly curated box or a replenishment program for everyday essentials, this fulfillment model has offered brands predictable revenue streams and a powerful way to build customer loyalty.

But these benefits are heavily dependent on flawless fulfillment capabilities. Unlike one-off direct-to-consumer (DTC) orders, subscription fulfillment requires handling complex kitting, managing seasonal variations, and meeting recurring timelines with precision.

For brands looking to scale, this raises two critical questions: Which subscription fulfillment model best fits my business? How can I ensure my operations are ready to support subscriptions at scale?

The Complexity Behind Subscription Fulfillment

At first glance, subscription fulfillment may look like standard e-commerce logistics. But the reality is far more complex:

Predictable but Rigid Cadence

Subscriptions are time-bound. Boxes must ship weekly, monthly, or quarterly without fail, and even small delays can erode customer trust.

Complex Kitting and Bundling

Unlike single-SKU orders, subscription boxes often include curated assortments. This means custom assembly, variable inventory pulls, and frequent packaging updates, all of which add operational complexity.

Inventory Planning Challenges

While overall demand is recurring and predictable, customer churn, upgrades, and add-ons can introduce volatility. Even a modest 5% forecasting error can translate into hundreds of missed shipments or overstocked items, leading to hundreds of unhappy subscribers.

High Customer Expectations

Unboxing is the “moment of truth.” Customers expect consistency, presentation, and occasional delight whether that’s in the form of samples, surprise gifts, or exclusive packaging. Subscription fulfillment, therefore, isn’t simply about efficiency; it’s about delivering a brand experience at scale.

Subscription Box Fulfillment Options

Choosing a subscription fulfillment model demands strategic choices rather than a single standard solution. DTC brands often face three main pathways, each with its own set of trade-offs in cost, control, and scalability:

1. In-House Fulfillment

Many early-stage subscription brands start with packing boxes from a garage, small warehouse, or leased space. In-house works for brands shipping a few hundred to a few thousand boxes monthly.

Pros:

• Total control over branding and quality.

• Ability to experiment with kitting and packaging.

• No reliance on external partners.

Cons:

• Labor-intensive, with limited scalability.

• High fixed overhead for space, staff, and equipment.

• Risk of bottlenecks during peak cycles (e.g., holidays or product drops).

2. Outsourced Fulfillment with a 3PL

A specialized third-party logistics (3PL) provider can handle the entire subscription process, from receiving inventory, kitting, and bundling to packing and shipping. For brands scaling to thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers, outsourcing is often the most sustainable option.

Pros:

• Scales seamlessly with order growth.

• Reduces fixed costs by converting them into variable costs.

• Advanced systems provide visibility into inventory, orders, and customer data.

• Expertise in kitting and bundling 3PL services ensures efficient assembly and quality control.

Cons:

• Less direct oversight day-to-day.

• Requires careful partner selection to align on brand standards.

3. Hybrid Fulfillment

Some brands keep part of their subscription process in-house while outsourcing other functions. For example, they might manage kitting internally but rely on a 3PL for final shipping. Hybrid fulfillment is a good option if you are still experimenting with outsourcing and are not yet ready to fully hand over operations to an external provider.

Pros:

• Maintains some brand control.

• Reduces shipping costs by leveraging 3PL carrier networks.

• Flexible transition stage before full outsourcing.

Cons:

• Split responsibilities can lead to handoff delays.

• Requires strong coordination and data integration.

Kitting and Bundling 3PL Services

One of the most unique elements of subscription fulfillment is kitting and bundling. It’s the process of assembling multiple SKUs into a single package.

Why Kitting Matters

• Efficiency: Reduces pick-and-pack errors and speeds up fulfillment.

• Consistency: Ensures every box meets brand standards.

• Customization: Supports different subscriber tiers, regional variations, or special promotions.

How 3PLs Support Kitting and Bundling

• Automated workflows: Pre-kitted boxes reduce last-minute errors.

• Flexible assembly lines: Adapt to frequent changes in product assortments.

• Integrated WMS/OMS systems: Ensure inventory is allocated correctly across kitted SKUs.

• Quality checks: Dedicated processes to prevent missing or incorrect items.

For subscription brands, 3PLs with robust kitting capabilities are essential partners not just for operational efficiency but also for customer satisfaction.

Is Your Brand Ready for Subscription-Based Fulfillment?

This is a question every DTC leader eventually faces. Evaluating readiness involves looking at three critical signals:

1. Volume Thresholds

The size of your subscription program often dictates the most efficient fulfillment approach. For brands shipping under 1,000 boxes per month, in-house fulfillment may be sufficient. Once volumes reach 1,000 to 5,000 boxes monthly, a hybrid model or early engagement with a 3PL can help manage complexity. For subscription programs exceeding 5,000 boxes per month, dedicated subscription-based fulfillment through an external provider is typically the most scalable and cost-effective solution.

2. Operational Pain Points

Consider whether recurring kitting cycles are overwhelming your staff, if shipping delays are causing subscriber churn, or if returns and replacements are getting complex and too time-consuming. If any of these challenges are present, it may indicate that outsourcing fulfillment is the right move to maintain service quality and reduce operational stress.

3. Strategic Priorities

Subscription fulfillment at scale isn’t just about logistics; it’s about freeing bandwidth to focus on your brand’s growth. Ask whether your team would be better spending time on marketing, product development, and customer retention rather than managing warehouse staff. If fulfillment is distracting from high-impact initiatives, scaling through a specialized partner can help align operations with broader strategic goals.

Action Steps: How to Scale with Subscription Fulfillment

1. Audit Your Current Fulfillment Pain Points

Identify where errors, delays, or costs are most visible. Consider your in-house overhead (e.g., rent, labor, packaging, and shipping) and compare it to projected 3PL costs. Remember, 3PLs can often reduce per-order shipping expenses through multi-node fulfillment.

2. Analyze Subscriber Growth 

Examine your growth trends: are volumes predictable, or are they accelerating quickly? Assess whether your current setup can handle doubling or tripling subscribers, and ensure you have contingency plans for spikes in demand.

3. Evaluate Partner Capabilities

Consider how important hands-on control is for packaging, kitting, and the overall brand experience. Determine whether clear SOPs and thorough partner training can replicate the level of control you require. Review potential partners for their expertise in bundling, kitting, branded packaging, personalization, and technology integrations to ensure a seamless, customer-focused fulfillment process.

4. Assess Technology Readiness

Ensure your systems provide real-time inventory visibility and automated order management, as small forecasting errors in subscription programs can quickly disrupt entire boxes, not just individual orders. Confirm that your tech stack integrates seamlessly with a 3PL platform to prevent operational disruptions and maintain consistent fulfillment as your subscriber base scales.

5. Design an Efficient Returns Process

Anticipate the unique return challenges of subscription boxes, such as partial returns or damaged items. Establish clear return policies and implement efficient reverse logistics processes to minimize disruption, protect margins, and maintain a positive customer experience.

6. Pilot Before Full Migration

Test your approach with a single subscription tier to validate processes, identify gaps, and fine-tune workflows before expanding to your full subscriber base. Waiting too long to outsource can harm the customer experience, as brands that cling to in-house fulfillment often face missed deadlines or declining quality by the time they make the switch.

7. Future-proof Your Subscription Fulfillment Operations

Subscription commerce will only grow more competitive. After achieving stable subscription fulfillment operations, your brand must continue to innovate. Integrate personalization at scale using 3PL technology to assemble tailored boxes efficiently. Explore sustainable packaging alternatives that balance a memorable unboxing experience with eco-conscious solutions. And utilize data-driven forecasting by integrating marketing, sales, and fulfillment systems for tighter inventory planning.

Case Scenarios: Subscription-Based Fulfillment in Action

Beauty Brand Scaling Rapidly

A skincare brand started with in-house fulfillment but hit 7,000 monthly boxes within a year. Overtime costs surged, and errors increased. Partnering with a 3PL offering kitting and bundling services allowed them to maintain presentation quality while scaling to 15,000 subscribers.

Beverage Brand with Seasonal Peaks

A functional beverage company offered quarterly subscription packs. Demand spiked each summer, overwhelming their warehouse. Moving to a hybrid model by keeping product storage in-house but outsourcing seasonal assembly smoothed out operations without overcommitting to year-round overhead.

Apparel Brand with Tiered Subscriptions

An apparel startup offered multiple subscription tiers: basics, premium, and seasonal drops. Managing the complexity of different assortments became impossible in-house. Outsourcing to a 3PL specializing in kitting streamlined fulfillment and reduced errors.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right subscription box fulfillment option is one of the most critical decisions for scaling DTC brands. Understanding whether your brand is ready for subscription fulfillment requires analyzing your volumes, pain points, and growth goals. For many, outsourcing to a reliable fulfillment provider with strong kitting and bundling services becomes the key to scaling sustainably while protecting the customer experience.

Want to learn how Stord can streamline and scale your brand’s subscription box fulfillment model? Talk to one of our experts today.

Every direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand begins with do-it-yourself (DIY) fulfillment. Founders pack boxes in basements, family members run shipping labels, and a single leased warehouse hums with just enough efficiency to keep up with early growth.

But as brands scale, whether through viral campaigns, subscription models, or wholesale expansion, the logistics equation changes. What once felt manageable starts to strain. Orders pile up. Labor costs creep higher. Inventory errors compound. Eventually, fulfillment shifts from being a tactical chore to a strategic growth constraint.

At this point, leaders start asking, “Have we outgrown in-house fulfillment? Should we switch to a third-party logistics (3PL)?”

The answer lies in recognizing the unmistakable signs that your brand has hit a key inflection point.

The True Cost of In-House Fulfillment

Running your own warehouse comes with benefits, such as total brand control, full visibility, and flexibility. However, these benefits are offset by hidden costs, including:

• Fixed overhead: Rent, utilities, equipment, insurance, and salaries persist whether orders are high or low.

• Labor inefficiency: Scaling staff up and down with demand spikes is costly and often unreliable.

• Technology gaps: Building and maintaining robust WMS, OMS, and carrier integrations requires capital and expertise.

• Opportunity cost: Time spent managing pick-pack-ship operations is time not spent on marketing, product development, or customer experience.

These costs often remain invisible until the brand scales. Then suddenly, fulfillment is no longer a differentiator but a distraction.

7 Signs Your DTC Brand Has Outgrown In-House Fulfillment

As your business grows, your in-house fulfillment operation may start to feel less like a competitive advantage and more like a constraint. Manual processes that once worked now lead to costly errors and delays. The time you spend managing logistics is time you can't spend on marketing, product development, or customer experience.

Here are seven signs that you've hit a point where you may need to consider outsourcing your fulfillment.

1. Order Volumes Are Outpacing Your Capacity

If your fulfillment team is constantly running at full tilt, or if overtime and temp labor have become the norm just to keep up, you’ve likely hit the ceiling of your in-house capacity.

Watch out for the following:

• You’re regularly shipping more than 1,000–2,000 orders per month from a single facility.

• Order backlogs are pushing delivery promises beyond customer expectations.

• Inventory space is maxed out. Racks, aisles, and even office space are overflowing with product.

A 3PL can provide scalable space and staffing that flexes with your demand, eliminating the need to constantly expand your own facilities.

2. Shipping Costs Are Eroding Margins

Carrier rates and zone-based pricing are unforgiving. If all your orders originate from one location, customers on the opposite coast, or in another country, drive up costs and transit times.

Watch out for the following:

• Your average cost per package is rising despite steady order sizes.

• You’re eating the cost of “free shipping” offers more frequently.

• Delivery times for major customer clusters are slipping past 3–5 days.

Outsourcing fulfillment with a multi-node 3PL strategy can cut both shipping costs and delivery times by placing inventory closer to end customers.

3. Inventory Accuracy Is Declining

Mis-picks, stockouts, and overselling on marketplaces are symptoms of inadequate inventory systems. Manual processes might work in the early days, but at scale, they introduce costly errors.

Watch out for the following:

• More than 2–3% of orders include errors or require reshipments.

• Inventory counts at month-end don’t reconcile with sales channels.

• You’re running frequent emergency replenishments to correct forecasting mistakes.

A 3PL with integrated WMS/OMS systems ensures real-time inventory visibility across SKUs, sales channels, and fulfillment nodes.

4. Returns Have Become Overwhelming

Returns are especially heavy in categories like apparel and beauty, where sizing and preferences drive higher return rates. Managing reverse logistics in-house can overwhelm a small team and eat into warehouse efficiency.

Watch out for the following:

• Returns are sitting unprocessed for weeks, tying up working capital.

• Customer complaints about slow refunds are increasing.

• Your team spends more time on returns than outbound fulfillment.

3PLs can streamline reverse logistics by integrating return portals, automating inspections, and reshelving or disposing of inventory faster.

5. Seasonal Spikes Break Your Operations

Many DTC brands thrive on peak moments: Black Friday, product drops, influencer campaigns. But these spikes can overwhelm in-house fulfillment, leading to errors, delays, and unhappy customers.

Watch out for the following:

• Hiring and training seasonal staff every year is a fire drill.

• Facilities run out of space during product launches.

• Carrier pickups are maxed out during promotions.

3PLs already staff, train, and design operations for surge handling, allowing you to capitalize on growth moments without breaking your operation.

6. Your Leadership Team Is Distracted by Logistics

As your brand scales, leadership should focus on strategy, not whether Friday’s orders got packed. If fulfillment consumes more of your time than growth initiatives, it’s a clear signal you’ve outgrown DIY logistics.

Watch out for the following:

• The COO spends more time negotiating carrier rates than optimizing supply chain strategy.

• The CEO jumps in to pack boxes during peaks.

• Meetings revolve around “warehouse fires” instead of growth.

Shifting to a 3PL gives leadership back time to focus on differentiation.

7. International Demand Is Rising

Fulfilling cross-border orders from a domestic warehouse can be slow, costly, and rife with customs delays.

Watch out for the following:

• More than 10–15% of your web traffic comes from outside the U.S.

• International customers abandon carts due to high shipping fees or long delivery windows.

• You’re fielding complaints about unexpected duties and taxes on delivery.

Partnering with a 3PL that supports international fulfillment helps you expand with confidence, manage landed costs, and navigate compliance.

How to Decide if You Need a 3PL

The decision to outsource fulfillment is rarely cut-and-dry. Brands must balance growth ambitions, financial readiness, and customer experience expectations. Here’s a guide to help you decide

Step 1: Assess Current Pain Points

• Are fulfillment errors eroding customer trust?

• Are delivery times falling short of competitors?

• Is leadership distracted by operational fires?

Step 2: Model the Financial Trade-Off

• Compare in-house costs (fixed overhead + labor + tech + shipping) vs. projected 3PL costs.

• Factor in shipping savings from multi-node fulfillment.

• Consider opportunity costs: What could your team accomplish if fulfillment was offloaded?

Step 3: Align with Strategic Goals

• Are you preparing for subscription growth that requires predictable fulfillment?

• Are you expanding into wholesale or retail channels with stricter compliance requirements?

• Are you exploring international markets?

If fulfillment pain points consistently limit growth opportunities, that’s a strong case for a 3PL.

When Should a DTC Brand Switch to a 3PL?

Timing is everything. Switching too soon may add unnecessary costs, and switching too late can damage customer trust.

Common Inflection Points for DTC Brands:

• 1,000–5,000 orders/month: Most brands at this volume struggle to balance labor, accuracy, and shipping costs in-house.

• Entering new markets: Expanding into Canada or Europe requires regional fulfillment and compliance expertise.

• Launching wholesale channels: Retail partners often mandate strict SLAs that in-house operations can’t consistently meet.

• Scaling subscriptions: Predictable monthly orders require flawless inventory management and shipping reliability.

Switch when fulfillment is no longer a growth enabler, but a growth limiter. If you’re turning down opportunities, losing customers, or missing margins because of logistics, it’s time to move.

Practical Tips for a Smooth Transition to a 3PL

Making the move from in-house fulfillment to a 3PL partner can seem overwhelming, but a smooth transition is all about preparation. Following a clear plan can help you minimize disruption and set your new partnership up for success. Here are some practical steps to guide you through the process.

• Document Your Processes: Before you even begin a conversation with a 3PL, you should create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all key workflows. This includes receiving inventory, kitting, packaging, and returns. Having these in place will accelerate the onboarding process and prevent misunderstandings.

• Audit Your Tech Stack: Make sure your e-commerce platforms, inventory management systems, and CRM can integrate with the 3PL's technology. A seamless data flow between your systems and theirs is essential for real-time visibility and operational efficiency.

• Set Clear KPIs: Define what success looks like for you before you transition. Establish clear key performance indicators (KPIs) like fulfillment accuracy, order speed, and shipping cost per order. This allows you to hold your new partner accountable and track the ROI of your move.

• Phase the Transition: Instead of a "big bang" approach, consider a phased transition. Start by moving one product line, subscription program, or region to the 3PL to test the workflows. Once you're confident in the process, you can transition all of your inventory.

• Communicate with Customers: If shipping speeds or packaging options will change during or after the transition, be transparent with your customers. Set clear expectations to avoid confusion and friction, and be ready to answer any questions they may have about the new process.

The Future of Fulfillment for Scaling DTC Brands

DTC brands today face rising customer expectations, higher logistics costs, and growing competition. In this environment, fulfillment can’t remain an afterthought. It must be treated as a growth engine.

Brands that know how to decide if you need a 3PL and act on the right signals will be positioned to:

• Expand faster into new markets.

• Offer competitive delivery promises.

• Reinvest leadership time into product, brand, and customer experience.

Is Fulfillment Holding Your Brand Back

Recognizing the signs your DTC brand has outgrown in-house fulfillment is a critical step in scaling sustainably. Whether it’s order volume surges, rising shipping costs, inventory inaccuracies, or international demand, the decision to outsource fulfillment is ultimately about enabling growth, not just cutting costs.

Knowing when should a DTC brand switch to a 3PL comes down to one question: is your fulfillment operation holding you back, or pushing you forward?

Ready to scale? Stord can support your brand’s growth. Talk to our fulfillment strategist today.

Peak seasons are the times in a year when online shopping really takes off. It generally spans from late October through December. Events within this period include1:

• Halloween (October 31st) - While not as sales-driven as other holidays, it marks the beginning of increased consumer spending.

• Thanksgiving (Fourth Thursday of November) - This holiday itself sees a surge in online shopping, as people research deals and begin their holiday buying.

• Black Friday (Friday after Thanksgiving) - A massive retail event that has transitioned into a major online shopping day.

• Cyber Monday (Monday after Thanksgiving) - Traditionally focused on online deals, this day often sees even higher online sales than Black Friday.

• Christmas (December 25th) - The traditional holiday gift-giving season drives a sustained period of high shopping activity.

Other notable peak seasons are1:

• Amazon Prime Day - Amazon's biggest sale event of the year, which typically occurs in July and October and offers exclusive deals for Prime members.

• Back-to-School (Late Summer - August/Early September) - While some back-to-school shopping still happens in physical stores, online sales in this category are growing.

It's also worth pointing out that factors aside from traditional holidays or events can also drive seasonal demand. A brand's own promotions (sales, launches) and external influences (weather, trends) can create significant, if shorter, peaks.

Being completely reliant on these peak seasons can affect your bottom line. For some industries, like holiday decorations, revenue can increase by up to 60-70% during peak compared to normal periods2. The spike looks amazing, but the low demand for the rest of the year can be a real problem for brands depending heavily on limited sales windows.

To achieve steady e-commerce growth and improve your long-term profits, you've got to employ a strategy of creating "peak-resistant" products. Basically, this means building a business that has consistent demand throughout the year.

Born Primitive: Building a Brand of Peak-Resistant Products

To show the power of peak-resistant products in building a sustainable e-commerce business, let's look at the compelling case of Born Primitive as introduced in the video below.

Born Primitive is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand that specializes in high-performance fitness apparel and gear. They've gained a super strong following within the fitness community by focusing on quality products and building a distinctive brand identity.

Their journey has a lot to teach e-commerce business owners who are trying to overcome seasonality and achieve consistent growth. 

Overcoming Seasonality Through Product Diversification

Born Primitive initially ran into seasonality problems because they were so dependent on specific products, mainly women’s leggings. Sure, they may appear successful, but they had those seasonal demand fluctuations along with insane competition. The brand has identified that there’s a summer slump where people don't buy as many pairs as they do in January, November, or December, as shown below. This dependence on seasonal products was holding them back in terms of year-round growth potential.

The table below shows what the brand’s Share of Business (SOB) in 2023 looked like. You can see here how much Born Primitive relies on women's leggings, which emphasizes the need for diversification to keep growing the business.

Let’s focus on the bottom two lines on the product sensitivity chart below. This chart is used to track sales by SKU over time. This is done for spend and unit sales to try to understand the composition visually and where revenue is coming from. The navy blue line represents the unit volume sales of leggings. The other line represents shoes. The deal is instead of just trying to make a seasonally affected product category like leggings more efficient, a brand can bring in an alternative product like shoes to make up for the revenue and largely compensate for the unit volume loss in that time during those off-peak times.

With the introduction of shoes, Born Primitive captured revenue they would've otherwise missed out on. And now, this revenue from a different category makes up a huge chunk of their business, as shown below.

In that same time period of January to June while comparing 2023 and 2024, the SOB for men’s and women’s shoes takes about 18% of the revenue while leggings is at 12%. This proves how product diversification can be a game-changer for creating a more balanced and consistent demand profile, a true hallmark of peak-resistant products.

The Power of Storytelling and Community Engagement

Born Primitive's growth is rooted in building a strong brand identity and cultivating a loyal community. They’re all about storytelling that really connects with their target audience's values and passions. It’s way more than just selling stuff, but also creating a sense of connection and belonging.

Here’s how they’ve done it:

Born Primitive developed special edition training shoes where a portion of the proceeds goes to support veterans, and they create content that shares the stories of veterans and their experiences. And get this, they've even conducted campaigns to pay off significant amounts of medical debt for veterans. Now that's a deep commitment to their community and a willingness to take action.

By forging these genuine and emotionally-resonant relationships with their customers, Born Primitive drives engagement and loyalty that goes way beyond transactional interactions. This strong community bond helps them maintain consistent demand and minimizes the impact of seasonal trends that can further support the development of peak-resistant products.

Moving Away from “Peak Seasons”

Born Primitive proves that peak-resistant product strategies are totally achievable. And their experience basically shows you how to move away from seasonality and set your e-commerce brand up for sustained growth. Remember, the path forward is to shift from being tied to those seasonal swings to creating products designed for consistent demand.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to Stord for hosting me at their summit. If you are looking to grow your e-commerce business, Common Thread Collective is your growth agency.

As of August 29, 2025, the U.S. government officially suspended the de minimis exemption (Section 321) for all low-value commercial imports globally. This is a critical regulatory change that impacts the operating models built by direct-to-consumer (DTC) and fast-fashion brands over the last decade. While the $800 threshold was previously a simple mechanism for duty-free entry and minimal customs friction, its removal signals a new era of increased compliance, complexity and cost management.

The Immediate Impact on Operating Costs and Efficiency

The end of the simplified system forces every previously exempt, low-value shipment into the standard customs pipeline. This transition introduces three primary challenges for brands operating global supply chains:

1. Increased Landed Costs: Shipments are now subject to applicable duties, tariffs, and taxes. This significantly raises the landed cost of goods, which is a financial burden that must be modeled into consumer pricing or absorbed into margins.

2. Logistics Friction and Delays: The sheer volume of formerly low-scrutiny parcels now requires full customs processing, leading to inevitable delays at ports and customs clearing centers as the system adapts to the increased complexity and volume.

3. Heightened Compliance Overhead: Brands must now manage full customs declarations, including detailed documentation (such as Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes) for every package, escalating administrative costs and compliance risk.

Many of these pain points have established workarounds that brands can leverage, but they often require additional sophistication and time demands. For example, a brand might use Customs drawback, a process that allows them to apply for a refund of up to 99% of duties and taxes paid on imported goods that are later exported or destroyed1. While valuable, this process is complex, time-intensive, and requires meticulous record-keeping for up to five years2 - tying up substantial working capital until the refund is processed later. 

In this new post-de minimis world, success hinges not on finding a workaround, but on establishing a smarter, more resilient, and customs-compliant strategy.

What is the Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) Solution?

One of the answers to mitigating these new challenges is the Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ).

An FTZ is a designated, secured warehouse within the U.S. that is legally considered outside of the U.S. Customs territory for duty purposes. This status provides a crucial shield against immediate duties and administrative complexity, transforming a customs liability into a competitive operational asset.

Most people are familiar with the concept of an FTZ as they are the legal structure through which Duty Free shopping within an airport operates.

To leverage this asset effectively for e-commerce, we need to understand how using an FTZ can help manage the rising costs of the post-de minimis supply chain.

4 Benefits of an FTZ to Manage Post-De Minimis Costs

The elimination of the de minimis exemption establishes equality between foreign sellers and U.S.-based FTZ operations. For brands weighing where to locate production or distribution, the FTZ's value of deferring duties on inputs now creates a stronger incentive to invest locally and expand domestic warehousing and manufacturing operations.

The real advantage of an FTZ lies in its “outside of the U.S. Customs territory” status that is key to counteracting the cash flow constraints, exploding administrative fees, and unexpected duties now burdening cross-border shipments.

1. Duty Deferral and Elimination (The Cash Flow Shield)

Typically, as goods enter the U.S., brands are forced to pay duties upfront, tying up substantial working capital before a sale is even guaranteed. The FTZ solves this cash flow crisis instantly.

• Duty Deferral: When merchandise is admitted into an FTZ, duty payment is deferred indefinitely. Duties are only paid when the goods leave the zone and are formally entered into U.S. commerce (the moment they are ready to ship to a U.S. customer)3. This postponement provides a massive cash-flow advantage, especially for businesses with long inventory cycles or seasonal demand.

• Duty Elimination (Re-exports): For brands utilizing the U.S. as a distribution hub, the FTZ is essential. If imported goods are stored, processed, and subsequently re-exported to international markets, they are considered never to have formally entered the U.S. customs territory. This provides a crucial safety valve for excess, seasonal, or slow-moving inventory, allowing brands to re-export unsold stock duty-free. This status eliminates the need for the complex and slow Customs duty drawback process. 

2. Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) Reduction (Consolidating Costs)

The sudden requirement for full customs entries on every low-value package is the single biggest contributor to increased compliance overhead and logistics friction.

The MPF Cost Surge

The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) is an administrative fee levied by the Customs and Border Protections (CBP) on most imports. It is calculated as 0.3464% of the shipment's value (subject to a minimum and maximum cap)4.

Without the FTZ consolidation tactic, every single incoming shipment, including thousands of daily e-commerce parcels that once qualified for de minimis, must be filed as an individual formal entry. This means a brand is subjected to the minimum MPF for every package, causing costs to increase rapidly.

The FTZ Countermeasure

The FTZ offers a dramatic countermeasure for high-volume e-commerce shippers:

• The FTZ Solution (Weekly Entry Consolidation): Instead of filing an entry and paying the MPF for every single inbound shipment, FTZ users can consolidate all shipments destined for U.S. consumption into one single weekly Customs entry5.

• The Power of the MPF Cap: The MPF for a formal entry is subject to a maximum cap (currently around $634.62)4. By consolidating thousands of daily shipments into that single weekly entry, the importer only pays the capped maximum fee, once per week6.

As seen on the table below, this consolidation immediately eliminates the per-shipment processing cost, which turns a volatile expense into a predictable, capped cost.

This FTZ tactic caps a potentially multi-million dollar annual expense at roughly $32,000 (Max MPF Cap x 52 weeks). This addresses the logistics friction and compliance overhead that arose after the suspension of the de minimis rule.

3. Inverted Tariff Relief and Value-Added Services

This mechanism allows brands to optimize the product for the end consumer and find the lowest applicable duty rate while recouping costs for damaged goods. This is a critical factor when navigating high, post-de minimis tariff rates.

Inverted Tariff Relief

When manufacturing or processing (ie. kitting or other value-added services) in an FTZ results in a finished product with a lower duty rate than its components, the brand can elect to pay the lower duty rate of the finished product when it leaves the zone7. This is a crucial cost-optimization lever that keeps complex assembly operations competitive on U.S. soil.

To better understand this advantage, consider this example: A brand imports high-duty electronic components (classified at 6%) into an FTZ. When assembled into a finished consumer electronics kit (classified at 3%) within the zone, the brand only pays the lower 3% duty rate upon shipment to the U.S. customer.

Kitting, customization, and light assembly in an FTZ are powerful ways to control costs and enhance the customer experience. From assembling gift boxes to applying custom labels, these flexible services transform high-duty components into lower-duty, market-ready products.

Duty-Free Scrapping and Quality Control

Imported products can be inspected, repaired, or certified while inside the FTZ, before duties are assessed. If goods are damaged, defective, or scrapped during assembly (as is common with components), they can be destroyed within the zone, and no duty is ever paid on that non-sellable inventory.

4. Tax Exemption and Indefinite Storage (Maximizing Inventory Capital)

Beyond duties and federal processing fees, an FTZ offers savings on inventory holding costs and crucial operational flexibility:

• Inventory Tax Exemption: In many U.S. jurisdictions, imported products held within an FTZ are, by federal law, exempt from state and local ad valorem (inventory) taxes8. This provides a substantial, long-term financial benefit for brands managing high-value inventory, reducing the cost of buffer stock needed to mitigate supply chain volatility.

• Indefinite Storage: Products can be stored in an FTZ indefinitely without incurring duties9. This provides maximum flexibility for responding to market demand, seasonal shifts, or regulatory changes without capital being unnecessarily tied up.

It is worth noting, however, that storage rates within an FTZ typically are more expensive than ongoing storage within a normal warehouse. It is crucial for a brand to understand both the potential added expenses and customer demand to determine if long-term storage within an FTZ serves their strategic goals.

Pain of Building Vs. Power of Partnering

For the vast majority of e-commerce brands, attempting to establish a dedicated single-user FTZ is a prohibitive burden. This costly endeavor imposes an avoidable delay on financial relief. Building your own FTZ demands:

• Substantial Upfront Costs: Significant security investments, specialized infrastructure, secure systems, and extensive administrative setup fees, tying up critical growth capital long before the first dollar of savings is realized.

• Regulatory Friction: Federal regulations mandate a review and approval process that consumes up to a year. During this entire waiting period, a brand remains exposed to the full, increasing costs of duties and per-shipment MPFs.

• Expertise Bottleneck: Compliance requires retaining expensive, specialized customs personnel and expertise to manage complex daily filings, creating an unsustainable overhead burden for in-house teams.

The Advantage of Immediate FTZ Access

The market reality is that FTZ benefits are needed today. A viable path to immediately address these new customs liabilities is to leverage an existing, pre-approved network. Only a modern logistics partner with an established, integrated FTZ network, like Stord, can grant this type of immediate, compliant access.

Compared to various alternatives, the FTZ is the complete, robust operational hub. Unlike a Bonded Warehouse, which offers only simple duty deferral and prohibits processing, the FTZ allows for all value-added services (like kitting and assembly), enabling full Inverted Tariff Relief. Looking at standard Domestic Fulfillment, which forces the payment of all duties upfront and immediately ties up working capital, the FTZ grants maximum financial flexibility.

Speed is the ultimate lever. Partnering grants instant, compliant access, allowing brands to bypass the year-long regulatory backlog and instantly secure the operational backbone required to activate duty deferral, cap MPF expenses, and maintain audit-ready status from day one. In the post-de minimis environment, you cannot afford to build your way to compliance. It’s smarter to access it.

Protecting Profits of Post-De Minimis E-commerce

The end of the de minimis exemption is one of the most significant changes to U.S. customs policy in years. It’s important to understand this isn’t a temporary measure. It’s a realignment of U.S. trade policy, driven by years of advocacy from trade groups like the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) to level the playing field10. There is a very slim chance of the rule being revived in its previous form, and the action is already forcing a global shift toward stricter scrutiny of low-value, high-volume shipments.

The customs "fast lane" has been replaced by non-negotiable customs scrutiny. The new question for every brand is not how to avoid the new costs, but how to turn this situation into a long-term advantage.

The Answer: Integrated, Scalable Compliance

Managing this new commerce environment requires more than a single facility. It needs a scalable, integrated strategy that compliments all future regulatory changes and supply chain disruptions. This is why your modern partner must be able to offer:

• Integrated Compliance: Seamlessly ingesting high-volume, duty-susceptible inventory into a compliant FTZ Network across the country.

• Unified Fulfillment: The power to use those FTZ warehouses for immediate DTC fulfillment or to efficiently feed products into a larger, domestic fulfillment network once duties are paid.

• Total Visibility: A single platform that provides continuous inventory control across both customs-controlled and standard fulfillment centers.

Stord is built to enable this exact strategy. We offer specialized FTZ services integrated with a unified software and physical fulfillment network spanning the U.S. This network currently includes strategic FTZ locations in all critical commerce hubs across the country, ensuring maximum port and domestic coverage.

This geographic coverage ensures not only duty mitigation but also market speed and resilience against regulatory change and other disruptions. To understand the full impact and map your transition strategy, read our comprehensive End of De Minimis Guide today.

The U.S. dietary supplements market is projected to surpass $70 billion by 2031,1 fueled by consumer demand for wellness products, functional beverages, and personalized nutrition. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) supplement brands, from capsules and powders to ready-to-drink beverages, are capturing this momentum with subscription models, influencer-driven campaigns, and rapid product launches.

But scaling fulfillment for supplement brands is anything but simple. Unlike standard e-commerce categories, supplements require rigorous compliance, precise storage, and highly controlled logistics. Temperature-sensitive products, expiration dates, and strict labeling regulations add layers of complexity to inventory management, order fulfillment, and returns.

Why Supplement Fulfillment Requires a Different Playbook

Compliance-Driven Operations

Supplements are regulated by the FDA under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA).2 While not as stringent as pharmaceutical standards, brands are expected to follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and ensure traceability in case of recalls. This means fulfillment partners must be equipped for:

• Lot and batch tracking to trace products back to production runs.

• Expiration date management to rotate stock efficiently.

• Accurate labeling and packaging to maintain compliance and avoid costly penalties.

Storage and Handling Needs

Supplements often require more than standard warehouse conditions. Powders, softgels, and probiotics may degrade under heat or humidity, while ready-to-drink functional beverages demand cold chain logistics to preserve quality.

Customer Expectations

The DTC model thrives on recurring orders and subscriptions. Customers expect fast, reliable, and consistent delivery, whether they’re restocking protein powder or receiving their monthly vitamin box. A single delayed shipment risks churn in a competitive market.

Warehouse Storage Solutions for Supplements

Storing supplements isn’t as straightforward as shelving apparel or books. Each product type comes with its own environmental and regulatory requirements. Here are the key storage considerations to keep in mind:

1. Temperature Control

Standard dry storage works for many capsules and tablets, but some supplements, such as probiotics, gummies, and beverages, require climate-controlled or refrigerated environments. When evaluating warehouse solutions, it is essential to confirm whether the facility offers reliable temperature management across multiple categories, including dry, refrigerated, and frozen products.

2. Humidity Management

Excess moisture can cause powders to clump or capsules to degrade. Warehouses should have proper ventilation, dehumidifiers, and sealed packaging zones in place. Decision-makers should ensure that facilities not only provide these systems but also monitor them consistently to maintain product integrity.

3. Inventory Segmentation

Separating SKUs by product type, such as powders, liquids, and softgels, and tracking inventory by lot or batch level prevents contamination, obsolescence, and simplifies compliance audits. The warehouse solution must demonstrate the capability to handle diverse categories of supplements simultaneously, ensuring that each product type is properly segregated and maintained according to its unique requirements.

4. FIFO or FEFO Rotation

Using “first in, first out” or “first expiring, first out” methods ensures customers receive the freshest possible inventory while reducing waste. Warehouses should confirm that their staff are trained in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)3 handling procedures so that rotation systems are applied consistently and accurately in day-to-day operations.

5. Compliance-Ready Tracking

Lot codes and expiration dates must be tracked within a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to allow precise recalls if necessary. A compliant warehouse setup will provide full visibility at the lot and batch level, giving brands confidence that inventory is traceable at every stage and consistently meets regulatory requirements.

Cold Chain Logistics for Beverages

Functional and wellness beverages, like protein shakes, kombucha, and nootropic drinks, have become a fast-growing extension of supplement brands. But unlike powders or capsules, beverages often require cold chain logistics to maintain shelf stability and taste.

The Cold Chain in Action

Cold chain logistics refers to the end-to-end temperature-controlled supply chain, from warehouse storage to last-mile delivery. For supplement beverages, this may include:

• Refrigerated warehousing for short-shelf-life products.

• Insulated packaging and gel packs for parcel shipping.

• Carrier selection based on cold chain capabilities.

DTC Challenges with Cold Chain

• Delivery speed: Cold chain shipments can’t spend days in transit, making multi-node fulfillment a necessity.

• Cost trade-offs: Temperature-controlled packaging and carrier services add cost per order.

• Returns complexity: A returned beverage often can’t be resold, leading to higher waste compared to capsules or powders.

Best Practices for Cold Chain Supplements and Beverages

1. Regional Warehousing: Store inventory closer to customers to minimize shipping distances.

2. Dynamic Packaging: Adjust insulation and ice pack quantities based on season and region.

3. Real-Time Tracking: Monitor temperature and transit milestones to prevent spoilage.

4. Delivery Promises: Clearly communicate cutoff times for same-day shipping to protect product integrity.

Cold chain logistics for beverages isn’t just about compliance; it’s about ensuring the customer receives a safe, enjoyable product that reinforces brand trust.

Subscription Models and Inventory Planning

Supplements are a natural fit for subscriptions, but recurring orders place additional pressure on fulfillment operations. If your customers expect monthly replenishment, stockouts or missed deliveries can quickly erode retention. Here are some key considerations for brands with a subscription-based fulfillment model:

• Demand Forecasting: Align production and storage with recurring order patterns.

• Auto-Routing Orders: Use OMS technology to ship from the closest node automatically.

• Inventory Buffers: Maintain safety stock to cover unexpected demand spikes.

• Personalized Packaging: Many supplement brands include trial packs, samples, or customized kits, requiring flexible kitting processes.

Returns Management for Supplements

While apparel brands can often restock returned products, supplements face stricter limits. A returned opened bottle of capsules, or a partially consumed beverage, cannot be resold. This makes reverse logistics both costlier and more sensitive. Here are some best practices on how supplement brands can efficiently deal with returns:

1. Categorize Returns

All returns should first be categorized to determine the appropriate next step. Unopened and sealed products may be eligible for resale after proper inspection, while opened or temperature-sensitive items must typically be diverted to disposal or, where legally permissible, donated. Clear categorization helps minimize risk and ensures compliance.

2. Automate the Returns Process

Automation is key to reducing the burden of returns on both customers and warehouse teams. A self-service portal with clear instructions makes it easy for customers to initiate returns, while integration with warehouse systems ensures smooth processing. This allows returned products to be restocked, disposed of, or redirected efficiently without unnecessary delays or any added complexity.

3. Prevent Returns Through Transparency & Clear Guidelines

The most effective way to reduce costly returns is by preventing them in the first place. Providing accurate product descriptions, clear usage instructions, and even size or serving guides helps reduce buyer confusion and sets proper expectations. While returns don’t directly generate revenue, handling them with efficiency and empathy not only minimizes losses but also builds long-term customer trust.

The Supplement Fulfillment Decision Matrix

For DTC supplement leaders evaluating fulfillment strategies, here’s a practical decision framework:

1. Product Requirements

• Do your products need cold chain logistics, climate-controlled storage, or both?

• What are the compliance requirements for labeling, batch tracking, and recalls?

2. Customer Expectations

• Are subscriptions a key driver?

• Do customers expect same-day or two-day shipping?

3. Operational Complexity

• How many SKUs and product formats do you manage (capsules, powders, beverages)?

• Do you need kitting or custom packaging for bundles?

4. Returns and Reverse Logistics

• How will you handle sealed vs. unsealed returns?

• Do you need dedicated inspection or donation workflows?

5. Scalability

• Can your current fulfillment setup handle viral demand spikes?

• Do you have multi-node coverage to expand regionally or nationally?

By mapping these questions against your growth strategy, you can identify whether your current fulfillment model (in-house or outsourced) is sustainable or if it’s time to upgrade to a specialized partner.

The Future of Supplement Fulfillment

As supplements and functional beverages continue to expand in the DTC market, fulfillment strategies must evolve. Some emerging trends include:

• Micro-fulfillment hubs in urban areas to enable same-day delivery.

• AI-driven demand forecasting to prevent stockouts and overstocks.

• Eco-friendly cold chain packaging to reduce costs and improve sustainability.

• Integrated compliance platforms that unify lot tracking, FDA reporting, and fulfillment data.

Brands that invest early in flexible, compliance-ready fulfillment can scale faster while protecting customer experience and regulatory integrity.

Final Thoughts

Fulfillment for supplement brands is a high-stakes balancing act between speed, compliance, and customer experience. From warehouse storage solutions for supplements to cold chain logistics for beverages, every logistics decision impacts brand reputation and growth potential.

Brands that approach fulfillment as a growth lever, not just an operational necessity, are better positioned to scale subscriptions, expand product lines, and retain loyal customers in a competitive space.

Learn how Stord can help transform fulfillment into a growth advantage for your supplement brand. Talk to one of our experts today.

Brands that relied on low-value, direct-to-consumer, and cross-border shipping have had a bit over a month to adapt to this, but for many, the challenge of a global policy change still puts them in a vulnerable position. If you're looking for a roadmap to navigate the post-321 world, consider this your starting point, and for an in-depth look, here is our ultimate guide.

Assessing the Impact of the End of De Minimis

The end of the de minimis exemption has a distinct impact on the following primary logistics models, which opens up new challenges and a need for quick and smart readjustment.

Cross-Border Shipping

• Old Model: Sellers shipped single, low-value parcels with little or no duty.

• New Model: All parcels now face duties, which eliminates the cost advantage of cross-border fulfillment. Increased customs scrutiny and compliance, added costs, and slower delivery, causing a steep decline in direct shipment volumes.

• Key Risk: Higher landed cost per parcel, less price competitiveness, and longer shipping times.

Transshipping

• Old Model: Goods sent indirectly via intermediary countries to bypass restrictions or reduce duties.

• New Model: US Customs is focusing enforcement on origin misdeclaration and transshipment. Attempts to shuffle goods through intermediary countries now rarely escape tariffs and only add logistics complexity and regulatory risk.

• Key Risk: The practice is now largely ineffective and carries legal and financial penalties, including additional tariffs and fines for customs fraud.

Local Fulfillment

• Old Model: The $800 de minimis exemption enabled cost-effective cross-border shipping, which made local fulfillment strategies unnecessary for some sellers.

• New Model: The emergent standard is importing inventory in bulk to US warehouses, which leverages economies of scale to reduce per-unit duty costs. However, this shift is creating a rush for local warehouse space and labor, which may increase costs for brands that are transitioning. The primary benefits remain, such as speeding up domestic delivery and lowering the risk of customs disruption.

• Key Risk: The capital required for inventory, warehouse space, and compliance infrastructure, coupled with the potential for rising costs due to increased demand for local logistics.

For brands that are already based locally, the policy change provides a powerful, if momentary, advantage. They can leverage their established U.S. fulfillment networks and systems to provide fast, reliable, and cost-predictable domestic shipping while their competitors scramble to set up new operations.

A Deep Dive into Key Industries

The impact of this policy change varies across industries. Here's how the new costs stack up for the apparel, electronics, and home goods sectors.

Note: The figures used are for illustrative purposes and represent a plausible example based on specific product classifications. Actual landed costs will vary depending on the exact item, sales tax in the destination state, and the fees charged by the carrier or customs broker.

While the specific costs and duty rates vary, the core message is that same. The de minimis exemption was not a minor perk but a basic component of the business model for countless brands. Its removal means that relying solely on the old way of shipping is no longer a viable long-term strategy.

Understanding the Numbers

To provide full transparency, here’s how we computed the cost impact for each industry:

• Product Value and Shipping Fee: The Product Value is a base cost that remains constant in both models. The shipping fee ($10) is a plausible example based on the typical cost of low-value, cross-border e-commerce parcel shipping before the de minimis exemption was lifted.

• Old Landed Cost: This was a simple sum of the Product Value and Shipping Fee, as duties and taxes were waived under the old de minimis rules.

• New Landed Cost: This total includes the new costs now required for every shipment. The formula is: 

Product Value + Shipping Fee + Duties + Taxes + Brokerage and Customs Fees

• Duties: This is calculated by multiplying the product's value by the specific duty rate determined by its Harmonized System (HS) code. For these examples, we used the following codes and rates:

  • Apparel: HS code 6109.90.1060 (T-shirt from Vietnam, if made of man-made fibers) faces a 32% duty rate2.

  • Electronics: HS code 8517.62.00903 (Smart Watch from China) is subject to an additional 10% Section 301 tariff4.

  • Home Goods: HS code 6913.90.00 (Decorative Vase from Russia) faces a 20% duty rate5.

• Taxes: This is calculated by applying an average US sales tax rate (6%) to the product's value.

• Brokerage/Customs Fees: A flat, estimated fee ($5.00) is included to cover the cost of a carrier or broker handling the formal entry paperwork now required for every parcel.

Recommended Mitigation Strategies

To succeed in this new environment, brands must consider the following strategies that transform their fulfillment, compliance, and commercial operations.

1. Shift to Bulk Import and Local Fulfillment

The end of the de minimis exemption makes it clear that the future of competitive international e-commerce is no longer about shipping individual parcels across borders. It's about moving inventory in bulk to the US and fulfilling orders from a domestic warehouse. This strategy leverages economies of scale to reduce per-unit costs, speed up delivery, and minimize customs risk.

Understanding Ocean Freight: LCL vs. FCL

The first step in bulk importing is understanding your shipping options. For most brands, this means choosing between two types of ocean freight:

• FCL (Full Container Load): You pay for the entire container, even if you don't fill it. This is the most cost-effective option for large-volume shipments (generally over 15 cubic meters or CBM)6. FCL shipments are also faster and more secure, as your goods are sealed in the container from the point of origin to the destination port, minimizing handling and customs delays.

• LCL (Less than Container Load): Your goods share space within a container with other brands' shipments. This is the preferred method for smaller shipments that don't fill a full container. While it's a good way to test new products or manage smaller-volume imports, LCL can be slower due to the time needed to consolidate and deconsolidate goods at each port. It also involves more handling, which can increase the risk of damage or misplacement.

Choosing between the two depends on your volume. For a brand's core product line, FCL is often the clear choice for maximum cost savings. For new product launches or seasonal items, LCL can be a useful, lower-commitment option.

The Advantage of FTZs and Bonded Warehouses

Successfully transitioning to a bulk import model also means being smart about where you store your goods. Two key tools for this are Free Trade Zones (FTZs) and bonded warehouses.

These are secure areas that are legally considered to be "outside" of US customs territory. This allows you to import goods in bulk and defer paying duties and taxes until the products are shipped to a domestic customer. This provides two key benefits:

1. Cash Flow Savings: You don't pay duties on your entire inventory upfront. You only pay for what you sell. If any products are defective, destroyed, or re-exported, you never have to pay duties on them at all.

2. Risk Mitigation: By storing inventory in an FTZ or bonded warehouse, you can navigate fluctuating consumer demand without committing capital to duties on products that may not sell.

The Role of 3PL Partners

Managing a bulk import strategy requires a sophisticated logistics network. Most brands, especially small to mid-sized ones, can't afford to build their own warehouses or hire an in-house logistics team. This is where partnering with a 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) provider becomes essential.

A 3PL with a dense network of US warehouses can handle the entire process for you—from receiving the bulk ocean freight to sorting, storing, and shipping individual customer orders. This allows you to leverage their economies of scale, technology, and expertise without the upfront capital investment.

2. Enhance Compliance, Customs, and Logistics Automation

• Invest in compliance tech: Automated tariff classification, real-time landed cost calculations, and robust record-keeping ensure smooth customs processing and minimize the risk of penalties.

• Strengthen supplier documentation: Ensure all shipments have accurate origin and HS (Harmonized System) code declarations. Regularly audit the supply chain for compliance.

• Optimize parcel shipping: Embrace data-driven solutions like Stord Parcel to help reduce shipping costs as it can automatically select the most efficient carrier and service level for each package.

3. Strategic Pricing and Customer Communication

• Update pricing models: Build duty and tax costs into product pricing or shipping fees transparently.

• Educate consumers: Clearly communicate delivery times, taxes, and duties at checkout to reduce cart abandonment and improve satisfaction.

4. Diversify Global Supply Chains

In the post-de minimis world, reliance on a single supply chain model is a risk. The goal is not to abandon global sourcing but to build more resilient supply chains into the U.S. that can withstand tariffs, political instability, and other disruptions.

Shift from Offshoring to Nearshoring and Friendshoring

Instead of sourcing from distant, high-risk regions solely for the lowest cost, many brands are now adopting a "China plus one" or nearshoring strategy. This means shifting manufacturing to countries that are geographically closer to the US, such as Mexico. This shortens transit times, reduces transportation costs, and improves communication, providing a direct competitive advantage.

The more advanced strategy of friendshoring involves sourcing from politically aligned and stable countries like Vietnam or India, even if they are more distant, to mitigate geopolitical risk.

Establish a Domestic Hub-and-Spoke Network

A major component of a resilient strategy is to establish a strong domestic fulfillment network. For brands that lack the capital or expertise to build their own, partnering with a 3PL that has an established, dense network is the most effective solution. This allows them to set up a hub-and-spoke model with multiple distribution centers across the U.S. without the upfront investment. 

This not only puts inventory closer to customers but also diversifies risk. If one port or region is hit by a disruption, orders can be fulfilled from another location, ensuring business continuity.

Leverage Supply Chain Mapping

True diversification requires visibility. Brands must go beyond their direct suppliers to understand where their raw materials and components are coming from. Investing in technology to map your entire supply chain will help you identify single points of failure, avoid transshipment risks, and adjust your sourcing strategy before a disruption occurs.

5. Scenario Analysis and Risk Management

• Model cost impacts: Quantify effects on unit economics under various duty/tax scenarios. Use this data to renegotiate supplier or logistics contracts.

• Monitor regulatory changes: Policies on de minimis and cross-border e-commerce are politically sensitive. Stay alert for future changes or carveouts that could create new opportunities or risks.

A Concrete Example

Let's revisit the T-shirt example from before. Consider a hypothetical brand selling T-shirts manufactured in Vietnam. They previously shipped a single, $50 T-shirt for just $10, duty-free. Under the new policy, we've shown that the landed cost for that same item is now a staggering $84.00, representing a cost increase of over 40%. This new reality demands a strategic pivot.

Phase 1: Testing the Waters with LCL

The brand starts by consolidating a small batch of 1,000 T-shirts. They choose LCL (Less than Container Load) ocean freight, sharing a container with other companies' goods. While this is slightly slower, it allows them to test the new model without the high cost of a full container. The per-unit cost for freight and duties drops significantly, making the model viable.

Phase 2: Scaling with FCL and Leveraging FTZs

After a successful test, the company scales up. They switch to FCL (Full Container Load), importing a full 20-foot container of 20,000 T-shirts. This is far more cost-effective. They ship the container to a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in California. Instead of paying duties on all 20,000 units upfront, they defer payment until the products leave the FTZ for customer orders. This preserves their capital and allows them to manage inventory risk. If some T-shirts are defective, they are destroyed in the FTZ, and the brand never pays duties on them.

Phase 3: Partnering for Domestic Fulfillment

Once the goods arrive at the FTZ, the company partners with a 3PL provider. The 3PL handles the entire fulfillment process from their domestic warehouse—from receiving the container to picking, packing, and shipping individual orders.

By leveraging the 3PL's expansive network and discounted carrier rates, the company can now offer 2-day or less domestic shipping to their U.S. customers, which is a huge improvement from their old, slow, cross-border shipping times, for a cost that is now competitive with domestic brands.

Shipping in the Post-De Minimis World

Low-cost, cross-border parcel shipping is now effectively impossible with the end of de minimis exemption. This policy change forces brands to pivot from an order-by-order shipping mindset to a more deliberate model. The brands that master this transformation will not only mitigate rising costs and customs delays but will also gain an advantage in the market. This transition doesn't have to be a daunting task. By leveraging bulk ocean freight, local fulfillment, innovative solutions like FTZs, and the expertise of a trusted logistics partner like Stord, brands can face this new reality with confidence.

As of August 29th, that free pass is gone. The uncertainty is palpable, and for many international brands, the initial reaction is panic. It's a "what is happening?" moment that makes you want to put your head in your hands. But while the world may have flipped somewhat upside down, a select few brands are choosing a different path, and that’s one of optimism, resilience, and transformation.

During a recent webinar, I had the opportunity to dive into this topic with two industry leaders who are navigating these exact challenges: Kelly Hunt, the Head of Operations at the high-growth Australian brand BabyBoo Fashion, and Justin Irvine, a global e-commerce expert at The Aggregate Co. What emerged from our conversation wasn't a story of fear, but a clear roadmap for success. The brands that will not only survive but thrive are those that take this moment to finally embrace a new level of operational maturity.

Beyond the De Minimis Rule: Embracing Operational Maturity

For a long time, the de minimis exemption allowed international brands to get away with a lot. They could grow quickly without getting the "boring stuff" right. Justin puts it perfectly, “The businesses that are thriving right now are the ones that have already invested, like BabyBoo, in great people in core areas.” He adds, “You know, facets around mainly production, demand planning, inventory control, all the real boring stuff that makes a business tick.”

The end of de minimis is a major catalyst. In fact, roughly $60 to $70 billion worth of commerce utilized this exemption in 2024. This isn't a minor policy change, but a fundamental shift in how brands operate. Without tight internal processes, the complexities of a new market will overwhelm you. This means knowing your product forecasts inside and out and having the capital and systems in place to manage split purchase orders (POs) and international inventory. It's not a 50/50 split, but a decision based on what's selling where, which requires deep technical expertise. A simple mistake here can lead to a huge cash sink.

The shift in regulations, including tariffs, requires a new level of sophistication. As Justin and Kelly pointed out, investing in proper HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) management is a necessity to minimize your tariff exposure. This level of discipline separates the temporary successes from the long-term, global leaders.

The 'Boring Stuff' That Is Now Critical

The unglamorous back-end of the business, which is the stuff that happens long before a customer clicks buy, is now more important than ever. The experts in our webinar emphasized several areas that can no longer be ignored:

• Financial & Tax Compliance: When you move inventory to the US, you establish a "physical nexus" that exposes you to sales tax. You'll need a good tax advisor and a strong understanding of things like your continuous bond. This is a "boring but super, super crucial" element, as Justin noted.

• Capital and Cash Flow: This move requires capital, and brands need to be prepared. This isn't just about the cost of moving inventory, but also having the financial runway to get set up and start shipping from a new region.

• Origin Warehousing: For brands looking to expand into multiple geographies, holding freight in origin warehouses becomes critical. This allows you to manage inventory across markets and "follow the bouncing ball" of consumer demand.

These are the foundational elements that enable a flexible, scalable operation. Getting them right is non-negotiable for success.

The Right Partner Changes Everything

For many brands, the knee-jerk reaction to this uncertainty is to rush and find a new partner. But as we learned from Kelly, taking a moment to understand what you need is critical. Her team at BabyBoo Fashion had just completed an overhaul of their Australian fulfillment operations before these changes hit. This process, though daunting, gave them a blueprint. They had already "shaken off the fear factor" of moving to a 3PL and knew exactly what they wanted in a partner.

The speed with which they had to pivot was remarkable. In just six months, they went from an internal warehouse to an Australian 3PL and then to a new fulfillment solution in the US. This timeline highlights that having the right processes and an aligned partner is essential for agility. As Justin put it, this kind of move can be "terrifying," but having the right framework makes all the difference. They didn't rush. Instead, they built a thorough RFP with a detailed scorecard, scoring potential partners on everything from data visibility and communication to cultural alignment. The result was a clear winner and a confident decision.

This echoed Justin's advice that you shouldn't just choose the cheapest option. Your fulfillment provider is an extension of your business; you need a partner whose DNA aligns with your own. This partnership is a relationship, and if you aren't aligned, it's a recipe for disaster.

Delivering on the Promise: Localize the Experience

Customers don't care about your internal challenges. They don't know about de minimis, tariffs, or the hurdles you've had to overcome. What they care about is the end-to-end experience. For BabyBoo Fashion, which sells special occasion dresses, on-time delivery is the entire brand promise. As Kelly explained, they are a brand customers turn to for milestone moments in their lives, and they’ll have “ruined her look for her day" if a package is late. That's a burden all brands have to take seriously.

Justin called it "localization on steroids." Simply entering a new market isn't enough. You also have to beat the local competition on service. This means providing fast, affordable, and transparent shipping, offering seamless returns, and adapting your digital engagement to meet local expectations. With the right systems in place, brands can now offer next-day delivery, something that was unheard of when shipping from Australia. This is a critical advantage, especially since only 14% of Australian brands currently offer free returns, which reveals a major opportunity to stand out in the US market.

This is the upside of all this uncertainty. By investing in the right operational framework and the right partners, brands can leverage these challenges to create a superior consumer experience, earn trust, and drive repeat conversions.

The Next Chapter of E-commerce

The e-commerce world has officially grown up. The brands that will continue to win are those that see these changes not as a catastrophe, but as an opportunity to build a more resilient and consumer-centric business. It's a fluid global geopolitical scenario right now, and as Justin quipped, sometimes it feels like we "wake up each morning and shake the Trump eight ball to see what's going to happen today."

But there is a way forward. As Justin advises, we need to "follow the bouncing ball" and remember that "there is a road map." It's time to take the bull by the horns and move forward with the right framework, the right partners, and a little bit of optimism.

To learn more about how your brand can navigate these changes, read our complete guide on the end of de minimis.

I recently joined Stord through the acquisition of my company, Penny Black, which specializes in AI-enabled, branded printed inserts that I now run as a service for Stord Unbox. These inserts allow brands to extend personalized experiences beyond the digital realm and turn an often overlooked part of the physical unboxing experience into a powerful moment that strengthens the brand-consumer relationship.

In a saturated and expensive ecosystem where consumer attention is fragmented, personalization has become the foundation of an unparalleled consumer experience. Almost half of consumers are more likely to become repeat buyers after relevant and targeted interactions with a brand.2 That means brands that capitalize on every opportunity to consistently deliver differentiated and unique experiences will see stronger engagement, higher conversion, and deeper customer loyalty.

Many leading e-commerce brands are already prioritizing personalization in their marketing efforts. They are leveraging browsing history, purchase behavior, and trends in engagement to refine product recommendations, adjust homepage content, shape promotional messaging, and more. These campaigns are also increasingly being customized to fit the nuances of specific industries. Preference-based quizzes are increasingly seen in apparel as a way to generate guided selections. Supplement brands are moving toward subscription models informed by individual usage patterns. And those in the Beauty and Skincare space are exploring interactive tools to create curated product routines based on unique customer profiles.

Driving much of this personalization at scale is AI. What began as a rule-based if/then logic in 2018 has evolved into an era of the “personalized economy”3 where companies harness real-time decision-making to gain a competitive edge. Today, over 92% of businesses report using AI to improve marketing performance and accelerate growth.4

As more brands adopt AI-powered personalized experiences, the next challenge is differentiation. The most forward-thinking brands are now pushing beyond basic if/then customization to create richer, more emotionally resonant experiences that connect with consumers throughout each stage of their journey.

Personalized Engagements that Power Conversion

Here are all the ways personalization can exist in each stage of the consumer journey, and where brands can make the biggest impact:

Digital Advertising

Brand discovery often begins with digital ads. This is the first point of contact and the first opportunity to establish relevance and emotional connection with potential customers. Personalization at this stage sets the expectations for a consistent, meaningful experience across browsing, consideration, and purchase. When done right, personalized ads can increase brand awareness by up to 80% and improve conversion rates by more than 30%.5

Moreover, consumers are 70% more likely to make a purchase after seeing a retargeting ad that feels timely and relevant.6 For example, a skincare brand that promotes a collagen-boosting night cream to 20,000 shoppers who previously viewed anti-aging products is far more likely to drive engagement, leading as many as 14,000 of those shoppers to become more inclined to purchase.

Personalized digital ads signal to the consumer that the brand understands them. They turn fleeting interest into action by showing the right product, in the right format, at the right time.

On-Site Personalization

Once a shopper arrives on your site, personalization shifts from capturing interest to influencing decisions. This is where brands must use real-time signals to build relevant, curated experiences that drive conversion. In practice, this might look like a beauty brand adapting its homepage based on a customer’s skincare quiz result or a supplement company displaying personalized subscription plans aligned with the buyer’s health goals. Even with growing concerns around data privacy, 79% of consumers are still willing to share relevant personal data in exchange for better product suggestions.7 

On-site personalized product recommendations alone can lift average order value (AOV) by 10% and boost conversion rates by up to 49%.7 This means that for every 200 purchases, you gain up to an additional 100 orders by delivering dynamic, customer-centric content on your brand’s website.

Email Marketing

Email remains one of the most powerful channels in a brand’s personalization toolkit because its utility extends across the entire consumer journey. Pre-purchase emails can be used to send abandoned cart reminders, offer low-inventory alerts, or highlight trending items in a category the customer has previously explored. Emails can also dynamically reinforce confidence by highlighting estimated delivery windows, or include relevant cross-sell suggestions showing compatible accessories, bundling options, or upgrade offers tied to the product/s in the cart. In the post-purchase stage, brands can continue the conversation with order updates, product care tips, or curated recommendations and discounts to extend the customer’s relationship with the brand and encourage repeat purchase.

However, an email drives action only when its message feels personally relevant to the recipient. Compared to generic emails, subject lines that reflect user-specific context are 26% more likely to be opened, and personalized calls-to-action (CTA) generate a 202% lift in conversions.8 An email with a subject line, “Still thinking about those black leather boots?” or a CTA that reads, “Low stock on size 4 jeans. Order now before it’s gone!” can better capture attention and drive conversion precisely because they speak directly to the consumer’s unique shopping experience.

Text Messages

Similar to emails, personalized text messages can add significant value to each stage of the consumer journey. But unlike email, consumers treat SMS with greater sensitivity. Online shoppers mostly prefer to receive order and delivery confirmations or exclusive discounts and promotions via text. They are far less receptive to behavior-triggered messages, such as abandoned cart reminders or follow-ups based on site activity.9

With SMS open rates as high as 98% and the majority of messages read within three minutes10, it’s essential to tailor each text to reflect what customers actually want to receive. Irrelevant or excessive messaging can quickly lead to frustration and damage brand trust. This makes timing and frequency just as critical as content. Industry benchmarks suggest that 4-6 messages per month9 is a healthy cadence for most e-commerce brands, with optimal send times between 10am and 4pm local time, when conversion is at its peak.11

While these digital channels are essential for driving engagement and conversion, they represent only part of the end-to-end consumer experience. Each channel also comes with inherent limitations that can hinder the effectiveness of even the most sophisticated personalization strategies.

With ad blockers now mainstream, digital ads face growing resistance from consumers. Even when ads do get through, they are often ignored or skipped. Most consumers have been conditioned to tune out ads simply because they are ads – no matter how personalized or relevant they might be. Similarly, while online shoppers browsing through a site may be a captured audience, their interest doesn’t automatically translate to conversion. In fact, over 90% of consumers leave an e-commerce shop without ever adding an item to their cart.12 Personalized product recommendations on a dynamic webpage can certainly enhance engagement, but they should not be the only tools in a brand’s arsenal. Email and SMS are also facing increasing challenges around deliverability. Open rates continue to drop as inboxes grow more crowded and spam filters become more aggressive. Consumers are quick to ignore, unsubscribe, block – or worse, flag messages as spam at the slightest hint of being irrelevant, intrusive, or fraudulent.

These struggles and limitations across digital touchpoints reveal an often overlooked opportunity: personalization in the physical world. When a shopper opens their package, that tactile interaction with the brand becomes a fresh avenue to delight and deepen brand loyalty. With the rise of AI-powered personalization, the unboxing experience is evolving into a scalable, data-driven extension of your brand’s voice and one that can leave a lasting impression beyond the screen.

AI-Powered Personalized Unboxing Experiences

The unboxing experience is the only marketing channel with a near guaranteed 100% open rate.

It is a critical brand moment where personalization becomes tangible. This stage in the consumer journey is an opportunity to reinforce that your brand genuinely cares about your products and customers, and is invested in delivering delight throughout the end-to-end consumer experience.

Yet, this post-purchase moment remains an underutilized touchpoint for many e-commerce brands. That’s not surprising given that customized branded inserts are operationally complex and expensive to implement. By comparison, a single marketer with access to a platform like HubSpot can build dynamic, targeted campaigns using customer data in a matter of hours. Personalized inserts, on the other hand, require cross-functional collaboration between sales, marketing, operations, and warehouse teams. Making sure that the right message, with the right customer information, is printed on the correct insert and placed in the correct box at scale requires an integrated system that links customer data to physical fulfillment in real time.

However, even when opting for templated printed inserts, brands still have to face a difficult trade-off. On one end, highly personalized, white-glove inserts are only reserved for high-value consumers or select campaigns. They offer maximum impact but limited scale – and very rarely have any truly customized elements. On the other, generic inserts accommodate all customers and all buying habits but lack relevance and value.

The ultimate challenge had been scale versus personalization – until now.

With Stord’s recent acquisition of Penny Black, e-commerce brands are unboxing a new frontier in consumer experience: AI-powered hyper-personalized branded inserts.

By integrating leading AI-driven marketing tools with Stord Unbox, it is now possible for brands to enhance every order with custom-built messaging and offers that reflect each shopper’s behaviors, interests, and lifecycle at scale. Brands can see a 300% ROI within the first three months alongside a 25% AOV uplift just by adding personalized branded inserts to every package.

This premium unboxing solution works by leveraging AI tools to synthesize data across sales channels, CRMs, and order management systems powering intelligent campaigns. With dynamic, granular segmentation, each customer receives the right messaging, QR code, or video asset – all with little to no manual effort. The simple drag and drop editor makes it easy to build on-brand, compelling messaging for each customer in seconds. These personalized inserts are then printed on-demand at pack stations to deliver a differentiated unboxing experience.

A savvy brand, for example, could create a fully personalized welcome event for new customers using a unique QR code that leads to a custom landing page with a welcome message or video. This could feature the CEO, a recognizable brand ambassador, or simply dynamic content that says, “We’re so excited you’re here, Douglas! Here’s a 25% discount off your next purchase.”  or “Hey Douglas, here are some products we think would be great with the stuff you’ve already bought.”

For products that require assembly, a QR code on the insert can direct the customer to a personalized support experience. Instead of a clunky, text-heavy printed manual or booklet, the customer could be guided through tailored setup instructions based on their available tools, time, and proficiency. The personalized webpage could prompt, “Hey, Douglas! Setup takes around 45 minutes, and you’ll need a Phillips head screwdriver to get started. If now’s not the right time, feel free to come back whenever you’re ready.”

This innovative solution, designed to directly integrate with existing CRMs and CDPs, makes on-brand hyper-personalization possible today. Stord is actively working toward enhancing these AI capabilities. In the near future, partner brands can expect AI to not only assist with the data management and audience segmentation, but also with the design and copy efforts needed to make these inserts even more unique. As these capabilities grow, it can power more channels with improved personalization, including digital ads, website experiences, emails and SMS messages, thus unlocking more powerful and scalable channels for delivering a hyper-personalized end-to-end consumer experience.

Scalable Growth with Hyper-personalization

The consumer experience is the sum total of every interaction a shopper has with your brand. From the first click through the unboxing and beyond, every one of those moments must be intentional, optimized, and personalized.

With advances in AI and data-driven marketing, e-commerce brands now have the tools to deliver holistic personalization at scale – across digital and physical. And with personalized packaging and unboxing experiences emerging as a new frontier for differentiation, the brands that invest in this arena will set the stage for what a connected, human-centric consumer experience truly looks like.

Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for leading brands, today announced a new ecosystem of partners called Stord Collective. This initiative brings together over a dozen leading ecommerce solutions providing Stord customers unparalleled access to critical services with improved economies of scale.

Since the early 90s, brands have leveraged the internet to reach a wider audience but have been hamstrung due to antiquated systems geared towards servicing big box retail operations. Over the ensuing decades, many services sprung up to offer a different approach, however this left brands with a hodgepodge of disconnected and conflicting fulfillment providers, technology solutions, and strategies. 

During that same period, customer expectations and global trade complexity have dramatically increased. Regardless of size or maturity, all e-commerce brands are expected to have rapid fulfillment times, automatic communications, seamless and transparent processing of local and international taxes, total control of inventory, effective and scalable growth channels, easy support tools, seamless and self-service returns, and so much more. And all of this needs to be completely integrated and easily accessible to potential customers at the point of purchase.

The confluence of these forces have pushed brands to the breaking point, stressing them with massive complications of disparate tools and costly providers.

Since 2015, Stord has been focused on building an integrated tech-first approach to fulfillment and commerce enablement. With over 20+ fulfillment nodes across the globe powered by a proprietary AI-enhanced suite of software offerings across warehouses, order management, inventory planning, delivery tracking and notifications, parcel optimization, estimated delivery dates, and more, Stord now powers nearly $10 billion of annual commerce for the world’s leading brands. Throughout that decade of growth, Stord has formed lasting relationships with market-leading service providers and e-commerce software that have unlocked significant savings, ease of integration, and revenue growth for Stord customers. The Stord Collective builds upon these relationships with market-leading discounts and an easy interface showcasing pre-filtered, best-in-class solutions so that brands can simply select, save, and grow.

“Stord Collective is an extension of our customer obsession,” said Alex Kent, Stord’s Director of Partnerships and Strategy. “By bringing together partners and providers that we have seen deliver true value in the e-commerce space, we are able to substantially benefit our customers with reliable and vetted solutions to their needs.” At launch, Stord Collective features dozens of partners including best-in-class companies like Parabola, Superfiliate, Frate Returns, Wayflyer, Taxually, OmniFold, and many others. This network unlocks turnkey access and market-leading pricing across many crucial services like reverse logistics, AI tooling, site optimization, inventory and growth financing, productivity, and so much more while also improving the overall economies of scale.

“We are thrilled to join the Stord Collective and provide Stord's customers with a streamlined way to access the capital they need to grow their businesses,” said Sean O'Toole, Head of Global Partnerships at Wayflyer. “This partnership will empower e-commerce brands to overcome challenges and move with the speed and agility required in today's market.”

In order to participate, partnering SaaS companies, vendors and strategists are required to meet an extremely high bar of excellence, offer market-leading pricing offers, and showcase sustained evidence of their capabilities. These providers will only maintain their participation in Stord Collective through continued examples of performance.

“Stord is solving real problems for operators, and being part of the Collective means we get to be on the front lines of that transformation. It's exciting to work with a team that truly understands how complex this work is—and is building something that makes it simpler every day,” said Brandon Penn, Chief Marketing Officer, Parabola.

Stord Collective is a deeper commitment with a centralized goal to help brands reduce costs, increase revenues, and accelerate e-commerce growth. The benefits of Stord Collective are only available to Stord customers.

"We are very excited to be part of the Stord Collective. This inaugural launch enables brands to easily find and select partners to profitably accelerate their growth,” said Ishaan Nerurkar, CEO of Omnifold. “Omnifold is proud to be a vital demand forecasting and inventory optimization partner for the Stord Collective."

“Stord is unwavering in its commitment to being The Consumer Experience Company. In order to achieve that, we want to ensure that our customers have direct access to the very best providers in the industry. For our customers, this means quicker and more dependable performances on every order, every time, regardless of their specific industry, size or vertical. Stord Collective seeks to solve the pain of uncertainty in finding the right provider and create greater trust and results for our customers,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. 

ATLANTA, August 12, 2025— Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for leading brands, today announced it had been recognized on the annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest growing companies in America. The list provides a data-driven snapshot of the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent, entrepreneurial businesses. Past honorees include companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Chobani, Under Armour, Timberland, Oracle, and Patagonia.

Since 2021, Stord has been honored to be listed on the Inc. 5000 list amongst other massively impactful companies. By achieving this feat for 5 consecutive years, Stord is in the top 1% of fastest-growing companies. This is a massive testament not just to Stord’s growth, but the overall crucial need of modern commerce enablement – integrated fulfillment and consumer experience technologies – for e-commerce brands.

“Everyone at Stord is extremely humbled by this prestigious acknowledgment,” said Jacob Boudreau, CTO and co-founder of Stord.  “Knowing that this placement is earned through our growth, reminds us of the importance of our work and the need to keep pushing forward. In the months ahead, the Stord team will continue to expand our technology capabilities and our fulfillment network to help even more brands deliver a world-class consumer experience on every order with improved economies of scale.”

Companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2021 to 2024. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2021. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2024.

Stord’s growth has been on a meteoric trajectory, with recent successes like:

• 10x contracted revenue.

• Achieved sustained profitability in 2024.

• Acquired and integrated ProPack Logistics, Pitney Bowes e-Commerce, Ware2Go, and Penny Black.

• Expanded to over 20+ global fulfillment nodes across North America, The United Kingdom, and The European Union.

“Our unrelenting focus on our customers is what has allowed Stord to grow so rapidly and achieve this latest honor. It is very easy to say you are customer focused, it is another thing to build every service and solution in service of ensuring brands have the tools to outdeliver the competition and excel beyond their customers’ expectations. Seeing that dream realized over the past 10 years and earning the trust of hundreds of leading brands is an absolute privilege, and one that every Stord member takes immense pride in. While this is a great moment, I am extremely excited for what we have in store for the rest of the year, which will only propel our customers even further forward,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

About Inc.

Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

In-store shopping may have been down 8.2% YoY according to Sensormatic Solutions1, but online shopping was a major bright spot for many retailers. In the United States, shoppers spent a record $10.8 billion on Black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics ($1B more than 2023), and then smashed that record again on Cyber Monday with $13.3 billion in sales2 - making it the largest online shopping day of all time. 

The total US Black Friday through Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales in 2024 reached $24.1 billion, showing a significant increase compared to the $20.9 billion recorded in 2023. This represents a growth of approximately 15.3% year-over-year. Globally, total e-commerce spend rose to $41.1billion, an 8.2% increase year-over-year3.

BFCM Performance by Stord Customers

Stord brands experienced record-breaking sales this BFCM.  The max daily order volume spike increased 252% as nearly 10 million units were shipped to homes in all 50 states, more than 75 countries, and even to deployed military personnel around the world.

Stord’s multi-national fulfillment footprint and integrated commerce technology enabled unprecedented visibility, economies of scale, and elevated consumer experience with accelerated delivery times and significant parcel savings during the most stressful time of the year.

Working closely with brands during peak preparation meetings, Stord pre-assembled over 3 million unique kits and optimized inventory demand planning. 

Peak Parcel Surcharge Savings

While overall sales during BFCM are impressive, retailer margins are normally confronted with the dual impact of steep discounts to consumers while sustaining peak season surcharges from parcel carriers. During non-peak periods, shipping fees can account for 10-15% of a brand’s revenue. During the peak periods, temporary demand surcharges implemented by carriers can add an additional 5-20% to cost, depending on the carrier and level of service.

As detailed by Stord’s CEO and co-founder, Sean Henry, customers benefited from negotiated rates and access to a robust network of local and national carriers.

Compared to the listed carrier surcharge prices, one Stord customer is on track to save 50% on their peak period parcel costs, accounting for more than $250,000 through the period - all while maintaining >99% on time shipping performance.

These savings were not isolated to just one customer, but were experienced by our entire roster of clients.

The above percentages are only representative of the additional surcharge savings earned on top of the standard parcel savings provided every day to Stord brands - with brands seeing a total combined savings of up to 55% on their peak parcel spend.*

Total Performance

Black Friday Cyber Monday 2024 was a massive success as brands generated approximately $24.1 billion in US sales. These sales were spread across 26 million e-commerce sites4. Stord picked, packed, and shipped nearly 1% of total online US sales while only representing a growing percentage of the total number of e-commerce sites. These brands not only generated massive revenue, they realized greater profits, and improved consumer experiences on each and every order.

References

1. Sensormatic - U.S. Retailers Maximize Week of Black Friday, Leading to Softer Day-of Traffic

2. Adobe Analytics - Cyber Monday Hits Record $13.3 Billion in Online Spending with Majority of Sales Driven by Mobile

3. Zeta Global - Holiday 2024 Shopping Insights: Black Friday and Cyber Monday Trends Shaping Retail

4. SellersCommerce - 51 eCommerce Statistics In 2024 (Global and U.S. Data)

*Savings of each brand are dependent on each brand’s specific product mix and volume.

This quarter’s mock recall exercises were conducted across a selection of Stord's core fulfillment facilities, providing an indicative sample of our operations. 

The objective was to rigorously test and validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our established recall processes to confirm our preparedness in executing a real-time product recall successfully. This measure is critical for upholding the integrity of our operations and maintaining the highest standards of product safety and customer trust.

Maintaining robust recall capabilities is not just a best practice, but often a critical regulatory expectation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emphasizes the importance of having effective recall systems in place to protect public health1. While industry best practices recommend annual mock recalls to evaluate these systems2, Stord's commitment to excellence is demonstrated by our execution of these mock recall exercises on a quarterly basis.

This frequency significantly exceeds standard recommendations, allowing us to continuously validate and refine our processes, identify potential areas for improvement with greater agility, and ensure our teams remain exceptionally prepared. This quarterly approach emphasizes Stord's dedication to maintaining the highest levels of product safety and responsiveness, surpassing baseline industry expectations as a leader in operational excellence and customer protection.

Mock Recall Overview

To thoroughly evaluate our recall preparedness, this quarter's mock recall exercise simulated a real-time product withdrawal scenario, including the following steps: 

• Simulated product withdrawal and traceability: This involved identifying a hypothetical “recalled” product (or a specific lot number) and initiating the process of tracing its journey through our fulfillment network. This tests our ability to quickly pinpoint the location of affected inventory, both within our facilities and in transit.

• Physical inventory counts for system validation: Our teams conducted physical counts of the “recalled” product. This step serves to verify the systemic accuracy of our Warehouse Management System (WMS) and ensures that our digital records accurately reflect the physical inventory on hand. Discrepancies identified during this stage reveal areas for improvement in our inventory management processes.

• Rapid product locking: Upon notification of the simulated recall, our operations teams at each site executed the immediate “locking” of the affected product within our systems. This prevents any further outbound shipments of the potentially compromised inventory. This step is crucial for containing the issue and minimizing the scope of a real recall.

• Efficient data retrieval and reporting: Our Inventory Control and Quality Assurance (ICQA) teams were tasked with rapidly retrieving all relevant data associated with the “recalled” product. This includes generating reports on inventory levels, locations, lot numbers, and historical shipping information. The speed and accuracy of this data retrieval are necessary for informing recall decisions, notifying affected customers, and fulfilling regulatory reporting requirements.

Mock Recall Performance

The results provide valuable insights into our effective recall capabilities and highlight areas where we have continued to enhance our already strong processes.

Inventory Accuracy

Inventory accuracy is verified through physical inventory counts. This process involves a detailed, manual verification of all units of the “recalled” product present within the facility. Teams systematically locate, count, and compare these physical quantities against our WMS records. This side-by-side comparison allows us to identify and reconcile any discrepancies to guarantee that our system accurately reflects the actual inventory on hand and that we can confidently account for all potentially affected units during a real recall scenario.

Physical inventory counts performed at ATL1 and RNO4 achieved excellent accuracy:

• ATL1: 100% accuracy

• RNO4: 99.94% accuracy

This high accuracy (over 99%) achieved in our physical inventory counts significantly surpasses the average industry inventory accuracy rate of around 91%3. Our performance even exceeds the benchmark for "world-class" inventory accuracy of 95%3, which validates Stord's robust inventory management processes and ensures highly effective product retrieval during a recall. Building on this foundation, we perform regular audits and are actively pursuing higher standards in inventory accuracy through ongoing system workflow improvements, strategic automation initiatives, and rigorous quality control checks. Our aim is to continuously elevate the benchmark for inventory accuracy and reliability.

Response Times

The speed of our initial response in a recall scenario is a critical factor in minimizing potential risk. This quarter's mock recall exercise demonstrated our commitment to rapid action, with all key initial steps completed well within our internal Service Level Agreement (SLA) of responding, locking inventory, and pulling necessary reports within two hours.

While the individual facility response times were notably swift, consistently ranging from initial alert to product lock in under 30 minutes, our primary focus remains on adhering to and exceeding our established SLA. This ensures a reliable and timely response for our customers in any recall situation.

The results of this exercise confirm that our facilities are operating effectively within these stringent internal targets. This reinforces our capacity for rapid containment and efficient information retrieval, in turn mitigating potential impact and upholding our commitment to operational excellence.

Dedication to Excellence and Continuous Improvement

The results demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of our recall procedures. They reaffirm our commitment of being a proactive and dependable fulfillment partner. Our strong performance in areas like inventory accuracy and response times, along with our dedication to continuous process improvement, show our team’s readiness to quickly contain any issues, minimize the scope of a potential recall, limit customer exposure, and protect your e-commerce brand.

Don't leave your brand's reputation to chance. Talk to us about how our approach to recall readiness can provide a more secure fulfillment solution for your business.

Two new duty structures will apply to all incoming shipments: an ad valorem duty or a specific duty ranging from $80-$200 per item, both determined by the applicable IEEPA tariff rates assigned to the package's country of origin.

For decades, this de minimis loophole fueled the growth of borderless, low-cost sourcing, manufacturing, and fulfillment. At the same time, it enabled some $64B+ of commerce to enter the U.S. per year while avoiding applicable duties and subverting jobs and revenue from domestic logistics infrastructure. That vantage is now over. And the implications are massive.

This move comes nearly two years ahead of schedule. The global end of de minimis was originally set to take effect on July 1, 2027, under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act2 that was signed into law July 4th.

But this timeline has now been accelerated to August 29th—a development that is not entirely unexpected. Recent weeks have shown growing indications that the administration would act unilaterally to eliminate de minimis by year’s end. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has also been actively preparing for this possibility with new screening systems scheduled to go live by August.3

While the conclusive outcome of these trade negotiations is far from final, it is abundantly clear that the United States intends to close any and all loopholes that allow brands to import without paying.

The next era of global fulfillment is already upon us. Brands shipping internationally, resulting in slower and more expensive packages, now no longer have reason to do so as the tax benefit associated has been eliminated. These brands will likely rapidly move their inventory in the U.S., for faster, cheaper, localized fulfillment, with the same duties they will be paying either way.

A similar situation unfolded this past December when Mexico ended the IMMEX program, drastically increasing the cost to import textiles and apparel from Mexico into the United States. Stord helped reroute millions of units for several brands, and onboarded the high-growth apparel brand, True Classic, shipping orders out of our Hebron, KY fulfillment center within just 19 days. That same speed and operational competency will be the crucial delineator preventing brands from experiencing costly disruptions and souring customer experiences.

These recent events—and now, the accelerated end of de minimis—highlight the need for brands to build resilience and flexibility. Brands must assemble a network of systems, people, and partners that can move, scale, and evolve with every change.

This is why Stord exists.

We have built a robust and agile fulfillment and commerce enablement platform precisely for arenas like this. We rerouted and moved tens of millions of units out of Mexico during the IMMEX import update this past December. We rapidly repositioned inventory from Canada into the U.S. amidst industry-shaking changes.

We continue to help brands move their products with full confidence across borders without a single disruption to delivery timelines and while protecting their bottom line.

This is what we’ve been building for the past decade. This is what our customers are benefiting from. They aren’t scrambling to react to sudden increases in parcel costs. They’re not facing the whiplash others are seeing from erratic shifts in policy.

We’ve built a system that levels the playing field for brands of all sizes across all verticals, allowing us to quickly respond to any upheaval without sacrificing margins or the consumer experience. We closely monitor impending or possible government changes to stay informed and prepared for changes before they even hit front-page news.

We position brands ahead of disruptions. In a fundamentally reactive environment, we are built to be proactive.

And that matters now more than ever.

With the de minimis exemption nearing its end, now is the time for deliberate, strategic action. Here’s how brands can win in this next era of global fulfillment:

Nearshoring and Domestic Fulfillment

With duties now unavoidable, the location of your fulfillment network becomes a strategic lever for speed and cost control. Shifting inventory closer to your U.S. customers, whether through nearshoring or full domestic fulfillment, significantly shortens delivery lead times and reduces last-mile delivery costs compared to international shipping. While future tariffs remain a possibility anywhere, having inventory already within the U.S. gives brands a critical edge in speed, responsiveness, and cost efficiency. To fully realize these advantages, brands need infrastructure built on multi-node warehousing solutions, integrated fulfillment, and seamless routing that ties directly into your U.S. distribution network. Partnering with a reliable provider who already has the necessary infrastructure in place is the fastest path to resilience.

Multi-sourcing Supply

Overreliance on a single supplier or region is a liability. As trade policies tighten and geopolitical uncertainty rises, brands need to adjust sourcing strategies. That means expanding into alternative markets like Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to create sourcing optionality and agility. To make this work, you need an integrated fulfillment and commerce enablement system that can pivot and adapt with your brand in real time so shifting origins doesn’t disrupt your downstream operations. The brands that win are those that build resilience into the fabric of their supply chains.

Intelligent Rerouting

As regulatory costs and port congestion grow, brands need to rethink traditional import routes. Intelligent rerouting means using technology to dynamically select lanes, optimize duties, and avoid chokepoints. With access to flexible freight networks and real-time routing intelligence, you can shift SKUs mid-transit, minimize landed costs, and maintain compliance all without sacrificing visibility or control.

Strategic Stockpiling

When the rules change overnight, inventory becomes your insurance policy. Strategic stockpiling gives brands room to breathe. It buffers against tariff hikes, protects velocity during policy shifts, and offers the flexibility to meet demand without delay. But static storage won’t cut it. You need a distributed, elastic network that can scale on demand, shift inventory where it’s needed most, and accelerate fulfillment when the moment calls for it. Stockpiling isn’t static – it’s about being ready.

Leveraging Bonded Warehouses and FTZs

Bonded warehouses and FTZs are facilities that let you defer or eliminate duties until goods are sold, assembled, or shipped into domestic commerce. For brands operating in high-value categories or with complex import dynamics, these solutions offer flexibility without financial strain. For many brands this can be a useful strategy to avoid a short-term cash challenge from the new tariffs and de minimis suspension. But execution matters. You need integrated systems, customs expertise, and operational visibility to capture these advantages without opening the door to delays or penalties.

These strategies are not exhaustive nor are they a one-size-fits-all blueprint. The current state of global commerce is a multi-dimensional chessboard where winning requires both precise algorithmic thinking and hard-earned operational experience and scale. There is no single path to building a sourcing-through-fulfillment model that shields your brand from regulatory shocks like the end of de minimis. But the common thread across every resilient strategy is this: build a fulfillment model that’s flexible, fast, and fundamentally diversified. One where no single point of failure holds your brand hostage.

The rules have changed but it does not mean the game is over.

E-commerce will not slow down or disappear because of these changes. Demand is still growing. Consumer adoption is still accelerating. What will disappear are the brands that fail to adapt to a constantly evolving environment shaped by trade, labor, climate, conflict, and any number of unforeseen changes on the horizon.

If you are concerned that your current system is too rigid to keep up, let's talk. Our team of experts will gladly walk you through actionable paths to pursue, potentially with Stord or with other providers. We are here to help.

But an e-commerce system that functions isn’t necessarily efficient. It might be overstaffed. It might rely on manual processes and redundant steps. It might be doing more work than needed to get the same result. Over time, this extra effort translates directly into shrinking margins that grow harder to ignore as order volumes increase. Take, for example, a brand launching a promotion that caused a sudden surge in orders. On the surface, the campaign looks like a success—every order shipped on time, and customer feedback remained positive. But internally, the fulfillment team had to bring in temporary staff, extend warehouse hours, and manually coordinate with third-party carriers to keep up.

The system didn’t break, but it bent in ways that cost the brand thousands in unplanned expenses. Had the logistics been more automated and scalable, the same sales bump would have produced stronger margins instead of eroding them.

This is why brands must invest in ways to do more with less—consistently finding ways to move faster, reduce errors, and operate with fewer resources without compromising the customer promise. Lean methodology plays a central role in making that possible.

Lean focuses on maximizing customer value by systematically identifying and eliminating waste or muda—any step, task, or process that consumes resources without directly adding value to the customer experience1. In the context of e-commerce fulfillment, value means fast, accurate deliveries, reliable inventory availability, and a smooth experience from checkout to delivery. Anything that doesn’t directly support that experience is considered waste.

The Lean methodology’s relentless pursuit of efficiency has been proven to improve productivity while reducing costs2. And while results vary depending on the scale and complexity of a brand’s e-commerce operation, multiple studies have shown that Lean logistics can increase fulfillment productivity by up to 30% and improve delivery performance by 20%3. This increase in productivity might mean fulfilling the same volume with fewer shifts, equating to thousands in monthly savings on labor costs. Add to that the cost reductions from fewer fulfillment errors, less rework, and improved carrier coordination, and it’s easy to see how Lean logistics directly impacts the bottom line.

The potential is massive, but only if you know where to look.

Targeting Waste in the Warehouse and Beyond

Lean provides a powerful lens for spotting inefficiencies by breaking them down into categories that can be tracked, measured, and improved. Below are the eight most common types of waste found in logistics environments:

Defects

Errors in picking, packing, labeling, or shipping result in rework, returns, or replacements. These mistakes slow down operations and can damage customer trust. In a fulfillment center processing 10,000 orders a month, even a 1% error rate means a hundred problematic shipments, each requiring time, labor, and sometimes, product write-offs to resolve.

While a 1% error rate may fall within industry benchmarks4, to the customer, that one wrong delivery is a 100% failure. In fact, 85 out of those 100 customers who had a poor delivery experience, are likely to never order from your brand again5. Since 100% error-free fulfillment is unlikely to ever be achieved, brands need systems in place that not only minimize defects but also manage the fallout when they occur. This is where communication becomes a critical part of Lean thinking.

Clear, proactive communication with customers can help manage the waste created by defects. A mistake caught and addressed early—with prompt notifications, easy resolution processes, and clear ownership—can prevent a fulfillment error from escalating into a permanent loss of customer trust.

It’s critical to tighten quality control at every stage of fulfillment, not just at the end. At the same time, communication should remain tightly integrated into operations to reduce the broader impact of defects, keeping your logistics as lean as possible.

Inventory

Excess inventory ties up working capital and adds avoidable costs across multiple areas of fulfillment. Manufacturing, transportation, and inbound warehousing consume resources before products are even available to sell. The more inventory you hold, the more you pay in duties and tariffs for items that might sit idle for months. And as goods sit longer, brands continue to absorb storage fees, insurance premiums, and, if the items become dead or expired stock, costly disposal fees. Excess inventory can become a compounding financial burden that eats up 20-30% of its value each year6.

However, holding inventory in the right places at the right time can turn what’s typically seen as waste into a competitive advantage. Strategic inventory and fulfillment, such as stocking goods and fulfilling orders from Canada, can help brands avoid or reduce tariffs and duties, especially in the face of ongoing trade tensions. By carefully positioning inventory closer to demand and optimizing around shifting trade policies, brands not only lower fulfillment costs but also maintain a lean focus on flexibility and resilience in a volatile e-commerce market.

Overproduction

Overproduction is producing or preparing for demand that doesn’t exist. In logistics, this often shows up as pre-packing kits for marketing campaigns that haven’t been finalized, building out custom bundles before orders come in, or staging products in advance based on aggressive sales forecasts that don’t materialize. In contrast to inventory waste, which is often a storage issue, overproduction starts further upstream, driven by inaccurate forecasting, batch-oriented workflows, or pressure to "stay ahead" of demand. The fix isn’t slowing down or doing less, but rather building integrated fulfillment systems that respond to demand in real time.

Waiting

Waiting in fulfillment typically shows up as idle time and dwell time.

Idle time refers to pauses in the workflow. This could be workers waiting for their next task, workstations that aren’t being fed fast enough, or orders stuck in queues between stages like picking and packing. These gaps often stem from poor task coordination, unbalanced workloads, or system lags. In high-volume environments, if 20 workers are idle for just 6 minutes per shift, that’s 2 hours of lost productivity per day. That’s 10 hours a week, 40 hours a month. Annually, that’s the equivalent of more than 2 months’ pay for no work.

Dwell time, on the other hand, is any time an order is not moving forward through fulfillment. It can show up in many forms, such as:

• Orders waiting too long to be picked after they are received.

• Picked items sitting in staging areas before they are packed.

• Orders waiting to be labeled before they can move to shipping.

• Packed boxes stacked by the dock waiting for a truck.

Left unchecked, idle and dwell time can cause confusion in the warehouse, increase labor costs, clog up warehouse space, make it harder to accurately forecast staffing needs or carrier capacity, and add unnecessary delays to deliveries.

Non-Utilized Talent

Teams working on the frontlines often see problems and opportunities before anyone else. This includes frontline workers, managers, and leadership who are regularly on the floor, closely connected to the day-to-day operations. If their insights aren’t heard or acted on, the brand misses an opportunity to improve. That’s why fulfillment operations must build in constant checks and balances at any given time to make sure everything is working as it should. This not only keeps workflows sharp but also ensures that teams are actively assessing their talent, systems, and processes for greater efficiency. Numerous studies have shown that empowering frontline teams to take ownership of these improvements helps build a culture that attracts and retains top talent in a high-turnover industry7,8.

Transportation

Unnecessary movement of goods—especially across facilities, between buildings, or due to poor slotting—adds time and cost without improving service. In large-scale fulfillment centers, inefficient layouts can lead to more handling time per order than necessary. For instance, if fast-moving items are stored far from packing stations or scattered across multiple aisles instead of being grouped together, pickers may spend an extra 15 seconds per item just navigating the floor. Over the course of a thousand picks a day, that adds up to more than 4 hours of wasted labor—time that could have been spent fulfilling more orders.

Motion

Unlike transportation waste, motion refers to unnecessary physical movement by workers—bending, reaching, repositioning, transferring, or searching for tools or products. These micro-inefficiencies compound over thousands of shifts and increase the risk of injury. Reducing this through ergonomic setups, better task sequencing, and intuitive work layout design directly improves throughput and reduces fatigue. In fact, each dollar invested in better workstation design can yield $2 to $10 in returns9.

Overprocessing

Overprocessing occurs when a brand expends unnecessary effort, time, or resources to refine fulfillment beyond what the customer expects or requires. While exceeding customer expectations can be a good thing, there must be a clear limit to what is “too much”. One simple way to define that limit is by asking: “Does the customer find value in the result of this process?” For instance, when a customer experiences a delayed order, proactive communication can help offset the negative experience. However, too much communication, such as bombarding the customer with multiple notifications in a day, crosses the line from being attentive to being irritating. In lean logistics, every process should be intentionally designed to deliver value without excess.

All things considered, instead of building Lean systems from the ground up to address these wastes, e-commerce brands can accelerate efficiency by partnering with a fulfillment provider that has already embedded Lean principles across its logistics infrastructure.

The Lean Logistics Blueprint at Stord

Stord operationalizes Lean across its technology, workflows, culture, and every facility in its network through five core principles:

1. Define Value

Every high-performing logistics system begins by aligning with the customer’s definition of “value”. For some, this may be speed; for others, cost-efficiency or order accuracy. For Stord, value means delivering all three: fast shipping, cost-effective operations, and consistently accurate fulfillment. By clearly defining this composite value, Stord ensures every part of the logistics process is engineered to meet these outcomes. This focus eliminates guesswork and channels operational resources where they have the highest return, both for the brand and its customers.

2. Map the Value Stream

Stord maps every step in the fulfillment lifecycle—from inbound receiving and inventory storage to picking, packing, last-mile delivery, and returns. With data integrated across Stord’s platform, it becomes possible to distinguish between value-added steps, non-value-added steps, and pure waste. These value stream maps (VSMs) allow brands to visualize bottlenecks, identify redundant tasks, and gain actionable insights into process inefficiencies.

3. Create Flow

Once inefficiencies are identified via VSM, processes are re-engineered to support continuous flow. In practice, this may involve automating repetitive tasks, reconfiguring pick paths, consolidating inventory across zones, or sequencing labor to reduce downtime. The goal is uninterrupted movement of orders through the fulfillment process while minimizing delays and maximizing throughput.

4. Establish Pull

By working closely with the brand and its internal teams, Stord helps identify the right fulfillment strategy, potential node locations, and inventory flows. Together, they build a process that aligns inventory with real-time demand signals (“pull”), not just forecasts (“push”). Stord’s collaborative approach, together with its integrated end-to-end commerce fulfillment system, empowers brands to become more efficient across the board, ensuring the right inventory is in the right place at the right time.

5. Pursue Perfection

Continuous improvement or Kaizen is built into the culture. Stord supports ongoing optimization by empowering frontline teams and leadership to constantly identify and implement incremental changes that improve workflows, reduce waste, and enhance the end consumer experience. Regular audit processes and mock recalls are also a key part of Stord’s unceasing commitment to perfection. These routine checks give teams a structured way to spot gaps, test response readiness, and drive improvements in real-world conditions. All these progressive initiatives compound over time and result in a more agile and scalable fulfillment network for partner brands.

Real-World Savings Through Lean Logistics

Here’s how Lean logistics at Stord has translated into tangible savings for e-commerce brands:

Boosting Throughput with Kitting Optimization

For growing brands like Brave Books, manually managing complex kits led to inefficiencies. By adopting Stord's integrated Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Order Management System (OMS), the brand gained real-time inventory visibility and implemented a more structured, reliable kitting process. The case study details how this Lean approach reduced unnecessary steps and helped standardize kit assembly. In summary, Brave Books doubled its daily order capacity and significantly shortened fulfillment lead times. Units Per Hour (UPH) increased, labor cost per order dropped, and the entire operation became more scalable.

Cutting Costs with Automation

Manual order routing and carrier selection often create unnecessary costs and delays, especially as order volume grows. Stord eliminates this friction by automating these decisions through Stord Parcel combined with Stord’s Last-Mile Optimization software. Each order is evaluated in real-time to find the fulfillment center and carrier with the best rates and delivery speed. As featured in the case study, The Zero Proof saw projected savings of 78% vs standard carrier list rates during peak season by leveraging these automated optimizations.

Reducing Prep Time with Integration

Alen Corporation, a leading provider of premium air purifiers, faced a surge in demand that strained operations at its single fulfillment center, resulting in a 5-day lead time before orders were ready to ship. With Stord’s integrated fulfillment platform, Alen quickly adopted a multi-node strategy, moving products faster and sustaining strong growth even as demand climbed. This seamless integration, as detailed in the case study, not only sped up fulfillment but also boosted accuracy. Since partnering with Stord, Alen has cut order prep time from five days to just one, enabling a free 2-day shipping promise.

Shared Efficiency is Shared Savings

By applying Lean principles across its network and leveraging the combined scale of the hundreds of brands it supports, Stord delivers meaningful operational efficiencies. Its integrated end-to-end commerce enablement and fulfillment platform optimizes workflows, reduces waste, improves accuracy, and increases throughput. By driving collective efficiency across its ecosystem, Stord helps brands save millions of dollars in logistics costs, turning their supply chain into a competitive advantage.

Lean, for Stord, isn’t just a methodology—it’s a partnership philosophy focused on delivering maximum value by eliminating everything that doesn’t.

Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for leading brands, today announced its acquisition of Penny Black, a SaaS solution providing hyper-personalized post-purchase inserts to unlock new branded experiences, drive increased revenue, and foster improved retention.

Historically brands were extremely limited when it came to personalization during the fulfillment and delivery of orders. While brands have become accustomed to unique messaging and offers when marketing to potential customers online, that experience broke down in the physical world. Brands could only choose between white-glove inserts for a handful of key customers or generic inserts that could accommodate all customers and all buying habits, diluting the impact and effectiveness. Ultimately, this limited a brand's ability to capitalize on a mostly-untapped marketing channel, hindered retention efforts, and prevented deepening loyalty with end consumers.

With 71% of online shoppers expecting personalized communications and services, and 49% saying they are more likely to repeat shop after a personalized experience, brands need to capitalize on every opportunity available to create a differentiated and unique experience for each and every customer.

Over the near decade of Stord’s history, the guiding principle has remained the same - help brands grow revenue, reduce operational costs, and delight end consumers. These value propositions are what make Stord The Consumer Experience Company—leveling the playing field with prime. This has seen Stord expand to a fulfillment infrastructure spanning across North America, the United Kingdom and the EU, while delivering billions of products, and powering nearly $10 billion in commerce annually. This growth has allowed Stord to aggressively expand functionalities and invest heavily towards infusing AI systems across the entire process of bringing a product from the port, to the end consumer, anywhere in the world. 

Penny Black was founded in 2021 and brought an innovative approach to deliver targeted,  hyper-personalized branded inserts. With Penny Black, brands can easily provide specific product recommendations, unique coupon codes, custom videos, gift messages, or more addressed to an individual consumer based on marketing data and purchase history. These personalized inserts are printed on-demand at pack stations to drive a differentiated, branded unboxing experience. Current Penny Black customers have seen a 300% ROI within the first three months alongside a 25% AOV uplift. 

Penny Black’s direct integration with existing CRMs and CDPs empower brands to create instantaneous customizations based on details for each order and/or customer. Now, offers can be segmented by any number of marketing, purchase, or customer data points – order size or price, history, location, marketing campaigns, reviews, or more. New customers can now be offered a unique welcome message with information on the product and a discount for a complimentary product, while a customer with a higher order value could get a custom thank you note and a code for free shipping on their next purchase. These insights, once integrated into a broader ecosystem, can also power customized email, SMS, and future consumer outreach campaigns.

“By fusing the capabilities of Penny Black with Stord’s comprehensive Consumer Experience suite, order management system, and warehouse management system, Stord customers can elevate the physical unboxing experience and tap into additional consumer value,” said Craig Stewart, SVP of Product and Engineering at Stord. “This kind of personalization was previously only available for digital-only solutions, but has the added benefit of a 100% open rate during unboxing.”

The acquisition of Penny Black compliments the complete end-to-end consumer experience platform central to Stord’s mission, providing brands of all sizes unparalleled pre- and post-purchase capabilities in addition to the benefits of Stord’s economies of scale.

Penny Black’s technology joins dozens of purpose-built SaaS and AI solutions - including Shipment Protection, Post-Purchase Notifications, Expiration Management, and more - that help improve operational efficiencies, strategic investments, and visibility across every facet of complex e-commerce logistics. These efforts have propelled Stord to be The Consumer Experience Company for brands seeking to meld rapid fulfilment speeds, operational efficiencies, end-to-end visibility, and unequalled unboxing experiences.

“The consumer experience is the sum total of every element of your brand across marketing, product quality, fulfillment, returns, unboxing, and more. Every area a consumer experiences, either directly or indirectly, must be refined and improved if a DTC brand wants to thrive in a saturated and expensive ecosystem. This acquisition, and recent other addition to our Consumer Experience suite, provides our brands a tangible way to truly influence the consumer experience and improve bottom line revenue,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “What is most exciting about the fusion of all of these interlocking fulfillment, delivery, and technology systems is that now brands have greater ability to earn and retain more customers and more profit. This is yet another step towards a level-playing field so all brands can deliver a lasting consumer experience on every order, every time.”

Today’s announcement builds on the recent acquisition of Ware2Go and other acquisitions of Pitney Bowe’s E-Commerce, ProPack, and Fulfillment Works as well as the recent $200 million funding round and $1.6 billion valuation.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The ramifications for failing to effectively manage expired goods extend beyond these chargebacks. If expired or near-expired products reach end consumers, brands may face recalls, legal liabilities, and severe damage to consumer trust.

Adding to this complexity is the lack of a universal industry standard for shelf-life and packaging. Instead, these requirements are often determined through a combination of brand specifications and individual retailer demands. This means e-commerce businesses must navigate a landscape of diverse and often conflicting requirements from different retail partners.

To protect profitability, maintain strong retail partnerships, and, most importantly, safeguard consumers, brands must implement methods to prevent these costly chargebacks and ensure compliance with the intricacies of retailer-specific expiration date requirements.

Direct and Indirect Costs of Expiration-Related Chargebacks

To grasp the importance of preventing expiration-related chargebacks, it's essential to look at the penalties and understand the full spectrum of the repercussions.

Direct Financial Losses

The most immediate consequence of expiration-related chargebacks is the financial penalty that retailers impose, typically in the form of fees and fines.

While not all chargebacks are solely due to expiration issues, industry reports indicate that the average chargeback rate across e-commerce sectors is 0.60%-1% of total transactions1. For a business with $1 million in annual sales, this translates to a potential loss of $6,000 to $10,000. These figures can escalate rapidly for businesses with high-volume sales of perishable or time-sensitive goods.

The financial impact extends beyond these general chargeback rates. Approximately 5-15% of all invoices are affected by chargeback deductions2, and it was found that chargeback can reduce overall revenue by 2-10%2. Moreover, it is common for retailers to impose a per-unit fee plus 100% of the product cost for goods that violate their shelf-life compliance requirements.

Acceptable shelf-life standards also vary. While industry best practices often suggest 80-90%, some major retailers have their own standards. For instance, Sephora has a 75% shelf-life compliance requirement3, and Amazon has a 730-day expiration date requirement for certain wellness products4.

Retailers often use a tiered penalty system, where repeated violations result in increasingly severe fines or even the loss of selling privileges.

These direct financial losses can substantially reduce profit margins for brands.

Indirect Costs

Expiration-related chargebacks trigger a cascade of indirect consequences. Brands often absorb inventory write-offs for rejected expired products, reducing stock value and incurring disposal costs. For example, a brand with $100,000 worth of expired inventory rejected by a retailer would not only lose the potential revenue from those sales but also incur the cost of disposing of that inventory.

Damage to Reputation and Relationships

Perhaps even more damaging are the long-term implications for retailer relationships and brand reputation. Consistent expiration issues can strain retailer partnerships, potentially leading to reduced orders or canceling the partnership.

Consumers view expired or near-expired goods as a failure in quality and safety. Whether these products are purchased directly or through a retailer, delivering them can lead to negative consequences for the brand.

In direct-to-consumer (DTC) scenarios, this results in negative reviews, decreased loyalty, and a decline in future sales. However, the impact extends to B2B transactions as well. Even when a retailer is the direct customer, if they sell expired or near-expired goods to end consumers, those consumers often blame the original brand that leads to similar negative outcomes.

Online reviews and social media amplify these negative experiences, and this can cause rapid and lasting damage across all sales channels.

Overcoming Expiration Date Management Challenges and Implementing Effective Strategies

Effectively managing expiration dates requires addressing several operational hurdles.

Challenge 1: Inaccurate Data and Disparate Inventory Management

The reliance on manual tracking methods and inaccurate date estimations can be time-consuming and prone to human error, especially when dealing with large inventory volumes and numerous SKUs with lot and batch variations.

Additionally, disparate inventory pools and multiple fulfillment providers pose challenges. Managing expiration dates becomes exceptionally complex when inventory is scattered across various locations and handled by multiple fulfillment providers.

This lack of centralized visibility and standardized processes can lead to shipments of expired or near-expired products.

Strategy 1: OMS and WMS Solutions for Real-Time Control

To address these interconnected challenges, integrated Order Management Systems (OMS) and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) are essential. Solutions like Stord provide access to these tools. The solution offers accurate and real-time inventory visibility across all locations with the ability to track expiration by SKU, lot, and batch.

These systems streamline the entire process, from receipt to shipping, and integrate with on-floor tools like scan guns to empower pickers and packers with helpful alerts. This integration of the OMS with warehouse operations provides multiple checks and prevents expired inventory from being shipped. This significantly reduces the risk of non-compliant shipments in DTC, B2B or omnichannel operations.

Challenge 2: Inadequate Picking Strategies

Many businesses fail to adapt their picking strategies to the specific requirements of each retailer. While a simple and standard First-In, First-Out (FIFO) approach might seem adequate, it can fall short in ensuring compliance. FIFO assumes that the first inventory received will also be the first to expire, but this isn't always the case. Newer inventory might have an earlier expiration date than older stock.

Retailers often have specific requirements, requiring more sophisticated strategies like First-Expired, First-Out (FEFO) or Last-In, First-Out (LIFO). FEFO prioritizes shipping the inventory with the closest expiration date, which minimizes the risk of inadvertently creating expired goods. LIFO, while less common for expiration management, might be used in specific situations where newer inventory has a longer shelf life or when dealing with retailers specific  shelf-life regulations.

Unfortunately, some providers pick whatever inventory is most readily available, without considering these expiration date factors. This leaves the brand open to unexpected non-compliance and chargebacks.

Strategy 2: FEFO and Automated Shelf-Life Compliance for Optimized Picking

FEFO is a critical inventory management strategy for perishable goods, prioritizing the shipment of products closest to their expiration date. It’s a significant improvement over the simpler FIFO method.

For brands implementing FEFO independently, this requires meticulous warehouse layout optimization, clear and accurate labeling, and comprehensive staff training.

Automation streamlines this process. Automated systems, such as Stord’s OMS and WMS solutions, enable per-SKU, per-channel expiration date minimums and automate pick strategies to ensure retailer compliance.

These systems also offer advanced features like a "catch-all" fallback mechanism. This is particularly useful when brands don't have a precise expiration date for every single SKU. Instead, they can set a maximum duration that any product is allowed to remain in stock before being automatically removed from saleable inventory or prioritized for shipment. This ensures that all products are shipped well before they become non-compliant, or are removed from stock, even without a specific expiration date.

Challenge 3: Complexity of Retailer Requirements

Diverse retailer requirements, including minimum shelf-life percentages, labeling guidelines, packaging rules, and documentation, demand a granular and flexible approach. Many businesses may find these requirements challenging.

Strategy 3: Clear Communication with Retailers

To simplify the complexity of retailer requirements, proactive communication is essential. Brands must clearly understand each retailer’s requirements or have a fulfillment provider that does. Building strong relationships through regular communication, shared documentation, and collaborative problem-solving minimizes misunderstandings and chargeback risks. This ensures compliance with various retailer requirements. A modern fulfillment provider should have working experience with all major retailers and be able to easily adapt their pack-out processes to adhere to any specific requirements set by the retailer or by the brand. 

Protect Your Business from Expiration-Related Chargebacks

Expiration-related chargebacks represent a significant financial burden for brands. Preventative inventory management is crucial to address these concerns. This requires a combination of technology and skilled execution. It includes advanced OMS and WMS systems with smart alerts to prevent mispicks, and clear communication and collaboration among brands, retailers, fulfillment providers, and front-line associates.

By fostering effective communication and leveraging technology-driven solutions that provide real-time inventory visibility and streamline shelf-life tracking, your brand can prevent chargebacks, optimize your supply chain, and protect your reputation.

This growth wasn’t without its challenges. E-commerce brands had to adapt in real time to disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping almost overnight, forcing many brands to develop a decade's worth of e-commerce acumen in just six months. Meanwhile, inflation sent fulfillment costs climbing across the board. Fuel prices spiked, driving up transportation expenses. Warehouse costs jumped by over 8%2. And during the Great Freight Recession (GFR), over 85,000 trucking companies shut down3.

More upheavals are underway as we head into Q3 2025. The U.S.-China trade war triggered higher tariffs and import taxes4, impacting sourcing and cross-border fulfillment. USPS overhauled its Parcel Select program, raising average rates by 25%5 and shifting volume to centralized sortation centers6, rendering parts of existing delivery infrastructures obsolete. And changes to IMMEX have introduced fees that eat into margins7.

E-commerce has become more volatile, more expensive, and more complicated than ever before. And the “Amazon effect” has only made buyers harder to win over and even harder to retain. Over 85% of consumers say brands failed to meet their expectations at least once in the past year because of late deliveries and excessive shipping costs8. Online shoppers don’t care about the challenges your brand is facing. Without exception, they continue to expect an excellent consumer experience every time they interact with your brand. So unless you offer better products, eliminate out-of-stock issues, improve messaging before and after purchase, optimize checkout, guarantee faster and free shipping, provide real-time order tracking, and simplify returns options, consumers will always choose to purchase elsewhere.

To ensure brand loyalty and a winning consumer experience, you need more than the status quo. You need a flexible and reliable commerce enablement solution—one that helps your brand stay prepared, maintain consistency, and leverage real-time data to scale through any disruption.

The Power of Preparation

Being able to deliver the ideal consumer experience every time despite rising costs, shifting policies, or fulfillment challenges starts with preparation. The brands that stay ahead are the ones that build flexibility into their fulfillment strategies.

One way to do that is by partnering with a fulfillment provider that can tap into a shared network of distributed infrastructure already built to support inter-state, national, and cross-country fulfillment. More than geographic reach, shared networks provide operational readiness, allowing you to activate warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation without starting from scratch.

We’ve seen this need for agility play out in real time as amendments, such as changes to IMMEX, have created new challenges in fulfillment.

Sean goes into detail about the IMMEX modifications and more in his Q1 2025 keynote, but here’s a snapshot of the key changes:

Mexico is the United States' largest trading partner9. Beyond geographic proximity, favorable trade agreements have made it a go-to partner for brands looking to capitalize on cost savings. By combining the IMMEX program’s duty-free imports with the U.S. Section 321 de minimis exemption, brands were able to manufacture in Mexico and move goods into the U.S. without paying duties—especially in high-volume categories like apparel and textiles. However, the IMMEX updates added 15-35% tariffs and placed limits on duty-free imports for certain product categories10. Brands leveraging the IMMEX program and Section 321 exemption are now dealing with higher costs, customs delays, and more complicated logistics.

These changes created pressure for brands to respond quickly. But those prepared with flexible fulfillment strategies and access to a shared, distributed network were able to pivot instantly.

When True Classic was impacted by IMMEX import changes, Stord acted fast—launching a new fulfillment hub in Kentucky and getting outbound products moving in just 19 days from signature, with zero delays.

Another example is the USPS pricing and service changes:

Here’s more on what that means:

• Parcel Select saw a 9.2% rate increase, with last-mile unit entry costs rising over 10%11.

• The price for USPS Ground Advantage (Retail) went up by 4.9%11.

• Deep Drop Unit (DDU) rates proposed hikes ranging from 23% to 70%12.

• USPS stopped offering discounts to consolidator carriers like UPS SurePost13.

• Delivery takes 1-2 days longer as USPS leans on ground transportation to cut costs14.

• Consolidators are losing control over customer shipments as parcels get pushed further upstream in the USPS network15.

Brands with fulfillment strategies unprepared for such changes were left with rising costs and slower deliveries. This hits hard on consumer expectations as more than 90% of online shoppers will abandon their cart if they encounter high shipping costs16, and 1 out of 4 won’t buy from your brand again after a single delayed delivery17.

Here’s how Stord helped brands navigate these changes without compromising the consumer experience:

Stord Parcel helped brands pivot quickly to new carriers and fulfillment centers. No changes to the customer promise—just a new path to make it happen.

Preparation starts with the right partner. The brands that win during times of change are those that have built and partnered with providers who can quickly adapt to any seen or unseen changes in the market.

The Power of Consistency

While reacting fast is critical, brands can’t succeed if they are in a constant state of fire drills. Long-term e-commerce success comes from building systems that deliver speed and savings without daily firefighting. What you need is an enablement and fulfillment system that’s fast, flexible, cost-effective, and above all, consistent.

But you can’t be consistent if you don’t know what “great” means. You have to start with a clear benchmark. Here’s what best-in-class e-commerce enablement looks like by the numbers:

While the industry benchmarks are already decent, brands that partnered with Stord experienced better on-time delivery performance, higher order accuracy, and shorter order cycle times. This is the standard level of service you must consistently deliver to your customers for every order, without fail and without exception.

Take, for example, Alen Corporation, an Austin-based company known for its award-winning HEPA air purifiers. As demand for clean air surged, Alen faced growing pressure to scale quickly. With Stord’s integrated e-commerce enablement platform, Alen transitioned to a scalable, tech-enabled fulfillment solution that kept pace with growing order volumes and seasonal spikes. The case study explains how Alen reduced lead times by 80% after partnering with Stord. Even as demand for air purifiers continued to increase, they still shipped faster than before—and they’ve consistently maintained that speed ever since.

This is what consistency looks like when done right. It’s about continuing to deliver, no matter what. In e-commerce, every order is a promise. The brands that win are the ones that keep that promise—again and again—with the right systems and partners behind them. 

The Power of Data

The brands that stayed resilient from 2020 to 2024 weren’t just the ones with the most inventory or the biggest fulfillment networks. They were the ones who could see what was happening in real time and move accordingly. These brands had access to the right data at the right time.

With data seamlessly flowing through a fully integrated e-commerce fulfillment network, your brand gains the visibility it needs to stay in control. Inventory levels stay accurate across all platforms. Estimated delivery dates (EDDs) are instantly calculated based on the closest fulfillment provider and automatically updated when unavoidable delays occur. And every parcel’s location is tracked in real time, keeping you and your customers always informed.

This level of visibility pays off when disruptions strike—like in early 2023, when a winter storm caused widespread carrier delays in the Northeast18. Brands that could see the impact across their fulfillment centers and customer delivery zones adjusted immediately by rerouting orders, updating delivery windows, and communicating proactively with customers. Others didn’t realize the problem until complaints started flooding in.

Another example is when severe port congestion hit California mid 2024. A 37% spike in on-dock volume caused nearly half of all containers to experience dwell times more than twice as long—jumping from an average of 4 days to over 919. For brands relying on that corridor, fulfillment timelines fell apart. Here’s how data can be used to solve a major dwell time issue:

Brands using integrated systems, like those partnered with Stord, gain immediate visibility into data across their entire network—from inventory, warehouse, fulfillment, transportation, and more. That kind of data enables your brand to move fast, hold your partners accountable, and consistently deliver the experience required for your end consumers.

Overcome Change While Continuously Winning

In a volatile e-commerce environment, we have to assume that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Margins are tight, competition is unforgiving, consumer expectations are higher than ever, and the cost of being unprepared isn’t just high—it’s compounding.

To overcome change and keep winning, you need a flexible, end-to-end e-commerce fulfillment and enablement system that can keep you agile. One powered with the best-in-class technology that can scale without breaking.

Customers don’t see the internal challenges you overcome. They see a brand that delivers on time, every time. That reliability, even in the face of change and uncertainty, is what earns trust and drives repeat conversions. In today’s dynamic environment, the brands that win are the ones that prepare, adapt, and move forward—no matter what’s around the corner

In the automotive industry, for example, Ford Motor has raised prices on several models by up to $2,000 due to tariffs on vehicles manufactured in Mexico2. Apparel brands that rely heavily on Chinese imports are also facing higher costs on textiles and finished products, leading to thinner inventory margins3. Tariffs were also projected to drive the prices of consumer electronics up by 30-60%4. The uncertainty surrounding tariffs and the drastic increase in the prices of goods have also caused a dip in consumer confidence and sentiment, causing many shoppers to pull back on discretionary spending5.

However, with the 90-day pause following a trade agreement between the U.S.and China that took effect on May 14, reciprocal duties have been slashed from 125% down to 10%.6 While not a full resolution, the reprieve offers brands a much-needed break from spiraling costs and allows for more strategic planning ahead of potential long-term tariff restructuring.

For major importers like Temu and Shein, the tariff pause creates a temporary window of opportunity to restock U.S.-based warehouses by ramping up shipments from China. Amazon, whose third-party sellers often rely on Chinese manufacturers, are also expected to accelerate bulk shipments during the 90-day window to get ahead of future tariff reinstatements.7 But in response to renewed demand for ocean freight capacity, shipping costs are rising sharply. Asia-U.S. West Coast prices have jumped by 72% to $4,765 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) in the past week, with East Coast rates up 44% to $5,721 per FEU.8 With brands rushing to capitalize on the pause, competition for ocean space is heating up, especially among those prioritizing full-container load (FCL) shipments to maximize volume at current rates. These shifts are shaping how shippers respond to the temporary tariff reprieve.

Some retailers and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are continuing to use the trade war as a marketing lever by offering tariff-inspired sales to encourage shoppers to buy now before tariff rates rise again or new measures are implemented9. Even with the reprieve, the threat of reinstated tariffs looms large.

Tariff driven sales continue to offer a practical way to generate additional capital and improve cash flow. By selling through inventory already on hand or en route that was purchased during this 90-day pause, brands can capitalize on strong demand while improving their open-to-buy budgets. For instance, a brand importing products at $10/unit now may have to pay $12.50/unit when tariffs are reinstated. Selling 5,000 units at the original cost could yield $12,500 more in margin to reinvest or buffer against the future squeeze.

With that in mind, e-commerce brands are experimenting with a range of tariff sales tactics to drive urgency and maximize results while the window of opportunity remains open.

Common Tariff Sales Tactics and Their Tradeoffs

Successful sales campaigns can significantly boost conversions by 5-10%10. So, it could be easily assumed that tariff sales are always good for your brand. However, every campaign comes with its own set of trade-offs.

Flash Sales & Limited-Time Offers

Flash sales are time-sensitive promotions, usually lasting 24 to 72 hours, that offer steep discounts on selected products or categories. These campaigns are usually promoted through countdown timers, email or text alerts, or social media blasts to drive immediate action and generate quick spikes in traffic and conversions.

While effective at creating urgency, this tactic can be risky if inventory becomes cost-prohibitive or difficult to replenish after the campaign. Although the May 14 agreement has temporarily reduced reciprocal duties to 10% for a 90-day window, many brands are still operating cautiously, unsure of what comes next. A brand that sells out during a flash sale and fails to restock before the pause expires may find itself dealing with much higher landed costs once duties return.

To avoid this, a strong fulfillment infrastructure is critical. Systems that offer real-time, accurate visibility into stock levels across platforms and warehouses not only ensure a smooth consumer experience during the sale but also help brands better forecast sell-through rates and manage inventory allocation so they don’t overcommit on volume they can't replace.

Holiday Sales

Holiday sales are planned promotions tied to widely recognized holidays or seasonal events, typically lasting several days to a week or more. Unlike flash sales, which are short and highly time-sensitive bursts designed to create immediate urgency, holiday sales offer a longer window for customers to shop and provide organic reasons to make purchases.

The Memorial Day sales this year were less about the hype and more about consumers racing against the clock on rising costs.11 We see the same trend for Father’s Day sales with consumers planning to spend $199.38 on average per person, or nearly $10 more than last year’s $189.81 average.12 To capitalize on this projected increase of consumer spending, brands must ensure they can efficiently fulfill each order and guarantee delivery by or before June 15. Brands that invest in scalable fulfillment networks are better positioned to maintain service levels, even amid last-minute order spikes.

Bundle Deals

These deals can take the form of kits, or more flexible offers like “Buy One, Get One Free” or “Buy X, Get Y at 50% Off.” Essentially, bundles can boost sales by incentivizing consumers to purchase more than they otherwise would.

This strategy helps brands increase average order value (AOV) and move more units per sale, which is especially useful when clearing out slower-moving SKUs alongside popular items. Moreover, tariffed products can be bundled with other non-tariffed products to mask slight price increases caused by preemptive tariff pricing.

However, if kitting isn't already built into a brand’s fulfillment workflow, it can quickly introduce operational complexity. Assembling bundles manually during high-volume periods can slow down order processing and lead to delays, errors, and customer dissatisfaction, negating the sales lift that bundles are meant to provide. To execute bundled offers efficiently, fulfillment systems must support kitting at scale.

Tiered Discounts Based on Cart Value

This strategy uses escalating incentives to encourage customers to spend more. For example, a brand might offer 10% off orders over $50, and 20% off orders over $100. This format nudges online shoppers to increase their cart size to reach the next discount threshold. For brands, this can be a way to protect margins by linking deeper discounts to higher order values while also encouraging bulk buying before higher tariffs return.

That said, tiered offers require careful calibration. Brands need clear visibility into SKU-level costs, inventory availability, and shipping constraints to build tiers that make financial and operational sense. Fulfillment systems must be able to support variable order sizes efficiently and ensure that larger, discounted orders can be picked, packed, and shipped without delay.

Adjusting Free Shipping Thresholds

Free shipping is a pricing-neutral way to encourage larger cart sizes without changing the price of individual items. In this case, instead of offering free shipping at a threshold of $75, brands may temporarily raise it to $85 or $100. This pushes customers to add more to their carts to avoid paying shipping fees13, which can be especially motivating when paired with messaging about potential cost increases post-reprieve.

The success of this strategy depends heavily on setting the new threshold just above typical order values and cart sizes, and making the benefit feel achievable.

However, larger orders often require different packaging, added weight handling, and more complex pick-and-pack processes. Your fulfillment system must be able to optimize for cost-efficiency and speed across varying order sizes and dynamically apply the correct free shipping thresholds.

Limited-Time Messaging Without Discounting

Instead of using special offers and promotions, this strategy focuses solely on urgency-driven messaging such as “Prices Going Up Soon” or “Buy Before Tariffs Return”. This leverages the inevitability of tariff-related cost increases to prompt faster decision-making and push hesitant shoppers toward conversion. A customer who has been lingering with a product in their cart for weeks may finally complete their purchase after seeing a clear warning that prices are about to go up after the pause, or inventory may run out.

While conversion rates may be lower without a financial incentive14, margins are preserved by avoiding discounts. And to enhance the perceived value of the offering, it’s often paired with a “Buy Now, Ship Now” promise. Although less effective at attracting price-sensitive or first-time buyers, the promise of quick delivery can help offset that drawback15, provided your fulfillment operations can reliably deliver on it.

Holding Inventory

Some brands, particularly those without expiration-sensitive products, are choosing to hold significant inventory in the U.S. or Canada to take advantage of lower landed costs while the reprieve lasts without adjusting prices or running promotions.

Their strategy is not “to do nothing” but rather to maintain current pricing, preserve margins, and sell through existing stock at a steady pace. This approach relies on the idea that competitors who run pre-tariff sales will burn through their inventory and then face higher costs to restock post-reprieve. Meanwhile, brands that held onto their pre-tariff inventory can continue selling at original prices, effectively undercutting the market without changing their pricing schemes.

The onset of this strategy is reflected in recent economic data. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for Q1 2025 fell at a 0.3% annualized pace, the first quarterly contraction since Q1 202216. A major contributor to the decline was a surge in imports17, as many businesses accelerated shipments to the U.S. to get ahead of more tariff hikes. While this move helped brands avoid higher landed costs, it introduced a new set of challenges tied to that surplus inventory: storage, handling, insurance, obsolescence, and now, additional costs from the ongoing fight for ocean space.

Without a solid inventory and fulfillment strategy, the savings gained from beating the tariff deadlines can quickly erode under operational inefficiencies. Brands need a detailed plan for where the additional inventory will be stored in relation to existing stock, and how quickly it can be moved once orders begin to surge.

Making Sales Campaigns Strategic Through Fulfillment

Ultimately, successful sales campaigns require a logistics operation that scales with demand. Every tactic outlined above depends on fast, flexible, and accurate fulfillment to avoid delays, errors, and poor consumer experiences. Stord’s integrated fulfillment platform and network are purpose-built to meet these challenges head-on.

By integrating warehouses, fulfillment centers, sales channels, and internal systems, Stord keeps inventory data synchronized and accurate across platforms. This real-time visibility enables dynamic merchandising and eliminates overselling risks that often come with high-volume campaigns. For bundle deals, Stord enables both pre-kitting and on-demand assembly, so brands can run complex promotions without sacrificing order speed or accuracy. And with fulfillment centers strategically positioned near major customer hubs, last-mile delivery times and shipping costs are optimized, even as AOV grows.

The temporary pause in escalating trade tensions has provided brands with a rare window to prepare. Tariffs may be lower for now, but they are not likely to go away. Brands that double down on flexibility and agility across their logistics stack will be better equipped to weather what comes next.

Tariff Sales Are Good, If Your Fulfillment Can Keep Up

Tariffs create unavoidable pressure on cost structures, margins, and consumer behavior. But for brands that partner with the right commerce enablement and fulfillment provider, they present a massive window of opportunity. Tariff inspired sales, when executed strategically, can drive demand, improve cash flow, and maximize the value of pre-tariff inventory.

Integrated systems, flexible fulfillment workflows, and real-time visibility give brands the speed and control to launch smarter campaigns, adapt faster, and maintain customer trust in an environment where economic and policy shocks are the new normal.

Industry data found an average 70.19% cart abandonment rate1. One of the major reasons for cart abandonment is unexpected shipping fees, especially during checkout. Shipping costs, fees/taxes, and delivery concerns drive 50%-70% of cart abandonment2.

However, the problem is not just about cost. Shipping costs trigger a powerful psychological response. The "pain of paying" creates "sticker shock" when consumers, having already mentally budgeted for the product price, are confronted with additional costs. This is why a surprise shipping charge at the last step can be so lethal to conversions.

Free shipping is no longer a perk but an expectation. A 2023 report indicated that 62% of shoppers won't even consider a purchase without it3. Therefore, effectively implementing free shipping addresses this friction and can turn a cost into a powerful conversion tool. However, doing so while maintaining margins can be challenging for most e-commerce brands.

The Psychology of Free Shipping

The effectiveness of free shipping is deeply rooted in consumer psychology. Understanding these underlying drivers is important for creating effective free shipping strategies.

The "Zero Price Effect"

This psychological phenomenon explains why consumers tend to overvalue items perceived as "free," even if the actual monetary value is negligible. It creates an emotional pull that transcends rational cost-benefit analysis.

When something is free, it triggers a different decision-making process in the brain, often leading to impulsive behavior and a heightened sense of desirability. For example, an end consumer might be more inclined to add an extra item to their cart to reach a free shipping threshold simply because the "free" shipping feels like a better deal than paying a small shipping fee. In fact, research showed that roughly 80% of online shoppers are willing to meet a minimum purchase threshold to avoid shipping charges4.

This behavior presents a significant opportunity for increased earnings. Consider a scenario where your e-commerce store has 10,000 orders per month with a current Average Order Value (AOV) of $50. Then, you implement a free shipping threshold of $75 that successfully nudges about 20% of end consumers to add an extra $25 worth of products to their cart. That's an additional $600,000 in revenue per year. While the exact amount will vary based on factors like your product margins and customer base, this example illustrates the potential for increased sales and profitability. The increase could be even larger as the inclusion of a shipping threshold will likely influence consumers that would have paid for shipping to buy more and convince those that would have left entirely to stay and convert to earn the free shipping with a larger AOV.

Loss Aversion

This is the innate tendency to avoid losses more keenly than acquiring equivalent gains. In other words, the pain of losing something is felt more strongly than the pleasure of gaining something of the same value.

Shipping fees are often perceived as a "loss" at the checkout stage. End consumers have already mentally budgeted for the product price, and an unexpected shipping fee feels like money being taken away, creating a negative emotional response. This is a significant factor in cart abandonment, as studies indicate that high or unexpected shipping costs are a primary driver of shoppers abandoning their carts5.

Reduced Purchase Friction

Shipping costs can introduce complexity and uncertainty into the purchase process. End consumers have to calculate the total cost and compare shipping options, which can lead to decision fatigue. The added complexity of weighing price against delivery speed can overwhelm customers. This can increase hesitation and contribute to cart abandonment. 

Free shipping simplifies the process by removing a significant barrier to purchase completion. It creates a smoother, more convenient experience, which can reduce the cognitive load on the customer and increase the likelihood of a sale. To further minimize friction, consider offering a clear and straightforward choice between a free standard option and a paid expedited option rather than presenting many confusing choices.

Increased Perceived Value

Free shipping can significantly increase the perceived value of an overall purchase. End consumers may feel like they are getting more for their money when shipping is included, even if the cost is factored into the product price. This can make products seem more attractive and justify slightly higher prices, as customers focus on the "free" shipping benefit.

Emotional Reward

Offering free shipping taps into positive emotions and creates a rewarding experience for end consumers. They may feel:

• Satisfied and happy with their purchase.

• Smart and savvy for getting a good deal.

• Grateful to the seller for providing this benefit.

These positive emotions can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat purchases because customers may associate your brand with a positive shopping experience.

Effective Implementation of Free Shipping Offer

A blanket “free shipping” approach across all orders is one option, but other strategies can be considered:

1. Threshold-Based Free Shipping

Set minimum order values that incentivize larger purchases and increase Average Order Value (AOV) while offsetting shipping costs. For example, your brand can promote “Free shipping on orders over $50.”

This strategy works by encouraging customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for the free shipping offer. Analyze your average order value and set a threshold slightly above it. If your current AOV is $40, a $50 free shipping threshold could effectively nudge customers to add an extra item.

This approach benefits you by increasing AOV and covering shipping costs on larger orders, but exercise caution to avoid setting the threshold so high that it discourages smaller purchases.

2. Limited-Time Promotions

Use free shipping as a promotional tool during peak seasons (e.g., holidays), for specific product launches, or during sales events. This can create urgency and drive immediate sales, as in saying "Free shipping on all orders this weekend only!" These promotions can be highly effective for generating a spike in short-term sales and attracting new customers, particularly when used strategically and sparingly.

However, it's crucial to acknowledge the potential drawbacks of this approach. Overuse can condition customers to expect free shipping continuously, which might negatively impact conversions when it's not available. This can also lead to customer annoyance, especially if they recently missed a free shipping window that creates a sense of unfairness. Therefore, managing customer expectations and providing clear communication about the limited-time nature of the offer is important to manage the risks.

3. Category-Specific Offers

Offer free shipping on high-margin or strategically important product categories to boost their sales and overall profitability. This is especially useful for promoting new products, clearing out older inventory, or encouraging the purchase of items with higher profit margins, as in “Free shipping on all moisturizers this month.” This approach increases sales of specific products and improves profitability, but clear communication about which categories qualify for free shipping is essential.

4. Loyalty Program or Membership Perks

Integrate free shipping into your loyalty program as a tiered reward for repeat customers to foster long-term engagement, increase customer lifetime value (CLTV), and reduce customer churn.

This strategy rewards customer loyalty and encourages repeat purchases, and you can offer different levels of free shipping. Consider these options:

• Free Loyalty Program - Offer free standard shipping as a perk for members who join your loyalty program (often free to join). This incentivizes sign-ups and rewards repeat business.

• Paid Membership Option - Introduce a premium tier with enhanced free shipping benefits (e.g., free expedited shipping, unlimited 2-day shipping) in exchange for a membership fee. This can generate recurring revenue and further incentivize frequent purchases.

• Tiered Rewards - Combine both approaches by creating a tiered system where free shipping benefits increase with each level (e.g., "Silver members get free standard shipping, Gold members get free 2-day shipping").

While this approach can increase customer retention, boost CLTV, and reduce churn, careful design of your loyalty program (including any paid membership options) is necessary to guarantee profitability.

5. Free vs. Fast Shipping

Offer free and paid shipping options to cater to different customer needs. Provide a free, slower option (e.g., standard ground) to attract price-sensitive customers, alongside a paid, faster option (e.g., expedited or priority) for those prioritizing speed.

To optimize shipping costs and delivery times, consider partnering with a logistics provider and utilizing shipping software that offers intelligent parcel selection. These solutions analyze factors like zip-to-zip delivery data to automatically choose the most cost-effective shipping method that still meets the customer's delivery expectations. Clear communication of estimated delivery dates (EDD) allows customers to make informed decisions based on their needs and budget.

Drive Conversions with Free Shipping Offer

Free shipping, when strategically implemented and optimized, is a powerful tool for addressing cart abandonment and driving e-commerce growth. With cart abandonment rates often exceeding 70%, even a small reduction achieved through effective free shipping approaches can boost revenue.

For example, if your e-commerce business currently loses $10,000 monthly to cart abandonment, a 10% reduction through optimized free shipping recaptures $1,000 in sales. When you understand the psychological drivers and employ data-driven strategies, your brand can transform free shipping expectation from a cost center into a significant conversion and loyalty driver.

Imports from China fell to $29.4 billion in March 2025, the lowest monthly total since 2021, representing a 1.9% year-over-year decline and a 7% drop from the previous month.1 This decline was driven in large part by the 145% tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and the 125% reciprocal tariffs China levied on U.S. goods3, which sent landed costs through the roof and forced many importers to pause or reroute orders. This also triggered a 42% surge in blank sailings on trans-Pacific east-bound routes compared to March, as carriers aggressively canceled trips to realign capacity with diminished demand.4

However, there’s now a temporary reprieve. As of May 14, 2025, reciprocal duties have been slashed from 125% down to 10% for an initial 90-day pause following an agreement between the U.S. and China.5 While this offers much-needed relief, it also introduces a narrow window in which shippers must move quickly to capitalize on lower rates before the pause expires in mid-August.

Now, carriers are racing to restore service, with new sailings being reinstated and overbooked vessels pushing capacity to its limits through May. Shippers are scrambling to front-load orders during this 90-day window, an effort that’s already driving spot rates higher across ocean freight, drayage, and over-the-road transportation.

These stressors, at least temporarily, could be on hold due to a recent intervention by the U.S. Court of International Trade, which struck down several tariffs imposed by President Trump, including the Liberation Day Tariffs, Canada/Mexico General Tariffs, and the increased 145% China Tariffs. Steel/Aluminum, Auto Parts, and Legacy China Tariffs from 2018 and 2019 are still valid and in effect.6

The court’s ruling was based on an overstep by the Trump administration and its use of The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This act, which was enacted in 1977, gives the president authority to regulate commerce in response to “unusual and extraordinary threats.” However, in order to utilize these powers, a national emergency must be declared.7 The court found that the emergencies were not suitable to meet IEEPA’s standards and therefore invalidated the legal standing for these tariffs.

Even as brands sprint to determine the best course action, the future of tariffs and trade remains murky. Despite the ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade, these tariffs will remain in effect as the White House has appealed the ruling, which could see this go all the way to the Supreme Court. The next hearing will be on June 5th.8 As such, the challenge to quickly manufacture and transport inventory now, or at a moment's notice, remains paramount.

While these specific tariffs are currently under review, the White House has other avenues to enact its trade policies, and brands need to be sufficiently prepared for more upheaval and disruptions. The plans shippers institute over the next three months could define their success for the rest of the year and beyond.

Strategic Moves for Shippers During the Reprieve

The current tariff pause presents a narrow but critical window for importers and exporters to shore up resilience, optimize costs, and secure capacity. Here are some strategies that can help your brand stay ahead:

Implement Multi-Sourcing Strategies

The trade war has exposed how depending entirely on a single manufacturing source can become a huge liability for brands. Many importers are shifting to a “China Plus One” strategy, where core production remains in China while secondary suppliers are established in countries like Vietnam, India, or Indonesia. Labor costs in these countries are also cheaper than in China, which can offer significant cost incentives for certain product categories. Businesses can begin by classifying SKUs based on cost sensitivity, then set up contracts with backup suppliers that allow them to adjust volumes when needed.

Evaluate Nearshoring Opportunities

Bringing production closer to end markets can shorten transit times and limit exposure to geopolitical shifts. Mexico and Canada are key options for U.S. brands looking to limit exposure to trans-Pacific shipping delays. However, brands must weigh the tradeoffs between landed costs, lead times, and supplier performance. As nearshoring gains momentum, early adopters are already securing space with reliable partners before capacity tightens further.

Front-Load Imports and Optimize Booking Windows

The drop in tariffs has created a short-term race for ocean space. Carriers are now reporting full capacity through the end of May, and many forwarders are only honoring bookings made several weeks in advance. To avoid missed sailings or premium surcharges, brands importing raw materials, parts, or finished goods are front-loading orders and expanding safety stock levels. Using flexible booking contracts that allow for rescheduling or include rollover rights can also provide some breathing room.

Diversify Port Pairs and Avoid Single-Route Dependence

A single point of entry increases vulnerability. Delays at major U.S. ports can halt cargo for days or weeks. To reduce exposure, consider splitting inbound volumes across multiple ports. Using alternative entry points alongside traditional hubs can offer flexibility should port slowdowns unexpectedly occur. The most prepared brands are working with fulfillment providers who have built-in contingency plans and can reroute shipments instantly.

Align Cross-Border Strategy with Duty Minimization

Managing duty costs is another priority in periods of tariff volatility. Brands are leveraging Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) and bonded warehouses to delay or minimize duties on imported goods. Some brands are routing ocean freight into Mexico or Canada first, then using bonded trucking to move goods into the U.S. as needed.

Tighten Control Over Inbound Lead Times

Visibility has always been a competitive advantage. The recent surge in demand for ocean freight following the tariff pause has only made this clearer. Brands with access to real-time tracking and milestone-level ETAs can respond faster when ocean transit delays occur. Tightening control over inbound lead times starts with full container-level visibility from the port of origin through the last mile of delivery. Top-performing brands are integrating freight visibility data with inventory planning tools to prioritize containers carrying best-selling SKUs or seasonal inventory.

File for IEEPA Refunds

Be prepared to proactively apply for a credit on duties paid if you were affected by the “unconstitutional” tariff actions, depending on the outcomes of the courts. You can consult with your customs broker to understand timing/eligibility. This is time sensitive and should be handled expeditiously if the rulings of the U.S. Court of International Trade is upheld.

Take Action

The current pause gives brands a rare chance to act on these strategies before the next wave of trade disruption hits. Tariffs may be lower for now, but they are not likely to go away. U.S. trade policy remains unpredictable.

Brands must use this time to strengthen their freight and fulfillment operations. Those that build flexibility now will be better positioned to meet demand and protect margins when tariffs are reinstated.

But building flexibility and scalability into your operations takes more than strategy. It takes a reliable commerce enablement and fulfillment partner who can help manage everything for you in one place.

How Stord Helps Brands Ship With Confidence Across Borders

Stord’s comprehensive commerce enablement platform grants brands the crucial physical fulfillment and integrated technologies needed to adapt quickly and intelligently to stay ahead of these shifting changes.

Stord Freight not only provides the infrastructure and flexibility needed to respond to trade disruptions through various forms of trucking, but can help brands manage the growing demand for strategic ocean freight. Our standard ocean and air freight services cover all major ports in the U.S. and Canada, and our global fulfillment structure ensures we are prepared to support imports from all 7 continents.

For brands shipping from China, Stord provides weekly sailings from key export hubs like Shanghai and Shenzhen. Our express LCL (less-than-container load) service consolidates cargo and ships it to Los Angeles, where it's moved inland using bonded IPI (Interior Point Intermodal) linehaul. For faster turnaround, our express service ships directly to Long Beach, CA. Whether you’re shipping FOB or Ex Works, Stord manages your cargo all the way to a U.S. container freight station (CFS). This setup helps brands reach inland distribution centers more quickly by avoiding delays at coastal ports.

Once freight reaches the U.S., it can be routed directly into Stord’s fulfillment infrastructure with 11 managed fulfillment nodes, backed by our extended network of over 50 fully operational partner centers, giving brands the ability to connect international shipping directly with local distribution and last-mile delivery. This end-to-end integration helps reduce handoffs, improve tracking, and keep lead times under control.

With the temporary pause in tariffs causing a surge in demand for ocean freight services, Stord Freight helps brands move with more confidence across borders.

Positioning Your Brand for Success Beyond the Tariff Pause

The temporary pause may offer short-term relief, but it doesn’t change the direction U.S. trade policy is heading. With potential reinstatement of similar duties hanging over the next 6-18 months, brands must use this brief window to shore up freight and fulfillment operations.

With the right infrastructure and a dependable fulfillment partner in place, you can stay ahead and be far better positioned when tariffs return.

If you need help adjusting your freight strategy, please visit our support portal or connect with our Stord freight team at freight@stord.com.

Parcel costs are driven by a mix of variables: zone, weight, dimensions, speed, fuel surcharges, and accessorial fees. Each carrier calculates these factors differently. UPS and FedEx apply dimensional (DIM) weight pricing to most shipments2, meaning bulkier packages are often priced well above their actual weight. USPS still uses weight-based pricing for many services, though recent changes in pricing structures and service tiers have made their pricing more similar to competitors.3 Hybrid carriers like UPS Mail Innovations (UPSMI) use negotiated rates based on factors like volume commitments, regional injection points, and where the package is handed off in the delivery network.4

Accounting for these diverse pricing models to determine the best way to offer fast and affordable shipping to end consumers is a significant challenge for brands. And the recent large-scale changes U.S. carriers have been implementing have only made the math for parcel margins much harder. Rising rates and shifting policies from USPS, UPS, UPSMI, and even Canada Post are making it increasingly difficult and costly for brands to meet consumer expectations.

What Changed in 2025 for U.S. Parcels

UPS began by introducing a 5.9% General Rate Increase (GRI) on December 23, 2024.5 Shortly after, on January 2025, UPS and USPS ended their SurePost partnership.6 This eliminated a commonly used hybrid last-mile option that helped brands keep costs stable for lightweight shipments. Many online retailers were forced to shift volume to UPS Ground or to regional carriers, often at a higher per-parcel cost due to dimensional weight fees and fewer last-mile efficiencies.

UPS Mail Innovations (UPSMI) also introduced new pricing pressure, with rates increasing by double digits effective May 11. New charges include a $1.75 extended-area fee and a 1.5% penalty for late payments.7

Even after a sharp rate hike in mid-2024  averaging 25% for Parcel Select, USPS followed that increase with another one in early 2025, with Parcel Select rising another 5.4%.8 The next round is planned for July 13, with Parcel Select rates going up by another 7.6%.9 Uncertainty has grown as well with the recent announcement of a new Postmaster General10, raising concerns about possible privatization or additional service changes.11

Cross-border shipping has not fared much better. In May 2025, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) issued a strike notice. Although a full walkout was avoided, the union imposed a ban on overtime beginning May 2312. U.S. brands that rely on Canada Post for cross-border inventory movement and last-mile delivery now face a heightened risk of delays.

As carriers continue to adjust their operations and pricing structures, e-commerce brands are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain predictable and cost-effective delivery services. Together, these changes are limiting flexibility and driving up the cost of getting products to end consumers on time.

Carrier Strategies To Stay Agile Against Rising Parcel Costs

As carriers raise rates and restructure services, e-commerce brands are being forced to rethink delivery options while hopefully protecting margins. And while a shipping blueprint is highly customized per brand, there are strategies brands can employ to soften the impact and build agility into their fulfillment.

Diversifying Carriers

Relying on a single carrier leaves brands exposed to rate hikes, service disruptions, and limited negotiation power. Diversifying across multiple carriers enables brands to compare costs, maintain delivery speed, and preserve flexibility as conditions change.

This approach allows brands the flexibility to match each shipment to the most cost-effective and reliable service based on weight, zone, and delivery time. For example, a brand might use Carrier A for lightweight subscription boxes, Carrier B for same-day delivery in urban hubs, and Carrier C for long-distance standard shipping—all based on zone, weight, and SLA requirements.

Tracking Carrier Performance

Tracking and benchmarking key performance indicators, such as cost per package, cost per zone, on-time delivery rate, and exception frequency, helps brands identify underperforming services and shift volume where it makes financial and operational sense.

For instance, if a brand is consistently seeing a higher exception rate (i.e., delays or lost packages) from a specific carrier in Zones 7-8, it may make sense to test alternatives for those destinations. Say, after tracking KPIs, a brand discovers that deliveries to the West Coast via Carrier A are late 18% of the time, while Carrier B has a 96% on-time delivery rate to the same regions. With this insight, the brand shifts West Coast volume to Carrier B, resulting in a significant reduction in delivery delays and a great boost in consumer satisfaction.

Leveraging Regional Carriers

Regional carriers can offer faster delivery and lower rates within their service zones, often bypassing national carrier congestion. These carriers also tend to offer fewer surcharges and more favorable dimensional weight rules, making them especially cost-effective for small to mid-sized parcels.

In markets where regional carriers are viable, e-commerce brands can cut per-parcel costs by 10-40% compared to national carriers.13 Shorter delivery distances also mean fewer handoffs and better visibility, reducing the chance of service exceptions and missed deliveries.

While these strategies can significantly reduce parcel costs and improve SLAs, putting them into practice introduces a new layer of operational complexity. Integrating multiple carriers across your multichannel e-commerce platform, order management system (OMS), warehouse management system (WMS), and transportation management system (TMS) requires precise coordination. Routing logic, carrier selection, rate shopping, SLA tracking, and performance reporting must all function in sync, executing in real time while maintaining consistent service levels across your entire fulfillment network. For many brands, building this integrated, scalable system is a major challenge.

Thus, more retailers are turning to fulfillment partners that natively support a multi-carrier approach and can adapt to market volatility without the added overhead. With the right partner, brands can unlock the benefits of broader carrier access, faster routing, and lower costs through combined bargaining power, without the burden of managing dozens of carrier relationships on their own.

Flexible, Scalable Carrier Integration

Stord’s carrier-agnostic last-mile delivery solution, Stord Parcel, integrates with national, regional, and last-mile carriers across all service levels. This carrier diversity, combined with advanced technology-driven routing decisions, allows brands to avoid disruption while keeping transit times and costs under control. Stord allows brands to track performance in real time and adjust routing to ensure packages reach their destinations quickly, even as market conditions shift.

Stord is built to absorb shocks that would otherwise disrupt a brand’s fulfillment operation. While many retailers faced unplanned costs from carrier price hikes or delays tied to the Canadian postal strike, brands using Stord Parcel were shielded from both. In fact, 98% of shipments moved without issue through these disruptions. Meanwhile, UPSMI customers saw no rate increases, giving them continued access to a lower-cost delivery option without new surcharges.

One Stord brand partner put it plainly: “Switching to Stord meant that year-over-year, we saw zero increase in parcel costs while everyone else saw theirs go up.”

Part of this resilience comes from our proactive carrier expansion. Our parcel network has grown from all national partners to adding many new regional players in the past couple of months, with more slated to join this year. This broadens regional reach and reduces reliance on legacy carriers that may impose mid-year changes or capacity limits.

Stord’s recent acquisition of Ware2Go from UPS adds further depth to its fulfillment capabilities. With Ware2Go’s national warehouse network and delivery infrastructure, Stord can better serve distributed inventory models and increase speed-to-customer. The acquisition also strengthens the parcel network’s ability to shift volume fluidly across nodes and carriers, supporting faster and more cost-effective fulfillment nationwide.

Brands that trusted Stord to manage and select the ideal parcel per package saw an average reduction of 1 day in transit time. Now in 2025, brands are seeing on average an additional 1 day improvement. This 2 day reduction in transit times means massive savings, faster deliveries, and even a reduction in CO2 emissions.

For brands aiming to stabilize parcel delivery, reduce exposure to rate volatility, and improve delivery performance, a multi-carrier model is only as effective as its execution. Stord’s integrated network, backed by real-time performance data and a growing set of carrier partnerships, delivers on that execution—without requiring brands to manage the complexity on their own.

Control Parcel Costs, Protect Your Margins

Parcel represents one of the most volatile cost centers in e-commerce. Brands without a flexible strategy are already seeing the impact with tighter margins, slower deliveries, and growing pressure from consumers.

Though no one can predict every market shift, brands that partner with a fulfillment provider that can help build scalability into their shipping strategy will be better positioned to absorb cost spikes, meet and exceed delivery promises, and continue earning customer trust despite ongoing uncertainty.

While much of the e-commerce focus is on seamless delivery and returns, the often-overlooked management of products with expiration dates presents a growing concern, and is crucial for brands in the health and wellness, beauty, pharmaceuticals, food, and more. When improperly handled, it can lead to serious repercussions, including substantial chargebacks that can claim up to ~7% of a given marketplace’s revenue1 and potential legal ramifications. In fact, in 2024, a major California retailer had to pay a $1.6 million settlement due to claims of selling expired over-the-counter medications and baby food2.

For brands managing diverse product lines across multiple sales channels, accurately tracking expiration dates at the SKU level becomes exponentially more challenging. Recognizing that traditional, often manual methods struggle to keep pace with the demands of modern e-commerce businesses, we at Stord have developed a powerful solution.

Building on the robust lot and expiration capabilities we have offered for years, we're excited to announce improved channel-and-SKU-specific expiration and lot tracking automations to our commerce-focused Order Management System (OMS). These automated, highly specific controls allow you to set unique best-by/sell-by rules per product (SKU) and sales channel. This enables our OMS to automatically assign compliant lots to orders, guaranteeing you meet retailer requirements and avoid financial penalties with precision.

The Benefits

Effectively manage expiration and shelf life to build a stronger and more reliable brand that prioritizes customer safety. With the right tools, your business can have:

Automated Compliance to Prevent Chargebacks

Navigating the often-complex and varied shelf-life requirements of different retailer partners can be a significant challenge. Stord understands these nuances. Our system is built with the knowledge of diverse marketplace requirements so you can set custom, per-SKU, per-channel minimum shelf-life thresholds, as seen in the image below.

Intelligent Pick Strategies

Optimize your fulfillment processes with built-in intelligence and stay informed every step of the way. Stord’s OMS provides continuous visibility into your entire inventory and their remaining shelf life through automated alerts and comprehensive reporting. This real-time information lets you strategically determine the most advantageous picking strategy for each order—a crucial capability especially for sensitive products that require strict adherence to expiration dates and handling protocols.

Integrated with Stord's Warehouse Management System (WMS), our OMS automatically guides picking based on your defined expiration rules. Whether you prioritize First-Expired, First-Out (FEFO) to minimize waste (essential for perishable goods), First-In, First-Out (FIFO) for general stock rotation (important for date-sensitive items), or even Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) for specific needs, our system adapts to your chosen approach.

Our expertise in these strategies is further validated by our achievement of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certification. This is a proof of our commitment to and qualifications for the careful handling and storage of specialized goods, particularly in categories such as pharmaceuticals, beauty, and food, where product integrity is imperative.

Moreover, the real-time inventory data allows you to proactively identify and pull inventory that is nearing its expiration date. This enables you to take timely action, such as prioritizing its shipment, offering targeted promotions, or preventing it from being sent to retailers with stricter shelf-life requirements.

“Brands often deploy first-in, first-out (FIFO) picking flow or struggle to implement a more complex first-expired, first-out (FEFO), or a last-in, first-out (LIFO) picking strategy in an attempt to mitigate sending expired goods. However, none of these approaches are truly effective at combating the root issue if the brand is not adapting their pick strategy for each specific order and each SKU to the designated retailer’s requirements.” said Ryan Andrews, Group Product Manager at Stord.

Our system provides not just the basic picking logic, but also the intelligence and alerts you need to make the most effective use of your inventory while adhering to all compliance standards.

Safety Nets with Catch-All Fallbacks

Even if you don't have exact expiration dates for every item, you can still stay compliant. Our system lets you set a "catch-all fallback"—this is the longest time a product can be held before being sold. This automatic safety feature means that even without a specific expiration date for each product, items will be removed from sale before they become a problem

Prevent Non-Compliant Fulfillment and Chargebacks

Don't let outdated or manual processes expose you to unnecessary risks and costs. Take the first step towards a more controlled and compliant inventory management.

Explore the precision of Stord expiration management tools: Learn how our automated expiration and lot tracking system can provide the granular visibility and control you need.

See it in action: Request a personalized demo from our team to understand how our tools can integrate seamlessly into your operations and help deliver tangible results. Connect with our experts today and get started!

ATLANTA, May 19, 2025— Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for leading brands, today closed its acquisition of Ware2Go, a subsidiary of UPS (NYSE:UPS), and announced its partnership with UPS. Through this acquisition, Stord adds 21 new fulfillment centers to its network and end-to-end platform of WMS, OMS, and CX technology, becoming one of the largest fulfillment networks in volume and reach. 

Ware2Go brings an additional 2.5M square feet of fulfillment centers, which complements Stord’s existing 11-node North American footprint and existing partner network. This acquisition comes as more e-commerce brands seek to establish greater operational capabilities in the United States, and need fast, cost-effective fulfillment.

Founded in 2018 as a UPS subsidiary, Ware2Go specializes in asset-light, D2C and B2B fulfillment across a diverse array of industries, including ready-to-drink beverages, skin care, supplements, electronics, and more. The company’s service offerings include direct-to-consumer shipping, seller fulfilled prime (SFP), and retail compliant B2B shipments. Ware2Go’s customers enjoy high-quality warehouse operations, distributed inventory, and order orchestration, in addition to world-class parcel and transportation. The Ware2Go acquisition enhances Stord as the market-leader, redefining the commerce journey, and empowers merchants of all sizes to deliver experiences that delight consumers. 

“We are in a unique period for e-commerce and retail as brands struggle to manage through shifting global trade policies. Even with macro uncertainty, e-commerce end consumers still expect rapid delivery, perfect order accuracy, easy returns, and more,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “This acquisition of Ware2Go is a strategic investment that expands our U.S. domestic footprint and capabilities while strengthening our partnership with UPS. This partnership will allow us to deploy our technology across the Ware2Go network, enhance offerings for our joint customers, and combine our scale to be one of the largest fulfillment networks in North America.” 

By uniting Stord’s suite of commerce enablement, order management, warehouse management, and parcel software with Ware2Go’s existing network, Stord brands can more effortlessly scale into key markets with less friction and overhead. This acquisition also expands Stord’s offering of enterprise-level fulfillment for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) shipping hundreds of orders per month and bolsters Stord’s previously announced accelerator program. 

Stord’s partnership with UPS and acquisition of Ware2Go further cements its position as The Consumer Experience Company, providing the tools needed to deliver a seamless checkout through post-delivery experience for every brand and every order, regardless of size. It also follows Stord’s long-term conviction and investment into this space since 2015. This acquisition comes on the back of successful acquisitions of Fulfillment Works, ProPack, and Pitney Bowes E-Commerce in recent years. Each of these partnerships has brought more order volume scale and a broader network onto the Stord technology, enabling all customers to access better, faster, and cheaper deliveries.

“We are thrilled to partner with Stord through their acquisition of Ware2Go,” said Archita Prasad, President at UPS Digital. “Ware2Go customers will benefit from Stord’s market-leading scale and reputation, backed by their comprehensive suite of technology-driven solutions.” 

These additions to Stord’s offering have followed a near-decade of historic success and growth. In this time, Stord has shipped over a billion units to B2B and DTC end consumers on behalf of leading brands. In 2024 alone, Stord powered nearly 1% of all Black Friday and Cyber Monday US online sales and achieved sustained profitability. These milestones and capabilities attracted e-commerce brands like True Classic, AG1, quip, Sundays for Dogs, Seed Health, and hundreds more.

“At Stord, we are building a scalable solution that unlocks industry-leading consumer experiences – combining crucial flexibility and economies of scale so brands of all sizes can meet and exceed their customers’ expectations on every order,” said Henry.

Today’s announcement accelerates the momentum from Stord’s recent $200 million Series E and debt funding round and $1.5 billion valuation. The acquisition and funding are unrelated.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

ATLANTA, May 16, 2025— Stord, a commerce-enablement leader providing high-volume fulfillment services and e-commerce technology for omnichannel brands, announced today that it has raised more than $200 million in financing. The Series E equity funding is led by Strike Capital, with additional support via growth debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, and ORIX USA. New investors, Baillie Gifford, NewView Capital, G Squared, and Georgia Tech Foundation, joined the round and existing investors, Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton, Founders Fund, Bond, Sozo, 137, and Lux, also participated. The round raised Stord’s valuation to $1.5 billion, reflecting the company’s exceptional growth trajectory.

Stord’s maturation from an asset-light fulfillment network to a comprehensive omnichannel commerce enablement provider has saved online retailers hundreds of millions of dollars across parcel and other fulfillment fees. Since 2021, Stord has grown contracted revenue 10x, shipped billions of units, and dramatically improved the shipping experience for countless consumers—all while powering $6B+ of commerce and reaching around 11.5% of US households in 2024 alone.

With this capital, and the support of investors and customers, Stord will continue on its mission of leveling the commerce playing field, so that brands of all sizes can tap into industry-leading tools to deliver a seamless checkout through post-delivery experience on every order, every time, anywhere, and at scale.

“At Stord, we believe that every brand should have the tools to deliver the fast, affordable, and reliable shipping experiences that consumers have come to expect,” said Sean Henry, co-founder and CEO of Stord. “Fast and free delivery, easy returns, and full visibility are no longer luxuries; they’re standard consumer expectations. This new funding allows us to double down on our mission to give brands the infrastructure and technology they need to surpass these industry standards, strengthen their margins, and grow on their own terms. We’re excited to keep helping our customers win in an increasingly competitive e-commerce market.”

Major Milestones

Since 2021, Stord has achieved the following: Meteoric Financial Growth

• 10x contracted revenue.

• Achieved sustained profitability in 2024.

• Acquired and integrated ProPack Logistics and Pitney Bowes e-Commerce.

• Completed record-breaking Q1 2025, with highest sales bookings to-date.

Robust Network and Capabilities

• Expanded to 11 Stord fulfillment nodes across 13 buildings with a network of third-party centers around the world, including The United Kingdom, and The European Union.

• Nearly doubled North American fulfillment footprint with strategic expansions into Canada and key markets in the United States.

• Delivered over 30 million packages to around 11.5% of US homes in 2024. 

• Powered nearly 1% of Black Friday Cyber Monday US online sales in 2024.

Customer Success

• Enabled brands to reach 99% of households in two days or less with Stord.

• Reduced average customer product transit time by 1 day or more.

• Saved brands approximately $130M in parcel fees in 2024 through scale and technological innovations.

• Added leading brands like Seed Health, Wild, Sundays for Dogs, Elysium, quip, Jolie, V Shred, AG1, and goodr to Stord’s growing portfolio of e-commerce customers.  

“Looking at what Stord has accomplished and the vision ahead, it is clear that the market has been waiting for a solution like this, fit for the future of e-commerce,” said Hendrik Borginon, private companies investment manager at Baillie Gifford. “What makes the company special is how it combines software with efficient operations, and physical logistics, as one integrated service. As consumer expectations rise, brands will need scalable, end-to-end solutions to protect and grow market share in a crowded and dynamic landscape.”

Customer Impact

Amidst an environment of uncertainty, especially in global trade, customers are already seeing the impact of Stord’s agility and reliability.

"As it is for all DTC brands, fulfillment is a critical part of the customer experience for Elysium," said Dan Alminana, founder and COO at Elysium Health. "We have gone through a lot of pain over the years with fulfillment providers. With Stord, our customers are receiving products sooner—two days faster, on average—without any added cost. We have so many areas to think about, so finding a reliable partner for fulfillment is a big win."

Stord’s ability to adapt quickly isn’t the only reason brands are turning to them. Its flexible and comprehensive infrastructure is also helping companies enhance customer experiences while driving operational efficiency.

Brands across a wide array of verticals and industries have experienced massive tangible benefits:

• quip, an oral wellness company focused on pioneering design to produce better oral care products, avoided millions in potential parcel delay costs and streamlined both its B2B and DTC operations by consolidating fulfillment with a single provider, unlocking new opportunities for global growth.

• Alen Corporation, the award-winning innovator of HEPA air purifiers, dramatically improved consumer experiences by reducing order preparation time from five days to one, unlocking free two day shipping.

• Jolie, the world’s best shower filter, sustainably grew revenue 6x year-over-year through improved order management and inventory data allowing for optimized order routing and faster delivery times.

• The Zero Proof, leading non-alcoholic beverage online retailer and wholesaler, overcame expensive mispick errors and increased order volume and speed powering a 3.5x year-over-year growth.

“Stord is increasingly the market-leader for today’s brands who want a best-in-class consumer experience. Our scale, pricing, speed, trust, and reputation are spinning our flywheel faster than ever, and we are rapidly expanding our value for customers,” said Henry. 

The Consumer Experience Company

In less than a decade, Stord has taken an antiquated industry - mired in archaic technologies, disjointed providers, and inefficient solutions - and provided brands with an integrated suite of physical and digital tools to achieve unrivalled customer loyalty through unparalleled consumer experience.

“I'm excited for our next phase of profitable growth and efficiency gains, as we continue to leverage our scale with the incredible technology, team and capabilities at Stord," said Jordan DeCicco, co-founder and interim CEO at Super Coffee.

“Stord’s scale, rapid growth, and profitability are a rare combination, especially in this category, and underscore the uniqueness of their platform,” said Nick Bunick, principal at NewView Capital. “Fulfillment and logistics are now critical extensions of the brand experience. Customers remember the delivery and unboxing experiences just as much as the product itself, and those moments directly influence brand loyalty and growth. Stord’s integrated software platform gives brands the visibility, flexibility, and performance they need to meet rising consumer expectations and turn fulfillment into a competitive edge.”

With this funding, Stord will continue to scale its end-to-end commerce infrastructure and capabilities globally, double down on its organic growth after sustaining 4 quarters in a row of significant bookings beat, while accelerating AI-driven capabilities across its vertically integrated product stack. It will also explore strategic acquisitions to further strengthen its market position. 

“Stord is redefining what it means to be an e-commerce partner, not just disrupting the industry, but becoming a trusted extension of every brand’s consumer experience,” said John Lagomarsino, co-founder and general partner at Strike Capital. “For brands, the Stord name stands for fast, cost-effective delivery, powered by intelligent algorithms that automatically optimize carrier selection. Over time, we believe end consumers will recognize Stord at checkout as a mark of reliability, knowing their orders will arrive quickly, securely, and hassle-free.”

For more information and to learn more about Stord, visit www.stord.com. 

FT Partners served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Stord.

The Series E equity funding is led by Strike Capital, with additional support via growth debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and ORIX USA. New investors, Baillie Gifford, NewView Capital, G Squared, and Georgia Tech Foundation, joined the round and existing investors, Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton, Founders Fund, Bond, Sozo, 137, and Lux, also participated.

Our increasing momentum and valuation growth is a direct reflection of the mounting expectations and demands placed upon e-commerce brands to provide exemplary consumer experiences through faster, more transparent fulfillment.

Stord has been at the forefront of this charge since 2015. Today’s milestone was achieved thanks to the trust and confidence of our customers and teammates. They have helped build the vertically integrated software and physical fulfillment capabilities that drive impactful commerce growth for brands of all sizes.

We’re in our best position yet. We wrapped a monumental 2024 that saw over 60% year-over-year growth, at hundreds of millions in scale, while achieving sustained profitability. Looking back just a few years to 2021, our contracted revenue has grown over 10x and we are on track to deliver nearly 50 million packages in 2025. Stord is increasingly the market leader for today’s brands who want a best-in-class consumer experience. Our scale, pricing, speed, and reputation are driving our flywheel faster than ever.

However, our work to get here started long before now. And I couldn’t be more proud of the team that made this happen.

Leveling the playing field

Stord redefines the commerce journey, empowering merchants and delighting consumers.

Over the last two decades, e-commerce giants have transformed consumer expectations by pioneering fast, free, and reliable shipping. Features like next-day delivery, real-time tracking, and seamless returns have become table stakes for online shopping.

We’ve all experienced finding a product online, only to encounter $7 shipping for 5–10 day delivery, then realizing we could get  a similar item with free next-day shipping elsewhere. With 90% of US online shoppers expecting free two- to three-day shipping, the bar to meet and exceed consumers’ expectations has never been higher.

Today, fulfillment and delivery are not just backend logistics—they’re core value drivers that directly impact conversion, retention, and unit economics. Yet, most merchants struggle with outdated infrastructure that fails to meet modern expectations.

Winning in this landscape requires more than software or logistics alone—it demands a scaled, multi-node fulfillment network powered by vertically integrated software. Brands can’t piece this together themselves; they need a partner with scale and expertise.

Stord’s vertically integrated product stack spans the entire commerce journey—from the in-cart flow to the orchestration layer, to the software powering the assets, and finally to the assets themselves. This deep integration enables a stickier, faster-growing, business with better economics than traditional fulfillment providers or standalone software platforms. Comparing legacy players to Stord is like comparing a leased data center to AWS, GM to Tesla, or Boeing to SpaceX—it’s a fundamentally different paradigm.

At Stord, our foundational insight is clear. Fulfillment is the linchpin of modern commerce. Effective fulfillment mitigates costs, creates value, and generates invaluable data. By starting with fulfillment, we’ve built a platform that integrates order, inventory, consumer, and financial data—data that is essential to powering commerce and enabling brands to thrive.

Stord’s mission is to redefine the commerce journey, empowering merchants of all sizes to deliver experiences that delight consumers. Our platform doesn’t just meet today’s elevated standards: it sets the foundation for what’s next. Through fulfillment, we are solving the biggest challenges of modern commerce and building the infrastructure for its future.

Stord is the end-to-end commerce enablement platform.

Our simple mission: grow revenue, reduce costs, delight customers

Competitors come and go, but companies that build a strong, lasting relationship with customers are rare. And any business that doesn’t create clear value for customers is unlikely to last long in the world. - Jeff Bezos

Stord is The Consumer Experience company—both externally and internally. 

Externally, we focus on our customers’ consumers, ensuring every touchpoint reflects trust and quality. While traditional fulfillment providers stop at getting your orders at the door, Stord continues well beyond – improving the pre-purchase through post-delivery offering with estimated delivery dates, multiple shipping options, shipment protection, granular tracking, simplified returns, branded boxes, custom inserts or hand-written cards, optimizing SKU bundles and listing strategies, and more. Stord is in the business of delighting consumers.

Internally, we’re relentlessly customer-obsessed, making long-term decisions that drive real ROI for brands. We grow revenue by enhancing conversion rates with better delivery promises, flexible shipping options, and trusted checkout experiences. We reduce costs through optimized order routing, intelligent inventory placement, and efficient parcel selection. We eliminate headaches by centralizing data and streamlining operations, like reducing “Where is my order?” (WISMO) inquiries. Ultimately, we delight consumers through rapid, affordable shipping, hassle-free returns, and an exceptional unboxing experience—driving higher satisfaction and a stronger emotional connection between brands and their consumers.

We’re honored to deliver on our mission for some of the greatest brands in the world, including Seed Health, True Classic, Wild, Elysium, quip, Jolie, AG1, and hundreds more.

The Future - and why our opportunity is growing

Our flywheel is driven by volume scale, which brings inventory closer to consumers and enables both fixed and variable cost leverage, all of which earn trust. More volume reduces cost per order. Increased volume also accelerates delivery speeds. More volume and faster delivery translates to greater consumer trust.

This approach reinforces the cycle of growth for Stord and our brands. And we’ve never felt our flywheel spin as fast as it is today.

Stord is building a Commerce Enablement platform that lets brands compete with Prime-like checkout and delivery experiences. We enable ecommerce leaders to grow revenue, reduce costs, eliminate headaches, and delight consumers. This is a mission-critical business and value proposition to our customers.

We are humbled by the support of our investors and the hundreds of brands that partner with us. It’s been an incredible 9 years since we started Stord, and I can’t wait to see what our team accomplishes over the next decade. 

Sean Henry

Stord Returns is our integrated technology platform designed to streamline and enhance your returns management. With a significant 84% of consumers reviewing return policies before purchasing and online returns averaging 20-30% of orders, implementing an efficient and user-friendly system is no longer optional.

Stord Returns complements our existing physical returns capabilities and can be tailored to the unique needs of your e-commerce business.

The Benefits

Stord Returns transforms a potentially negative touchpoint into an opportunity to strengthen your brand, enhance customer relationships, and optimize your financial performance.

Craig Stewart, SVP of Product and Engineering at Stord, emphasizes the critical role of a positive returns experience in today's e-commerce: “When buying a product online, customers are unable to touch the product, ensure fit, or quality. They are buying on faith that not only will you deliver, but the product meets their expectations. In order to build trust, online retailers cannot have a disjointed returns solution if they hope to grow. In fact, 80% of online customers will avoid shopping with a brand if they have a bad returns experience1. Stord Returns solves this by empowering brands to offer a concise return experience, while enjoying Stord’s ability to track every order and provide improved parcel rates.”

Stord Returns provides your e-commerce business with:

Enhanced, Branded Returns Portal

In the past, initiating a return could be a confusing and frustrating experience for end consumers. They are often unsure of the best way to contact your brand.

With Stord Returns, you can provide a clear method through a branded returns portal where your customers can effortlessly initiate or request returns, as shown in the screenshot below.

This eliminates the inefficiencies of unclear email submissions and time-consuming ticket management. With automated alerts, both your team and your customers can stay informed with crucial updates throughout the entire returns process, leading to a more positive customer experience and stronger brand perception.

More Flexible Return Options

Today's online shoppers expect choices. Stord Returns enables you to offer a variety of return methods to cater to different customer preferences.

Offering options like mail-in, in-store (if applicable), scan to return, or other tailored solutions ensures you meet your customers where they are. Improve consumer experience with easy-to-use QR codes. No need for a printer, now customers can simply show the code at the relevant post office and the label is printed on-demand and handled by the onsite team. Having multiple return options builds loyalty and encourages repeat purchases.

Seamless OMS Integration

Stord Returns is fully integrated with Stord One Commerce (OMS), providing a centralized hub for all your order and return information. This gives you complete control and visibility over your returns process. The image below gives an idea of the level of visibility where you can track returns in real-time, automate workflows, and ensure accurate inventory management across your operations.

This streamlined integration boosts operational efficiency, reduces errors, and saves you valuable time and resources.

Actionable Data and Insights

Understanding the “why” behind returns is key to continuous improvement. Stord Returns provides you with integrated data and analytics on return reasons and trends within the OMS.

The power of these insights lets you see reports clearly to help you identify product issues, optimize your return policies, and make data-driven decisions to enhance the overall customer experience and your product offerings.

Optimized Return Shipping

Reduce the financial impact of returns. You can leverage Stord's network to access improved parcel rates for return shipments. This reduction in shipping expenses associated with returns can positively impact your bottom line, helping you protect your profit margins.

Robust Fraud Prevention

Protect your revenue using built-in tracking and verification processes on Stord Returns to help minimize fraudulent returns. Stord's team of return experts will not process a refund until after the product has been verified and scanned in.

Take Control of Your Returns Experience

Ready to transform your returns process from a point of friction into an opportunity for growth?

Discover the Power of Stord Returns: Visit Stord Returns to explore the comprehensive features and benefits of our updated returns solution and see how it can directly impact your consumer experience, brand loyalty, and bottom line.

New to Stord? Request a personalized demo by contacting our team of experts to see Stord Returns in action. Learn how our integrated fulfillment and technology solutions can empower your e-commerce business to scale efficiently and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Don't let outdated returns processes hold you back. Turn returns into a competitive advantage with Stord.

As of April 2nd, the White House made sweeping changes to global trade through executive action - eliminating De Minimis (Section 321) exemption for imports from China and Hong Kong and implementing a universal 10% tariff on nearly all imported goods, with specific higher "reciprocal" tariffs on countries perceived to have trade imbalances and barriers.

These changes will have huge impacts on both legacy retail giants and disruptive e-commerce brands alike. Disruptions, price changes, delays, and more impacts will occur over  the coming weeks.

However, these changes, while massive, were not unpredictable nor unprecedented. The seeds of these new regulations were planted back in 2016 during President Trump’s first presidential campaign and have been a clear priority for his second term.

But as we've seen, the status quo has rapidly changed in recent months and years - from COVID pandemic restrictions, to war, to changes in USPS parcel services, changes to IMMEX, collapsing fulfillment and parcel providers, and more - it is clear that change is the new constant.

At Stord, we prepared.

Since our founding, we have been laser focused on building a resilient and flexible fulfillment and commerce enablement platform that can endure the tumultuous environment of rapid-growth e-commerce business. We have the ability to rapidly launch nationwide fulfillment for brands in days when providers or tariffs change, reduce parcel costs when carriers levy new GRIs, and drive additional customer loyalty with cutting-edge pre and post-purchase tooling

This has meant conscious investment poured into our technologies and fulfillment network to level the playing field for brands of all sizes.

This means:

• Strategically placed fulfillment centers across the United States and Canada with an integrated partner network for improved reach

• A diversified mesh of national and local carriers for accelerated delivery times at the cheapest cost possible

• Proactive import strategies to reduce fees and drayage costs 

• Close collaboration with government officials to stay informed and prepared on changes

These operational advantages have taken nearly a decade to build, and have prepared us to meet this moment of upheaval. Not only is Stord ready, but so are our customers.

Customers like True Classic and CANN. Both recently came to Stord under pressure from mounting costs. Both were implemented in record time - enjoying our integrated systems, network scale, and dedicated partnership. This work has shielded their end consumers from experiencing delays. 

Here is what we did for True Classic, getting them live in 19 days.

We will continue to monitor and adapt as the realities of this executive order are felt throughout the broader market.

To our customers, thank you for your trust and confidence in Stord - know that we have your back and are ready to support. To those struggling and uncertain how to navigate these changes, please reach out, we would be happy to help.

Throughout it all, our priority is unchanged - to redefine the commerce journey, empowering merchants to deliver experiences that delight consumers at scale. If you need help overcoming these new challenges, the Stord team is standing by. Thank you,

Sean Henry

Now, if you're the type who likes to go deep into the specifics, you can watch the full video of our webinar above. We covered a lot of ground, but if you're juggling a million things (like most of us in e-commerce!), and just need a quick overview, I’ll try to summarize the most crucial takeaways.

Tariff Numbers

Ronan laid out the tariff situation pretty clearly:

The big takeaway here? The 145% tariff on goods from China is the headline figure that requires your attention if your supply chain involves China.

Important Note: The tariff figures and information provided here offer a snapshot of the situation discussed during the Stord/Wayflyer webinar on April 22nd, 2025, and are intended to illustrate the potential scale of impact. Given the dynamic nature of international trade policies, these numbers and policies may have changed already. Always review official government and trade resources for the most accurate and updated tariff information.

Uncertainty and Chaos

Given these often changing tariff policies, what's the immediate concern from everyone in the e-commerce sector? Uncertainty.

As I put it during our conversation, "It's kind of chaotic right now. Brands don't really know what to expect. Things are changing every day."

That "don't know what to expect" part is huge. It leads to concerns about shrinking margins, especially for those with already tight cost structures.

Also, the thought of uprooting and shifting your entire supply chain and fulfillment is a massive undertaking with a lot of moving pieces. There's inventory, positioning, technologies, and a whole lot of complexity involved. The uncertainty and constant change make it even tougher to plan and execute. Any decision you make in haste could be disastrous depending on the next change in policy.

De Minimis Rule

We also talked about a significant shift:

• No More Duty-Free Small Packages from China: The rule that allowed certain goods under $800 to enter the US duty-free is gone for imports from China. This is HUGE for anyone drop-shipping directly to consumers. That $100 item could suddenly cost you $245 by the time it lands.

• Bulk Imports Less Affected (For Now): If you're bringing in larger shipments to your own warehouse or a 3PL, the impact of the de minimis rule change is less direct, as tariffs are assessed on the cost value of the bulk shipment.

Initial Strategies to Explore

With the uncertainties and understandable concerns, Ronan offered some practical strategies that brands are starting to explore to navigate this turbulence:

• Consider Price Adjustments: Some brands are looking at whether they can absorb some of the cost or need to adjust their pricing.

• Talk to Suppliers: Renegotiating with suppliers to potentially share the burden or find cost efficiencies is on the table for many.

• Re-evaluate the Supply Chain: This is a big one. It’s looking at alternative sourcing locations and potentially shifting away from China.

• Strategic Stockpiling: Brands that saw this coming and built up inventory might have bought themselves some valuable time to figure things out.

These aren't easy fixes, but they represent the initial steps brands are considering to steady their ships.

Source Locally

While a lot of the tariff talk can sound pretty grim, there’s a potential bright spot for some e-commerce businesses, mainly those already sourcing within the US.

As Ronan puts it, "Those brands that already are sourcing domestically in the US have a really great competitive advantage at the moment. They probably don't need to concern themselves about raising prices while it is maybe some of their competitors might be."

For businesses with domestic supply chains, this situation may present a distinct advantage, potentially allowing them to maintain current pricing and capture market share.

It's a reminder that in times of disruption, new opportunities can emerge.

Agile Advantage

There's no simple solution when it comes to navigating tariffs. The policies are fluid, and what's true today might change tomorrow. My advice, echoing a core principle in the e-commerce world, is to stay agile.

As passionate e-commerce business founders and builders, you've poured your heart into your brands. Moving operations due to tariffs is a significant and potentially risky decision. My recommendation is to resist immediate, impulsive actions.

Take the time to thoroughly analyze your options, do the math, and carefully select the right fulfillment partners. Deciding as soon as possible is necessary, but not at the expense of sound judgment. Dig into the details now to mitigate potential risks down the line.

However, as international order volumes increase, cross-border fulfillment often proves difficult to sustain. What begins as a convenient and capital-efficient fulfillment strategy can quickly become a strain on operations and create further complications downstream as end consumers face rising shipping costs, longer delivery times, customs delays and surcharges, and limited return options. At the same time, the geopolitical landscape is becoming increasingly volatile, with rising tariffs, shifting trade agreements, and the threat of trade wars complicating cross-border commerce. These challenges have pushed brands to think not only about where they grow—but how they sustain that growth logistically. As a result, there has been accelerated interest in developing local fulfillment as a solution not just to meet growing international demand, but to create resilient, scalable operations that are less vulnerable to disruptions like tariffs and shifting trade policies.

Cross-Border Shipping vs Local Fulfillment

Cross-border shipping refers to fulfilling international orders from a domestic warehouse, typically from the brand’s home country or primary market. Products are picked, packed, and shipped abroad directly to the customer. For example, a U.S.-based apparel brand may receive an order from a customer in the UK, fulfill it from its main distribution center in Ohio, and ship it via an international carrier to London.

In contrast, local fulfillment involves storing and shipping inventory from within the target country or region. This can be done through brand-owned warehouses, outsourced logistics providers, or a single multi-national fulfillment partner. For instance, that same apparel brand may eventually decide to place inventory in a fulfillment center just outside of London. Once orders come in, items are shipped domestically within the UK. This change can shave days off delivery times, cut down on shipping costs, and eliminate most customs delays, leading to a more competitive and frictionless shopping experience.

However, local fulfillment also comes with its own set of tradeoffs. Since it requires placing stock closer to the customer, brands must be willing to shell out upfront for local infrastructure and inventory placement. There’s also the challenge of managing tax and compliance obligations across multiple jurisdictions. Under a cross-border model, taxes such as VAT or duties, and who pays them, depend on the incoterms used: Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU) or Delivered Duty Paid (DDP). Under DDU, the customer pays duties and taxes upon delivery, while with DDP, the brand covers those costs in advance2.  With local fulfillment, however, brands are typically required to register for local VAT, file tax returns, and remain compliant with domestic regulations. Moreover, brands must be prepared to balance stock levels between markets and respond quickly to shifts in demand.

When Is The Right Time To Switch?

There’s no set timeline as to when a brand should switch from cross-border shipping to local fulfillment. But if you’ve been evaluating the move, now may be the right time to act. With trade tensions escalating and tariffs driving up costs, more brands are shifting their focus toward countries like Canada, where trade conditions remain more stable, as a way to protect margins and streamline international operations. As this demand rises, so will competition for infrastructure, driving up costs for warehouse space and fulfillment services. A global fulfillment provider like Stord, with established facilities across Canada and Europe, makes this shift easier, faster, and cheaper.

But ultimately, the decision to invest in local fulfillment and partner with logistics providers depends on a brand’s specific growth trajectory and strategic priorities. It’s an inflection point that usually arrives when multiple market signals and performance indicators all begin to point in the same direction:

Order Volume and Momentum

High and sustained international order volume is the clearest sign that a foreign target market may be ready for local fulfillment. While the exact number varies depending on the product category and average order value (AOV), the shift to local logistics partnership often aligns if your brand handles at least 1,500 international orders per month in a single market3.

To put things into perspective, let’s revisit the apparel brand example. If it's fulfilling almost 2,000 monthly orders to the UK from its Ohio warehouse, it is likely overspending on shipping and under-delivering on customer expectations. Suppose customers expect delivery within 2 days, the AOV is $150, and each order weighs under 4 pounds, the total monthly cost for shipping will hypothetically look like this:

*conservative estimates based on Total Landed Costs (TLC) from Ohio to a warehouse near London4,5,6

**conservative estimate of the total costs for warehousing, labor, tech integration, local deliveries, and tax compliance in the UK, including bulk shipping rates7

At this point, the savings on bulk shipping and customs duties, along with the improved delivery times, significantly outweigh the costs of holding local inventory.

However, in some cases, even if the target market hasn’t yet reached peak order volumes, consistent traffic, conversion, and repurchase rates may warrant preemptive investment in local fulfillment to act as a growth accelerator. A steep upward curve in orders over a sustained period—whether month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter, or year-over-year—is a strong signal of growing market momentum and shows that global fulfillment is no longer in its experimental stages. For example, if a brand sees its Canadian sales doubling every quarter—even if the monthly average hasn’t hit 1,000 orders yet—that’s a sign of strong momentum. Rather than wait for volume to peak, the brand could adopt local fulfillment early to meet growing demand velocity while simultaneously offering faster delivery and cheaper fees for taxes and shipping. Reducing these friction points can significantly improve conversion8 and create a stronger customer experience from the outset.

Delivery Speed

Long delivery windows are one of the most common causes of cart abandonment in both domestic and international e-commerce8. When customers reach the checkout page and see a 10-14 day shipping estimate, they may opt out, even if they’re enthusiastic about the product itself. This is often the case with cross-border shipping, where delivery timelines typically range from 5 to 15 business days9, depending on the destination and shipping method. Packages must pass through Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Policy changes or increased scrutiny at customs can all cause delays that are outside the brand’s control. In many cases, customers are also surprised by additional fees or taxes upon delivery, which weren’t clearly communicated at checkout. When customers exit the checkout page the moment they see long delivery promises, or decline to pay the unexpected fees and request a refund, it’s a clear signal that your current fulfillment setup isn’t meeting consumer expectations.

With local fulfillment, you can offer faster delivery, often within 1 to 3 business days, because inventory is already within the customer’s country. Shorter delivery promises can positively influence online purchase decisions and lead to higher cart conversions10, especially in markets where Prime-like logistics have become the standard for delivery expectations.

Costs

Per-order shipping costs tend to be higher with cross-border shipping due to international carrier rates, fuel surcharges, and limited economies of scale. For example, shipping a 2-pound package from New Jersey to Toronto can easily cost up to $60 via express service11. This forces businesses to rely exclusively on the perceived value of the brand itself to encourage conversion and convince customers to stomach the high shipping fees and slower delivery promises. The product and buying experience are deprioritized in favor of brand name and reputation.

Consider a U.S.-based skincare brand known for its loyal following. With cross-border shipping, Canadian shoppers can face a $45 shipping fee12 and even additional costs at checkout as the package may be subject to a 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST)13. Instead of improving the customer experience, the brand invests in influencer marketing and premium packaging to reinforce its image and justify the added costs. But that approach has limits. Even if your brand is popular, statistics show that you can eventually lose 85% of your dedicated customer base due to a consistently poor delivery experience14. Let’s say that same skincare brand has 500 eager Canadian customers who each order an average of two skincare products per month. It can lose more than $10,000 in potential sales and repeat purchases15 purely because of slow delivery speeds and high shipping costs. Switching to in-region fulfillment, despite the additional costs for local infrastructure and inventory, can open up access to faster deliveries and local shipping rates that are often a fraction of the cost of cross-border shipping16. This results in more palatable delivery fees for customers.

But to further offset the expenses of scaling globally, brands can partner with a logistics provider like Stord that can provide the full benefits of local fulfillment without the capital investment and operational burden of building and managing a new fulfillment network abroad. By eliminating upfront setup costs and leveraging pre-established nodes, brands can protect their margins while offering faster, more cost-effective delivery options to end consumers. So instead of leaning solely on brand recognition, you can compete on a seamless customer experience.

Control and Accuracy Over Inventory

With cross-border fulfillment, brands retain centralized control over inventory and fulfillment operations, which can simplify forecasting, product bundling, and returns management. However, this also creates a bottleneck when shipping globally, since everything is routed through one location. Operational inefficiencies, with legacy inventory solutions, also show up in the form of accuracy issues. A discrepancy of just 2-3% in your global inventory data can lead to fulfillment delays, overselling, or shipping errors17. And when resolving those issues means resending another package from the U.S. to abroad, the costs and delays multiply. 

Local fulfillment, powered by a unified digital view of inventory, segmented by warehouse, sales channel (B2B or DTC), and region, offers greater control and real-time visibility, allowing better inventory accuracy at the point of fulfillment. But it also introduces operational complexity as brands must now allocate stock strategically across multiple fulfillment centers, continuously monitor both local and global inventory levels, and coordinate timely replenishments to all locations. Consider a brand that suddenly sees a spike in demand in Western Canada due to a viral campaign. If inventory is still centralized in New Jersey, that demand can't be met without long lead times and high shipping costs. Shifting to a local fulfillment model could solve this, but only if inventory is properly allocated and updated in real-time across systems. Investing in a Canadian fulfillment center won’t help if inventory is still mismanaged. The same fulfillment challenges persist, just closer to the customer.

To grow, your brand needs an integrated fulfillment network and logistics platform that can give you the tools to manage distributed inventory without sacrificing control. Stord’s platform, for example, can give you full visibility into inventory levels across all nodes with real-time tracking and automated replenishment triggers. It can also unify data across B2B and DTC channels, helping operations balance inventory allocations across all customer segments—reducing overstock, understock, and fulfillment delays at scale.

Ultimately, it’s not about having to decide whether tighter central control or faster, region-specific agility is more valuable at your brand’s current growth stage. It’s about choosing a partner who can offer you both.

The Best Global Fulfillment Strategy for Your Brand

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to e-commerce global fulfillment. The right strategy depends entirely on your brand.

Some brands may benefit from continuing cross-border shipping to specific regions. Others may find that a localized fulfillment model is essential for meeting customer expectations in key markets. For others, a hybrid approach that combines local fulfillment in high-demand regions with cross-border support for emerging markets might strike the right balance. In some cases, it may even make sense to stop servicing certain countries altogether if reaching that market is cost prohibitive.

What remains consistent across all scenarios, however, is the need for a centralized, integrated system that provides accurate, real-time visibility across the entire fulfillment network. Without the right tech infrastructure, adding fulfillment centers won’t mean much if stockouts, delays, and manual workarounds are eating away at your margins and the customer experience. A fulfillment provider with both a robust, integrated e-commerce platform and multi-national reach can equip your brand with what it needs to scale globally while maintaining control, accuracy, and efficiency over your entire supply chain.

These expectations are reinforced through communication at every stage of the customer journey. Numerous studies have demonstrated that communication plays a critical role in enhancing customer satisfaction, improving retention, and building loyalty. However, it's important to note that these benefits are only realized when communication is real-time, consistent and accurate. After all, trust isn’t built on a single interaction. Customers need reassurance that they can rely on your brand to deliver on its promises every time.

The challenge lies in the complexity of e-commerce communication itself.

The Complexity of E-Commerce Communication

E-commerce brands handle incredible amounts of data daily, ranging from inventory levels and product SKUs to individual order details, expiration dates, as well as customer data for shipping and payment. Beyond managing this data, brands must convert it into high-value information that facilitates critical e-commerce activities. Moreover, it must be effectively communicated across the entire team and with end consumers, across every platform the brand or customer is active on.

This is where the complexity compounds. Brands must seamlessly integrate communication between internal and external customers across a multifaceted omnichannel environment.

Internal vs External Customer Communication

Internal customers include every employee, supplier, logistics team, fulfillment center, and support representative working behind the scenes to get your products from factory to porch. External customers are the buyers and end consumers interacting directly with your brand and driving revenue.

Many customer-facing issues are often symptoms of deeper operational misalignments caused by internal miscommunication. A McKinsey report highlighted that 70% of customer journeys are impacted by poor communication between teams. End consumers can only access accurate, timely information about product availability, shipping options, total costs, order status, and Expected Delivery Dates (EDDs), if your team has access to this data and is properly communicating it across and within the brand’s entire e-commerce enablement platform.

Omnichannel Communication

As native e-commerce brands grow and mature, selling across multiple channels (omnichannel) becomes a critical component of sustained growth. To successfully expand into these additional sales channels, clear communication and accurate data flow are cornerstones to successful launches. 

With retailers PO issuance and acceptance, routing guide requirements, picking strategies (FEFO vs LEFO), delivery windows and load planning are new pieces of information that must flow seamlessly between multiple parties. Additionally, decisions must be made about how inventory is “shared” between channels to ensure commitments can be met and stock-outs do not occur. 

Without tight internal communication and tech integration, the omnichannel promise breaks down. Systems are often disconnected in a traditional environment making it difficult to synchronize real-time data across teams. Providers like Stord, which focus on streamlining e-commerce enablement through an integrated logistics network of physical and digital fulfillment, can help eliminate many of these challenges.

Embracing this approach means you must provide a fully integrated and unified consumer experience across these disparate channels. Now, you not only have to ensure your teams communicate internally and with customers, but also transfer this level of communication to your brand website, app, social media, email, warehouse, and chat bot consistently.

For instance, when a customer asks a question about an order delay via Instagram DM, the social media team needs to pull the same real-time shipping data that the customer support team uses over email or live chat. Likewise, if inventory levels drop and the warehouse updates their system, that change must instantly reflect across all channels—from the product page on your site to a push notification about restock alerts. Even marketing campaigns must sync with logistics. Imagine offering a limited-time deal via email, only for a shopper to discover the item is out of stock because fulfillment teams weren’t able to inform your marketing initiatives.

Communication at Each Stage of the Buyer Journey

It is also important to consider how communication plays a role at every stage of the buyer journey.

1. Discovery and Engagement

Marketing and sales are responsible for driving initial customer interaction with the brand. This requires them to work closely with fulfillment teams to ensure that inventory records are accurate and promotional content matches SKU availability on all platforms. Moreover, for e-commerce brands with multi-node setups—where warehouses and fulfillment centers operate in different regions across the country—this alignment becomes even more critical. It’s not just about promoting the right product; it’s promoting the right product to the right audience, in the right place, at the right time.

Each fulfillment node should reflect the purchasing behaviors, climate, and lifestyle of the surrounding customer base. For instance, advertising sweaters to those in warmer regions not only misses the mark but also alienates customers. Likewise, promoting a trending item without verifying its availability in nearby fulfillment centers can result in longer delivery times, increased shipping costs, or even canceled orders that create unnecessary strain on operations.

Delays, confusion, and added workload can all be avoided with better communication between teams.

2. Purchase

Statistics reveal that 69.57% of shopping carts are abandoned, with a lack of clarity around total costs and complicated checkout processes being among the leading reasons. Brands invest time and money getting customers to their websites and encouraging them to add products to their cart, only to lose those customers with a lack of transparency.

An e-commerce site’s conversion rate increases by 35% if buyers see exactly what they need to make an informed decision. This includes clear communication about costs like item price, taxes, shipping and delivery fees, and return fees.  Additionally, if a brand does not have estimated delivery dates (EDD) a customer can make a purchase under false expectations - they order on Friday and expect delivery in 2 days, but the fulfillment center is closed on weekends, so the order arrives on Tuesday, not on Sunday as they expected. This creates confusion, damages customer trust, and leads to customer service tickets, all of which could be avoided with proper technology-enabled communication.

3. Fulfillment and Shipping

Over 90% of e-commerce consumers say shipping accounts for at least half of their overall experience with the brand. Yet, 71% have had to reach out to customer service in the past year due to shipping or delivery issues. Each of those calls can cost you $5-8, and more often than not, the reps handling them don’t even have the data to provide clear answers. Providing customer-facing data, including in warehouse fulfillment updates, in transit shipping updates, and changes to EDD - all in real time - reduces support costs and builds trust. Brands that prioritize proactive communication, see up to a 25% reduction in support costs as fewer customers feel the need to reach out. If you receive 300 support calls a day, you save approximately $137k annually just by providing accurate communication along the fulfillment journey.

Expedited communication between teams is also critical in situations that arise during fulfillment. For instance, a customer orders a medium-sized red sweater, but shortly after placing the order, they realize they’d prefer a large in blue. They contact customer service to request the change before the order ships, but if communication between customer service, warehouse, and fulfillment teams isn’t properly coordinated, the request may not be passed along in time. As a result, the wrong size and color are packed and shipped, leading to a frustrating customer experience and a costly return process.

4. Post-Purchase

At this stage, customer support teams must be able to quickly locate information about each customer's order. If a customer receives a delivered notification but hasn't actually received their package, they'll reach out to report the issue. To provide accurate answers, your team needs to know exactly what happened to their parcel. Was it delivered to the wrong address? Was it accidentally marked as delivered? Was the package delivered when the customer was away, left unattended, and potentially stolen? Support teams can only answer these questions if they have accurate order status updates from your carrier provider. Any miscommunication or lack of information at this point can create frustration and destroy the trust that has been built earlier in the customer journey.

When brands fall short, customers don’t just survive the pain—they take their business elsewhere. In fact, almost 3 out of 4 customers will switch to a competitor after just one bad experience left unresolved. Most customers won’t even bother to complain; they’ll simply stop buying and will instead share their negative experience through reviews or social media—outlets that have a heavy influence on consumer buying decisions.

If your brand has 10,000 regular customers a month and 1% of them—100 people—have a bad experience due to miscommunication, and 75% of that group choose to switch to a competitor, that’s 75 lost customers. Now, if each of those 75 people share their negative experience and influence 2 potential buyers in their network, you’re looking at 150 additional potential sales lost from lapses in customer experience.

Consistent, integrated, and real-time communication, both internally and with customers, helps mitigate potential crises before they escalate.

Customer Communication as a Competitive Advantage

Effective customer communication is a strategic imperative in any e-commerce ecosystem. Trust is the foundation of customer relationships, and consistent, transparent communication is critical to building and maintaining that trust.

Buyers have countless options at their disposal and are quick to abandon brands that fall short of expectations. Brands that prioritize clear, consistent communication internally and with customers, across all channels, at every stage of the buyer journey, create experiences that customers can depend on. Trust built with communication becomes the ultimate differentiator in a saturated market.

E-commerce communication is complex, but with the right tech integration, brands can streamline the exchange of data and information at every touchpoint in e-commerce enablement that create value.

Branded packaging is more than just having a container for your product and protecting it during shipping. It can be a strategic marketing tool that encompasses the materials, design, and messaging of your boxes and other packaging elements. This may include custom-printed boxes with your logo and colors, unique shapes and sizes, personalized inserts, and even the type of tape you use. It's about creating a cohesive and memorable brand experience from the moment your package arrives.

Data consistently shows the significant impact of packaging on consumer behavior.

A MacFarlace Packaging survey revealed that 61% of end consumers anticipate branded parcels with greater excitement and 41% are more likely to repurchase if the parcel comes in a branded box. Notably, 52% of buyers are driven to repeat purchases by premium packaging.

While the potential of branded packaging is undeniable, it's still crucial to examine the full picture. From cost and logistical considerations to the growing concerns of porch piracy, understanding the pros and cons of investing in branded boxes will help you make an informed decision for your e-commerce business.

Pros of Branded Boxes

For e-commerce businesses seeking to leverage branded boxes, here are several strategic advantages.

Better Customer Experience

The initial physical interaction with your product begins with the packaging. Branded packaging contributes to a positive unboxing experience, which leads to better overall customer experience. Criteo found that 68% of end-consumers say a positive unboxing experience makes them more likely to recommend a brand.

Free Marketing

A brightly branded box on a doorstep can signal to a local community of a highly desirable product that they may want themselves — never underestimate the power of “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Branded packaging can also lead to increased social media visibility. Customers are more likely to share photos and videos of their unboxing experiences when the packaging is branded and visually appealing. This organic sharing extends your brand's reach and can attract new customers through user-generated content.

Both scenarios can effectively serve as a form of free marketing.

Improved Parcel Costs

For brands with consistent order sizes or product kits, custom-designed packaging can significantly reduce carrier fees. By optimizing the box dimensions to minimize dimensional weight, eliminating unnecessary void fill (dunnage), and using lightweight yet durable materials, you can lower shipping costs.

For example, Seed implemented custom mailers that were perfectly tailored to their product. This strategic packaging design maintained a great unboxing experience and also resulted in substantial cost savings by reducing their shipping expenses. This approach demonstrates how branded packaging can be a brand enhancer and a cost-saving measure.

Cons of Branded Boxes

While the benefits of branded packaging are clear, there are also potential drawbacks. 

Cost Considerations

Branded packaging involves initial costs for materials, design, and setup. However, strategic approaches, like using custom mailers or streamlined packaging, can potentially unlock savings on parcel costs. Therefore, a well-planned choice can optimize packaging and logistics, while still potentially lowering the overall expenses.

Logistical Challenges

If you decide to implement branded packaging with uniquely shaped boxes or custom sizes, it may require additional storage space and can complicate shipping processes. These challenges can lead to increased handling costs and potential delays in delivery. Additionally, non-standard packaging may increase shipping costs due to dimensional weight pricing.

Complicated Packout Process

Implementing branded packaging can introduce complexity into the packout process. If you offer a variety of branded box sizes or designs, effectively communicating which box to use for specific orders can be challenging. This complexity increases the potential for errors, such as using the wrong box size, which can lead to higher shipping costs or damaged goods.

A modern Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) like Stord provides step-by-step instructions with images to help reduce confusion, however for traditional providers the complexity of managing multiple packaging options can still lead to inefficiencies and increased training requirements for warehouse staff.

Potential for Design Missteps

A poorly executed branded packaging design can negatively impact customer perception. If the design is cluttered, unprofessional, or misaligned with the brand's image, it can detract from the overall customer experience. Therefore, investing in professional design services and conducting thorough testing with target audiences is necessary to avoid these pitfalls.

Increased Risk of Porch Piracy

Branded boxes can inadvertently increase the risk of “porch piracy” or the theft of packages left unattended on doorsteps. Distinctive branding makes packages more noticeable as it may suggest the presence of valuable items to opportunistic thieves. This heightened visibility can make your shipments a target, particularly in areas with known package theft issues.

Security.org found that porch pirates stole $12 billion in packages in 2024 and as many as 58 million Americans have become victims during that year. E-commerce businesses should consider implementing strategies to mitigate this risk. One way to do it is through shipment protection.

Stord Shipment Protection provides a financial safety net for stolen, lost, or damaged packages. It works by offering reimbursement or replacement to customers who experience these issues, thereby reducing financial losses for the business and enhancing customer trust in the delivery process.

Finding the Right Packaging Fit

E-commerce businesses have different packaging options to choose from, each with its own set of considerations. The best choice depends on your brand's specific goals, target audience, and budget.

1. No Branded Packaging

This involves using plain, generic boxes or mailers. It's often chosen by businesses that prioritize cost-effectiveness, operational efficiency, or a minimalist aesthetic. While it may not enhance brand visibility, it can be a practical solution for certain products or business models.

2. Fully Branded Packaging

This option involves extensive customization, including custom-printed boxes with logos, colors, and designs. It may also come with branded inserts and other elements. It's designed to create a strong brand experience and enhance customer engagement.

This approach is often favored by brands that prioritize brand building, creating a premium unboxing experience, and driving social media sharing.

3. Partially Branded Packaging

This approach offers a middle ground, combining elements of both no branding and fully branded packaging. It may involve using a generic exterior box with more branding elements inside, such as branded inserts or stickers. This approach can provide a balance between cost-effectiveness and brand visibility.

4. Dual-Purpose Packaging

This option involves packaging that serves both as the product's protective container and its presentation or storage solution. It eliminates the need for a separate inner box to reduce material waste and potentially lower costs. 

Dual-purpose packaging enhances product value by providing a reusable and functional element. It can create a more sustainable and customer-centric approach.

Align Your Brand With the Right Packaging

The decision of whether to invest in branded packaging for your e-commerce business is not a simple yes or no. It's a thoughtful consideration that involves a deep understanding of your brand goals and the overall customer experience you aim to create. Still, we must acknowledge the power of packaging in shaping consumer perception and driving loyalty.

The “right” choice must strike a balance between the appeal of creating a memorable unboxing experience and the realities of cost, logistics, and security. Ultimately, your packaging solution should effectively represent your brand and resonate with your customers. Whether you opt for the simplicity of generic packaging, the brand-building power of fully branded boxes, the flexibility of partial branding, or the efficiency of dual-purpose solutions, the key is to make an informed and intentional choice.

ATLANTA, February 7, 2025— True Classic, the fastest growing direct-to-consumer premium menswear brand, announces its new partnership with Stord, a leader in commerce enablement fulfillment and technology services for high-volume omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands.

Founded in 2019, True Classic experienced meteoric growth, hitting the $100 million mark in just two years with 1 shirt design in 6 colors. This success propelled expansion into 50+ apparel categories, 9 independent retail locations, and global demand. In the past 6 years, True Classic has served over 5 million customers across 192 countries, and donated over 250,000 shirts to homeless veterans, shelters, and schools since July 15, 2024.

“True Classic’s mission is to help people look and feel their best, but our commitment to customers and community sets us apart,” said Ben Yahalom, CEO of True Classic. “When a sudden regulation change halted imports to our Mexico distribution centers, Stord moved swiftly to establish a new fulfillment hub in Kentucky. Their agility and shared dedication to service enabled us to resume operations in under 30 days and continue delivering seamlessly."

In December of 2024, Mexico made substantial changes to its IMMEX program targeting apparel, textiles and other goods. These new changes directly restricted the importation of certain goods into Mexico. Many brands were negatively impacted and were facing steep increases in their fulfillment costs, including True Classic.

"Supply chain disruptions have become commonplace for start-up operators in recent years. However, it's important that our customers are not impacted by these changes. Stord was able to provide a solution that allowed True Classic to move quickly and continue providing great service for our customers. Ultimately, they helped us turn a disruption into an opportunity to evolve our mission to help our customers look good and feel good," said Chad Brinton, Head of Operations at True Classic.

With Stord, True Classic enjoys a seamless end-to-end consumer experience powered by an integrated fulfillment and technology solution. Stord launched True Classic fulfillment in their Hebron, KY facility within 19 days from signature to outbound products, avoiding any disruptions. This solution provides True Classic with the advantage of Stord’s advanced automation and warehouse efficiency. 

Stord’s Order Management System (OMS), Stord One Commerce, integrates with True Classic’s substantial marketplaces and sales channels, revealing real-time order and inventory visibility and giving their team complete status clarity across DTC and B2B orders with up-to-the-second dashboards on performance metrics.

Stord Parcel combined with Stord’s Last-Mile Optimization software allows True Classic a simplified global carrier management tool which automatically picks the optimal carrier and service level for every package, ensuring delivery promises are hit every time without overspending.

"True Classic is an impressive brand. They have successfully navigated the challenging apparel market, meeting growing consumer demand, expanding inventory lines - all while focusing on their consumer experience and their community. We are honored to help them continue that growth while overcoming the dynamic global market conditions. While other brands struggle to adapt to these new realities, True Classic’s rapid action and Stord’s ability to meet their needs will fuel continued growth without compromising on providing industry-leading consumer experience," said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. 

For more information, visit www.stord.com. 

About True Classic

Founded in 2019, True Classic is one of the fastest-growing men's apparel brands, redefining everyday essentials for the modern man. U.S.-based and globally available, the DTC fashion brand combines ultra-soft fabrics, tailored fits, and inclusive sizing from S-4XL to create versatile basics that look and feel exceptional on all body types. With a mission to help men look good, feel good, and do good, True Classic donates over 40,000 T-shirts each month to homeless veterans, shelters, and schools, while supporting initiatives like the Tiny House Project. The brand also supports philanthropic efforts by aiding humanitarian crises, fulfilling teacher wishlists, and providing resources during natural disasters. For additional information, please visit www.trueclassic.com or follow trueclassic on Instagram at @trueclassic.

ATLANTA, January 7, 2024— Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and supply chain technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands, has launched an accelerator initiative designed to bring enterprise-level fulfillment, parcel and last-mile services, plus market-leading order management software (OMS) to emerging, high growth brands—leveling the playing field with robust capabilities and low costs, for brands of all sizes. 

Fast-growing brands are often constrained by the lack of accessible commerce enablement services to compete effectively. Now, through this Stord accelerator program, brands gain rapid, seamless integration to marketplaces like Shopify, discounted parcel and packaging rates through Stord Parcel, same-day shipping on orders, helpful consumer experience tools like Shipment Protection, and the ability to be live and shipping products to end consumers rapidly.

With access to Stord’s order & inventory management system, Stord One Commerce, these brands get access to real-time order status, inventory availability, exception management and reporting insights. Given the limited staff and resources of emerging brands, they now can optimize their supply chains at lower costs, while driving further revenue and delivering superior customer service.

The program is targeted towards companies shipping approximately a thousand orders or more per month and that generate orders from online storefronts like Shopify.

This program focuses on rapidly scaling DTC brands that will quickly outgrow their initial logistic infrastructure - unlocking flexible expansion into new markets, B2B, access to Stord’s multi-node warehouse network, and more.

Several rapidly growing brands have already been deployed by Stord, including Heaven Mayhem, SuperPlants, Wunderground, and more. 

Heaven Mayhem, a Los Angeles based accessory and life-style brand that has captured attention from celebrities and consumers alike. To better handle its strong year-over-year growth and deliver exemplary service to its increasing customer base, Heaven Mayhem partnered with Stord, gaining enterprise-level fulfillment, broader parcel selection, and comprehensive order and inventory management software.

“As a fast growing luxury brand, having a partner that can keep up with us and provide our customers with industry-leading consumer experience is crucial,” said Pia Mance, Heaven Mayhem’s Founder and Creative Director.  “Stord allows us to scale at the pace we’re targeting, both operationally and technically, and delivers significant parcel savings. Most importantly, they’re aligned culturally with us, work rapidly and quite simply, are easy to do business with.  We see Stord as a key partner on our continued growth trajectory.”

SuperPlants, a family-owned brand dedicated to 100% organic superfoods mixes, plant-based vitamins and detox programs is perfectly positioned for rapid growth as the superfood market surpasses $200 billion in 2024. “At SuperPlants, we’re more than a business—we’re a mission-driven family passionate about helping people thrive. Every product we create is designed to elevate health naturally, and working with an enterprise-level commerce enablement partner like Stord allows us to focus on what matters most: our customers and their well-being,” said Michael Kuech, co-founder of SuperPlants. To meet the rising global demand, SuperPlants is leveraging Stord’s European fulfillment capabilities, strategically centered in the Netherlands. This expansion ensures that customers worldwide can easily access clean, effective, plant-based solutions to help them feel their best"

Wunderground Coffee, a ready-to-drink and whole bean mushroom infused “Coffee 2.0” brand, has already garnered massive interest with a focus on community powered by the intersection of mental health and coffee consumption. “I am thrilled to partner with Stord to help nurture Wunderground Coffee,” said Jody Hall, founder of Wonderground. “Stord not only offers my growing business the critical e-commerce fulfillment acumen my customers expect, but they also share my passion for sustainability and ecological impact. Knowing that they can optimize our carrier selection to reduce time in transit and overall greenhouse gas emissions aligns perfectly with my brand’s commitment to bettering people and the planet.”

Stord CEO & Co-Founder Sean Henry added, “we’ve seen many emerging brands struggle to compete due to constraints with their fulfillment and delivery capabilities.  We’re excited to help these high growth companies tap into the same market-leading consumer experience—comprised of fast, cheap, and trusted checkout and delivery capabilities—that are usually only accessible to enterprise brands.”

To be considered for Stord’s accelerator program, please fill out the form here.

For more information, visit www.stord.com.

This assembly of off-the-shelf and custom logistics services and technology tools leaves the traditional supply chain extremely fragile and without the agility to keep up with demand or the visibility to make data-driven decisions in real time. Any ensuing interruptions or flaws in the supply chain may have a detrimental impact in a world where individuals and businesses depend on the continued flow of goods to function, so much so that modern logistics accounts for one eighth of the global economy.

Solution: The Cloud Supply Chain

The supply chain cloud is a digital 3PL with end-to-end logistics services vertically integrated through a singular software platform and offered in a pay-as-you-go model. When a company builds their own fragile logistics stack, they’re its only user, responsible for its growth, maintenance, and integrations. On a supply chain cloud, brands have access to a fully integrated vertical solution -- all the logistics services and technology tools needed for an end-to-end supply chain wrapped up in one pre-integrated cloud platform. 

Advantages of Cloud Computing over Traditional Infrastructure

Public cloud-computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources via the Internet, pioneered by Amazon Web Services. Instead of every company building and managing their IT infrastructure from scratch, cloud computing offers computing power, storage and databases as they’re needed without the cost of owning and operating physical data centers and servers. Capital costs are replaced by variable costs, allowing for the possibility of scaling up and down as needed. 

Execution speeds are incredibly fast because expanding in the cloud doesn’t require lengthy planning and procurement periods. What you’re paying for are the space and resources in the cloud, but you’re still in complete control of the data it stores -- how it’s managed, how it’s encrypted, and how you want to export it. 

How Cloud Computing is Applied to Supply Chain

The cloud supply chain takes these cloud computing principles and applies them to the end-to-end supply chain. Warehousing and freight are as nimble as the cloud technology itself, as variable costs that are able to flex and scale on demand. 

Logistics partners are pre-connected to the cloud supply chain’s integrations hub, providing brands with a control tower view of operations and data necessary for real-time analysis of the entire supply chain. These connected warehouses and freight carriers provide the capacity necessary to execute on demand signals, significantly reducing the typical latency period between data science and procurement teams. Capacity is just as easily scaled down if demand signals indicate the supply chain is over-saturated.

Benefits of the Cloud Supply Chain 

In this model, the benefits of the cloud are extended to supply chain operations:

Scale up and down as needed 

Warehousing and freight services are operated on a pay-as-you-go model, enabling rapid response. In a typical supply chain, it takes months after identifying a demand signal to plan and procure additional, rendering optimization models obsolete. The cloud supply chain is a self-healing network, so in the event of sudden demand such as the COVID-19 pandemic, brands can quickly scale up to meet that demand in 24-48 hours, and just as quickly scale back down once the surge has passed. 

No capital expenses 

The supply chain cloud offers supply chain services and a cloud platform on a pay-as-you-go basis, giving brands of all sizes access to world-class logistics and software without the need to invest in physical infrastructure for warehousing or data centers.

Build to the cloud once and never again 

The supply chain cloud is pre-integrated with an expansive logistics network, so brands only have to integrate once to the cloud to be connected to the entire network. They no longer need to source one-to-one solutions for multiple integrations, significantly reducing launch times. 

Immediate access to a world-class logistics network 

Connecting to the cloud supply chain gives you access to Stord’s network of partner fulfillment centers and robust local and national carriers. Book a freight shipment, launch a new warehouse, or test a new distribution model all from the same cloud platform. 

Faster time to market 

A single integration into the cloud supply chain is all that’s needed to connect to an entire logistics network. New locations can be launched in days, instead of weeks or months, without the need to draw out timelines with integrations, RFPs and contract negotiations. 

Rely on a single software

Use one control tower for both your data and your supply chain operations to make decisions in real-time, without the latency period typical in traditional supply chain networks. 

Faster innovation speed

The data centralized and normalized in the cloud supply chain integrations hub allows for real-time modeling capabilities. Optimize costs, improve forecasting accuracy, and even enable a digital twin that runs scenarios and identifies the impact of events before they happen. 

Focus on your competitive advantage

With the cloud supply chain, brands can re-invest the time and resources previously spent on traditional expenses like IT, warehouse procurement, or data normalization into their market differentiation, and focus on expanding their product offerings or increasing customer stickiness.

Transitioning from a Traditional Supply Chain to the Cloud

Shifting your supply chain operations to the cloud has many benefits, but brands should be prepared to learn and adapt along the way. Stord offers easy ways to get started and test our software and network before expanding your operations. Experience some of the benefits of the cloud supply chain, such as controlling operations in the platform in real time, while only paying for what you’re currently using. 

Launch a warehouse

Many companies begin the transition to the cloud supply chain by launching with one warehouse on the network, either by moving product into a Stord warehouse, or integrating one of their existing 3PLs into the cloud supply chain.To launch with an elastic warehouse in Stord’s network, brands can share their network data with our experts and let us evaluate the best positioning of your inventory, or ask for a specific warehouse location in our network. After sharing operational details, number of units on hand, turns, SKUs, and a few other details, Stord will provide pricing and you can begin shipping immediately. 

Launch with our software

To launch with an integration to the cloud platform, companies will need to complete some upfront work to integrate an ERP, OMS, TMS, or any other relevant software systems. We recommend documenting SKUs, product details, SLAs, and order requirements for retail network positioning. Additionally, Stord will ask for brands’ preferences for procedures like inventory report frequency, order cancellation requests, overages, shortages and damages handling, and more. After the initial set-up, relevant information will be automatically shared with onboarded logistics partners through the integrations hub, shortening the typical ramp-up time. With the one-time integration completed, brands can quickly scale up their usage, adding new warehouse locations or freight lanes without investing in additional IT or procurement resources. 

Learn more about the Cloud Supply Chain logistics network and software in this downloadable guide.

Brands today are piecing together inflexible logistics partners with long contracts, RFPs and limited software capabilities with third-party integrators and multiple software tools, to create their own fragile supply chain and technology stacks. They’re left without the agility needed to keep up with their changing customer demands, and without the visibility to make data-driven decisions in their supply chains. 

There’s a better solution: tapping into a cloud that offers superior logistics and software, already connected. Stord has built the supply chain cloud to eliminate the need for expensive infrastructure, multiple software integrations and long timelines by wrapping up all the logistics services and technology tools needed for an end-to-end supply chain in one pre-integrated cloud platform.   

Shippers no longer need to devote long lead times to procuring, launching, and managing new warehouses and carriers, or commit IT resources to ensuring system capability for data transfers. Stord’s cloud-based software streamlines this activity with a central one-time connection to the shippers’ ERP or sales channels that extends across our network of partner fulfillment centers and robust national and local carriers network.

With the Cloud Supply Chain, you can: 

Manage the entire order-to-delivery cycle with seamless connectivity

Omnichannel shippers managing the flow of goods across e-commerce platforms, ERP systems, and fulfillment locations no longer need to rely on multiple integration points, eliminating the need to source one-to-one solutions and significantly reducing launch timelines. 

The supply chain cloud is built to accommodate various operating processes and methods, allowing for all supply chain activities, typically conducted across disparate systems, to be seamlessly connected in one platform. From partner communication to sophisticated order management, from inventory management to SKU placement optimization and more, our platform is designed to centralize your key supply chain activities. 

Stord’s platform is agnostic to legacy systems and data sources. We offer simple integrations across ERP systems, e-commerce sites, WMSs, TMSs, parcel shipment facilitators, and more, utilizing your preferred order management method, so you can control your entire supply chain from one platform, not just receive unactionable reports on it.

Standardize and normalize data across software systems

Connect to the supply chain cloud once with data formats your systems already use and our team handles the rest, including future third-party integration needs and data mapping normalization. 

Send data reports customized to the frequency and needs of each team managing orders, inventory, and customers, reducing expenses and losses that result from inaccurate data.

Stord ensures that all your data is accurately captured, mapped and transmitted, and provides best practices and industry expertise recommendations where needed. 

Convert comprehensive visibility into actionable insights

Using the cloud supply chain dashboard, capture supply chain activity across your entire omnichannel footprint from customer order capture, multi-site inventory management, fulfillment operations and end customer delivery.

Enable your team of supply chain planners, inventory planners, merchandise buyers, operations specialists and customer care representatives with the end-to-end visibility and data they need to make decisions that drive key performance: improving fulfillment speed, reducing supply chain operating costs, optimizing inventory locations, and more. 

Scale on-demand with access to our logistics network

Already used by leading brands and Fortune 500 companies such as Advance Auto Parts, Crystal Geyser, Dollar General, Tyson Foods and more, the Stord Cloud Supply Chain offers access to our end-to-end logistics network with pay-as-you-go pricing and infinite scalability. From booking a new LTL shipment, to launching a new warehouse, or testing innovative distribution models like micro-fulfillment centers, our network is designed to get your products closer to your customers and ensure you out-deliver the competition. 

Are you ready to move your supply chain to the cloud? Get started: https://www.stord.com/get-started

I’m not kitting around - your brand cannot simply have just any kitting solution and expect success. To achieve repeatable growth with kitting, your business should consider and implement several tactics to ensure a seamless and impactful consumer experience. 

Kits Kits Kits

What products go into a successful kit? There are many ways to kit it right. (see what I did there? If you thought that was great, buckle up for a pun-filled blog post ahead) 

For example, a retailer could create a "Summer Adventure” kit that includes sunscreen, sunglasses, and a beach towel, or a “Valentine’s Day Survival Box” with a candle, self-care products and a tasty treat. By curating products that resonate with specific activities or events, you enhance your consumer engagement through relevance, ease of use, or even by tapping into fear of missing out (FOMO - my personal favorite fear) with a limited edition kit.

Your brand can also create their own events by either tying into broader cultural moments (think a hit new movie release, mass social event, etc) or by amplifying something hyper relevant to your messaging. You could create a kit with a percentage of proceeds going towards a cause.

Or, your brand could create a kit of the Manchester United kit to celebrate Kit Harrington’s birthday… Not only did I find a way to write kit with 3 different meanings in the same sentence, it also is a not half-bad kit strategy. Follow me here …

1. Kit - the awesome limited edition box set of amazing products

2. Kit - the uniform/gear that the Manchester United football club wears when they play

3. Kit Harrington - a popular British actor and Manchester United fan

If Kit Harrington was a relevant figure to the Manchester United team, it could make sense to partner together to create a bundle of ManU items into a kit in celebration of Kit Harrington’s birthday. All kitting about British Kits and unique kits aside, this example showcases that your kitting product strategy is only limited by your creativity to speak to your end consumer and their interests, needs, and wants. The more authentic and thoughtful the kit, the better the sales, and the better the likelihood of repeat purchases.

The Proof is in the Kitting

Don’t just take my word for it, kits are hugely beneficial from a revenue perspective. A Harvard Business School study discovered that Nintendo was able to boost game console sales by roughly 100,000 units when it was bundled into a kit with a game. By offering a mixture of kits and standalone products, Nintendo was able to dramatically increase both their hardware and game sales. This launch highlighted the success to drive adoption and purchasing power, and kicked off a strategy that gaming companies regularly employ to this day.

Cost Saving Benefits of Kitting

But wait, there’s more! Not only will kits drive greater sales and consumer experience (more on that in a future blog post), it can save you on operational expenses…and I won’t gate keep these benefits!

Reduced Inventory Storage Fees

When you store your inventory at a warehouse, the cost of that storage is a combination of the physical area that item takes up, the unique attributes or differences between or within products, the potential weight, and the time that item sits idle. This means lots of individual items can quickly add up and drag down your margins.

Pre-made kits can reduce this cost if used to consolidate low stock products into a single location reserved for the new kit, effectively creating density in storage. And since kits, if forecasted and advertised correctly, tend to sell quicker than standalone products, the additional costs of extended storage is less likely to impact your bottom line.

Reduced Order Fees

Every time a picker goes to pick an item, that cost is carried by your brand. If a consumer orders 5 items, depending on your pick flows, each item picked translates to a cost. However, when a picker selects a kit, no matter how many nestled items within that kit, your brand is charged only for one pick. Stord has seen upwards of 50% savings in the order fulfillment charge on a kit comprising 5 individual items.

Increased AOV

Let’s follow that 5 item kit a bit further down the line. That consumer comes to your marketplace looking for their favorite item and in this world they encounter a kit that has that item plus 4 other things they have been thinking about but never actually tried, at a price point that is likely more attractive than if they were to purchase all 5 items individually. The kit is a bit more expensive than the singular item but the curiosity of the new included items compared with the marginal increase in price feels like a value and worthwhile tradeoff. In this world, the kit has drastically improved your Average Order Volume (AOV). In another world without that kit, the same consumer would come to your marketplace, buy the one product they wanted, ignore everything else and leave. Missed opportunities to increase your AOV, and revenue.

Operational Benefits

There are yet more unseen benefits to a solid kitting strategy. If you pre-make kits the time to prepare, label, and hand-off to carriers is substantially faster. These kits tend to be made with appropriate dunnage and shipping box in consideration, and therefore only lack the customer shipping label to be ready for delivery. Comparatively, if a customer orders the same items within the kit independently, each one can take a few minutes to be picked, then placed into the proper box, with the proper dunnage and finally given a label and sent to await the carrier. You often lose the surprise and delight of special packaging or product presentation that would otherwise wow your customers!

Pre-made kits tend to also circumvent many areas of potential error, as less touches directly correlate to less chances for things to go awry.

In Kit-clusion

(I promise that’s the last kit-pun for this blog post!) 

By now you should have a strong handle on the ways you can tactically build kits, and the massive benefits a strong kitting strategy can provide your brand. In a future blog post, I will pack this kit up with an exclusive bow and explore how kits supercharge your consumer experience and aid in fostering and cementing consumer loyalty.

ATLANTA, December 3, 2024— Sundays for Dogs, the leading shelf-stable human-grade dog food brand, announces its new subscription delivery partnership with Stord, a leader in commerce enablement fulfillment and technology services for high-volume omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands.

In 2017, Mabel, Sundays’ Chief Tasting Officer and tennis ball enthusiast, became sick. When her parents were unable to find a convenient and healthy nutrition to improve her health, they founded Sundays for Dogs to create an easy, ready-to-eat, human-grade dry dog food alternative to improve the health of all dogs. Since then, Sundays has expanded to three different recipes and customizable options for allergy restrictions, taste preferences, and more, covering every breed’s specific health needs.  

"There has been a generational shift in the way we treat our dogs, but products haven’t caught up yet. There is a huge unmet demand for dog food that fits the requirements of the modern dog parent – high quality enough for an animal that sleeps in your bed, but with an easy convenience that makes sense. That’s what Sundays is," said Tory Waxman, Chief Veterinary Officer and co-founder of Sundays for Dogs. “Our customers rely on us to provide an essential product for their loved ones, which means we need reliable delivery and the very best consumer experience for every package. We are supremely committed to this task and needed a partner who could support our growth and our customers expectations. Stord helps us deliver on our promise to dog parents.” 

In 2022, pet food and treat sales accounted for $58.1 billion in the United States, and global dog food sales are expected to increase at a compound annual growth by 5.05% from 2023 to 2030, which Sundays for Dogs is ideally positioned to capitalize on. 

Over the past 12 months, Sundays rocketed to over 500,000 unique subscription orders putting strain on their legacy 4PL infrastructure. Sundays was unable to control the quality of their order fulfillment, with packages getting stuck and regularly dwelling throughout the fulfillment process. Sundays was further hampered by antiquated software that required time consuming manual processes to assess inventory and order status. Ultimately, this resulted in Sundays having to rush orders that were delayed, which further frustrated customers and exposed Sundays to excessive shipping costs.

“When your brand provides critical nutrition for a family’s beloved dogs, any delays or exceptions can have massive negative consequences. Stord was able to quickly understand our pain points, build a comprehensive strategy to overcome, and implement without missing a beat. This ensured that our customers and their dogs received their orders on time without even noticing we had made massive operational improvements with this new partnership. For all of my supply chain ninjas out there, their OMS & WMS platforms are easy to navigate and have the backend support you’d expect for an industry leader,” said Vincent Vasquez, Senior Director Supply Chain at Sundays for Dogs.

Partnering with Stord, Sunday for Dogs enjoys best-in-class software, flexible fulfillment tailored to subscription needs, and a team of dog-obsessed logistics experts. Through Stord’s Order Management System (OMS), Sundays for Dogs consumer experience is powered by an end-to-end fulfillment and technology offering.

Stord provides precise data on the current status of all orders, proactively addressing dwell time issues, accelerating the time from order received to carrier-pickup. These enhancements ensure no pup goes hungry waiting for a late delivery, allowing Sundays to reallocate excessive shipping costs into improving other elements of their customer experience.

The dogs of Sundays for Dogs will also enjoy faster and more efficient shipping through a combination of Stord Parcel and Last-Mile Optimization software. Carrier and service level are intelligently selected automatically from Stord’s expansive network of local and national carriers based on the historical zip code to zip code delivery data. 

“We are making aggressive investments to be ready for our continued growth, and Stord was the perfect company to help us achieve our ambitious goals. From the minute we met the team and experienced the software we knew we had found a true partner. Being able to reliably see all orders, deliver them faster and cheaper, all while ensuring the highest quality delivery and unboxing experience is exactly the support we needed. Stord provides us the flexibility to scale into the next chapter without having to endure any logistics headaches,” said Michael Waxman, CEO and co-founder of Sundays for Dogs.

"As a proud dog parent to an adorable golden retriever puppy I am thrilled to have a brand I personally believe in partner with Stord. Providing crucial support and accelerating the process from order received to order delivered while reducing operational costs will ensure Sundays for Dogs can meet and exceed their commerce objectives without sacrificing their consumer experience. While Sundays for Dogs make it easier to be an awesome dog parent, Stord is honored to make it easier for Sundays team to improve the nutrition of more dogs," said Jacob Boudreau, CTO and co-founder of Stord. 

For more information, visit www.stord.com. 

About Sundays for Dogs, Inc

Sundays for Dogs offers the world’s best yet easiest  dog food made with human-grade, air-dried ingredients. Sundays created and now leads a new third category of pet nutrition, as a more convenient alternative to newer cooked/frozen human-grade foods and a higher quality and tastier alternative to kibble. . Their recipes  are crafted by veterinarians and animal nutritionists to be AAFCO complete and balanced using only simple, whole ingredients that you can pronounce like USDA beef, quinoa, and pumpkin, offering the cleanest label in the industry. The air-drying process preserves the food's nutrients and flavor, and makes it easy to serve without any preparation, refrigeration or clean-up required. Sundays aims to redefine the standard for dog food and to make it easier to be an awesome dog parent.

ATLANTA, November 22, 2024— Stord, a leading commerce enablement platform that provides fulfillment and technology for mid-market and enterprise brands, ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™  for the second time in company history. The Fast 500 is a catalog of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and energy tech companies in North America, now in its 30th year.

“Stord has been seeing incredible growth and momentum, and this award is a testament to our market leadership,” said Jacob Boudreau, CTO and co-founder of Stord. “We continue to invest in the leading commerce enablement capabilities for our customers, and have completed several acquisitions, opened new fulfillment centers, built out new robotic automation, and dramatically expanded our commerce enablement software with our Consumer Experience suite and Shipping Protection. We are thrilled these efforts have been recognized by Deloitte, but are truly elated to see the real-world impact these expanded operational capabilities have provided for our hundreds of customers and the tens-of-millions of consumers we reach annually.”

“Innovation, transformation and disruption of the status quo are at the forefront for this year’s Technology Fast 500 list, and there’s no better way to celebrate 30 years of program history,” said Christie Simons, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP and industry leader for technology, media and telecommunications within Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance practice. “This year’s winning companies have demonstrated a continuous commitment to growth and remarkable consistency in driving forward progress. We extend our congratulations to all of this year’s winners — it’s an incredible time for innovation.”

Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2020-2023. In order to be eligible for recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least US$50,000, and current-year operating revenues of at least US$5 million. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.

“Over 10% of US homes received a shipment from Stord in the past year. In 2024, our technology and fulfillment services powered over $5 billion in commerce and proved invaluable for our hundreds of customers. Being named a Technology Fast 500 company for the second time is a tremendous honor, but more importantly, it underscores the criticality of how Stord levels the commerce playing field for brands of all sizes. By providing e-commerce businesses with the tools necessary to deliver a world-class consumer experience at scale, we help them grow revenue, save money, and delight their consumers. Thank you to Deloitte, and thank you to our customers for trusting us with your consumer experience,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

For more information, visit www.stord.com. 

About Deloitte

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 8,500 U.S.-based private companies. At Deloitte, we strive to live our purpose of making an impact that matters by creating trust and confidence in a more equitable society. We leverage our unique blend of business acumen, command of technology, and strategic technology alliances to advise our clients across industries as they build their future. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Bringing more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte’s approximately 460,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.

# # #

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

BFCM by the Numbers

Data from 2023 showed a record-setting turnout of 200.4 million shoppers during Cyber Week in the USA. This massive influx of digital consumers translated into $9.8 billion in online sales during Black Friday and $12.4 billion in online sales during Cyber Week alone, marking a 9.6% year-over-year increase in the United States. All told, Black Friday accrued $70.9 billion globally in 2023, which is an 8% year-over-year increase. 

In addition to the surge of demand during this tight holiday window, brands have offered earlier offerings and expanded the sales period to encourage a longer shopping period enabling end consumers to allocate more towards holiday purchases. Amazon Prime Day (which occurs twice a year and is their branded version of BFCM) earned $14.2 Billion globally in 2024.

This trend was compounded further in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for e-commerce growth, with BFCM sales seeing unprecedented spikes in 2020 and 2021. It was expected that there would be a significant downturn in BFCM sales as normal life resumed. The e-commerce sector however has shown remarkable resilience and continued global growth in the post-pandemic era:

• 2019 (Pre-COVID): Online BFCM sales reached $9.4 billion

• 2020 (Peak COVID): A surge to $10.8 billion, marking a 15% increase

• 2021: Further growth to $10.9 billion

• 2022: Continued expansion to $11.3 billion

• 2023: The aforementioned $12.4 billion, demonstrating sustained growth

BFCM Strategies

Unfortunately, the first truth about being prepared for BFCM is not a shocking or surprising insight - the brands that can regularly and repeatedly deliver their consumer’s orders on time with healthy margins are most likely to have the component parts to succeed during BFCM. If you cannot nail the basics on a random Tuesday in July, there is no reason to expect your systems will be capable of managing the massive spikes in demand while meeting consumer expectations.

Win Your Inventory. Bring Order To Your Orders.

While many will say the consumer journey starts with the marketing, which then drives to the website, that showcases the product, which pushes the cart to conversion, which finally ends with the product being delivered - at Stord we believe a successful consumer journey starts at correct inventory. Without an effective inventory management system you lose the ability to accurately inform marketing what products exist that they can promote, you run the risk of overselling products that you cannot fulfill on your promised delivery date, and you create costly customer service issues to correct. Often, brands have had to manage their inventory decisions with batched inventory updates from their fulfillment partners. Meaning every several hours (or days) you get a snapshot of your current inventory. During a massive sales event with multiple sales channels these issues compound on each other creating a nightmare situation for your brand.

With accurate inventory data paired with a robust Order Management System (OMS) with real-time data, not only do these problems vanish, but new opportunities present themselves.

Now, brands can quickly analyze consumer behavior and identify the fastest moving products, ensuring you have ample inventory for BFCM. A modern OMS does this automatically, but this can be done by hand through an ABC prioritization methodology, which sorts inventory based on most to least critical items, you can see a free template here. But, if you manage your inventory data properly, you can also discover SKU affinity - basically what are the other products that are likely to be sold in tandem with your more desirable products. This not only ensures you have the inventory, but also informs your marketing team of potential kits or displays related items to be shown to a consumer before checkout. A truly savvy team could look at the buying habits based on region and identify related SKUs that speak to that area - if the consumer is in a colder climate during BFCM, you can suggest related SKUs that have both a high propensity of selling with your fast movers and are more desirable for that specific region.

This optimization based on your historical sales can be further enhanced by incorporating statistical models of projected sales, and planned marketing campaigns. This forward-thinking approach of inventory planning allows brands to more accurately order and geographically place inventory across their networks. Now, you can accurately predict how long your existing inventory will last, intelligently order replenishments, and adjust models to accommodate seasonal demand and marketing initiatives. No more languishing inventory hoping to be sold, or empty racks awaiting products you oversold to frustrated customers - just what you need, when you need it, and precisely where you need it.

Selling With Consumer Experience In Mind

A great consumer journey and experience may start with your inventory and order routing, but you cannot expect that alone to set your brand apart from the competition. While marketing teams can now confidently promote your products accurately, what happens when someone selects your products on your website and interacts with your shipping options for the first time?

Assuming you have already minimized the number of clicks a consumer must make to finalize a purchase AND that you have shifted your account creation to post-purchase (25% - 37% of online shoppers will abandon their cart due to account creation), let me share some sobering facts.

1. 47% - 60% of online shoppers will abandon their cart due to higher shipping costs and fees. 

2. 23% abandon their cart due to unclear total order costs

3. 18% - 24% abandon their cart because of slow shipping options

4. 14% will abandon shopping with a retailer completely if they receive a late delivery just once

And perhaps most telling of all - according to Baymard Institute 70.19% of online shoppers will abandon their cart. Put another way, only 3 out of 10 customers will complete the purchase.

This clearly shows the necessity of having a clear shipping promise and cost AND that you must hit that promise. If you are powering your cart with a parcel and last-mile optimization solution, you can leverage your historical shipping data to implement estimated delivery dates. This means you can clearly show a potential shopper that the product they have in their cart will arrive on a precise date vs showing a carrier level like ground or a date range like 2-3 business days. This added clarity has been shown to boost conversion rates by 7%.

Can you effectively send an email when they abandon their cart? Inform them when the package is labeled and picked up by the carrier? Inform them of any delays or split orders? What about instances of damage or theft upon delivery? Each one of these and more can be a failpoint in your communication, sowing doubt and mistrust within your consumer. Since 80% of porch piracy victims occur between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you cannot overlook your ability to communicate accurate information and provide easy self-service solutions to any issues encountered. One solution would be Shipment Protection, which powers an easy claims and resolution portal with automatic communication updates. Throughout every step an order takes to reach your end consumer, your brand should have automatic contingency plans to send updates and reinforce that brand trust. For example, if your OMS detects an odd delay (or dwelling) it can alert your fulfillment team to correct the issue and to your consumer to set proper expectations.

Prepare Prepare Prepare

In 2023, Stord followed these strategies on behalf of our customers and experienced the following:

• 260% increase in Black Friday order volume

• 261% increase in Cyber Monday sales

• 6x increase in average daily orders

• 48% increase in average order value on Black Friday

Put plainly more consumers were ordering, ordering larger amounts, and Stord was able to fulfill them on time in full. This ability to scale up operations to meet unexpected demand can be the difference between capitalizing on sales opportunities and disappointing customers with delays or stockouts. And we are prepared for an even larger and more successful BFCM in 2024.

Ultimately, all of these systems and tools allow brands to better partner with their marketing and sales teams to support their revenue goals while better preparing the operational teams to correctly and efficiently deliver every order to every customer on or before the promised delivery date at scale. So if it is Black Friday, Friday the 13th, or really any Friday in-between, these strategies will help you succeed this holiday season and every subsequent day.

Holiday kitting isn't merely about bundling products; it's about crafting experiences that sparkle with the same joy as a perfectly selected and wrapped present. Much like an advent calendar that counts down to the big day with 24 unique treats, or a curated health and beauty set, kitting has become the secret ingredient for surprising and delighting your customers all year round. 

But what exactly makes kitting such a powerful tool for businesses? Imagine the delight of a customer discovering a perfectly assembled spa day kit, complete with everything needed for a moment of winter wellness, or the convenience of finding all the supplements and exercise apparel needed to properly kick off a new hobby - everything they need with no extra effort!. 

This is where the science of strategic product selection meets the art of packaging – and this is where businesses find new opportunities to delight their customers while increasing revenue, loyalty and product awareness.

What is Kitting?

Kitting is the process of combining multiple individual items into a single package, creating a comprehensive and curated experience for the consumer. These kits can vary in complexity from a simple bundle of complementary products to an elaborate seasonal collection designed to tell a compelling story or share an exclusive partnership. In the world of retail and e-commerce, kitting is much more than just a sales tactic; it's a strategic approach to creating value and enhancing customer satisfaction through unique offerings found nowhere else.

Types of Kitting

As detailed in the above video, kitting can be implemented in various ways, each serving distinct purposes and catering to different business needs. Let's explore the four main types of kitting that are prevalent in the industry today.

Upstream Kitting (Manufacturer-based)

Upstream kitting occurs at the manufacturer level, where products are bundled as the product is produced. This approach puts the manufacturer in control of the assembly process. By entrusting your manufacturer you can streamline inventory management and reduce handling costs, potentially boosting efficiency.

However, upstream kitting does present notable challenges. The pre-assembled nature of these kits can lead to reduced flexibility in customization and higher inventory carrying costs. Manufacturers must carefully forecast demand, as pre-assembled kits risk obsolescence if market preferences shift. Additionally, the complexity of managing returns increases when individual components of a kit need to be processed separately, and shipping costs can be higher due to the pre-assembled bulk. This also assumes your manufacturer has the skills and the capacity to manage this on your behalf.

Downstream Kitting (Retailer or Marketplace-based)

Unlike upstream kitting, downstream kitting takes place closer to the point of sale, often done by the retailer. Retailers can customize kits to align with their branding and local audience, allowing for greater flexibility and adaptation to market trends. This approach empowers retailers to respond quickly to consumer demands and seasonal preferences.

Downstream kitting offers retailers a chance to curate unique experiences for their customers. By bundling related products, such as a skincare set with cleanser, toner, and moisturizer, retailers can provide a holistic solution to common consumer needs.

Despite its advantages, downstream kitting faces several operational challenges. The process requires additional labor resources at the retail level, which can increase costs significantly and is not likely to align with most retailers' specialty or capabilities. Retailers must also contend with space constraints for kit assembly, potential inconsistencies in assembly across different locations, and the complexity of training staff to maintain quality standards. The risk of component stockouts can disrupt kit availability, potentially impacting customer satisfaction and sales performance.

Third-Party Kitting Providers

Third-party kitting providers are specialized businesses that focus exclusively on kitting assembly. This approach can be beneficial for small to medium-sized enterprises seeking to leverage kitting without investing in additional resources, or for those with rigorous controls or oversight needed on the execution of kits, in the example of OTC or FDA controlled components.

This approach promises that businesses can tap into a wealth of expertise and technology. These providers should have quality insights to build high performing kits, and the capability of creating customized packaging at scale. However, these can often just be cookie cutter templates that are stretched to accommodate your brand vs being truly custom.

While third-party kitting can offer numerous benefits, businesses should be aware of potential drawbacks. The loss of direct control over quality assurance can be concerning, and additional costs for third-party services may impact profit margins. Companies often face challenges in communication and coordination with external providers, and longer lead times for kit modifications can affect market responsiveness. Your margins are also further stretched as you have to accommodate for transportation costs to and from this kitting specific provider, and have to contend with a long lead time and shortened selling window when transporting product to and from your kitting provider. 

In-House Kitting

Some businesses choose to conduct kitting operations in-house, giving them full control over the process. This approach is most often utilized by brands just starting out or massive fully integrated brands that own their entire supply chain. Small brands often opt for this path as there are no perceived additional costs and they have complete control. The largest global brands can opt for this approach because they have the volume to support complete control and can create unique product offerings or bespoke kits with intricate designs.

While larger companies can maintain consistent quality standards and swiftly respond to changes in consumer preferences. Smaller brands can overwhelm their inhouse team and simply lack the expertise to assemble noteworthy kits. They often lack the quality control protocols, systems, and infrastructure to sustainably build a kitting operation.

The Goldilocks Option

There is, however, a secret 5th option - kitting at your fulfillment provider. 

When your fulfillment provider is also an experienced kitting provider you avoid many of the pitfalls of the other options while realizing more benefits. 

First, no additional transportation costs or delays to production - the product is already at your fulfillment center and is ready to be assembled. 

Second, untold flexibility - you can kit to order, entirely built by your end consumer, create pre-made kits, or hybrid with customizable pre-made kits. Third, inventory management - you can avoid delays and out of stock messages by managing your pools of inventory. Missing a specific SKU needed for a kit, you can easily pull from your B2B inventory or DTC inventory. Finally, kitting expertise. This solution often means that the fulfillment provider has dedicated teams for kitting, allowing for data driven kit optimizations, packaging, and efficiencies to reduce the assembly costs. All told, this path usually accounts for the greatest flexibility, quality, and cost which all help drive your end consumer experience.

Kitting is Queen 

Kitting is an excellent path for brands to expose consumers to new SKUs, create compelling sales events, drive revenue, and create an enduring positive brand association. Now that we have identified how we can tactically assemble kits, in future blog posts we will explore the best practices brands are deploying to make their kits truly memorable and effective.

Need to deploy a robust kitting solution? Our experts are ready to help.

In this competitive market, protecting your customers, and their orders, is critical to your brand's longevity. But how do you do this for every order, each and every day, forever?

Analytics for Risk Management

This isn't your grandmother's data analysis; we're talking about sophisticated pattern recognition that makes your shipping operation smoother than a freshly waxed surfboard.

The rise of porch piracy has become a national crisis, turning doorsteps into crime scenes across America. With a staggering 67% of Americans having experienced package theft, these opportunistic thieves play a numbers game - striking repeatedly in hopes of landing high-value items. The statistics paint a grim picture: 22% of consumers have been victimized multiple times, while 11% have had their packages stolen three times or more. 

When brands begin tracking everything, including instances of damage, loss, and theft - that data becomes a critical new tool to improve your consumer experience repeatedly. With that data, brands can identify recurring exceptions, to pinpoint high-risk shipping routes, carriers prone to damage, the desirable product categories for porch pirates, and more. 

Through a system like Stord One Commerce, Stord’s Order Management System, combined with Stord Shipment Protection, your historical data allows you to directly combat these exceptions before they become costly issues. Now you can change carriers, adjust packaging, and be proactive around the final-mile component of your consumer experience.

Empowering Your Carrier Level Selection

Many brands are anchored to one carrier. This leaves you vulnerable to their set rates, limited to their delivery offerings, and exposed if they suffer an outage. Carrier diversity has huge advantages, but how do you intelligently pick the right carrier? And how do you pick the right carrier if you are now receiving new data of damaged packages? 

When you track all of your data you are either empowered or paralyzed. It all comes down to how well you can utilize your data. Marrying damage reports with other signals like actual zip code level delivery times, specific handling capabilities (say expertise with hazardous materials), pricing, and more unlocks your ability to intelligently select not only the cheapest option but the most effective option to ensure your orders are delivered on time in full with the lowest probability of damage. Furthermore, when you track the instances of damage you arm yourself to have a more productive conversation with your carriers, and can work collaboratively to improve their services, negotiate better rates, or where needed, avoid partnering with them in the future.

The data is clear: strategic carrier selection is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity for e-commerce success. By letting data guide your choices, you're not just selecting shipping partners; you're choosing a path to enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and increased competitive advantage in the marketplace. You can read more about how to optimize your carrier selection with Stord Parcel and improve your annual parcel spend in this blog post.

Turning Shipping Challenges into Trust-Building Opportunities

The true differentiator for achieving an exemplary consumer experience isn't just about preventing issues—it's about how you communicate when they occur. We are in the era of proactive communication, where addressing potential delivery challenges before they escalate transforms customer anxiety into appreciation.

The key to effective customer communication lies in its precision and timing. Modern e-commerce leaders are developing sophisticated alert systems that don't just notify customers about issues—they provide solutions simultaneously. For instance, when an inventory exception occurs, customers receive instant notifications that not only explain the situation but also outline the steps being taken to resolve it. This approach transforms potential frustrations into opportunities to showcase your commitment to customer service. If you have an inventory outrage for a specific SKU in one location, an intelligent OMS can automatically correct for the discrepancy and process split ship orders or re-route the order from another facility.

However, when managing for loss, damage, and theft, the first step in communication is on the end consumer, which necessitates brands being prepared to provide an easily found claims portal. From there, transparency and speed are key - you must keep your consumer appraised of the current status of their claim and work quickly toward a resolution.  

The future of customer satisfaction in e-commerce isn't just about delivering packages; it's about fostering trust. Through proactive, real-time communication, you're not just managing shipping issues—you're turning potential problems into opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and showcase your commitment to exceptional service.

Data Security Protocols: Because Some Things Should Stay Private

All of this data, including sensitive consumer information means you need to also protect your digital packages. In this digital realm, System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) compliance acts as a formidable guardian, ensuring the digital packages remain secure. SOC 2 compliance isn't just a ceremonial accolade; it's an earned badge that proves the fortifications are designed to protect sensitive  data with unwavering dedication. 

It demands that partners, entrusted with your valuable information, uphold the same high standards of security, lest they risk exposing your customers to the ever present risk of cyber attacks. 

When picking your partners, ensure they meet and exceed these security requirements because the risks are too great to your business. In fact, 60% of small businesses that suffer a data breach close within six months. But here's the good news - implementing robust data security protocols can reduce your risk by up to 85%.

Bringing It All Together: Smart Protection for Smarter Shipping

The verdict is clear, protecting your shipments isn't just about preventing losses—it's about safeguarding your customer relationships and your brand's reputation. By leveraging comprehensive solutions like Stord Shipment Protection, businesses can transform shipping challenges into opportunities for growth. Through sophisticated data analytics, strategic carrier selection, proactive communication, and robust security measures, you can build a resilient fulfillment operation that not only minimizes losses but also maximizes customer trust. Success in e-commerce requires more than just moving packages from point A to point B—it demands a holistic approach to shipment protection that puts data, security, and customer experience at the forefront. As supply chain disruptions continue to impact businesses worldwide, those who invest in comprehensive consumer experience will not only weather the storms but emerge stronger, with more loyal customers and more resilient operations.

If you would like Stord to improve your consumer experience, click here to schedule time to talk to our experts.

With so many impersonal zoom meetings, uncomfortable networking soirees, or overwhelming expo halls, we wanted to do something a bit more grounded and focused on community.

Why a Summit

When you aim to drive exceptional consumer experiences, your time is often not your own. The stressors of managing the day-to-day realities of creating, promoting, and delivering products, at scale, flawlessly, every time is crushing. Finding the space to create meaningful and organic relationships with peers and fellow e-commerce leaders while overseeing a fast-growing business requires a change of environment. 

Our Stord Summit was geared to do just that – to provide the most in-demand founders and builders a momentary escape from the hustle and bustle, so they could take a breath and think critically about the hurdles ahead and the opportunities to seize.

We were honored to host over 30 amazing professionals and had an absolutely amazing time together.

Community over Connections

A key goal we had when planning Stord Summit was that our attendees would leave not with new LinkedIn connections but with a real community of peers—a group they could be open with, learn from, and share best-practices. That is why we had such an emphasis on activities and experiences that exposed the participants to each other's personality and not just their corporate titles. Now, instead of a random DM on some platform, attendees have real friendships to lean on when they encounter problems in their e-commerce business.

A lesson I have learned in my time growing Stord, it is the relationship between myself, my peers, my mentors, my board, my co-founder, and teammates that have allowed us to excel so rapidly. In particular, learning from other founders of businesses in similar industries or similar stages has always pushed us forward the most; and it was such a pleasure to help encourage that same connection with our Summit attendees.

It has now been several months since we returned home from the mountains of Utah, and I am pleased to share that these relationships are strong. Most of the attendees requested to share personal contact information so they could continue their conversations. We have had many insightful and thoughtful conversations with our attendees and are working to improve their commerce and enable better consumer experiences at scale.

The Activities & Learnings

The programming of our summit was extremely intentional – a balance of commerce-driven data presentations and fun outings to foster real conversations.

The data presentations featured speeches from myself and from Vineet Chhangani, Managing Director of Technology Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. These presentations set out the biggest problems impacting e-commerce and influencing consumer behavior, with the goal of empowering the attendees with valuable information. Both of these presentations will be available soon on our website.

The rest of the time was split between fun activities: horseback riding, glass blowing, trap shooting, distillery tours, happy hours, and gourmet dinners. No forced interaction or round table discussions. We found this balance of information and fun to be a perfect combination to nurture real relationships.

Future Summits

If you have FOMO, know that we are already planning several more summits in the near future. The next summit will be in early 2025 following the conclusion of Peak holiday shipping season and will be an opportunity to unwind from that stress and learn from the collective experience. To request an invitation, please fill out this form.

We have also started a Stord dinner series, so that those unable to attend a longer experience or have difficulty traveling can participate in smaller functions in a nearby city. You can sign up to learn more about these dinners at the same link above.

ATLANTA, October 1st, 2024 —  Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and commerce enablement technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands, announced a strategic partnership with Arrive Logistics to deliver best-in-class capabilities for their customers with FTL shipping needs. Arrive ranks among North America's largest truckload brokerages, with over 1,700 team members working across nine North American offices to support over 4,000 shippers and 10,000 core carriers.

Stord is positioned to aggressively invest in its core offerings, high-volume e-commerce fulfillment and omnichannel distribution, while leveraging Arrive Logistics' scaled technology and operations for FTL solutions. Over 25 enterprise shippers have recognized Arrive for service excellence in the last 18 months—no other provider offers that level of service at scale. Building on the foundations of this partnership, Stord will serve as Arrive Logistics preferred ecommerce fulfillment and omnichannel distribution partner.

“We are thrilled to partner with Arrive Logistics to provide the best service, coverage, technology, and pricing for our customers' truckload shipping needs,” said Doug King, VP of Transportation. “This partnership allows us to provide Stord customers with the best freight capabilities while our internal teams continue to double down on core e-commerce enablement solutions, particularly our fulfillment, last-mile delivery, and commerce technology.”

Stord customers will benefit from Arrive’s market leading freight technology that provides real-time shipment location and optimized rates. These systems will be integrated directly with Stord’s fulfillment centers and order management system, Stord One Commerce, to seamlessly bridge the gap between any delivery origination or destination for maximum efficiency and reliability.

"Stord has an excellent customer base, and the management team is committed to providing them with a best-in-class experience—that is why this partnership makes sense," said Jason Zwirkoski, Chief Revenue Officer of Arrive Logistics. "Arrive will offer the shippers in Stord's network an immediate advantage when operating in the FTL market. This partnership additionally expands Arrive's solutions with Stord as a preferred ecommerce fulfillment and distribution partner."

Stord and Arrive both bring respective services and technology to this partnership, but above all both teams share a culture of customer-obsession and a commitment to innovation in their respective industries. 

“Stord has always been relentlessly committed to our customers, and this partnership is a direct reflection of that obsession. This partnership allows our internal teams to focus on our market-leading strengths in e-commerce enablement technology and fulfillment services while delivering exceptional capabilities, through Arrive Logistics, in FTL shipping. This partnership allows Stord to focus all of our resources on unlocking the best pre-purchase and post-delivery consumer experience for our customers. Meanwhile, with the support of Arrive Logistics, we can provide better rates, technology, and service to our customers shipping FTL. We look forward to a successful partnership with Arrive Logistics.” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

For more information, visit www.stord.com.

About Arrive Logistics

Arrive Logistics is a leading multimodal transportation and technology company delivering unparalleled service and custom strategic solutions. With over 1,700 employees, 4,000 customers, and 10,000 core carriers in its network, Arrive is one of the largest firms in the freight brokerage industry. The company has been recognized for its service excellence by more than 25 enterprise shippers. Learn more at www.arrivelogistics.com and explore career opportunities at www.arrivelogistics.com/careers. At Arrive, “We Deliver, So You Can.”

ATLANTA, September 24, 2024—  Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and commerce enablement technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands, announced Stord Shipment Protection to guard customers against lost, damaged and stolen orders, and improve revenue and customer service for brands of all sizes.

Each day around 1,700,000 packages are lost or stolen in the United States, according to Security.org*. Excluding loss and damage, package theft equates to more than $8 billion in merchandise in 2023. In that same period, FedEx and UPS had to reship 10% of packages due to damage, which is nearly 860 million packages*. These experiences dramatically impact the experience of end consumers and reduce repeat purchases.

“Traditionally, brands managed the problem of loss and theft in a haphazard manner - either outsourcing to providers that created a disjointed and non-branded experience or relying exclusively on their customer service team to investigate and resolve all delivery issues. This left consumers often confused about the claims process and annoyed with the time it took to reach a satisfactory resolution. With Stord Shipment Protection, brands can now create an entirely branded process of protecting orders from the pre-purchase cart phase all the way through to submission of claims and post-purchase resolution. Automated custom messaging keeps consumers accurately informed, while an intuitive dashboard empowers customer service members to quickly investigate and resolve any issues, boosting customer loyalty, overall happiness, and importantly enhancing a brand’s unit economics,” said Craig Stewart, SVP of Product and Engineering at Stord.

Stord Shipment Protection integrates directly with brands' marketplaces and sales channels, boosting conversions by signaling to customers that the brand is reliable. Brands can choose to defer the coverage cost to the customers, cover it on behalf of their customers, or allow the customer to decide if they want to pay for Shipment Protection. In every situation, customers are now backed by underlying shipment coverage enabling brands to quickly issue refunds and reships without incurring additional costs, while also potentially increasing revenue. Meanwhile, brands are able to achieve peace of mind and enhance their unit economics. 

“Stord Shipment Protection solves for the negative customer experience from missing, broken, and stolen products that plague brands every day. This simple addition to the pre-purchase cart, which sits alongside other Stord offerings like Delivery Promise and Post Purchase Communications, dramatically improves the customer-brand relationship. Meanwhile, our post-purchase flow cements that relationship through a transparent claims process. This is crucial for brands to stand out and showcase their commitment to their customers, reduce time and cost on their customer service team, and capture more revenue from each transaction. Most importantly, this creates trust between the brand and consumer, which drives conversion and loyalty. This is yet another step Stord is taking to ensure brands of all sizes can deliver best-in-class customer experiences at every stage of the commerce journey,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

For more information, visit www.stord.com. 

Stord Shipment Protection is provided by U-PIC Insurance Services, Inc. under California Dept. of Insurance License #0E61972 through The Continental Insurance Company. Stord is a service provider and not a broker of insurance or an insurance company.

1. Security.org - 2023 Package Theft Annual Statistics and Trends

2. Premier Packaging - Damaged Packaging and Your Retention Rate

About U-PIC Insurance Services, Inc.

U-PIC Insurance Services, Inc. is a leading provider of third-party shipping insurance solutions for businesses and individuals in the US and Canada. Established in 1989, U-PIC offers cost-effective and comprehensive coverage that protects valuable shipments against loss, damage, and theft. With over 35 years of industry expertise, the company partners with major carriers like DHL eCommerce and platforms like Amazon to deliver seamless integration and exceptional customer service. U-PIC's commitment to fast claims processing and innovative insurance solutions enables clients to ship with confidence and peace of mind.

Top Trends:

Capacity: Nearly Everywhere

• More for-hire trucking companies left the market than entered it in July, indicating continued capacity shrinking for seven quarters straight.  

  • Class 8 truck orders did increase, an indication of new entrants, but not enough to outweigh the carriers who left the market in July. 

  • We saw a larger than normal exit rate of carriers in July, likely attributed to carriers who were waiting to see how summer peak shaked out, and came out of it disappointed. 

• Rejection rates, or the rates at which carriers are decommitting from contractual loads to chase spot freight declined by 29% from its July peak. We are back under 5%rejections; anything under 5% tends to create downward pressure on rates. 

  • This displays a full return to pre-holiday levels and a normalization in the market

• Capacity trends continue to mirror 2019 levels, which remained in deflationary waters through the end of the year. 

Volume: Flowing

• Van: Volume remains consistent and in line with seasonal cycles. We are up 4% YoY and down approximately 3% from July peak according to SONAR’s Outbound Tender Volume Index. 

  • Moving forward, we can expect a lull between now and Labor Day holiday and back to school, with another small stagnant cycle before the heat of the retail season in Mid-Late Q4. 

• Reefer: Back to normal. Total volume trends dropped modestly from July peak, down 3% MoM but are up 6% YoY. 

  • From June to July, we experienced a significant 11.5% drop off in spot loads, a metric displaying the heat of the produce season leading up to the 4th of July holiday, aka the “peak of summer peak season”. 

• US Inbound Ocean Shipments: Container import peak season historically runs July through August. This year has been a bit different as we saw upticks in import volume in June, leading to the thought of an inventory pull forward ahead of a potential Trump presidency. However, we are toward the end of August and are currently sitting at 12% MoM, nearing record import volume highs. Volumes should be flattening out by now, but they’re not. 

  • This indicates a (potentially) very strong back to school and retail shipping season, and confidence in consumers showing up to buy goods. 

  • The Port of LA experienced a 37% increase YoY in July. 

  • Although national truckload capacity is ample, this will undoubtedly cause tightness in Western markets, and other markets surrounding the top American ports by volume. 

• US-Mexico: Container imports aren’t the only thing that’s booming. Laredo continues its reign as the largest inland port in the world, managing 40% of the truckload volume on the Southern border. 

  • US-Mexico trade hits record $415B January to June. 

  • Highest growth sectors include automotive and electric machinery. 

  • Substantial investments in warehouse and industrial park development underscore Laredo’s expanding capacity to accommodate future trade growth. 

  • Key concerns remain cargo theft and inefficient communication methods.

• US Port Labor Negotiations: Union contracts for East and Gulf Coast longshore workers expire September 30th and negotiations have been stalled since mid-June. 

  • Pausing port activity right before import and retail peak season would create volume gaps in shipper supply chains that they’d be forced to quickly recover from. This would cause downstream demand volatility, ultimately impacting rates and traditional seasonality. 

  • Shippers looking to plan ahead of a potential strike will execute a pull forward, bringing in more freight in Q3 than in previous years. Disruptions to the seasonal import volume trends can cause capacity crunches in maritime port regions like NJ, TX and GA. 

• LTL: Many LTL carriers are predicting a flat second half of the year

  • Rates have mostly stagnated as shipment volumes have leveled off for most carriers post Yellow closure growth.  

  • Most carriers are currently hyper focused on growing shipment volumes while reducing their overall cost. Lowering company Operating Ratios is a major point of emphasis for many providers.

  • Looking ahead, now is a good  time to begin strategically adding carriers into your LTL service mix. Providers such as FedEx, XPO, and Saia have spent 2024 working to optimize their networks and focus on increasing service and reliability. This carrier focus coupled with stagnant rates provide an opportune time to look at underperforming carriers, lanes, and cost.

  • Stord Freight has a strong national and regional LTL carrier network that can now be accessed via our self-serve freight customer portal . Customers can benefit from our LTL carrier network in real-time by obtaining automated pricing, carrier tendering on demand, and tracking visibility by utilizing our freight portal.

Rates: Edging Downward

• Spot rates have stabilized after the summer peak, reflecting rates we saw in May at $2.02 for Dry Van and $2.39 for Refrigerated. Although the rate inflationary period was stickier than the year prior, it didn’t last for as long as we’d hoped. 

• Contract rates continue their slow and steady decline MoM; a reflection of the high level of competition among competitors pricing RFPs. 

• Spread: Contract rates, on average, still remain significantly higher than spot rates (about $0.56/mile). Spot rates remain just high enough to cover the cost of doing business for a carrier, and that’s about it. 

• The closing of this gap will be a clear-cut indicator of a meaningful market flip. The gap is closer this year than last, but we haven’t seen spot rates higher than contract rates since January of 2022. 

Diesel Fuel:

The national average for diesel fuel prices has taken a tumble for the past 3 weeks, albeit at a slower pace each week. We can anticipate that, pending any geopolitical events, that fuel will remain consistent through the end of the year, offering relief to carriers, who typically receive less money per load when fuel goes down.

Key Macroeconomic Call Outs:

• Retail spending up 1% MoM, beating analyst expectations, showing the continued resilience of the American consumer. 

• Inflation is sub 3% for the first time in nearly three years, indicating a strong possibility of rate cuts in September. 

  • The hope is this will drive consumer spending at levels higher than today, pushing up demand for capacity. Historically, the true impacts of rate cuts don’t come to fruition until several months later, so we shouldn’t expect real impacts here until FY2025.

Outlook: Q3 and Q4

• We have two freight events to look forward to in 2024: Back to School season and Retail season . 

  • The Back to School season will display large swaths of volume leaving the Southern California market heading east, creating a need for outbound California capacity, driving up rates in the Western markets. 

  • Retail season will display increased demand out of California and the Midwest. As containers get railed from the West Coast to IL, outbound Chicago/Joliet will become increasingly desirable, pulling capacity out of nearby markets, tightening the region. 

• Inventory imbalances may cause upward pressure on rates in the coming months.

  • Reports of downstream inventory levels operating in lean environments coupled with the anticipation of a strong consumer spending season closer to the holidays may create more urgency than normal for freight to be pulled forward to fill the shelves of retailers and shippers. 

• We will continue to see higher carrier authority revocations than carrier entrances, inching us closer to equilibrium. 

• Q4 will be very telling about when the market might “flip” as carriers continue their slow and steady exodus, import volumes strengthen and the Midwestern major markets heat up. 

• August should have the lowest count of RFPs from now through March. RFP season is upon us, and Pricing/Sales have dialed in strategies, processes and project plans to sustain the anticipated throughput and demand for accurate pricing.

Playbook:

Brokers

• Prepare for the tightest quarter we’ll have this year in Q4. Enable ops, sales and sales support to have fluid communication. 

• Continually monitor weather risks along the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard. Have spot and contract freight action plans. 

  • If you use API-enabled spot quoting tools, ensure your business rules account for flooded areas and damaged roads. 

  • Effectively manage tender acceptance policies.

Shippers

• Keep a constant pulse on your routing guide health over the next two quarters as conditions begin to change. Are you adequately prepared to handle tender acceptance volatility if spot rates tick up? 

• Assess your risks if a port strike does take place on October 1, 2024. Do you have enough inventory to meet consumer demand during peak season? 

• Evaluate freight RFPs carefully. If your suppliers submit a rate that seems too good to be true, it probably is. Look for sustainable rate offerings to reduce the risk of routing guide disruptions in Q4 and a potential market turn in Q2 2025.

Carriers

• Find the markets with the highest rejection rates and find loads going in. Once you are there, you can demand premium rates going out. 

  • Produce season is dying down, if you find yourself in the southeast, your bargaining power becomes limited. Find the brokers who need freight moved into Florida, South Carolina and Southern Georgia. 

  • Find your way to Los Angeles, Houston or Eastern New Jersey if you can. Back-to-School imports are surging and shippers may find themselves paying over market to ensure their freight moves out of the port city.

Interested in booking Stord Freight? Check out our load board here!

ATLANTA, August 1, 2024—  Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and supply chain technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands, announced that 4 more facilities have been certified cGMP, joining 2 previous climate-controlled facilities, for a total of 6 first party locations meeting the FDA and USDA rigorous standards.

Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) is the main regulatory standard for ensuring quality manufacturing and handling across a variety of industries, including food and beverage; nutritional supplements; health and beauty; and pharmaceuticals. These standards require strong quality management systems; establishing robust operating procedures and policies; precise lot and batch tracking; comprehensive quality control; facility cleanliness; and more. To ensure compliance, brands must undergo a rigorous third party audit of every location.

“GMP certifications are scored on a percentage of conformity, with 80-89% being fair and anything above 90% being good. Stord passed the audit with an A+ rating and a 96-99% conformity score,” said Chaz Green, Head of Operational Excellence at Stord. “GMP certification is not just an empty badge brands can put on its website, it is a critical standard for brands looking to protect its customers.”

The audits of Stord’s locations in Atlanta, GA; North Haven, CT; Reno, NV; and Las Vegas, NV consisted of reviewing all documentation, policies and procedures around real-world scenarios, as well as the training and quality safety measures in effect. Scenarios like a recall event of an unsafe product highlighted Stord One Warehouse, Stord’s warehouse management system (WMS), capability to track every lot and order to communicate effectively with all individuals who received an affected product.

The audit also included a two day inspection of the interior and exterior grounds of every fulfillment center. Pest control logs and prevention systems, temperature and humidity logs and mitigation tools, and employee training matrices of every associate across every function were carefully scrutinized during these onsite reviews.

To prevent cross-contamination, every cleaning supply was evaluated and every active chemical assessed for compliance. Further protections were enabled through Stord One Warehouse, which reduced the number of surfaces and individuals sensitive products interacted with.

“This certification exemplifies Stord’s commitment to the highest standards of consumer care and our continued investment in creating a seamless end-to-end commerce enablement platform for brands looking to grow sustainably and safely. Brands can take comfort that their products are properly handled while also reducing operational expenses through parcel and packaging innovations,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord.

These certifications come on the heels of Stord’s recent acquisition of Pitney Bowes’ E-commerce Fulfillment business and center in Hebron, the acquisition of ProPack Logistics, and Stord’s expansion into Europe.

For more information, visit www.stord.com.

ATLANTA, July 29, 2024—  Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and commerce enablement technology for omnichannel brands, today announced the acquisition of Pitney Bowes’ E-commerce Fulfillment  business. This expands Stord’s network with a new state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Hebron, Kentucky. The 640,000 square foot capacity facility is the largest warehouse in Stord’s network and includes significant climate control storage, a pick mezzanine, pallet racking and robotic automation. This center provides additional excellent middle-of-country, single node coverage and complements Stord’s Atlanta Headquarters.

“In this competitive ecommerce environment, brands need to provide their customers with leading checkout and delivery experiences that drive cart conversion and loyalty” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. "We are thrilled to continue to support brands with our best-in-class consumer delivery experiences through this additional Hebron, KY facility."

The new fulfillment center already services leading customers and ships over 5 million packages annually. This center continues Stord's investments in automation with robust conveyance flows, print-and-apply machines, robotics kitting arms, and more to drive efficiency and speed of delivery for brands.

“This new facility is a powerhouse for existing customers and allows brands to rapidly scale its business and meet consumer demand,” said Kyle VanGoethem, VP of Strategy and Innovation at Stord. “With 52 dock doors, 15k pallet positions, and 136k cubic feet of bin shelving, Stord can service omnichannel brands from any vertical - be it consumer goods, health and beauty, or other high-volume DTC and B2B products.”

“This investment further cements Stord’s focus on providing the best-in-class physical  fulfillment and commerce technology for brands obsessed with delighting their customers. With billions in commerce fulfilled by Stord today, this new facility will only accelerate Stord’s rapid expansion and growth.” said Sean Henry.

Today’s announcement builds on the recent acquisition of ProPack Logistics and Stord’s expansion into Europe. Kentucky joins ten other North American fulfillment centers including Seattle, WA; Salt Lake City, UT; Nashville, TN; Vancouver, BC; Mississauga, ON; Atlanta, GA; North Haven, CT; Dallas, TX; Reno, NV; and Las Vegas, NV; as well as its newly launched centers in The United Kingdom and The Netherlands.

ATLANTA, July 18, 2024—  Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and supply chain technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands, announced Stord Europe, the expansion of new fulfillment locations across the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. The facilities offer Stord customers easy access to new and existing DTC and B2B consumers across all of Europe.

Stord Europe is complemented by Stord’s already robust North American presence of first-party fulfillment centers in Seattle, WA; Salt Lake City, UT; Nashville, TN; Vancouver, BC; Mississauga, ON; Atlanta, GA; North Haven, CT; Dallas, TX; Reno, NV; and Las Vegas, NV; as well as its network of strategic partner facilities.

Now, omnichannel brands can leverage Stord for their global fulfillment needs while enjoying the same reliability, visibility, and economies of scale. Additionally, European brands can experience Stord firsthand while they prepare to grow a North American presence.

Brands can benefit from the same real-time management of every order and SKU, regardless of geographical location of product, in Stord Europe through Stord’s order management system (OMS), Stord One Commerce.

“Stord Europe is a huge addition to our fulfillment offerings in an already incredible year for Stord,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. “Being able to provide scalable coverage across North America and Europe is a massive advantage for brands looking to ensure exemplary customer experience.  This investment continues our dedicated pursuit of providing brands the ability to delight their customers through expanded coverage, lower operational expenses and faster shipping."

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the recent acquisition of ProPack Logistics which included the addition of six well-established warehouses across the United States and Canada.

Although we are not bullish on a full recovery in the 2nd half, we are optimistic that we are past the worst days, and a slow and steady market incline may be on the horizon. 

Top Trends:

Capacity:

• National rejections crossed 6% leading up to EOQ, a metric not hit since July 2022. 

• While, at a national level, capacity can still be found almost anywhere, the summer peak season showed us the effects of how many carriers have left the market over the past two years. Major markets such Los Angeles/Ontario, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta all crossed the 6% line, while Memphis went into inflationary waters at 11%. Roanoke saw arguably the worst capacity tightening in 28 months, peaking at 21%. 

  • For those who may not look at SONAR daily, a 21% rejection rate means one out of every 5 trucks is forgoing their contractual agreements to chase spot freight. Why? Because it’s paying more.

• Tweener haul and Mid haul freight display rejections 21% higher than the next highest LoH (Long Haul freight), displaying a need to diversify pricing strategies while quoting spot freight. 

• National Rejection rates are expected to die back down by late July before rising again during the Q4 retail season peak. Last year, they leveled out completely one week after Independence Day, but tightness seems a little stickier this year.

• If there’s one year we can compare 2024 to, it’s 2019. Trends have been almost spot on since mid-May. 

Volume:

• Van: Volumes are still up roughly 9% YoY, a strong flow which is expected to continue into EOY. We anticipate some stagnation or even slight reductions in Q3 before the retail and import season heats things up in Q4. 

• Reefer: With July 4th being the peak of summer peak season, we are in the midst of the peak hangover, with DAT Load Postings down 48% WoW and over 9% MoM

• US Inbound Ocean Shipments have steadily increased since the Chinese New Year at the end of January, as have US Customs clearances, and are expected to continue its upward trajectory for a few key reasons:

  • Election year: Potential Trump Trade Tariffs are causing some suppliers to pull forward their inventory/raw materials from China. 

  • Equipment shortages and port congestion as Asia is improving, smoothing out the supply chain of goods coming from America’s largest trade partner. 

Spot and Contract Rates:

• Spot rates rose almost 10% since Mother’s Day, from $2.29 to $2.39 and  - a larger jump than the same period last summer. Note that 4th of July peak rate data has not been released at the time this is being drafted, and we expect this jump from Mother’s day to be even larger. 

• Since the Great Freight Market of 2021, we’ve only seen the spread between spot and contract rates reach the level it currently sits at three times: May 2022, December 2022 and January 2024. 

  • Contract rates sit 56 cents higher than spot rates, though that margin is expected to continue to shrink throughout the year, albeit we don’t know by how much. 

  • Take this as a positive sign, because the closer this gap gets, the more volatility you will feel in the market. Carriers will start looking to the spot market for higher paying loads, disregarding their contractual obligations, thus creating a ripple effect of higher costs for shippers to move their freight. 

Outlook:

• The short term outlook for the overall state looks to remain soft, though we have seen more signs of life in the past 2 months than we have in the past 600+ days of the Great Freight Recession. 

• It’s safe to expect that the spot market environment will soon revert back fully into a competitive state, where market share remains a dominant goal. 

• I expect many shippers to continue to push to maximize savings, while others proactively enlarge their routing guides and onboard new capacity in anticipation of meaningful market shifts. 

• Q4 will be very telling about when the market might “flip” as carriers continue their slow and steady exodus, import volumes strengthen and the Midwestern major markets heat up. 

Hurricane Season:

The NOAA’s Hurricane Center predicts above normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane activity, with 17-25 named storms and 4-7 major hurricanes. We saw Category 1 Hurricane Beryl barrel into Houston, causing localized flooding and wind damage. Though millions lost power and highways were underwater, the overall impact was not significant from a rate and capacity standpoint. Carriers, Brokers and Shippers alike should develop action plans in anticipation of capacity tightness, rate increases and inaccessible facilities as more storms roll through this season. 

Diesel Fuel:

We have seen a reversal in Diesel price trends, with prices increasing for 4 consecutive weeks. Carriers will feel their operating costs increase as a result, while brokers will see higher all in rates on their contractual commitments. 

Playbook:

Carefully monitor Outbound SoCal, Memphis, Roanoke, Dallas and Houston for the next two weeks; as all of which have rejection rates above 6%. 

• Brokers 

  • Double check with your carriers about their sentiment going into/out of Houston. Depending on where the load is picking up, it may or may not be a problem. 

  • Price spot freight aggressively into markets where outbound rejections are above 5%. Carriers will make their money coming out, so negotiate under market costs going in. 

  • Leverage the increase in fuel costs to pad your margins and attempt to maintain carrier rates despite fuel increases. 

  • Hurricane Action Plan: Understand your acceptance requirements, and anticipated lanes into/out of hurricane-prone areas and have a spot pricing strategy in place

• Carriers 

  • Understand the hot markets (Hot Markets Map on DAT, or % Market Share on SONAR), and position yourselves to take freight out of them. The hotter the market, the more negotiation power you have as a carrier. If necessary, take the discounted rates going in and charge premiums coming out. 

    • Take a discount going into Los Angeles, Ontario, Dallas, Houston or Memphis, and demand above market rates coming out. You will find them. 

• Shippers 

  • Continue to be wary of the rates they are receiving from carriers and brokers alike. Take a close look at your carrier scorecards and find correlations between significantly under market pricing and on time performance. 

  • Now is the time to begin beefing up your routing guide with supplemental capacity. As we begin to come out of the Great Freight Recession, more of your incumbents will be prone to reject primary freight and look to the spot market for profit. Protect yourselves by onboarding new providers into your network. 

Interested in booking Stord Freight? Check out our load board here!

Managing fixed and variable costs can be challenging, these cost centers can be as obvious as manufacturing expenses, personnel overhead, and marketing, or as nuanced as the time it takes between a package being marked as shipped and the carrier picking it up (also known as Dwell Time, which you can learn more about by navigating here).

There are many levers a brand can pull in an attempt to reduce its costs; however, with shipping expenses often accounting for 10-15% of a brand’s revenue, parcel spend is a great starting point to find savings. 

Let’s explore common ways brands can better manage parcel and some less known ways brands can really maximize the cost savings…spoiler alert one natural deodorant company saved over $900,000 in annual parcel expenses utilizing these strategies.

Understanding Parcel Expense Factors

Before we explore ways to save, let's make sure we understand why parcel is such a massive expense for e-commerce brands. Parcel cost is set by the various carriers – DHL, FedEx, UPS and more – and all have different rates for different service levels (effectively the delivery time and mode picked in the cart) for different distances traveled. Rates are further impacted by the size and weight of the package. 

Carrier’s set these rates annually and adjust them, often at the beginning of the year, to account for gas, employees, and other increasing expenses. For 2024, both FedEx and UPS announced a 5.9% increase and in 2023 these same carriers increased by 6.9%. But these increases, called the General Rate Increases (GRIs) are not a true reflection of the realized cost. According to Parcel Industry, if a brand makes the same shipments in 2024 that they did in 2023 the average FedEx customer will pay 8.17% more, and the average UPS customer will pay 7.72% more.

So every year your carrier rate increases, and as your business grows those increases compound - these could come from just the sheer volume of orders or size of orders or distances an order travels as your audience broadens, but the bottom line is more and more of your margins are not going into your pocket.

So what can brands do to combat this expense?

Parcel Volume

With great size comes…some power. With lower parcel volume your rates will often be higher, but if you have higher parcel volume you might achieve lower rates. This is simply because you represent a larger potential business opportunity for a carrier so they will offer rate reductions to earn your business.

Unfortunately, these rate discounts are often reserved for enterprise deals and require a significant shipment density. If a brand lacks that volume, they can still enjoy these price benefits by partnering with a large third-party provider, like Stord. A 3PL can achieve this by combining all of its customers volume together to achieve a meaningful size that can negotiate better rates with these carriers.

Expanding Carrier Diversity

Another option that brands can employ to increase margins is by expanding the total number of carriers it utilizes. This diversity of options allows you to compare the cost of one carrier to another within similar promised delivery times and select by best price; this is often called rate shopping. 

An often overlooked benefit of carrier diversity is the ability to leverage the right carrier for the right type of service - for example one carrier might over index with fast-delivery-speed air freight while another excels at oversized, heavier goods or hazmat items. Being able to route these not just on cost but on capability can be a crucial component to ensuring your products are delivered well and your customers are delighted.

While the savings realized from rate shopping may only result in cents saved per package, the overall savings can be transformative when factored over hundreds of orders per day.

Intelligent Rate Shopping

To find better savings, brands need to get more savvy. When brands rate shop, they often are comparing apples to apples - what is the price from Carrier A vs Carrier B for 2-day delivery? This system works, but what if Carrier A could still get the product to the final destination with a standard ground option? That would significantly decrease your cost per package while maintaining the same level of customer experience that you are promising your consumer.

To achieve this, brands need to have the historical data of every carrier shipping from one specified origin zip code (likely the warehouse) to the destination zip code. This process of identifying and selecting the proper and cheapest service level agreement is called downgrading; and when properly implemented, it can save brands massive amounts of money.

Automate or Fall Behind

In order for brands to do this at scale they cannot do this by hand, they need to automate the process. This means that as an order is being packed and the label generated, the cheapest and best method is being selected automatically without any human intervention needed.

Systems like Stord Parcel and Last-Mile Optimization were designed to do just that for our partners. Remember that $900,000 annual parcel savings from the beginning of this blog post? Well they achieved it by deploying these exact strategies.

Brands can go further still in finding margin saving parcel strategies. Brands can intelligently place inventory to reduce distance traveled based on customer demand, or automatically route orders more efficiently to specific locations if they have a multi-node fulfillment operation. Brands can also find savings in more efficient packaging designs, reducing needless dunnage or moving to bags from boxes. Or brands can ensure their 3PL is maximizing its efficiency at the pack station - reducing mispacks and ensuring the proper packaging type is used for each and every order.

When the success of your brand is the sum total of the intelligent margin saving choices you make, you cannot be lax in your strategy. If you feel like you are losing crucial dollars to an inefficient logistics solution, we would love to talk.

ATLANTA, June 27, 2024— The Zero Proof, the leading non-alcoholic beverage online retailer and wholesaler, announces its new partnership with Stord, the leader in high-volume fulfillment services and technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands.

"We’re entering a new chapter in our growth and I can rest easy at night knowing we have the support of Stord’s team of fulfillment experts and software engineers providing us with the tools we need to delight our customers with every order," said Sean Goldsmith, The Zero Proof’s Co-founder and CEO.

Founded in 2019, The Zero Proof experienced staggering growth providing eager online customers access to over 30 curated non-alcoholic brands and its own private label offerings of Saint Viviana wine and Lapo’s Negroni. Over the past two years, non-alcoholic beverages have been the third-fastest growing category in US markets, and The Zero Proof is perfectly positioned to capitalize on that demand, leading to a 3.5x year-over-year growth.

From inception, The Zero Proof fulfilled every order inhouse and managed inventory through an inflexible inventory management system, paying high parcel premiums with limited ability to negotiate or expand carrier options. With their rapid growth, The Zero Proof’s packout process experienced high outbound damage and mispick rates. These inefficiencies and errors created time consuming customer support tickets, increased costs, and negatively impacted customer experience. 

Initially, The Zero Proof pursued 3PLs dedicated to the wine industry, but found that too many limitations existed around rigid processes and inability to handle a wide variety of SKU types.

With Stord, The Zero Proof is able to enjoy the technological and physical logistic benefits of Cloud Supply Chain to enable a seamless end-to-end consumer experience. Stord now powers all B2B and DTC order fulfillment out of its Atlanta headquarters, and can expand The Zero Proof into its other locations to meet customer demand.

The Zero Proof has significantly reduced delivery cost through Stord Parcel combined with Stord’s Last-Mile Optimization software. With simplified carrier management across an array of carriers, and automated optimal carrier and service level selection for every package, The Zero Proof can now drive efficiency and cost-effectiveness while meeting demanding consumer expectations. 

By implementing Stord’s Order Management System (OMS), Stord One Commerce, The Zero Proof enjoys real-time order and inventory visibility; this, paired with Stord’s Warehouse Management System (WMS), Stord One Warehouse, has already reduced expensive mispick error rates by over 85%. The OMS is paired with Inventory Planning, which generates intelligent per-SKU demand forecasting based on The Zero Proof’s historical and projected sales and can even account for planned marketing initiatives.

“Our growth necessitated that we find a partner with a similar mindset and the capability to keep up with our ambitious goals,” said Casey Beard, Chief Operating Officer at The Zero Proof. “I cannot thank the Stord team enough. Stord continues to perform above and beyond week after week and we know our entire retail fulfillment operation is in great hands. The immediate improvements we realized through the implementation of Stord One Commerce and the cost savings of Stord Parcel will allow us to easily meet our customer demand. The work Stord is doing is massively appreciated.”

"I love partnering with brands that are singularly focused on providing exemplary customer experience by enabling its supply chain - and The Zero Proof is a perfect match for Stord. The Zero Proof is dedicated to serving a rapidly growing market with the best product offerings and delivering it, at scale, with the speed and flexibility only achievable through a Cloud Supply Chain enabled logistics solution," said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. 

For more information, visit www.stord.com. 

About The Zero Proof

The Zero Proof is the leading non-alcoholic (NA) beverage online retailer with over 30+ brands to savor. With a commitment to quality, the premium site showcases a diverse array of alcohol-free options, from top-tier NA wine to whiskey alternatives and Swedish amaros. The Zero Proof distributes its own brands Saint Viviana and Lapo’s in addition to being the exclusive importer to esteemed brands from around the world. The Zero Proof extends its passion for premium NA offerings to a wider audience by enriching the landscape of alcohol-free enjoyment and guiding individuals towards a balanced and enjoyable life without compromise. In addition to sharing the best NA spirits, The Zero Proof also acts like a trusted friend to guide you to the best NA-friendly bars and restaurants, tourist hotspots, and booze-free activities around the world.

What can businesses do to better prepare for these and other stressors? 

It all comes down to two schools of thought: either diversify or simplify. 

Brands that embrace diversity—as it pertains to selling channels, audience demographics, and more—tend to bounce back faster from challenges. That’s because businesses that have all their eggs in one basket are more susceptible to risk when that basket goes up in flames. 

On the flip side, companies that over diversify and have their hand in too many pots open themselves up to inefficiencies and poorly performing business segments that drag the company down.

Diversify to Increase Revenue

First up, brands can opt to diversify in ways that will increase revenue. Here are four ways. 

1. Adopt More Selling Channels

Savvy retailers take an omnichannel approach to selling. That means they have at least e-commerce and physical presences. 

Brands can sell online in many ways: via their own website; marketplaces, like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy; and on social media, like Instagram and Facebook. 

They can also sell in brick-and-mortar stores, either their own leased retail space or via retailers big and small, like Target, Urban Outfitters, and more. 

Adding more selling channels gives brands access to more customers and, in turn, more revenue. 

2. Expand to New Audiences

By opening up to new audiences, brands can increase their total addressable market (TAM). For example, if a company sells exclusively in the U.S., now might be a great opportunity to consider international markets. 

But, the expansion opportunities don’t stop there. Businesses should also consider new demographics, whether that’s gender, age, etc., to tap new customer bases. 

3. Grow the SKU List

Another way brands can diversify their business is to add more SKUs to their product roster. It’s important to be thoughtful about how to approach adding new products. 

For example, businesses may want to add SKUs in order to increase the average order value (AOV) of their website. That means they’ll want to think about what items complement their existing product suite. It’s a natural assumption that consumers may want to purchase shaving cream when they buy a razor from Harry’s. It’s a much bigger stretch to say these consumers are also interested in tennis rackets or bowling balls. Retailers should test their assumptions with customer feedback and data before making product-related investments.

4. Test New Marketing Initiatives

As brands look for ways to increase revenue, they’ll want to reconsider their marketing tactics. Look for low-cost ways to test new strategies, like influencer marketing, organic social posts, etc. Consider conducting small paid tests to see what works and what does not.

Simplify to Decrease Costs

It’s not always economical to diversify. In other instances, it’s critical to simplify or streamline business tactics in order to improve the balance sheet. 

Take a look at the same list above and ask yourself: have we overextended ourselves in some way? Are there areas where the costs outweigh the associated revenue with no path to profitability? 

It may feel like the bold move to open up a new channel or reach a new audience amid times of uncertainty, but it can be just as bold to throttle down or turn off those same programs if they aren’t working.

Top Trends

Capacity is Plentiful

• Covering freight is not difficult and negotiating power is still in the hands of the Shipper.

  • Seasonal tightness is most felt in Southern Cal, all of GA, Houston, Dallas and Memphis markets.

• The number of trucking authorities slowly declines toward equilibrium. As more trucks exit the market, the more sensitive to rate disruption the market becomes, the more expensive the pricing environment becomes. 

  • Pre-Covid Trucking Authorities totaled roughly 250,000, and we currently have 348,642 currently operating.

• Short haul and local freight remains the most desirable for company drivers as driver home time becomes a larger priority to increase driver retention.  

• Tender Rejection Rates (OTRI) are inching up and currently sitting at 4.89. This means that only 1 out of every 20 trucks are rejecting their contract loads for the spot market. Anything under 5% indicates a deflationary market, but considering this metric was as low as 3.14 at the beginning of May, it’s a metric to watch closely as we progress through the summer. 

Volumes are back!

• Dry Van: 

  • Outbound volumes reached their highest levels in 21 months at the beginning of June thanks to strong seasonal demand. 

  • Spot market load posts are up significantly, with 18.7% more MoM

• Reefer:

  • Summer is here and so is produce season. Seasonal activity increases began in major Florida markets like Miami and Lakeland, and is now working its way into Jacksonville, Macon, Tifton, and Savannah. 

  • Texas produce season is working its way from South Texas harvests and Mexican imports into North and West Texas. Expect areas such as Dallas, Fort Worth, and Lubbock to increase their volume flow in June.

  • Southern California’s produce volume has gained steam, with refrigerated volume being the highest they’ve been all year out of the Los Angeles market. Expect continued, elevated flow from SoCal.

• Flatbed:

  • New Housing Starts are increasing Month-over-Month (MoM), maintaining seasonal trends of summer construction ramp up. 

  • L/T ratios remain elevated Year-over-Year (YoY), indicating upward pressure on rates

Spot Rates Rebounding, Contract Rates falling, both have a ways to go:

• For now, the Spot Market remains a place for “utilization freight”, where the average take rate is below, or at, operating cost. Carriers over-leveraged in the spot market are simply trying to break even. 

• June is displaying stronger conditions with Van rates increasing to $2.05/mile, up from $2.02 in May and $1.99 in April. 

• DAT’s Spot and Contract rate spread is tightening, displaying the smallest spread since the weather disruptions in January of this year. 

  • As the spread continues to close in, contract rates become harder to profit off of while the spot market begins to offer more profitable opportunities.

Sentiment

One Economist from the recent Freighwaves conference earlier this month mentioned that this is the “scariest time to price freight”. With how low brokers and carriers have to go to win freight, along with uncertainty about when the market will turn, he’s not wrong. This sentiment is keeping shippers, brokers and carriers alike all on their toes. While some shippers are gearing up for the market turn, keeping paper rates off of their RFP awards, others are still incentivized to maximize cost savings.

Outlook

• Shippers and Brokers need to plan to move their non-produce freight in produce impacted areas, as competition for the same trucks heats up. Produce impacted areas are FL, GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, TX and Southern California. 

• Flatbed volumes, rejections, and rates are all expected to increase through June. Keep a close eye on Housing Starts, FOTRI and DAT’s L/T ratios. 

• Increased seasonal demand will lead to continued upward pressure on van and reefer rates, especially as more carriers leave the market. 

• While larger Brokers and Carriers are offering more sustainable, profitable rates to their customers, smaller brokers in need of market share have the opportunity to increase their load volume in the short term by remaining competitive on short-term bids and spot boards.

Hurricane Season

NOAA Hurricane Center predicts above normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane activity, with 17-25 named storms and 4-7 major hurricanes. Action plans for brokers and shippers alike are highly recommended, as rates and capacity will be impacted immediately across the impacted regions.

Diesel Fuel

The national average for a price of diesel fuel continues to drop as of June 10th, falling to the lowest price per gallon of the year at $3.658. This is primarily due to stagnant demand and a healthy supply. Brokers and carriers running long-term contract lanes will see their all in rates continue to fall, creating margin compression.

Playbook

Freight is flowing the most out of Dallas, Ontario, Atlanta, Houston and Elizabeth, NJ. 

• Brokers 

  • Aim to win loads into the above markets, and negotiate with carriers to take under market rates going into strong outbound markets. 

  • Rising spot rates and lowering fuel costs will be factors attributing to margin compression. Keep a close eye on fuel and continue to find ways to drive purchasing power. 

  • Hurricane Action Plan: Understand your acceptance requirements, and anticipated lanes into/out of hurricane-prone areas and have a spot pricing strategy in place

• Carriers 

  • Understand the hot markets (Hot Markets Map on DAT, or % Market Share on SONAR), and position yourselves to take freight out of them. The hotter the market, the more negotiation power you have as a carrier. If necessary, take the discounted rates going in and charge premiums coming out. 

    • For the month of June, the highest rate increases will be experienced along the southeastern coast, Texas and California. Long hauls out of California will be among the most volatile lanes in the country. 

• Shippers 

  • Be wary of the rates they are receiving from carriers and brokers alike. Take a close look at your carrier scorecards and find correlations between significantly under market pricing and on time performance. 

  • It’s time to start beefing up your routing guide with supplemental capacity. As we begin to come out of the Great Freight Recession, more of your incumbents will be prone to reject primary freight and look to the spot market for profit. Protect yourselves by onboarding new providers into your network. 

Interested in booking Stord Freight? Check out our load board here!

But I am here to tell you, you need to make the time.

In the above video, I share some of the myriad reasons to visit a Stord fulfillment center. But regardless of if you are a Stord customer or not, taking the time to step onto your current/prospective warehouse floor can provide invaluable insights and build stronger partnerships that drive real growth and efficiency for your business.

Building Relationship-ments

A successful partnership goes beyond contractual agreements and KPIs; it’s built on mutual understanding and trust. By visiting your fulfillment partner, you get a chance to see firsthand how their operations align with your brand’s values and culture. Face-to-face interactions foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration that virtual meetings often cannot replicate.

Meeting the fulfillment teams who handle your products daily can give you a profound appreciation for their expertise. These teams offer insights into the quirks and nuances of your products—how best to package them to optimize space, density, and prevent shipping damages. This information can be invaluable when communicating with your manufacturers and improving your overall product handling process.

Fulfilling Sense of Ownership

Connecting with the teams at your fulfillment center helps build a sense of ownership and community. By sharing the stories behind the products they handle can make the work more meaningful to the fulfillment team. This connection not only boosts morale but also ensures that everyone is aligned with your brand's mission and vision.

A site visit provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the achievements of you and your fulfillment partner. These moments of celebration strengthen the partnership and motivate everyone involved to strive for even greater success.

Collaboration and Problem Solving

One of the significant advantages of an on-site visit is the ability to collaborate in real-time and address any issues that arise. If you are facing a challenge, chances are the fulfillment team has seen similar issues before. They can offer solutions based on past experiences or even connect you with other clients who have successfully navigated similar challenges.

Visiting your current/potential fulfillment partner is more than just a tour; it’s a moment to align on what will drive your growth. This visit is an opportunity to discuss the past, present and future goals - does your fulfillment partner recommend new automations like a print-and-apply (PandA) or autobaggers for optimization? Do you plan on any new marketplaces or launches that require new integrations to your WMS or OMS? But perhaps the biggest benefit is the intangible - do you trust this team to deliver for you today and into the future? The only way to truly know is to take the time and visit your fulfillment partner in person.

If you are feeling like your current fulfillment partner is not able to keep up with your demand, let’s schedule a time for you to meet and visit a Stord fulfillment center. 

Transcript: Why You Should Visit Stord

What to expect from a Stord site visit.

Me! Smiling faces just like me. Your customer experience team. Your fulfillment operations team. Your product, in real time, moving through our print-applies or through our autobaggers getting the gentlest high-five, a custom rate shopped parcel shipping label could ever dream of.

And that's just the fulfillment tour.

Let's talk past, present, and future.

What went great?

What could use some TLC?

And what do we need to prepare for in the future?

Let's use those Stord One Commerce metrics to tell a story.

Guide us to new ideas or prepare for your next product launch or geography jump.

Where do you see your supply chain going in 6 and 18 months?

What does Stord need to know to be one step ahead of you and your growth?

What will we have learned shipping and storing your product that you might not be aware of?

Let's talk about it, plan for it, execute it and achieve it all together at an on site.

So what are you waiting for?

Atlanta, North Haven, Reno, Las Vegas, Dallas, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Washington, Vancouver and Toronto are gorgeous this time of year. Come on down to a Stord site.

Love it or fear it, Artificial Intelligence appears to be the new normal in everything, including supply chain and logistics operations.

In this post, Stord’s team of supply chain experts shares insights and predictions to help you prepare for AI’s impact on logistics and how high volume e-commerce, DTC and B2B brands can be prepared to capitalize on this new technology.

From improved customer experience to greater inventory planning and forecasting, AI promises to make all of our lives easier and reduce those all-too-common supply chain headaches.

How will AI and related technologies impact supply chain / logistics operations over the next 12-24 months?

(And what are the opportunities for e-commerce / DTC &B2B companies?)

Efficiency in Customer Experience 

Over the next couple of years, AI and related technologies will significantly impact supply chain and logistics operations for companies. 

This influence will be evident in improved demand forecasting, enhanced last-mile delivery through autonomous vehicles and drones, and streamlined warehouse operations with AI-driven robotics. 

The opportunities lie in leveraging these technologies to optimize inventory management, ensure transparency, and provide personalized customer experiences, ultimately leading to increased operational efficiency and competitiveness.

Tony Scharff, WMS Super User

Partner with AI-First Providers 

AI will be heavily utilized in Customer Service & Consumer Experience areas. Additionally, this technology will make demand planning & forecasting more accurate. The best approach is to partner with SaaS providers who are prioritizing embedded AI into their platforms.

Josh Monski, Solutions Architect, OMS & WMS

Reporting With Ease

I think AI will impact reporting and analytics in every industry. Specific industries measure specific KPIs, and AI is an easy way to pull data in and get real, usable and actionable metrics back.

Brandon Goldstein, Solutions Engineer, OMS & WMS

Get a logistics partner to help you sell more, save money and eliminate headaches.

The End of “Where Is My Order” Tickets

AI functionality integrated with order management and customer support systems could significantly boost consumer satisfaction. This new tech could lead to more self-service capabilities to better respond to WISMO (“where is my order”) inquiries, and seamlessly provide tracking information to a brand's customer service team.

Imagine that when a consumer’s typical WISMO request comes in, your system could automatically query your OMS, see exactly the current state of her order and where it is in the delivery flow – and then automatically respond directly to the consumer via chat or email – in seconds, without any manual effort.  Your CS team is freed from time consuming and mundane order tracking tasks, and generating responses, and can instead focus on more complex issues that require human intervention and/or help drive upsells.

Ben Daugherty, Senior Account Executive

Smarter Inventory Forecasting

Historically, inventory forecasting has challenged most growing brands. Brands typically have data on consumer and market "signals" relevant to forecasting. However, many lack the ability or tools to understand how these "signals'' affect demand. This is the "true magic" of great forecasting! 

Modern AI models are built to identify these abstract relationships. Brands should consider using AI-based tools to simplify and drastically improve inventory forecasting.

And this goes beyond future predictions. Generative AI tools will also help brands gain immediate insights into their current inventory situation, proactively highlighting problematic scenarios.

Ajit Sreenivasan, Senior Product Manager

Proactivity in Customer Support

Forecasting and demand shaping/planning could benefit from greater use of AI in the supply chain domain. Customer service also could likely see improvements as this technology becomes more widespread (e.g., answering customer questions, proactively contacting customers when there’s a problem).

Steve Swan, Chief Operating Officer

Vastly Improved Data Management

Today a massive amount of time and resources are deployed across the industry to answer basic questions around orders and inventory. Data collection, cleansing, and consolidation is a massive effort as a result of brands using disparate providers and technologies.

All this time and energy can be drastically reduced using AI technologies that can sift through excessive amounts of data to get information that brands can use in a timely fashion.

Instead of reactive analysis AI, can be used to proactively highlight opportunities for improvement without taking up significant bandwidth of teams. 

Ryan Andrews, Group Product Manager

If you read our recent blog post about MODEX 2024, Kyle VanGoethem, VP of Network Planning, shares a bit about currently available AI technologies within automated robotics enabling them to accurately select optimized case selection for container unloading.

Much like the internet in the ‘90s, social media in the ‘00s, and smartphones in the ‘10s, AI is clearly the next massive sea change that will impact everything, including your supply chain. You can either embrace it and be prepared for the improvements (and potential drawbacks) or get washed out with the rising tide of innovation.

Confused how your brand can start to embrace AI and improve your technology? 

Stord is a technology-first company that provides DTC & B2B fulfillment, and transportation for high growth, multichannel brands through integrated technology solutions. Our team of experts are ready to help you modernize your supply chain.

If you're serious about transforming your supply chain to better compete, let's talk.

Customer satisfaction hinges on more than just the quality of the products purchased; it's also deeply influenced by the efficiency and reliability of the delivery process. 

One crucial aspect that can make or break this experience is dwell time—the often overlooked interval that could be silently eroding your brand's reputation and customer satisfaction levels.

Although not often talked about outside logistics circles, dwell time, and actually your Past Dwell Time Frequency is a critical metric that can significantly impact your performance – and how it's perceived. 

This post dives into the intricacies of dwell time, its effects on any e-commerce or DTC brand, and how Stord is leading the charge in mitigating this challenge, ensuring a seamless customer experience from click to delivery.

The Dwell Time Dilemma

“If you’re not measuring it, you’re not managing it.”

For those unfamiliar, dwell time refers to the gap between a 3PL or fulfillment provider’s marking an order as “shipped,” and the moment a shipping carrier actually scans the package into its system and truly begins to move the package. 

This seemingly minor lag can significantly impact customer experience, creating a ripple effect that extends far beyond delayed deliveries.

In essence, it's the waiting period from when your parcel is just sitting there, not getting any closer to your doorstep to when it’s actually on its way.

Doug King, Stord’s VP of Transportation, emphasizes the importance of minimizing this lag to keep up with customer expectations:

“The problem faced by e-commerce brands today isn't just about shipping speed; it's the unpredictability and inconsistency introduced by excessive dwell time. 

When customers hit 'purchase,' they're not just buying a product; they're buying an experience — one that includes a swift and smooth delivery process.”

For e-commerce brands and direct-to-consumer (DTC) leaders, managing dwell time is not just about avoiding delays; it's about ensuring a seamless, positive customer experience from checkout to delivery. 

It’s important to note that there’s always some dwell time; it’s to be expected and not a problem.  For example, parcel carriers normally sort and scan only in the evenings, and with a few exceptions only on weekdays.

But excessive dwell time – and the frequency that your packages exceed the expected dwell time – not only signals potential inefficiencies in your supply chain but also jeopardizes the delicate trust that you’re striving to build with your customers.

Do you know your brand’s Past Dwell Time Frequency? Reach out today and find out what you’re risking with your current provider if you don’t know

What Causes Excess Dwell Time?

Several factors contribute to excessive dwell time, each affecting the speed at which products move from warehouses to the end customer.

This problem can stem from a variety of sources, notably delays in carrier pickup, which is often the result of the carrier not taking physical possession of the package quickly after its status is marked as shipped. 

But it’s not that simple.

Such a scenario typically occurs when a package, despite the order being picked, packed and and declared ready for shipment with its label printed, remains in the fulfillment providers facility and/or on the shipper's dock awaiting carrier pickup and transportation. Some shippers might even simply print the label and not even pick and pack for a day or more!

This initial delay can be compounded by 

• miscommunication between the shipper and the carrier, 

• missed pickups, 

• or even packages being misplaced during the sorting and transit process. 

3PL or shippers might declare orders as “shipped” prematurely to avoid cancellations, even though the package is not yet in the carrier's possession. This misalignment causes gaps in the tracking and actual shipment progress.

These inefficiencies not only slow down the delivery process but can also lead to customer dissatisfaction and increased costs for the e-commerce brand.

Further contributing to the challenge of managing dwell time is the handling and operational processes within the fulfillment centers or third-party logistics providers (3PLs) themselves. 

For example, inefficient processes following pick/pack steps such as 

• improper sorting, 

• labeling, or 

• loading packages onto the incorrect carrier vehicle 

can significantly delay the movement and scanning of packages. 

Misplaced packages, either by the 3PL or even the delivery carrier can add further delays if not efficiently identified and remedied.

And in some cases, for smaller shippers or 3PLs, they may be constrained by pickup schedules. 

As Doug highlights: “if you’re trying to ship on your own, carriers might say, 

‘Hey, we’re only going to come out every two days to pick up from you. There’s not enough volume there to justify me sending out a truck.’ 

That’s not an uncommon thing to hear from a carrier.”

Do Dwell on Tracking

Additionally, a lack of advanced technology and infrastructure for tracking package movements from the moment an order is placed until its delivery exacerbates dwell time issues. 

The absence of real-time monitoring and exception reporting mechanisms hampers the ability of e-commerce/DTC brands to proactively identify excessive dwell times, address delays, and ensure that orders are delivered to customers promptly. 

The Impact of Ignoring Dwell Time

The stakes are high, and the impact of ignoring dwell time is significant. 

When packages languish due to extended dwell times, the immediate consequence is, of course, delayed deliveries. However, often the underlying issues run deeper, hinting at systemic problems within the supply chain that could disrupt operations and tarnish brand reputation.

Customers today expect quick, reliable service. A failure to meet these expectations can lead to dissatisfaction, negative reviews, and ultimately, a decline in loyalty and repeat business. In the hyper-competitive e-commerce landscape, these are setbacks that brands can ill afford.

Bottom line: whom can you trust?  

Your fulfillment partner or 3PL? (“Don’t ask me; talk to the carrier”)  Your carrier? (“Don’t ask me; I don’t have the package yet!”)

Even If you’ve been given a tracking number and told that your package is on the way, how can you be so sure?

Stord's Solution to Dwell Time

At Stord, we actively manage your “Dwell” time, all the way through the carrier scan (and through delivery), to make sure we deliver on your promise.

Leveraging modern technology, Stord has developed a comprehensive strategy to track and manage dwell time from order through delivery. 

Our technology-driven solution is designed to tackle dwell time head-on. 

By implementing a sophisticated tracking system that monitors packages from the moment an order is declared shipped through to delivery, Stord aims to keep dwell time occurrences well below what we typically find our customers have experienced.

This approach is rooted in exception management; by identifying when dwell time exceeds normal levels, Stord can swiftly address and rectify any underlying issues in the supply chain. 

This proactive stance ensures that the frequency of packages experiencing excessive dwell time is kept to a minimum, maintaining the integrity of the delivery process and, by extension, customer trust.

Importantly, our focus on exception management lets us learn from each instance to prevent future occurrences, continually driving down your Past Dwell Time Frequency.

An Exception to What Your Existing 3PL Does with Your Package

Unlike other fulfillment vendors and 3PLs, Stord:

• Monitors dwell time meticulously to ensure packages are not delayed in the shipping process, and

• Maintains consistent communication with carriers to ensure packages are transported in a timely manner.

Stord has built a detailed tracking infrastructure to monitor packages at every transit stage that

• Detects packages that have not been scanned by the carrier by a specified deadline, facilitating prompt problem resolution, and

• Allows for a swift response when packages don’t get scanned by the carrier by the deadline, identifying exceptions in real-time and ensuring the overall reduction in delivery times.

Having such a system with underlying tech in place in your fulfillment operation is crucial.  Without such an approach powered by an underlying tracking system, brands face two specific problems:

Lack of Visibility: Many brands don’t even know that dwell time is something to be tracked, or get no visibility into from whoever is responsible for their fulfillment.  

No Tracking Capability: Whether you’re doing your own fulfillment or relying on a 3PL, you’ll likely find that there’s no systematic tracking of your Past Dwell Time Frequency.  Without knowing every time a package has exceeded the expected dwell time, there’s no way to immediately remedy the situation and get the package on its way.  That leads to completely unnecessary increased delivery times, harming consumer experience and your brand reputation.

In these cases, brands typically experience past dwell time frequency from 10-30%!  That means in almost a third of their orders, there’s some problem in getting their packages moving in the expected time frame – and they have no idea there’s a problem.

In the best case, the situation resolves itself, and order delivery is delayed one-to-two days.  In other cases, there may be no awareness of an issue until an unhappy customer reaches out with a WISMO request, and at this point, the journey to find out that the order (along with others) is sitting in a gaylord container somewhere in the fulfillment center or lost in a carrier’s truck.

Stord’s proactive approach ensures that packages are handed off to shipping carriers efficiently, and exceptions (i.e., packages not with the carrier when expected) are rapidly identified – keeping your fulfillment process smooth and customer satisfaction high.

Dwell on the Positive Benefits

By effectively managing dwell time, Stord not only enhances delivery performance but also elevates the overall customer experience. This leads to increased customer loyalty, repeat business, and a positive brand reputation. 

In an era where online reviews can significantly influence purchasing decisions, maintaining a record of timely deliveries can set a brand apart. This reliability becomes a unique selling proposition, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

The benefits that leading e-commerce and DTC brands see from this approach include:

• Improved customer satisfaction, due to reduced delivery times.

• Increased efficiency in the shipping process.

• Greater accountability for both the company and the carriers, reducing blame shifting and improving problem resolution times.

• Enhanced reputation with customers due to the expectation and delivery of timely shipping.

• Ability to spot and solve potential carrier issues swiftly, preventing a significant build-up of unshipped packages.

Ensuring Fast Delivery and Improved Consumer Experience

For e-commerce brands looking to improve their logistics operations, focusing on dwell time is a crucial step. Partnering with a forward-thinking logistics provider like Stord can help you overcome this challenge, ensuring your products reach your customers quickly and reliably. 

It's not just about moving packages; it's about moving your brand forward.

While dwell time may seem like a small piece of the logistics puzzle, its impact on your customers’ experience and brand loyalty is undeniable. With Stord, e-commerce/DTC brands have a powerful ally in their quest to deliver excellence. Remember, in e-commerce, time is not just money—it's everything.

By prioritizing the efficient movement of packages and maintaining open lines of communication with customers, businesses can not only mitigate the challenges posed by excessive dwell time but also enhance their overall competitiveness in the e-commerce space.

Apart from tackling dwell time, Stord also addresses other critical pain points you likely experience in your fulfillment process, such as ensuring inventory control and invoicing accuracy, through specialized team efforts. 

When it comes to your e-commerce and DTC fulfillment, don’t stop dwelling on it; start dwelling on it!!  Let’s talk today.

ATLANTA, May 14, 2024—V Shred, a leading platform for online fitness programs, one-on-one coaching, and premium weight loss and wellness supplements, announces its partnership with Stord, a leader in high-volume fulfillment services and technology for omnichannel mid-market and enterprise brands.

After experiencing explosive growth as an online fitness platform, V Shred launched SculptNation to provide improved supplements to its massive online user base seeking premium products tailored to their fitness goals. 

Need for A Single End-to-End Fulfillment Network

Given its growth trajectory, V Shred realized it needed a comprehensive and consolidated supply chain platform that would provide full visibility into all its inventory and multiple sales channels, while maintaining delivery expectations to its customers. 

During its search for a new supply chain partner, the V Shred team evaluated multiple providers against its business and growth requirements. Following its careful evaluations, V Shred decided that Stord offered the best overall solution through its sophisticated order & inventory management software, intelligent parcel program, and extensive DTC operational experience.

Fulfillment and Shipping, Powered by Software

Stord now powers all nationwide DTC fulfillment for V Shred. It has consolidated V Shred’s prior three-node model into a more efficient two-node network, with more delivery carrier options and competitive parcel rates, resulting in inventory cost savings while still improving time-in-transit. V Shred also expects further savings from its packaging spend with Stord. And Stord’s transportation team will support all new inbound orders coming from V Shred supply partners into Stord's fulfillment centers.

In addition, the V Shred team uses the Stord One Commerce order management system (OMS) to manage its inventory and orders from a single platform, giving it greater visibility and control of its operations, and reducing time-consuming WISMO (“where is my order”) customer service calls and associated costs.

Stord Parcel combined with Last-Mile Optimization software  provides V Shred with simplified carrier management across a diverse array of carriers, and automated optimal carrier and service level selection for every package, ensuring enhanced efficiency and cost-effectiveness while meeting customer expectations. Further, Stord’s Intelligent Order Routing makes per-order fulfillment location decisions based on cost, rather than traditional distance-based routing, leading to further cost savings.

“Our growth necessitated a provider that could keep up,” said Rui Goncalves, Director of Supply Chain for V Shred. “Stord is truly an all-in-one solution; now, we finally have a single source of truth, eliminating the need to access multiple systems. We are thrilled to leverage Stord’s tech stack and DTC fulfillment capabilities to drive our accelerated growth together.”

“By integrating V Shred’s multiple online storefronts with Stord One Commerce, its team can save money by automatically choosing the most cost-effective fulfillment location; manage order exceptions with automated workflows, provide seamless lot tracking and accurate reports, and streamline its customer support headaches. We’re excited to help accelerate V Shred’s impressive growth through Stord’s combined fulfillment, parcel, software, and transportation capabilities,” said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. 

For more information, visit www.stord.com.

If you’re responsible for growing your e-commerce business and/or managing your DTC & B2B supply chain operations, we know you’re facing a slew of challenges.  And simply throwing more money or people isn’t an option, even if it would prove effective, which you know likely wouldn’t.

But what are the biggest challenges facing brands like yours - and what can you do about them?

The team of supply chain and logistics experts at Stord have some best practices to overcome the types of problems you’re probably facing, or will soon enough.  From supporting more sales channels to overcoming budget constraints to growing your e-commerce business rapidly yet intelligently, following the right practice can ensure you keep things heading in the right direction.

What is the biggest logistics challenge facing e-commerce/DTC & B2B companies this year and how can it be overcome?  

(And what should e-commerce/DTC & B2B companies be doing to get ahead of these challenges?)

Deploying Modern E-Commerce Strategies

Leveraging modern e-commerce strategies like pre-orders, influencer marketing, order consolidation (combining multiple orders into a single shipment), bundles, and upsells is currently a major operational and technical challenge for most DTC brands. 

Legacy systems are not built to allow brands to self-service manage these capabilities, limiting how much investment brands can make in these growth strategies. A modern OMS is; it can alleviate the effort and energy needed to pursue these strategies and can drive growth – while continuing to drive operational costs down through intelligent orchestration and automated decisioning.

Ryan Andrews, Group Product Manager

Growing Your Brand Through More Sales Channels

The biggest challenge facing e-commerce brands is enterprise architecture and channel expansion. Both are tied to the growth of the brand, and both will become increasingly complex with a need to hire more resources to manage. 

It's important to partner and select the right technology partners that can take on the role of many disparate systems - this will ensure a less complex architecture and a source of truth. Be sure to select technology partners that also have experience and value propositions specific to channel expansion.

One of the biggest pain points here is how much to promise and sell on each channel – brands should be prioritizing their highest margin channels and their largest B2B relationships.  The right multichannel order and inventory management system can ensure you’re not underselling or overselling, harming your revenue growth, customer experience, or both!

Josh Monski, Solutions Architect, WMS & OMS

Get a logistics partner to help overcome your biggest e-commerce challenges

Partnering with the Right 3PL

Coming out of the challenging conditions faced over the last several years, DTC and B2B brands should be looking at how to truly optimize their supply chains.  Without doing so, their operating performance – and the resulting experience they’re delivering to their end consumers – will suffer.

Brands should be looking holistically at their businesses and evaluating the ways a 3PL partner can deliver a truly customized solution encompassing both DTC and B2B fulfillment along with the software to manage it and be responsive to its customers. It’s the only way to ensure they meet their specific client requirements and can truly fuel their supply chain as a competitive advantage.

Ben Daugherty, Senior Account Executive

Facing – and Overcoming – Economic Headwinds

The foremost challenge confronting DTC and B2B companies this year is the economic downturn, posing obstacles such as reduced consumer spending and disrupted financial landscapes. To navigate this challenge, companies should focus on strategies like diversifying revenue streams, optimizing operational efficiency to counter cost pressures, and fostering agility to adapt to changing market conditions.

Embracing innovative technologies, reinforcing strategic partnerships, and implementing prudent financial management practices are essential steps to not only overcome the economic downturn but also position for long-term resilience and growth.

Tony Scharff, WMS Super User

Growth in a Cost-Conscious World

In today’s budget-conscious and belt-tightening “do more with less” environment, keeping expenses under control is paramount for fast-growing e-commerce brands.  

Facing fluctuating costs of freight and increasing costs of parcel, warehousing, and labor requires improved inventory forecasting and more strategic thought for inventory placement across a network of fulfillment capacity.

Brian Lemerise, SVP Fulfillment

Managing an Agile Supply Chain Effectively

Agile supply chain management is crucial for businesses, like e-commerce/DTC & B2B companies, facing constant change. Its adaptability ensures quick responses to market shifts and unforeseen events, reducing response times and enhancing customer satisfaction. By fostering flexibility, it allows efficient adjustments in production and distribution. This approach also mitigates risks through effective risk assessment and collaboration among stakeholders.

Agile practices optimize inventory management, promoting cost efficiency and lean inventories. Moreover, they cultivate a culture of innovation, contributing to continuous improvement. 

In today's global markets, agility enables companies to navigate international complexities, fostering competitiveness. Overall, agile supply chain management is essential for organizations aiming for responsiveness, resilience, and sustained success amid dynamic business environments.

Alex Kent, Director of Strategy & Innovation

Intelligent Growth

In the coming years, high-growth consumer brands will face significant challenges when raising growth capital as sources dry up or become more restrictive. To survive and thrive, brands must improve their gross margins, increase cash flow, and efficiently deploy their capital! Consider the risk of capital being tied up indefinitely in the form of aging inventory; how might this affect your brand's operating or growth plan?

Growth will always be an essential driver of success, in 2024 and beyond. However, growth should be 'intelligent,' avoiding pitfalls made in 2020 through 2022. Brands must take an aggressive approach to optimizing inventory levels, avoiding 'over-stocking' for hypothetical demand. 

Furthermore, parcel/shipping-related costs are another critical area of focus. Tackling raising costs by reducing the amount of shipping costs "eaten" by the brand OR by finding strategic solutions/partners to help reduce and optimize parcel spend through parcel optimization software and carrier management and diversification.

Ajit Sreenivasan, Senior Product Manager

Unrelenting Need to Boost Consumer Experience

The biggest challenge is one that never seems to go away.  Consumers will continue to demand an exceptional experience (i.e., the Amazon effect), putting additional pressure on growing brands to execute operationally, thus requiring access to tools like a multichannel order & inventory management system (OMS), parcel optimization, inventory planning etc., ideally all within a single platform.

Allan Simons, Senior Account Executive

Actions E-commerce/DTC & B2B Companies Can Do Today

Brands can take the right moves.  

Deploy the modern e-commerce practices to deliver the consumer experience your customers expect. Rapidly add new sales channels and retail partners immediately rather than lose revenue due to another IT morass.  Make more accurate inventory forecasts to ensure you have the right inventory, either in your own facility or in your 3PL partners’ (and make sure your 3PL partner is the right one for your particular business!)

It comes down to a few core components.  The right partner.  The right practices.  The right technology.  And most importantly, ensuring these elements all operate cohesively. 

How to do that smartly, quickly and cost-effectively?  Partner with an experienced e-commerce supply chain leader like Stord that can provide you the DTC & B2B fulfillment, transportation and integrated technology solutions you need to scale your high growth, multichannel brand.

If you're looking to use your supply chain to accelerate your e-commerce business growth, let's talk.