- Beverage retailer, Poppi, powers their order fulfillment across Amazon.com, wholesalers, and influencer samples with MCF.
- Poppi now enjoys 98.99% delivery estimate accuracy and significantly low damage rates.
- MCF helps them deliver 2,000 orders a month to support relationships with up to 1,000 different influencers.
Over the past few years, consumers everywhere are seeking wellness-focused drinks, opening up a new food category called “better-for-you” beverages. Allison and Stephen Ellsworth were ahead of the trend seven years ago when they founded Poppi, a prebiotic soda company. After discovering that apple cider vinegar was the solution to some health concerns Allison was experiencing, she felt inspired to establish Poppi and share her drink recipes with the world.
With bold packaging and an even bolder value proposition, Poppi is disrupting the soda industry with a modern, all-natural prebiotic soda that is bursting with flavor and has functional benefits that improve gut health. The company rebranded in 2020, after landing a deal on Shark Tank, and launched their store on Amazon, where they feature popular flavors like Strawberry Lemon and Orange. Now, business is booming with rapid year-over-year growth. Poppi was featured as the 2022 Editor’s Choice in Vogue and has even become a popular drink for stars like Kylie Jenner.
Just like their approach to product development, Poppi takes a unique approach to their order fulfillment and avoids the traditional direct-to-consumer (DTC) model. Their goods are shipped from a manufacturer to warehouses around the US using a logistics company. Then, that inventory is used to fulfill orders across their sales channels, which include their Amazon store, large retailers like Whole Foods and Target, and small mom-and-pop retailers like gyms or yoga studios. Poppi generates a significant amount of their sales through influencer and social media marketing, using their available inventory to ship products to potential partners as well.
With Poppi’s rapid growth, Graham Goeppert, Vice President of Digital Commerce & Media, was seeking a way to streamline operations across the business’ supply chain and scale their influencer marketing and direct-to-wholesale efforts, which is managed using a Shopify website.
Goeppert was looking for a third-party logistics (3PL) company that had:
- Supply chain expertise: Poppi needed a 3PL with deep knowledge in supply chain best practices to help him explore and enable efficiency measures
- A robust network: As Poppi grew, their supply chain became more complex. A key priority in the 3PL search was finding a partner that was backed by a vast network of resources that could handle Poppi’s rapid growth.
- Cost-effective services: Since beverages accumulate additional handling fees, Poppi was seeking a 3PL partner that could help optimize their supply chain and minimize operations costs.
- Fulfillment for any channel: With a multi-channel sales model, the company needed a 3PL that could manage orders coming from a number of different channels.
“Grocery and beverage brands have a track record of success on Amazon.com, so we’ve focused on driving sales on our Amazon store,” explained Goeppert, “We maintain a steady inventory for those orders, in addition to sending samples to TikTok influencers for social media marketing and supplying products for our direct wholesale accounts. I needed a true 3PL partner that could help manage all of those workstreams.”
Poppi decided to start using Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) solution to power their fulfillment operations because MCF offers:
- Fast shipping: MCF delivers orders in 1, 2, or 3 business days after they ship, rain or shine.
- Superior delivery performance: For consumable products, on-time delivery is critical. With MCF, inventory is closer to consumers and orders are able to be delivered on time.
- Reduced supply chain risks: Working with a 3PL like MCF allows Poppi to future-proof their operations and mitigate supply chain risks, like volatility and long lead times.
- Simple, predictable pricing: Businesses only have to pay for fulfillment (with one simple fee for picking, packing, and shipping) and storage, and MCF offers up to 50% discounts on multi-unit orders.
- Automation and seamless setup: MCF has over 100 integration options to choose from to automate the order fulfillment process, and with inventory already in Amazon fulfillment centers, Poppi could begin using MCF easily.
“We were thrilled to start working with MCF as our 3PL. It had everything we were looking for and more, with fast, reliable fulfillment that would boost our customer experience,” said Goeppert.
Poppi uses WebBee for their Shopify website in order to automate the fulfillment process for their wholesale orders. By integrating MCF and Shopify, Poppi can automatically and instantaneously transmit Shopify orders to Amazon to be pick, pack, and shipped.
Goeppert said, “From the flow of orders to the speed of fulfillment, the WebBee integration is exceptionally reliable. With its precise reporting, I gain measurable insights about my orders. I always know my Amazon inventory levels, and our customers also benefit from real-time tracking updates about their order. Integrating our business with MCF has raised my confidence as a business manager.”
I would recommend MCF, especially to businesses in the grocery and beverage space, because of how well they have streamlined our operations and the cost efficiencies we’ve been able to enjoy. I never need to check in with MCF, and I know that my operations are running smoothly, so I’m able to focus on growing the business.
After using MCF for seven months, Poppi’s order fulfillment operations have been totally transformed. With MCF, Poppi has been able to achieve:
- Optimal operational efficiency: With the help of MCF, Poppi has simplified their supply chain. Their Amazon inventory now fulfills orders for Amazon.com, wholesalers, and influencer samples.
- Improved bottom-line: The company has seen a 30% savings per order due to the cost efficiencies realized by reducing the extra freight touchpoints and labor charges.
- Greater customer satisfaction: Poppi’s customers are delighted with the 98.99% delivery estimate accuracy that MCF has provided, which adds to Poppi’s customer experience.
- Better delivery reliability: Beverages are sensitive to handling. Since MCF has been Poppi’s 3PL partner, they’ve experienced significantly low damage rates in last mile delivery, which benefits both the customer and the business.
- Easy marketing fulfillment: Poppi’s marketing department effortlessly delivers 2,000 orders a month using MCF to support relationships with up to 1,000 different influencers in a year, boosting their brand awareness and sales.
Poppi plans to continue developing new drink flavors to delight customers and explore other beverage categories, working with MCF as their 3PL every step of the way.
“I would recommend MCF, especially to businesses in the grocery and beverage space, because of how well they have streamlined our operations and the cost efficiencies we’ve been able to enjoy. I never need to check in with MCF, and I know that my operations are running smoothly, so I’m able to focus on growing the business.”
