The Best Ecommerce Fulfillment Case Studies of Woman-Owned Businesses

maude: How Quality Fulfillment Helps with an Impressive Retail Strategy

A modern sexual wellness company, maude makes intimacy products that are accessible to all people. 

How Do You Manage Retail Fulfillment In-House?   

maude was managing their retail fulfillment all in-house and continuing to grow into more retail accounts.  

Shipping to dozens of retailers is rare for a medium sized startup. The more stores you’re in, the more complex your fulfillment operation becomes and their team was working overtime to meet demand.  

The maude team needed help managing the complexities of retail fulfillment to a wide variety of accounts. “Our retail strategy wasn’t to just focus on one type of retailer, but it was actually to see where we could be and how we could resonate,” says Éva Goicochea CEO and Founder of maude.  

How DCL Supports maude 

DCL leveraged our extensive retail fulfillment experience to help take over maude’s accounts. Because maude’s products are so accessibly they are a natural fit in many stores, even hotels. DCL helped broaden the places where maude products can be found.  

“At maude we recognize that whatever we’re putting out, whatever we’re communicating to the world is exactly how we think and act behind the scenes. We recognize that there has to be a symbiotic relationship between our branding and our fulfillment. What’s most important is that everyone gets the whole picture for the customer.” —Éva Goicochea, CEO and Founder of maude 

Read the full maude case study.  

Willow: A New Kitting Strategy Helped Reduced Shipping Costs by 50%  

Willow makes an innovative, wearable breast pump that enables moms to move freely while pumping.  

“We embrace the challenges of modern parenthood, and our goal at Willow is to provide brilliant solutions to real-life problems faced in early motherhood,” says Naomi Kelman, Founder of Willow.  

When Do You Know You’re Overpaying On Shipping Costs? 

The team at Willow noticed their shipping fees and fulfillment costs were too high. The Director of Logistics at Willow, Mike Dalporto says “We could see that our shipping expenses and fulfillment costs, as a percentage of our sales, were really just too high. It was obvious that there was a problem that needed to be solved.”  

How DCL Supports Willow 

By reconfiguring and repackaging their kit, reducing the number of parcels per order, and switching carriers the Willow team reduced their shipping and fulfillment costs by 50%.   

Working closely with their dedicated DCL Logistics account team, Willow redesigned their packaging to allow their products to fit into a single parcel, both the breast pump kit and accessories were now shipped together. Cutting their freight costs significantly was a natural by-product because the kit carton was now 40% smaller and they were able to get roughly 35-40% more product into each shipping container from the overseas manufacturer.  

Lastly, there was a major reduction in fulfillment costs as a result of streamlining their parcel kitting and packaging. 

“We began to learn through DCL that our carrier choice, our kitting strategy, and our SLA were in direct contradiction to us saving money. DCL helped us compare new carriers and streamline our packaging to which ended up in significantly cutting those costs.” —Mike Dalporto, Director of Logistics at Willow 

Read the full Willow case study.  

Cure Hydration: Value-Added Services That Help Scale Their Omnichannel Brand

Cure Hydration is a premium hydration brand, offering refreshing, scientifically-formulated electrolyte drink mixes that taste as good as they make people feel. Their plant-based products are created from non-GMO ingredients and are free from added sugars and artificial sweeteners, delivering essential hydration without unnecessary additives. Their high-performance products are highly sought-after, making their choice of supply chain partners imperative.

Like most brands, they’ve worked with a few different 3PLs through their startup phase. The process of finding the right partner can be tough.

“We knew that DCL would help us solve the types of problems that we have as an omnichannel brand with a focus on DTC. DCL took the time and care to get everything right from day one. Clearly laying out milestones for integration by channel upfront made onboarding more efficient. It was  refreshing to have such dedicated attention and an organized plan in place; we haven’t experienced that kind of support in the past.”

How DCL Supports Cure Hydration

Cure needed a reliable, forward-thinking 3PL partner to help them scale their omnichannel DTC brand

DCL’s suite of quality services, like kitting, lot control, and premium inventory management software gives Cure the operational support they need to meet customer expectations and stay ahead of the market.

Cure has happy, satisfied customers who reliably get quick delivery, access to a fun assortment of products through bundles, all at a reasonable cost.

Read the full Cure case study.

Rachio: How an Improved Inbound Shipping Strategy Lowered Shipping Costs and Carbon Footprint

Rachio invented the first smart sprinkler controller, and their third generation Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller connects with WiFi and uses Weather Intelligence™ to water your yard only when your plants need it.

DCL Logistics ensures Rachio products are fulfilled accurately and get to customers quickly. Rachio CEO, Kim Sentovich says, “DCL really cares about our business. When we need things to get done, DCL jumps into action by  digging into the situation so they can help us to figure it out. With DCL, things just get done.”

How DCL Supports Rachio's Sustainability Efforts

When Rachio initially began working with DCL Logistics, they shipped inventory to DCL’s Northern California and Kentucky warehouses. But Kim noticed a cost savings opportunity if they switched locations. This change would also naturally lead to an overall lower carbon footprint.

Kim says, “I did a thorough network study to analyze both inbound and outbound freight costs based on where our shipments were being imported, where they were ending up, and considered whether it made sense to store and fulfill from these locations.”

Rachio products are produced in Mexico and Malaysia. Some are trucked over the Mexico border and others come in through the port of Long Beach. Often brands decide to store and fulfill products close to customers to save on outbound shipping, but in this instance, it was clear that a more cost-effective solution was to store and fulfill out of DCL’s Los Angeles facilities.

By moving all inventory to DCL’s Los Angeles facility, products were closer to both locations where Rachio products are imported: through Mexico and the port of Long Beach. Rachio saw cost savings on both inbound and outbound shipping costs, plus lowered their overall carbon footprint due to eliminating excess shipping.

Kim adds, “By consolidating our inventory to the Los Angeles facility, we decreased environmental pollution from the inbound transportation while continuing to look at cost savings and lowering our carbon footprint from an outbound standpoint.”

Dame: How High-Touch Fulfillment Helps Scale and Grow Their Order Volume    

Dame produces well-engineered toys that enhance intimacy and pleasure. Co-founders Alexandera Fine and Janet Lieberman launched one of Indiegogo’s biggest grossing crowdfunding in its category and the company’s order growth never slowed. 

How Do You Keep Up With Order Volume Growth as a Startup? 

Skyrocketing growth can put a strain on production, which can cause fulfillment challenges that aren’t easily handled in-house. Dame’s in-house fulfillment became backlogged because of the strain on their team as volume grew higher and higher. They saw an uptick in incorrect orders and grumpy customers.  

“In the pick, pack and ship process, we don’t have to risk making errors. If we did it all in-house we would have more errors. DCL has been very accurate in getting the right things out and on time,” says Dirk Doebler, CFO and COO at Dame 

How DCL Supports Dame 

Finding the right fulfillment fit is so important when a company starts outsourcing. By handing over the fulfillment and logistics to DCL the Dame team had more time to focus on launching new products.  

“Partnering with DCL Logistics has enabled us to grow. Our volume has grown several orders of magnitude, and it was too much for us to deal with. Now, DCL will get through the backlog within a business day. We wouldn’t be able to do that on our own.” —Dirk Doebler, CFO and COO at Dame 

Read the fully Dame case study.  

Bellabeat: How a Dedicated 3PL Helped Them Improved Inventory Forecasting  

Wellness-tech company Bellabeat, is a lifestyle brand making an entirely new category within the wearables market: tech powered wellness tools for women. 

“We wanted to create a brand that inspires women to become the best version of themselves and empower them with knowledge about their bodies and health,” —Urska Srsen, CEO and Founder of Bellabeat  

When Do You Know You Need a More Reliable 3PL? 

After doing business with an unsatisfactory 3PL, Bellabeat needed a new fulfillment and logistics partner. Their order volume was growing quickly, and they needed a 3PL who could help them focus on more accurate forecasting and better customer service.  

How DCL Supports Bellabeat 

The DCL team works with growing startups all the time. DCL helped Bellabeat strategize their volume forecasting for more accuracy. They also adeptly delivered products to customers, accurately and on-time, with each new wave of spike in demand.  

“The biggest indicator of a good logistics provider is when they don’t mess up your orders—even if volume is getting really high, drops for a bit and gets really high again. When there’s stable growth it’s easy for everyone. In between it’s a rodeo show.” —Urska Srsen, CEO and Founder at Bellabeat 

Read the full Bellabeat case study.  

Moxxly: By Outsourcing Fulfillment, They Got More Time to Focus on Product Innovation  

Moxxly, is a women-run startup who’ve built a discrete, hands-free breast pump kit. Not only do they intend to make a great product for women, but their aim is to give leaders and employers the ability to provide the Moxxly products for their new mom employees. 

How Do You Focus on Logistics When You’re Running a Startup? 

As a startup, the Moxxly team had to climb so many learning curves: fundraising, branding, getting through the FDA, building a product, and more. Logistics and warehousing were not on the top of their list and they knew they needed to partner with experts to get their products to customers accurately and on-time.  

How DCL Supports Moxxly 

The Moxxly team interviewed many 3PLs but found a great match for their growing needs in DCL Logistics. They saw that DCL has more modern order fulfillment tools and more of a growth-based, forward-looking business model than some other 3PLs.  

DCL helped Moxxly with fulfillment basics—pick, pack, and ship, plus things that were unique to Moxxly’s product needs—so that their team could return to focus on building the next generation of great products for women. 

“DCL has done the hard work to figure out how to make seamless logistics for companies.” —Moxxly CEO, Cara Delzer 

Read the full Moxxly case study.