A Picture Perfect Dropshipping Strategy, How Aura Frames Increased Retail Channels

Aura Frames makes the world’s smartest digital picture frame. It makes a great gift for Mother’s Day or for any special person in your life. 

Within a year, Aura Frames more than tripled their year-over-year sales volume from adding multiple new dropship retail accounts. By partnering with DCL Logistics, their premium product is sent to all customers quickly, accurately, and with premium service. 

Chief Operating Officer of Aura Frames Josh Auerbach says, “It’s not like we’re growing 10% or 15% a year, I’m talking doubling, tripling, sometimes quadrupling the year-over-year sales growth. That’s a tremendous amount of business. We shipped a really amazing number of units in the fourth quarter and all of it went really smoothly because of high service levels, turn around time, and quality control.” 

Ecommerce Case Study:

• Problem: Aura Frames wanted to scale their retail strategy.
• Solution: DCL Logistics provides dropshipping support for Aura’s many retail accounts—turning orders around quickly and providing detailed and quality service for the complex needs of retail fulfillment.
• Result: Aura tripled their year-over-year sales volume, without sacrificing accuracy or premium service to match their premium product. 

Speed and Accuracy are the Keys to Dropshipping

Dropshipping works best if inventory can move very quickly from container to consumer. Aura Frames is in many top retail stores which is complex to manage . In order to successfully ensure the retail partners and end-customers are happy, DCL works hard to get Aura Frames out quickly and accurately. 

Josh says, ““We use DCL for getting our products to our retailers, which have some complicated needs, and all of the technology behind that works seamlessly and has been really great from a business point of view.”

By dropshipping, DCL and the Aura team have been able to decrease the latency between products arriving from the manufacturer and going out to the customer. Josh says, “Our business is very seasonal and we do a huge amount in November and December. If we’re getting units to retailers for them to ship to end users we may need to send it to them in October, or September in some cases. If we’re dropshipping, those units can come into DCL at the end of November, even later in a pinch, and DCL still gets them out on time.” 

“DCL has done an amazing job at turning shipments around quickly. We’ve had a number of shipments that arrive in the morning, the DCL team organizes everything, and those units go out the same day.”

The Four Big Benefits of Dropshipping for Sellers

Many sellers may question if dropshipping is right for them. There are obvious benefits for retailers to dropship. Namely they don’t have to take on more inventory than they know they can sell, plus they have a low liability of holding extra, unsold products. 

For the seller, if dropshipping is done efficiently, it has a few advantages that aren’t immediately obvious: potential cost savings, promoting higher sales volumes, simpler inventory planning, and peace of mind.

1. Lower Overall Shipping Costs

The speed of dropshipping is a big cost saver. Josh says, “Anything we can turn around more quickly, reduces or eliminates the need to bring things in by air. So if we’re talking about bringing in a pallet of units by ocean versus bringing in a pallet of units by air, you’re talking about an order of magnitude difference of cost. It ends up being a tremendous cash savings.”

2. Increase Sales Volume

The ability to turn products around quickly means there are more sellable units available during times of high demand. Josh explains, “It’s profit that we might otherwise be missing. We’ve been able to sell units that arrive at DCL in mid- December because they are adept at turning them around for delivery so quickly so that our customers get them for Christmas. Those are sales that we otherwise would have lost, which is a very significant revenue benefit.” 

3. Simplified Inventory Management and Planning

Dropshipping can make inventory planning much smoother. “It gives us more flexibility on inventory management,” Josh explains, “We can get 1,000 units in and they are eligible to be dropshipped for any of the retailers we work with (of which there are many). We know that DCL will take them off the shelf and when they go out they will look like a package from retailer A or B or C.” 

4. Peace of Mind

Because DCL is often able to move products out to retailers the same day they receive them, this gives the Aura team the peace of mind that their retailers are happy and consumers are getting products as fast as possible.

Premium Shipping Service Means Premium Sales Volumes

The premium service Aura gets from DCL is much deeper than just moving boxes around. It’s in the details: the packaging, the timing, and the overall service. And it’s part of what has led to such huge growth. 

“When you order something that’s a gift you want it to arrive in perfect condition and you want it to feel like a premium experience,” Josh says. “When an Aura Frame is ordered from DCL it comes in a nice box and it feels well packaged. With other fulfillment channels, it comes in a bendy box; it’s more likely to be dented and then it’s no use as a gift. Our products are expensive, so it’s valuable to us that they’re being treated delicately.” 

Really big sales growth happens when all parts of the fulfillment puzzle align—and that often comes from incredibly dedicated service to get each and every unit out right. 

When outsourcing fulfillment to a 3PL, it’s imperative to find a partner who can match your needs with excellent service. Aura Frames has a premium, top shelf product and they found a premium service to match their brand. 

About Aura Frames

You can easily and instantly frame photos from your phone. With multiple stylish frames to choose from, there’s an Aura Frame that will fit in any room of your house. These frames offer the highest resolution display for a completely new and modern way to display your digital photos. Aura Frames make a great gift for any celebration, especially Mother’s Day. Need a gift for the moms, grandmas and mother-in-laws in your life? Use the discount code, DCLMoms, on the Aura website to get 15% off digital frames.