Elm Dirt Optimized 3PL Selection with Fulfill

Like many small businesses, Elm Dirt aimed to focus its team’s efforts on manufacturing and customer relations rather than shipping and logistics. Naturally, this led the brand’s Founder, Lauren Cain, to partner with a 3PL. While the 3PL’s services and reviews looked excellent on Google, within months of the partnership’s start date, she had already begun to see some glaring issues:

• Poor communication: Elm Dirt rarely had clarity into basic operations, such as how much stock the 3PL had on hand.
• Poor customer service: Constant requests for Elm Dirt’s assistance created bottlenecks that further slowed operations.
• Shipping inconsistencies: With a strong Amazon presence, Elm Dirt needed a fulfillment partner to ship products daily to keep up with demand.

“In the fourth month, they stopped shipping our product altogether, and we couldn’t get a hold of anyone,” explains Lauren. “After five business days, we finally got someone on the line, but by then, the damage had been done.”

As communication stagnated and orders went unfulfilled, disgruntled customers began requesting refunds and took to social media to express their frustration. After these shortcomings resulted in a 10% drop in revenue, Lauren was happy to sever ties with her fulfillment partner. However, she knew Elm Dirt still needed a 3PL partner, as she didn’t want fulfillment to become an internal task. Fortunately, a colleague recommended Fulfill, whose 3PL matchmaking platform was precisely what Elm Dirt needed.

To bring Elm Dirt’s fulfillment back on track quickly, Lauren reached out to Fulfill, whose team curated a list of highly-researched 3PLs for her to choose from. Fulfill not only put this list in Lauren’s hands, saving her countless hours of research, but also provided detailed breakdowns of the strengths and weaknesses of each partner, along with contact information.

“I was looking to find a new 3PL partner fast and Fulfill was able to match that speed,” Lauren explains. “Each partner on their list was so good, and I was able to schedule meetings with over half of them within a week.”

Of course, Fulfill’s services didn’t stop at 3PL shortlist creation. Its team was at Lauren’s side during every step of the decision-making process, collecting her feedback from meetings, sharing their own experiences with the partners, and narrowing down her choices to ensure she chose the best 3PL for Elm Dirt. This meticulous attention to detail gave Lauren the peace of mind to place Elm Dirt’s fulfillment efforts into external hands, even after a negative experience with her first 3PL.

Since Elm Dirt’s partnership with its new 3PL, Abacus Logistics, began, Lauren has seen substantial improvements in customer service ticket times, carrier costs, and inventory transparency. “Within hours, we were getting information and assistance that took our previous 3PL days to provide,” says Lauren. Now several months in, Lauren says fulfillment is essentially on autopilot.

While Elm Dirt’s 3PL experience started on a sour note, Fulfill’s team was able to transform its fulfillment process from a burden to a competitive advantage. Today, Elm Dirt spends less time worrying about fulfillment and more time perfecting its fertilizers for its thousands of loyal customers. Even better, the team has seen significant improvements in operations:

• 10+ hours saved during the 3PL vetting process
• 1x per day inventory reports
• 4-day improvement in average support ticket resolution

As Elm Dirt continues to expand its physical and online presence, its team is relieved to know that fulfillment is no longer a bottleneck to growth.