Blog Posts Omnichannel Fulfillment Helps Housewares Company Grow
For decades, Epoca International Inc. has been designing and distributing innovative, quality and eco-friendly consumer housewares. The company prides itself on building brands that make an impact on today’s culture.
Cookware, bakeware and coffee and tea products are sold through multiple retail channels from independent retailers to national store chains and drop-ship channels. The company’s distribution system is built around speed and volume-based orders. Epoca needed to enhance its warehouse fulfillment services to support rapidly growing distribution overall and accommodate its busy season from September to December.
Epoca works with many ecommerce retailers for promotional sales (drop-shipments) that include Target.com and Amazon, as well as large-scale Black Friday sales with retailers such as Home Depot, Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond. The company required a warehouse fulfillment services provider that could quickly scale with its operation to support increased sales as needed.
Fast, Flexible Warehouse and Fulfillment Services
In 2016, Epoca engaged Saddle Creek to handle its warehousing and omnichannel fulfillment operations. The 3PL provided just the right combination of flexibility, resources, capabilities and expertise to help the housewares company achieve its business objectives.
To improve scalability during Epoca’s busy season and decrease delivery time, the 3PL established strategically located operations at both its Ft. Worth, Texas, and Buena Park, Calif., campuses. This solution allowed customers to receive products in a two-day ship time, regardless of their location in the United States.
The value-added services available at Saddle Creek’s Fort Worth location also helped prepare products for shipment through third-party vendors like Walmart, Home Depot, Target.com and the Home Shopping Network. The 3PL also provides pre-shipment value-added services, such as kitting and labeling for third-party vendor pricing and drop-shipment preparation.
The scaled solution has had a significant impact on order turnaround time. Saddle Creek now handles approximately 73 percent more orders per day from September to December. On average, more than 80 percent of those orders ship same-day.
While Epoca is based in Florida, utilizing Saddle Creek’s strategic locations in California and Texas helps the company achieve delivery times of two days or less for the vast majority of orders through its numerous sales channels — boosting customer satisfaction and increasing repeat orders.
“Choosing Saddle Creek to take over our warehouse fulfillment services has decreased our shipping lead time, and improved our overall customer satisfaction,” says Victoria Albanese, Senior Director of Sales Operations for Epoca International. “Saddle Creek’s ability to execute fulfillment in numerous channels has been essential to helping grow our business.”