Cart.com, the commerce solutions provider, said Bluffworks selected it to be its exclusive fulfillment partner in the U.S. The travel apparel brand said its inventory and fulfillment operations are now centralized at Cart.com’s Terrell, Texas facility.
Cart.com said in a statement that is completed the transition from Bluffworks’ previous fulfillment center, which was in Memphis, in less than three weeks. Bluffworks’ Terrell operation went online in early July. Bluffworks said it expects the new operation to lower its fulfillment costs by at least 20 percent.
Bluffworks’ CEO said he was “stunned” Cart.com performed.
“I’ve spent my career on both sides of logistics, first building supply chain systems as a software developer and then relying on them to run a brand,” said Stefan Loble, founder and chief executive officer of Bluffworks. “I am still stunned at how different the accuracy, cost and level of service can be between two large, similar-looking fulfillment providers.”
Loble said Cart.com has their operation buttoned up, especially their technology. “I can open Cart.com’s software and see the status of the whole operation without emailing anyone to ask. When something goes wrong—like a shipment turning up damaged, which happens in this business, you find out fast whether you’re in good hands on the other end. With Cart.com we are.”
Working with Cart.com also saves time and money.
For example, Cart.com said within weeks of going live, its Terrell team inspected and categorized products from an inbound shipment that had been damaged in transit. The team sent photos and documentation to Bluffworks, and the information allowed the company to quickly resolve the issue with its supplier—without sending any personnel to the facility.
“Brands with high repeat purchase volume put a different kind of demand on a fulfillment operation,” said Joe Barth, president of fulfillment at Cart.com. “A first-time buyer has nothing to compare the experience to. A customer on their fifth pair of the same pants notices everything, including a garment that spent time in a carton that got wet somewhere between the factory and the dock. Bluffworks earned that loyalty over more than a decade, and our job is to keep the operation from giving anyone a reason to reconsider.”
When asked about the holiday shopping season and what it will take to succeed, Barth was straightforward in his response. “With shipping costs up and margins thin, the brands that win this holiday season will be the ones that refine their fulfillment strategy before peak” Barth told Sourcing Journal. “Bluffworks made that move early, and they’re heading into the busiest weeks of the year on a stable, lower-cost footing.”