Co-founded in 2015 by Vijay and Renju Prathap, Bears for Humanity is a pioneer in manufacturing organic, safe, and eco-friendly products for customers and reputable global companies including United Airlines, Guitar Center, California Baby, Whole Foods, Aramark, Cartoon Saloon, and more.
All of its goods – from plush toys to gifts and apparel – are made with organic cotton and follow the Global Organic Textile Standard and the Global Recycled Standard so that they’re free of harsh chemicals, pesticides, and heavy metals.
In addition to its fair environmental practices, Bears for Humanity also creates fair trade, living wage jobs for those in underserved communities and donate teddy bears to charities focused on children, animals, and environmental causes. So far, the Prathaps have created 200 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and work with over 15,000 organic cotton farmers to manufacture its products.
Here’s the story of how Deliverr helped Bears for Humanity tackle its fulfillment challenges, including delivering orders quickly and efficiently and enhancing its customer experience.
The search for a hassle-free, fast fulfillment experience
Prior to partnering with Deliverr, Bears for Humanity kicked off its eCommerce presence on Amazon where it was selling roughly 38,000 bears in one week. While this channel helped the company capture the market attention, the Prathaps were concerned that the Bears for Humanity brand image was becoming diluted. They realized they wanted to sell directly to customers and get back to its roots of fair trade.
Making the switch to a DTC model meant cutting out the middleman to avoid paying extra fees, which allowed the Prathaps to still keep product prices low for customers.
With the majority of its customers in coastal cities, Bears for Humanity needed a fulfillment network that could quickly meet the growing demand in these geolocations. In short, they needed a new 3PL partner that could help get products to its customers as quickly as possible.
From a mom-and-pop warehouse to a strategic 3PL partner
With access to Deliverr’s vast warehouse network, Bears for Humanity has been able to successfully place inventory close to demand. Deliverr also provides seamless integration with inventory management, notifying the co-founders when products are at risk of going out of stock.
“Bears for Humanity has a 24% repeat customer lifetime, so the technology, inventory management, and transparent pricing provided by Deliverr has been a great asset to our fulfillment processes and overall customer experience.”
– Vijay Prathap, Chief Bear Giver & Co-Founder
Previously, all Bears for Humanity shipments were coming from one fulfillment center in California, which limited the ability to provide cost-effective express shipping options to customers.
By strategically distributing inventory across the U.S. with Deliverr, Bears for Humanity was able to:
- Decrease package delivery times by 50%: Orders that once took 7-10 days to ship from California now ship with 3-5 working business days.
- Decrease warehouse costs by 25%: This was made possible by having the right inventory in the right place at the right time to meet customer demand.
- Ship 92.3% of products on time (between November ’21 and February ’22): Delivering products to the customer by the promised delivery date is crucial to the company’s focus of creating a positive customer experience.
“The key to success in eCommerce is customer experience. With Deliverr, we are able to improve and provide a positive customer experience with the fulfillment of orders.”
– Vijay Prathap, Chief Bear Giver & Co-Founder
Find out how Bears for Humanity and other small- to medium-sized brands are growing their business with Deliverr’s Fulfillment and Logistics Services.
