How much does culture matter to you?
For family-owned apparel company Faherty, it matters a lot. Even when considering a shipping intelligence partner.
Michael Chen, the brand’s Director of Supply Chain, has been successfully managing Faherty’s shipping operations and negotiating their shipping contracts internally. However, their growth meant they were shipping to big box retailers, residences, and independent stores all at the same time. As a result, they were spending a measurable portion of their operating costs on shipping alone.
This year, Michael saw the need to enlist the help of a shipping partner, and he found that—and more—in Reveel.
Who Is Faherty?
The Faherty brand is purpose-driven to create clothing for life’s great moments using high-quality, durable, and sustainable materials. What once started with women’s swimwear has grown into a full-service apparel company serving men, women, and children.
One of Faherty’s core principles is to deliver on promises, and to do that, they need to be able to deliver their apparel reliably to their customers as promised.
The brand sees shipping as an integral part of the overall customer experience.
“Being able to balance good competitive costs with good brand experience is of the utmost importance,” said Michael.
Working Without a Shipping Partner
Despite some success negotiating their own shipping contracts, the Faherty team recognized there was room for improvement. As Michael puts it, he felt like “a one-man army going up against these multinational conglomerates.”
Entering into negotiations alone left Michael feeling like he was fending for himself. With little insight into how well he was doing relative to other shippers.
And while negotiations were successful, it took up tons of Michael’s time and it could take close to six months before they reached an agreement.
Partnering with Reveel
Faherty was introduced to Reveel through mutual connections but were quickly impressed with the partnership and collaborative approach that we provided.
Selecting Reveel out of a list of homogenous competitors wasn’t a difficult choice.
“[Reveel] understood us right away,” said Michael.
He admitted that the competition seemed to be very similar to each other and without any clear cut differences, his decision simply would have come down to price.
While a culture fit wasn’t necessarily what they were looking for in a shipping partner, Faherty recognized the value once they saw it. As a young digital-first company, Michael said he was grateful that Reveel didn’t try to push their way of doing business on them.
What stood out to the Faherty team was the contract insights that Reveel provided right from the first meeting. Reveel pointed out that they weren’t actually receiving a money-back guarantee in his existing carrier contract. Providing this simple piece of advice early in the conversation proved to Faherty that Reveel would be a helpful partner.
Michael also felt that Reveel didn’t try to push their way of doing business but spent more time listening to get to know his business.
Shipping Contract Negotiations
Yearly contract negotiations with multiple carriers are a beast for many businesses to tackle, and it was no different for Faherty. They turned to Reveel to help them identify the best shipping strategies and guide the negotiations accordingly.
Here are some of opportunities that Reveel identified:
- Suggested Faherty pick a primary carrier instead of working with multiple carriers to give them better incentives in the negotiation process.
- Suggested Fahrety negotiate the discounts across different weight classes since Faherty was growing across all departments.
- Sugested Fahrety Balance negotiating for various service levels to get the optimal contract.
Working together, Faherty and Reveel were able to speed negotiations and come to an agreement at the beginning of March. To compare, 2019 negotiations without Reveel’s involvement weren’t completed until the end of May which results in an extra two months worth of activity on their new contract and more savings for Faherty.
Using these strategies, Faherty was able to close the deal with more savings than was initially promised. And as a bonus, Faherty saved an additional sum at the last minute by requesting additional tiered incentives.
Leveraging Reveel’s Dashboard
One of the benefits that Michael appreciates most is Reveel’s shipping dashboard. Between it’s functionality and the pleasing user interface, Michael said he’s saving hours every time he goes in to pull information.
Before getting access to Reveel’s dashboard, pulling reports from multiple carriers was often a nightmare. He’d have to pull multiple reports and sift through endless columns of irrelevant data to drill down to the information that he actually needed. When that didn’t work, he would reach out to the various carrier account reps and would sometimes wait weeks for a response.
But with Reveel’s sleek, clean looking dashboard, he’s able to pull up that information in minutes. He’s even been able to share access with other departments at Faherty, who’ve used the information to make decisions without any additional on-boarding time.
Perfecting the Partnership
As a smaller customer, it’s easy to feel lost when going against the large carriers. But partnering with Reveel helped Michael ensure Faherty was getting the optimal contract for them and their customers.
“Reveel understands fast moving brands,” said Michael. “They’re always looking to improve themselves and their products.”
Do you need a partner to help you manage your contract negotiations and make better shipping decisions for your company? Reach out to Reveel for a free invoice audit.
