Streamline Your Subscription Box with a Fulfillment Center | EP 152

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What if you never had to pack and ship your subscription boxes again? How would that change your business… and your life? 

Ryan Culver of Lessgistics joined me for this episode to talk all things subscription box fulfillment center. Not only does Ryan have more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, he’s also a former health & wellness subscription box owner and the current owner of a charcuterie subscription box. He joined me to talk about how fulfillment centers can help subscription box businesses, especially as you grow and scale. 

Ryan started Lessgistics in 2020 to help other subscription box owners. Inside their 60,000-square-foot facility, Ryan and his team support subscription box owners with businesses ranging from 250 subscription boxes to over 5,000 subscription boxes. They also fulfill special projects and one-time boxes. 

Lessgistics especially enjoys partnering with start-up subscription box businesses that are starting to show growth and have 250-300 subscribers. Other fulfillment centers require subscription box businesses to have 1,000 or more subscribers. 

Ryan talked about how important it is that you have time and experience fulfilling your subscription boxes yourself before outsourcing to a fulfillment center like Lessgistics. This allows you to understand your needs, your process, and what you’ll require of a fulfillment center. 

When should you consider working with a fulfillment center? So many subscription box owners start their businesses from their homes - and continue to work from home even when they no longer have the time or the space to continue to grow and scale their businesses. When you outgrow working and fulfilling from home, it’s time to decide whether to find outside space to rent or outsource to a fulfillment center. 

There are many benefits to working with a fulfillment center, including: 

• Taking advantage of the economies of scale a fulfillment center brings.
• Getting your business out of your house. 
• Getting access to better shipping rates - subscription box owners benefit from Lessgistics’s buying power with shipping companies. 

The volume discounts Lessgistics can get for its subscription box partners usually pay for the cost of the fulfillment center, making it a no brainer! 

I asked Ryan to price out fulfilling an example subscription box business. This subscription box has 500 subscribers and each box contains five items, an insert, and a sticker. Ryan told me the cost to fulfill would be $2.25 per box. 

When I compare my overhead costs (rent, packing supplies, staff costs) to the cost of fulfilling with Lessgistics, this is a no brainer! Of course, the fact that my Monogram Box™ is fully customized means I have to fulfill in-house. But if I could, I’d outsource fulfillment in a heartbeat! 

Ryan recognizes that it can be difficult to let go of control and trust someone else to fulfill your subscription boxes. He understands and is dedicated to creating an experience that’s very subscription box owner-focused. As a subscription box owner himself, he understands the importance of providing an outstanding subscriber experience. 

Lessgistics can handle variations - size, color, quantities - with ease. They handle customer service issues promptly and stay in close contact with their subscription box owner partners. 

Ryan and I talked about one of my Mastermind students, Stacey Collins, and how Lessgistics has been such an important part of her latest subscription box’s success. 

If you’re in the hundreds of subscribers range, you need to be focused on growing and scaling - not on packing and shipping. It’s time to really think about what a 3rd party fulfillment center like Lessgistics could do for you. 

Contact Ryan to schedule a 30-minute call  - he’ll talk with you about your subscription box and your needs and provide you with a same-day quote. 

Join me and Ryan from Lessgistics for this episode to learn what a 3rd party fulfillment center can do for your subscription box business and how the money you’ll save on shipping costs can just about pay for the fulfillment services! 

Find and follow Lessgistics: 

• Lessgistics on Facebook  
• Lessgistics Website