Shark Tank alum Wondercide experiences 10X growth over decade-long partnership with ShipStation
In 2009, when Stephanie Boone’s beloved dog Luna fell ill, her vet realized backyard pesticides and conventional flea and tick medications were to blame. Boone quickly took action. She started creating her own plant-powered products and spreading awareness about her experience. What began as a small garage operation selling at farmers markets, quickly found its audience.
As Wondercide grew, the small company identified a problem with their fulfillment. Keeping up with order volume and optimizing manual processes was becoming increasingly difficult. When they fell behind, their business suffered at the expense of the delivery experience. “We needed to find a better way and quickly,” says Brad Locke, President of Wondercide.
A decade ago, Wondercide partnered with ShipStation to manage fulfillment, streamline their processes, and help support their growth. And just in time. In 2016, a successful appearance on Shark Tank skyrocketed Wondercide’s success overnight.
“Without ShipStation, it became clear we wouldn’t have been able to keep up with volume when sales exploded after Wondercide was on Shark Tank.”
Brad Locke, President of Wondercide
ShipStation features that propelled Wondercide’s success:
The Challenge: Scaling operations and improving efficiency
As they continued to receive more orders, they identified some key efficiency problems. One of their main concerns was the ability to onboard staff quickly and easily. As a pest control company, Wondercide is ruled by the demands of Spring and Summer—when the bugs come out in greatest numbers, orders swell. ShipStation’s seamless multi-channel order import and intuitive dashboard allowed them to onboard seasonal workers in half the time.
“We were able to reduce our training process by roughly 50%.”
Tim Beaird, Executive Director of Operations at Wondercide
“The training process with ShipStation is very user-friendly. They’re able to print their own batches within the first day and be fully onboarded by the end of the week,” says Marsha Hall, Manager of Fulfillment Operations at Wondercide.
In addition to needing a user-friendly shipping solution to onboard staff, Wondercide also needed to find a way to improve their delivery time. “Consumers are able to get most things on Amazon within a day, so we have to compete with that,” says Hall. “With ShipStation we are able to get most orders out the same day and get a solution out to the customer as soon as possible.”
Finally, Wondercide needed help expanding into bigger marketplaces and retail centers. ShipStation made it easier to oversee operations from multiple order sources in one place as Wondercide’s retail presence grew from independent pet stores to national chains like Petsmart, Chewy, and Pet Supplies Plus.
Before ShipStation, Wondercide’s fulfillment team was shipping one order at a time using default carrier software and manual data entry.
“ShipStation has completely changed all that, allowing us to handle bulk orders in batches with direct integrations, eliminating human error, and giving us a scalable speed that we couldn’t achieve any other way,” says Jason Diehl, head of IT operations at Wondercide, who has also utilized ShipStation’s API to design customized solutions for their wholesale orders that don’t meet freight requirements.
The Solution: Shipping tools that protect the pack
Over the last decade, ShipStation has helped Wondercide grow with accuracy and speed. With ShipStation’s help, Wondercide has been able to scale their warehouse and capacity to over 40x what it was before.
“When we started the partnership with ShipStation, we were in 1,500 square feet of space fulfilling orders. And if you flash forward to today, we’re at 62,000 square feet of space. And ShipStation has allowed us to handle with ease the scaling journey through that entire time.”
Brad Locke, President of Wondercide.
Tags and Filters organize orders for ease of shipping
With ShipStation’s order tags and filters, you can easily categorize orders, create automations, and set specific criteria to prioritize certain orders. This saves time and reduces errors, allowing you to scale your business efficiently while delivering exceptional customer experiences. Learn more
Hall’s team relies on order tags and filters to “remove the noise” as orders come in from multiple marketplaces and retailers. Since implementing custom filters, the team has saved about 82 percent of the time it takes to create a batch and produce their labels. Wondercide uses tags to organize orders and keep wholesale and direct-to-consumer orders flowing smoothly.
ShipStation’s Scan to Verify and Print creates 99.9% order accuracy
When it comes to fulfillment, pickers use ShipStation’s pick lists to accurately and efficiently gather orders. Packers use the Scan to Verify and Print feature to put items in the correct box and make sure they arrive on the right customer’s doorstep.
The team began using Scan to Verify and Print in 2021. According to Hall, it is one of the most useful features they have used in her time as Manager of Fulfillment Operations. “That was the first year that we could confidently say that we were sending out perfect orders from the jump,” says Hall.
Because ShipStation is easy to use and learn, this feature has also created less overhead for Wondercide. Now more work can be done with less people– even during peak season.
Product Bundles streamline Wondercide’s workflows, expands product offerings
Product Bundles is a tool that allows you to create and manage product bundles or kits. This feature is particularly useful for businesses that sell multiple products together or offer special packages. Learn more
The ability to bundle orders in ShipStation has also improved Wondercide’s packing workflow. Before, locating products was time-consuming for Hall’s team. “We’re able to apply a bundle and say that these are the three components that make up that bundle so that they show up properly on the pick list and on the Scan to Verify and Print screen. It makes it really seamless,” says Hall.
Beaird also appreciates the reporting tools available in ShipStation. These have allowed them to gain visibility into best-selling products. Knowing what sells most frequently has allowed them to organize products in their new warehouse by bin location to make picking and packing easier.
The Results: Clear metrics of growth at every step
Since integrating with ShipStation, the company has experienced double digit year-over-year growth and improved every step of order fulfillment. A decade ago, Wondercide’s monthly order volume was roughly 2,000 orders. During peak season today, Wondercide processes over 20,000 orders a month with fewer people and in less time, says Beaird.
For Brad Locke, this leap in growth has most importantly helped them boost their bottom line.
Brad Locke, President of Wondercide
“My favorite thing about ShipStation is they have been a key partner helping us grow our business 10 times the size it was when we started, which has allowed us to protect 15 million pets and people over that time. And we’re just getting started.”
