by Nish George, CEO
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“How are we so awful at backpacks?”, I remember thinking.
I was visiting BCN1, Amazon’s high-tech robotic warehouse in Barcelona, during one of my routine missions to help Amazon cut costs. I had just stumbled across a cordoned-off mountain of backpacks as big as my apartment.
I asked a nearby manager: what’s this? She explained that it’s a problem-solving area: whenever workers measure any backpack with the straps out, the system classifies it as a “big thing” and ejects them all from this “small things” warehouse. So they box them up and send them to XESA, a nearby big-things warehouse. Makes sense, right?
Then I drove to XESA. There, I found another cordoned-off pile of backpacks.
So I asked a nearby manager: what’s this? He said this is a big-things warehouse. Here, they do sofas and TVs. But for some reason, backpacks keep ending up here. So they have to box them up and send them to BCN1, where I'd just come from.
I went back to the office and checked our data. Sure enough, we’d been boomeranging these backpacks between our warehouses thousands of times per year. And we’d only shipped them to customers a handful of times.
Sure enough, we’d been boomeranging these backpacks between our warehouses thousands of times per year. And we’d only shipped them to customers a handful of times.
Think about "Anna" (not her real name), the unlucky brand owner who’s selling these backpacks. Anna invested in lots of ads and inventory, but consumers kept buying other people’s merchandise after visiting her Amazon listing because of inexplicable out-of-stock messages and shipping delays. This was a serious problem - the kind that could put Anna's brand out of business.
So Anna called Amazon for help. But she never talked to a real operator onsite with her backpacks. Even after she got through all the pre-recorded phone menus, she could only reach a call center rep working from home, whose script required him to first upsell some Amazon FBA program (did you know, we can ship your backpacks even when you sell them on your own website?).
Nobody at Amazon was actively trying to ruin Anna's brand. They were just too big to feel her pain.
Nobody at Amazon was actively trying to ruin Anna's brand. They were just too big to feel her pain.
For brand owners like Anna, this is why it's so critical to partner with the right-sized 3PL.
I strongly believe brand owners need a right-sized 3PL like Fetch Fulfillment. Here, you’ll find a passionate ex-Amazon leader running a well-oiled, cutting-edge e-commerce fulfillment center. And we do it at a scale where you can still drop in any day of the week. When you get here, you’ll find a team who’s genuinely excited to see you and gameplan your upcoming launches together.
At Fetch, we’re proud to be Your Brand’s Best Friend. (Even if you sell backpacks.)
At Fetch, we’re proud to be Your Brand’s Best Friend. (Even if you sell backpacks.)
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Fetch Fulfillment is for brand owners who want direct-to-consumer fulfillment to be the least stressful part of their business. Most 3PLs are good at one thing, like shipping on-time, or having modern tech, or picking up the phone. What makes Fetch unique is that it's stellar at all 3: it provides high-end boutique-grade customer service -- as seen in its glowing reviews and +92 net promoter score -- combined with its real-time cutting-edge tech and well-managed operation. The Fetch team lives by its motto: they are Your Brand's Best Friend.
