Case Study: SmartWool

SmartWool – launched by avid skiers in 1994 – makes socks and other selected athletic accessories from the wool of Merino sheep, grown in New Zealand. The merino wool has naturally breathable fibers that are cooler than synthetics because they evaporate and wick moisture away faster. Athletes of all types, especially skiers, snowboarders and other outdoor enthusiasts have come to rely on SmartWool for its comfort and breathability.

With a cult-like following developed over its eleven years in business, SmartWool has grown steadily year after year by serving selected sporting goods stores and other niche retailers across the country.

The company had a well-established distribution process for shipping socks and its other products by the caseload to its customers. What it didn’t have was a good way to ship packages of socks directly to individuals. To accommodate SmartWool’s growing base of loyal customers and professional athletes who wanted selected products shipped directly to their homes, an individual fulfillment process needed to be established. SmartWool’s growth spawned a serious need for an effective way to handle individual orders and shipments.

A search was initiated for a full service fulfillment company. Three of the key criteria included:

• The ability to ship both caseload quantities to retailers and packages to individuals;
• A Call Center that offers exceptional customer service, especially for the individual callers who are extremely loyal to the SmartWool product line; and
• A proximity that is not too far from Tennessee where much of the company’s manufacturing is done.

Case Study: Dr. Michelle Copeland’s Skin Care Line
A Cosmeceutical Success Story

With the Baby Boomer generation’s obsession with maintaining a youthful appearance, it’s no wonder the cosmeceuticals market – named for products representing a marriage between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals – is growing so quickly.


Dr. Michelle Copeland, one of the most prominent female cosmetic, plastic and reconstructive surgeons in the United States, has developed a rapidly expanding cosmeceutical skin care line. Her products – available through her website as well as through selected retailers and several shopping networks – improve appearance while delivering nutrients necessary for healthy skin.

Dr. Copeland’s company has relied on IFS as its fulfillment center since its inception in 2003. Darlene Walley, Chief Operating Officer for the company and a marketing expert who works with entrepreneurs to build their companies, discovered IFS when doing an extensive search for the right fulfillment partner for an earlier client. That company, like Dr. Copeland’s, had needed a combination of a “high touch” call center – with knowledgeable staffers to manage customer calls and process orders – that could also provide complete fulfillment services for warehousing and shipping. So as Darlene began work with Dr. Copeland’s company, she chose to return to IFS and its high level of service.

“What I really value in IFS is that they have manager-level people as my contacts,” says Darlene. “They have a high level of integrity since management expects a lot from them.” She added, “We use them as an extension of our company and a very important one.”

Darlene also noted that, as the company has grown and evolved, IFS has worked with them to support that growth. “The IFS team is very good about working with us on where the company is headed,” she said. “They are willing to put the infrastructure in place to support that growth if it makes sense for their business, too. But if it doesn’t make sense, they will let me know right away so I can plan accordingly.”

Dr. Copeland’s Skin Care Line has grown from just few orders every week to over a million dollars in sales since the company has been with IFS.  That growth has come through individual web-based orders and retail store sales as well as through large shipments to several shopping networks. “We are so fortunate to have partners like IFS,” said Darlene. “Having people you can rely on, as if you have personally hired and trained them over the years, is incredible, and so important to our success.”

Case Study: LifeWise Naturals

One company making a name for itself in the nutraceuticals business is LifeWise Naturals, Inc. In business for more than 15 years, LifeWise prides itself on only offering choice standardized products certified for potency and purity. A key goal of LifeWise management is to offer the highest quality, most effective products on the market, in order to help its customers achieve their health goals.

LifeWise strives to always be among the first to offer promising new research-based products at the very best price. Every product is researched to ensure it measures up to the company's high standards. A product is not offered just because it is popular or the newest trend. Considerable time and effort is spent thoroughly researching the more than 4,000 scientific journals published around the world. Only when LifeWise's research team finds a product that is proven does the company's management consider adding it to its product selection.

Not only does the LifeWise management team pride itself on the quality of the company's products, they are also equally concerned about the level of customer satisfaction. It was this focus on customer satisfaction that led President Kelly Moore to select Innovative Fulfillment Solutions (IFS) as its partner to handle the company's fulfillment and customer service needs.

As the business steadily grew over the years, the fulfillment portion of it was getting to be a big headache, explained Kelly. “I really wanted to focus my efforts on sales, marketing and research rather than managing the daily challenges of a warehousing and fulfillment operation.”

As Kelly began the search for an outsourcing solution, a key priority at any company he considered had to be personalized service. It was important to him that customers did not become just a number. Kelly said, “I needed to be sure our customers continued to receive excellent customer service. Our business was built on repeat business, so we needed a fulfillment provider that could quickly turn around orders as well as a call center that offered knowledgeable and friendly assistance.”

IFS's turnkey order processing program was just what the LifeWise team was looking for in a fulfillment partner. Customers can contact IFS by web, phone, fax, mail or email, to place an order or to get information on the LifeWise product line. In addition, by using the IFS call center, LifeWise knows its company's image will continue to polished and professional.

“Deciding to partner with IFS has been a great decision,” stated Kelly. “I am no longer distracted by the daily operations of filling orders and can concentrate on my true passion - the research of finding quality products to help people achieve their health goals.” Kelly continued, “The IFS team is very customer focused and willing to go the extra mile for the customers we serve. LifeWise provides the highest quality supplements to bring the customers here, then IFS's terrific customer service brings them back.”

For more information on LifeWise Naturals, visit www.lifewise.com.

Case Study: Health Advantage, Inc.

Health Advantage, Inc. - which offers a complete line of all-natural supplements - has been growing consistently over the years, expanding its line of products that help consumers restore and maintain good health. Some of those popular products include:

• Somanol - A safe and effective sleep supplement that promotes “deep sleep;”
• ComFlex - a potent pain relief for joints and muscles; and
• Sharp Mind - a supplement to help you think more clearly and concentrate with less effort.

Health Advantage spokesperson Richard Rubin has been very pleased with the service his company receives from Innovative Fulfillment Solutions (IFS) and talks about how IFS has made the stress of the fulfillment process disappear.

“Life has become so much easier since the company started working with IFS two years ago” Rubin explained. “Like any new partnership, we had a short breaking-in period but after that, it was smooth sailing. Now we have the security of knowing that IFS can handle whatever volume of orders we generate. That flexibility is imperative to our business and the ability to continue to grow our business.”

In 2005, when Health Advantage, Inc. was searching for a new full-service fulfillment firm, Rubin and his partners wanted a firm that could:

• provide reliable and dependable service;
• manage inventory;
• provide appropriate reports;
• ensure efficiencies; and
• continue to support the growth of the company.

Since partnering with IFS, Health Advantage has been able to market more aggressively to grow the business. The fulfillment service's ability to adapt to the ever expanding line of nutraceuticals and to its growing volume of orders has provided Health Advantage the assurance its products and customers are taken care of properly.

IFS President Keith Milburn enjoys working with Health Advantage. “The executives at Health Advantage are very smart marketers and they've built a very successful business,” Milburn said. “It has been our pleasure to work with their team these past two years and we look forward to our partnership continuing for many years to come.”

For more information on Health Advantage, Inc. visit www.healthmd.com.

Case Study: Helzberg Diamonds

Headquartered in Kansas City, Helzberg Diamonds has more than 220 retail stores around the country. Operating with a lean staff in its home office, Helzberg turned to IFS in early 1998, after the company was having fulfillment problems with its Web site. Since that time, IFS has downloaded and fulfilled all of Helzberg's email catalog requests for customers world-wide.

Because IFS provided such prompt, efficient service for email requests, the company now manages a variety of fulfillment projects for Helzberg. One frequent need is receipt and re-packaging of merchandise for Helzberg's special in-store promotions. IFS receives Helzberg promotional merchandise, (often in large freight import containers) then re-packages and distributes the goods to the 220+ Helzberg stores across the country. "IFS saves us an incredible amount of time and labor in managing these re-distribution projects," says Helzberg Divisional Vice President Mike Maasen. "They've given us excellent service, and saved us thousands of dollars over the past 5+ years. I highly recommend them."

Case Study: Stowers Innovations, Inc.

Stowers Innovations, Inc., an American Century company, approached IFS in early 1998 to assist them with the fulfillment of a book written by James E. Stowers, founder and Chairman of the Board of American Century. Stowers Innovations was in need of an operations resource to accept orders, process credit card payments, and ship the books and related concepts to customers in a timely manner. The company shares information nationally with individuals who are seeking to improve their financial position.

Since that time, IFS' relationship with Stowers Innovations has continued to grow, just as the two companies have grown. Today, in addition to the original services offered, IFS provides database management support, implements email marketing campaigns, and works closely with the Stowers Innovations marketing team on its marketing activities to ensure adequate staffing and assistance with many phases of the company's operation.

In the summer of 2003, Dana Woodbury, President of Dodge City Steaks, learned about IFS' reputation for outstanding customer service. She called IFS President Keith Milburn to explore the possibility of outsourcing the company's steak fulfillment to IFS. Dana knew that marketing was her company's strong suit, and she chose to focus on that part of the business and let an expert take over the "back end" fulfillment issues.

By mid-October IFS completed the installation of a 1700 cubic foot freezer to house Dodge City Steak's inventory. Shortly thereafter, IFS began managing the entire fulfillment function for Dodge City Steaks, including all the phone calls for both catalog requests and customer orders.

Fast-forward 30 days to mid November 2003. Dana secured an opportunity for Dodge City Steaks to be featured on the Food Network for two segments - one airing at 10 p.m. on November 12th and another at 1:00 a.m. on November 13th. The decision was made to use a 24-hour call center service to handle the calls overnight, switching the phones over to IFS beginning at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of the 13th.

What a difference in Call Centers!

Between 10:00 p.m. when the first segment aired on November 12th and 8:00 a.m. the next morning, the 24-hour call center received approximately 75 calls and was able to convert just 4 of those callers into customers, for a conversion rate of .005%. And that was with an average call length of almost 5 minutes.

In contrast, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the 13th, IFS took nearly 250 calls and converted 25.5% of those callers into buyers at an average order of approximately $80. And that was in 2.35 minutes…half the time of the other call center!

Needless to say, Dana is thrilled with the service both she and her customer's are receiving from IFS. She also pointed out that several of the callers to IFS who inquired about corporate gift-giving mentioned how helpful the IFS Call Center staff was in directing them on to Dana and her team for further assistance.

It’s obvious that the quoted service rate is not the issue. Results are all important and when Dana did the math, she knew she was getting a far better value for her money by using the quality staff at IFS.