Table of Contents
** Minutes
Finding a fully automated logistics solution
Learn how Drop FX launched their supplement brand in 2020 and grew through ShipBob’s Growth Plan for startup fulfilment.
Customer Profile
Based just north of Toronto, Canada, Drop FX offers a respiratory supplement that helps relax your airways and increase oxygen intake. One drop of this delicious, intense elixir to the tongue helps athletes take their performance to a whole new level thanks to L-Menthol, a potent muscle relaxant and local anesthetic found in peppermint oil.
Founded in early 2020, Drop FX (rebranded from Hustle Drops to expand their product line) was inspired by recent research on athletes using peppermint oil to become faster, smarter, tougher and stronger.
This is largely due to the relaxation of the tissue in the athlete’s airways, allowing them to take in more oxygen when ingesting or inhaling the peppermint oil.
Josh Hollings, a squash player turned entrepreneur was fascinated by the science of scents.
He started using peppermint as a natural performance enhancement during squash games, and he noticed it helped him play better, he could see the ball better, and his ranking shot up.
He thought it would be a great product but found the taste of raw peppermint oil to be atrocious. He set out to develop something that would be powerful and appealing.
Today, Drop FX’s flagship product Hustle Drops is made from a special blend of organic mint extract, coconut oil, wintergreen oil, and monk fruit (a natural sweetener), and it is used by athletes across almost every sport.
We sat down with Josh Hollings, the Founder and CEO of Drop FX, to learn how he achieved great success in under a year.
Finding a fully automated logistics solution
As told to ShipBob by Josh Hollings, Founder & CEO of Drop FX.
My end goal when I started Drop FX was to create something that was fully automated, so I could focus on driving sales. I didn’t want to have to worry about inventory and distribution as much.
When I was gearing up to launch the business, I was looking for someone who would automate fulfilment for us. I chose ShipBob, and it turned out to be a very easy and scalable solution.
I went through ShipBob’s Growth Plan program for startups, which made it easy to outsource fulfilment from the start.
Since it’s a self-service program, we didn’t have an account manager or anything. I remember being a little frustrated at first when I didn’t have anyone to talk to, but I followed the steps outlined and everything was automated, from setting up my store, to sending product, to fulfiling orders. Plus, I could always reach out to ShipBob’s support team for help.
It was pretty remarkable how a 24-year-old like me with very little money and no prior logistics experience could launch a product and have distribution be automated.
“I followed the steps, told my manufacturer the requirements to ship inventory to ShipBob, and in a couple days I had 4,000 orders that were ready to ship out.”
Josh Hollings, Founder & CEO of Drop FX
Having a strong and successful first Q4
Our experience with ShipBob has been outstanding thus far. This past Q4 was really good, with December being our best month yet, even though it was really competitive.
“ShipBob was solid during the holidays, and at one point they even paid for expedited shipping for everyone, keeping their customers happy.”
Josh Hollings, Founder & CEO of Drop FX
My favourite aspect of ShipBob is how easy it is. The software is pretty intuitive, and everything is where you think it would be. The ease of access and automation has helped us sell on our Shopify store.
What’s next for Drop FX?
What’s next for Drop FX?Things are going strong for Drop FX, and 2021 is looking to be a lot bigger than 2020. We spent 2020 testing and refining our brand, and in 2021 we will branch out into new segments and expand our line. We have four new products in the pipeline, and we’re hoping to start shipping them within the next few months.
Our customers are primarily in the US, though we continue to increase our international shipments. We’re steadily at 50 orders per day and are ready for that number to take off even more.
There is some skepticism with essential oils, but there are lots of solutions that are very potent without needing to be so complicated. Drop FX will continue to focus on being transparent and use high-quality ingredients. We’re happy to have ShipBob as a partner, as they provide consistent work and delivery to make our company a success.
Learn more about ShipBob
Want to improve your ecommerce fulfilment strategy and scale your business? Discover if ShipBob is the right fit for your brand and request a fulfilment quote below.
