Learn how the unisex fragrance brand, P.F. Candle Co., was able to create better customer experiences and reduce costs with ShipBob as their reliable and supportive fulfilment partner.
Customer Profile
Operated by a wife-and-husband team Kristen Pumphrey and Thomas Neuberger, P.F. Candle Co. is a unisex candle and fragrance brand that is dedicated to elevating the home space at an accessible price point. P.F. Candle Co.’s products are made in-house at their studio in Los Angeles, California.
Key metrics
- 2 ShipBob fulfilment centres
- 3 brick-and-mortar P.F. Candle Co. stores
- 5 sales channels
- 4.96 ecomm CSAT score
- 6+ retail partnerships
- 14 countries with wholesale P.F. Candle Co. stockists
- 5 days in transit saved by using ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program
About P.F. Candle Co.
P.F. Candle Co. founder, Kristen Pumphrey, began selling candles on the craft fair circuit in Austin, TX in 2008 after she identified a lack of male-focused and unisex fragrances on the market. The brand later moved their studio to Los Angeles, CA in 2011.
With unique scents like Patchouli Sweetgrass and Wild Herb Tonic, P.F Candle Co. became the antithesis of mainstream candle companies of the time. The brand wanted to create products for everybody and every home, and prioritize fragrances that aren’t overpowering, but become a part of the home’s design and atmosphere.
In 2013, the brand secured a partnership with West Elm, which led to massive growth. Now, customers can find P.F. Candle Co. at retailers like Urban Outfitters and Grove Collaborative. In addition to the B2B market, P.F. Candle Co. prioritizes their DTC business. After fulfilling their own orders, they decided to outsource fulfilment to an expert fulfilment provider that could meet needs and scale with them.
Learn how partnering with ShipBob for order fulfilment has helped P.F. Candle Co. reduce costs, improve their customer experience, and stay true to their brand ethos.
Finding a fulfilment partner that aligned with our priorities after working with a 3PL that fell short on expectations
As told to ShipBob by Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
P.F. Candle Co. is independently owned and operated by our owners. As we’ve grown, we’ve maintained a DIY ethos which has applied to every part of the business, including our order fulfilment.
Up until 2020, we fulfilled orders ourselves from our studio that was part office and part production, inventory, fulfilment, and storage. Because everything was under one roof, it really limited our ability to grow production lines and other aspects of our business.
But the linchpin for us outsourcing fulfilment was the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sales had grown a lot because people were at home enjoying candles and home fragrance. That year was a huge inflection point for us, and we ultimately decided it was time to outsource the fulfilment. Working with a partner would give us more space back in our warehouse for production and allow us to scale more seamlessly.
At first, we worked with a 3PL based in Los Angeles. We’re grateful for our time with them because they helped us keep our business going during the pandemic. But as we continued our relationship with them, we became more aware of what our needs and expectations were for a fulfilment partner. Eventually our standards became elevated to a level they couldn’t meet, and we outgrew that partnership.
In 2022 I began vetting new fulfilment providers. After speaking with several companies, we determined ShipBob was the best fit for us because everything was presented so seamlessly. ShipBob was exactly what we needed. It was very apparent that efficiency and transparency are core functionalities at the company.
“We needed a partner who would be able to take on the fulfilment side of the business and scale it, while truly being a partner and communicating with us. That’s been the case the entire time we’ve been working with ShipBob. Fulfilment is so near and dear to our hearts because we did it for so long, and we’re very satisfied with how ShipBob has been handling it for us.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
Increasing conversions with customisable gift options at checkout and ensuring quality fulfilment for a pleasant unboxing with ShipBob
Before we outsourced fulfilment, all of our products were hand-picked and packed by our team in our studio. We included handwritten thank you notes and offered gift wrapping with dried floral bouquets, which were a really special touch to our orders. When you think about scaling, things like that aren’t efficient. It was taking us too long to get orders out of the door.
Before ShipBob when we first outsourced fulfilment, we went from offering a unique unboxing experience to not having gifting options available at all. Candles are highly giftable, so people like being able to send a gift and add a personal element to it.
So many customers asked us for gifting options. Since then, we’ve added gift notes through ShipBob’s Customisation Suite. After customers saw they had the ability to add a gift note at checkout, our website conversions increased.
But there are less exciting but very practical parts of customisation that ShipBob also helps with. As a home fragrance brand, many of our products are made of glass and the vessels are breakable and heavy. That makes shipping and logistics a bit more complicated than throwing a product in a polybag and sending it out.
Through ShipBob’s technology, we’re able to customise how we want them to pack and ship our candles versus our incense versus an order that has both. Setting up these parameters lets them automate packaging selection and helps us consistently deliver candles that are undamaged according to our standards.
I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit ShipBob’s Moreno Valley, California fulfilment centre twice now. The first time was impressive, but the second time I visited a few years later I was blown away. There were new automation updates that improved efficiency, advancements to the tech that drives operations, and logistics updates to ensure accuracy throughout the fulfilment process. Watching ShipBob team members pack our orders gave me so much confidence that the tools being used for customisation in the dashboard are literally translated into real-life packing and fulfilment.
Evolving our business and streamlining operations, enabled by ShipBob’s foolproof solution
Partnering with ShipBob has afforded us many benefits.
First and foremost, outsourcing fulfilment allowed us to redesign the layout and functionality of our warehouse. Because we manufacture our products in-house, it’s crucial we make sure that every square inch of our warehouse is being used efficiently. Outsourcing our fulfilment to ShipBob meant we were able to move our finished inventory out of that area, which gave us more physical space to evolve our product line.
For example, because fulfilment moved out-of-house, valuable production space was made available so that we could develop and produce a Hand & Body Wash line. Without a dedicated space for this production, we wouldn’t have been able to bring the line to life!
“The ease of how ShipBob functions allows us to move our minds away from the operational side of things. Their easy-to-use technology allows us to effortlessly use the platform so we can focus on sales strategy. Plus, ShipBob helps us deliver an impeccable customer experience thanks to their Customisation Suite and quick shipping from their strategically placed fulfilment centres.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
Because we manufacture our products in-house and work across multiple branches, we utilise an ERP platform to track materials, inventory, and sales orders. This can complicate our connection from the ERP to Shopify and beyond.
However, once everything flows into the ShipBob dashboard, the complications melt away. Using the ShipBob dashboard is easy and intuitive. When we have new team members join, training is super quick and clear. There’s no learning curve to using ShipBob. Once you get accustomed to the tools within the dashboard, there are no limitations or unnecessary complications.
“I don’t want to diminish the technology by calling it dummy-proof, but the ShipBob platform really is that simple to use. It allows us to get to work without having to reach out for help or overthink something that’s available to us.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
Achieving “Amazon fast” shipping speeds and reducing costs with ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program
Moving to ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program (IPP) and having them manage multi-location inventory process for us has been huge.
As a self-funded company, driving profitability is a top priority. We couldn’t deny the numbers that were being presented to us about IPP. The cost savings, the reduction in transit time, the improvement to the customer experience – it was too good to pass up.
So ahead of the 2023 holiday season we onboarded with IPP and added a new fulfilment centre to the mix for a bi-coastal footprint that ShipBob helps us replenish. It’s only been a successful endeavor since then.
“Before IPP, we were only shipping from California. That meant a customer in New York had a transit time of 7 days. Now that we’re shipping from the Northeast with IPP, we’re seeing just 2 to 3 days in transit. And that rarely even increases during the holidays.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
In a world where independent businesses are having to compete against ecommerce behemoths like Amazon, being able to offer competitive shipping rates and very quick shipping times with ShipBob allows us to be on the same playing field, rather than some outlier struggling for customer attention.
We’ve had customers reach out with surprise that their order has arrived so quickly. I remember someone saying, ‘Wow, that was Amazon-fast,’ which I’ll take as a compliment.
On top of cost savings and fast shipping, we’ve been able to take a more hands-off approach to fulfilment and inventory distribution. We don’t have to be super involved in the day-to-day details and coordination, which is very helpful for our team.
“IPP works overwhelmingly well. It’s efficient, seamless, and super automated. When you combine that with the fast, personal customer support ShipBob provides us with, it allows us to have full confidence that things are running well.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
Feeling prioritized as a customer from a partner that cares about our products, growth, and profitability
The customer service and communication we’ve received from ShipBob has been really excellent. We enjoy the partnership we have with ShipBob and they really seem to prioritize P.F. Candle Co. as a customer. If there are any hitches, our Merchant Success Manager, Andrew, is always on top of it. He works so urgently, and we always feel like he keeps us top of mind.
“As an independent, self-funded business, fluctuations in the market can make turning a profit really tight. We work very hard to grow our sales, but not every period sees major growth, especially now as customers are watching their dollars.
ShipBob always supports us and lets us know that they’re here to scale with us during the times of explosive growth, and at the same time, they support us and share various opportunities for reducing costs.”
Lizzie Vance, Sales Director at P.F. Candle Co.
For example, they continued to encourage us to join IPP when we felt hesitant about onboarding a new process and ultimately convinced us to commit so that we could move our product closer to our customers and ensure we improved the customer experience while saving time and money.
While some brands have been seeing tremendous growth year over year, that’s not always going to be the case. We’re glad to have ShipBob as a partner that’s with us during the good and the bad. That has been really important to us.
What’s next for P.F. Candle Co.
We were excited to initially partner with ShipBob years ago using vendor Terms of Service that were and still are clear and competitive, and as our partnership has evolved we’re now moving to a long-term partnership with terms that are specific to our brand and offer a mutually beneficial relationship that I’m looking forward to.
We have some exciting holiday launches and collaborations coming up. We’ve beefed up our development calendar for the end of the year, so I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for those products to come to life. I know our production warehouse is going to smell amazing!
Plus, partnering with ShipBob frees up my time, which allows me to work on more strategic projects, like potentially opening more brick-and-mortar P.F. Candle Co. stores.
P.F. Candle Co.’s team at ShipBob
Cole Schubert
Cole is the Account Executive who helped P.F. Candle Co. get started with ShipBob.
Andrew Costello
Andrew is the Merchant Success Manager who supports P.F. Candle Co.
Anthony Watson
Anthony is the Vice President, Strategic Projects at ShipBob, and serves as the Executive Sponsor for P.F. Candle Co.
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