BACKGROUND 1. Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the vendor compliance manager for Altar’d State. We’re in the women’s fashion retail industry and operate in most of the continental US. We cater to women at every stage of their lives and multiple milestones — from early adulthood to motherhood. We also have wedding brands. OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE 2. What challenge were you trying to address with this logistics provider? We engaged the company as our third-party logistics partner. SOLUTION 3. What was the scope of their involvement? Around 90% of our apparel products flow through them. They help us facilitate product processing for our 130 store locations across the US and e-commerce fulfillment centers. They can handle the remainder of our products, but we process that out of Tennessee. 4. What is the team composition? I’ve worked with Dan (COO), Spencer (VP of Business Development), and Ed (President). 5. How did you come to work with them? We already had a logistics provider in California. However, we looked elsewhere because they could not meet our service requirements. We had a formal RFP process, identifying 4–5 potential partners. Our team chose them as a logistics partner due to their favorable pricing and environment, which was focused on continuous improvement and clean methodology. Compared to others, they also had cleaner facilities, good staffing, and teammates who were involved and aligned closely with our company values. After hiring them, we went through a formal contract negotiation. 6. How much have you invested with them? Our investment has been around $1.1 million. 7. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in October 2022, and it’s ongoing. RESULTS & FEEDBACK 8. What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our internal KPI is focused on the level of service (LOS), which refers to how quickly the company gets our product out when it arrives at their facility. Our threshold is 24 hours, and we require their team to be 98% or above. So far, they’ve exceeded our expectations. They process our products within 24 hours. Overall, the quality of their work is good. 9. How did they perform from a project management standpoint? They have a fully staffed IT team that helps us with our installation projects, and they can hit all deadlines. To communicate, we typically use emails and phone calls. We use emails to communicate any issues. I have a great relationship with their four on-site managers, so if I give them a phone call, they respond or give me a call back quickly. Overall, we’re a bit needier than the usual customer, but they do a great job getting back to us and resolving our issues. 10. Are there any employees from the service provider’s team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review? Most of their executive team has been truly helpful throughout the entire process. Dan and Spencer have been fantastic partners. They’ve worked with us to renegotiate the pricing. They only have 50% of the volume, and they’ve worked hard to capture all of that. Moreover, they’ve helped us implement new technologies. These teammates have been incredibly instrumental in the partnership’s success. 11. What did you find most impressive about them? I’m impressed with their ability to process the volume we send them in a short amount of time. Being in the fashion industry, we have difficulty forecasting volumes accurately. Sometimes, we ship a lot more than we say we will, which surprises them. However, they can still process them without delay. 12. Are there any areas they could improve? We’ve had communication problems when identifying quality issues via email. These issues happen whenever new processes are implemented, which is understandable. They also actively work to resolve problems as long as we bring them up. 13. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Ensure that your company values align with those of the company. In our case, we’ve wanted a company with critical thinking, a focus on continuous improvement, and a methodology where they can quickly pivot and adapt to any situation — their team fits this mold perfectly. This has allowed us to drive efficiencies within our business and reduce our costs.