Fulfillment & freight forwarding from a single source saves Ela Mo time and mental space

A family business — successful and sustainable. Ela Mo was founded in 2017 by Fabian and his wife at the kitchen table. Growing by more than 100 percent year on year, they've become a substantial player among sustainable bag and backpack brands. The founding couple wanted to inspire their customers to be adventurous and go their own way with their well-designed bags.

For the first few years Ela Mo focused on selling through Amazon. Ultimately, though, driven by strong growth in organic search volume and a desire for a closer relationship with their customers, the two opened their first online store in 2019. But what made Ela Mo so successful?

"Customers! We put our customers at the centre. What makes a product a good product? What do our customers want and what do they need? These questions are at the heart of what we do and how we keep improving. That's how we've managed to build a brand that supports us and our team." - Co-founder Fabian.

To stay in close contact with their customers and keep building their online community, the founding couple are looking for new channels to talk to them directly. They're already successful on Instagram, are trying TikTok and are watching Pinterest as a relevant channel. This desire to stay close to the customer also means they have no plans to sell through a third party and want to remain an online D2C brand.

"Selling in Karstadt or Intersport (two well-known German retailers, comparable to John Lewis in the UK or Macy's in the US) isn't an option for us. We might try a pop-up store one day, but right now we have no plans to resell through a traditional store," says co-founder Fabian. "With Ela Mo we want to be in direct contact with our customer, and that would be lost if we resold through a third party."

Customer focus is also one of SendNet's core values, which was one of the decisive factors in the couple choosing them as their fulfillment partner in May 2021. Ela Mo and SendNet are both focused on continually developing their respective products and following modern, forward-thinking business principles, which makes them ideal partners.

Saving time and money with freight through SendNet

A time-consuming challenge for the founders was organising freight for their goods from the production site in China to SendNet's fulfillment center in Rangsdorf, Berlin. Fortunately, SendNet had expanded its services in mid-2021 and now offered freight forwarding directly through the platform. This service is useful for many D2C brands because it takes the extra work of dealing with different shipping companies off their hands. SendNet carefully compares freight partner prices and transit times and offers the most cost-effective solution. This lowers costs and complexity for the D2C brand, because there's a single point of contact for the entire supply chain.

This meant Ela Mo's founders' concerns about freight were quickly resolved, and they were able to get the process under way in August 2021. That month, the first shipment of goods was sent from the production halls of a small, owner-run partner company in China's Fujian province to SendNet's BER2 fulfillment center in Rangsdorf.

"Peace of mind" is what we're after, says co-founder Fabian. "With SendNet by our side we can sleep soundly at night." Before this freight forwarding solution, Fabian spent up to fifteen hours a month researching and organising overseas logistics. And with the current strain on global supply chains, that figure kept rising.

"We had no certainty when it came to good shipping times and prices. In this constantly changing environment, it matters all the more that we work with a partner who is always looking for and analysing the most competitive terms." - Fabian, co-founder of Ela Mo

Logistics isn't Fabian's area of expertise. Staying on top of it and negotiating constantly takes a lot of time and energy. Those resources are far better invested in product development and excellent marketing. He leaves logistics to the professionals — SendNet.

Customers come first — sustainable products and relationships

For the founding couple, a strong foundation of trust was a critical factor in selecting a fulfillment provider.

"When we hand over an essential part of the value chain — the delivery of new products — we have to be 100 percent confident it will work." - Fabian, co-founder of Ela Mo.

"Having a contact who always gets back to us within a few hours with a comprehensive answer gives us exactly the confidence we need." 

This fast feedback is also part of Ela Mo's high-quality service to their customers. For Fabian, the first priority is that the customer is happy with the product. They even cover repair costs for the backpacks if they get damaged through normal use.

Sustainability is an important topic for the founding couple. It was paramount to them that their backpacks would last a long time without breaking and would be carbon-neutral. With SendNet as their logistics partner, Ela Mo was able to use rail freight to move their products easily from the production site to the fulfillment center. This service with SendNet conserves the planet's natural resources — and the founders' too. 

Putting freed-up resources to the right use

Co-founder Fabian steers Ela Mo's growth trajectory carefully. New product development and designs are the driving force behind the brand's expansion. On top of that, entering new markets through SendNet offers them just as much room to expand.  

SendNet's freight service is just one of many opportunities for collaboration. Fabian can also imagine using some of SendNet's other services in future. One example is entering a new market through direct injection. This is a process where parcels are transported directly to the target market and then shipped at local rates, avoiding expensive, lengthy shipping and other carriers' overheads. This approach lowers costs for the customer and so makes them more likely to buy.

The founding duo see their brand winning many markets in future. A long-term partnership with SendNet will simplify scaling in markets such as France or Italy. To that end, SendNet is currently building a large network of fulfillment centers across Europe. SendNet's goal is to help customers expand and offer domestic delivery times of under two days. 

If a pan-European service like this is of interest to your D2C brand too, get in touch. We'd be glad to talk through our pan-Europese fulfillment oplossing for your business.