Steeped Coffee is an award-winning, cutting-edge e-commerce brand revolutionizing specialty coffee for the fast-paced consumer. For the first time in history, it is possible to brew a fresh cup of coffee as easily as tea in 4 minutes or less without any machinery. Simply take a Steeped Coffee brew bag and place it in your cup with 8 ounces of water. From its quality brews to its eco-friendly packaging, Steeped Coffee creates a straightforward solution that delivers on convenience, taste, and sustainability.
After managing its direct-to-consumer (D2C) fulfillment in-house, Steeped Coffee outgrew its operation as a mid-sized startup and decided to partner with Nimble, the next-gen robotic 3PL, to manage its fulfillment. The brand wanted to invest in an advanced partner that would ensure accuracy, efficiency, and scalability. “I was very impressed with Nimble's technology,” said Wade Wickus, Steeped Coffee’s VP of Operations. “Not only from a visibility of costs, deliveries, and fulfillment activities but also our SLAs that drive customer success. Our customer satisfaction improved greatly.”
Choosing a 3PL and Outsourcing Fulfillment
Nimble is the first AI robotic 3PL that is fully automating the picking and packing process. In every warehouse in the world today, that step is still done manually. Jonathan Briggs, Vice President of Sales & Solutions at Nimble, explains how the company solves this issue. “What our team has been able to create is highly dexterous robots. We've taken human-like skills, applied them to robots through artificial intelligence and vision systems, and have been able to teach robotics to pick and place millions upon millions of unique product types and profiles and formats.” In Nimble’s fulfillment centers, Steeped Coffee’s products are now handled by these AI robots - quickly and accurately picked and packed before being shipped to consumers.
When looking for a 3PL provider, it was more than Nimble’s AI technology that stood out; it was also its customer-driven approach which extended to its cost structure and made it easy to understand its fulfillment as a service (FAAS) offering. “From a perspective of doing 3PL bids for the last 20 years, it was a great experience,” added Wade Wickus.
Brewing Success with Autonomous Fulfillment
Since partnering with Nimble, Steeped Coffee reduced costs, improved its fulfillment process, and attained significant achievements:
Bottom Line Savings - Transitioning to Nimble’s picking and fulfillment process from its in-house staff reduced costs by 42% and improved Steeped Coffee’s bottom line.
Faster Delivery - With Nimble, Steeped Coffee reduced the time spent on the service of goods to customers by 30% from order submission to shipping.
Reduced Shipping Costs - Steeped Coffee saved 10% in overall shipping costs and leveraged a much lower GRI annually.
Expanding the BREW-volution
In 2023, Steeped Coffee won the USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Award for Best Gift for Outdoor Adventurers, but the company is looking forward to expanding the BREW-volution. Its innovative brew bags, paired with Nimble's autonomous fulfillment technology, are poised to reach coffee lovers everywhere faster, pushing boundaries and making delicious, sustainable coffee more accessible for all.
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