How Postal Ensured Positive Customer Experiences Worldwide
July 15, 2024
15%
Increase in Shipment Volume
166%
Increase in international
customer retention
400%
Increase in YoY growth
Building a strong brand is one of the most important elements of scaling a business in the modern era. No one knows this better than Postal, an intelligent gifting platform that helps companies create authentic connections and build their brands with corporate gifting and swag. Sending tangible tokens of appreciation to prospects, customers, partners, and employees is an integral part of a brand strategy. It has proven effective at increasing pipeline, retaining customers, and boosting employee morale.
Through their partnership with FlavorCloud, Postal helps companies send international gifts with ease.
Ensuring a positive customer experience
One of the most important aspects of corporate gifting is ensuring a seamless delivery for end recipients. As Alex Park, Logistics and Warehousing Manager for Postal describes it:
It’s crucial that recipients have a positive experience and don’t have to pay taxes on the gift they receive. A gift should surprise and delight, and FlavorCloud allowed us to do that.
Alex Park, Logistics and Warehousing Manager for Postal
When shipping items internationally, no one wants to deal with duties at delivery, coordinating with last-mile carriers, managing delays, or dealing with refusals at customs. Before FlavorCloud, Postal was facing these issues.
They were using normal international carrier services and Direct Plant Shipment (DPS) services, which resulted in their small team being burdened with making sure recipients were not put in a position where they had to pay to receive the gift. Postal worked with carriers directly to avoid issues, but it was not a perfect solution and they were looking for better options. "We want to ensure that our customers have the best experience and that our services are cutting edge," stated Park.
One of the biggest challenges facing international swag and gifting companies are delays at customs. Postal’s clients often held inventory in locations around the world and relied on Postal to get large-scale swag orders and items for conferences and events delivered on time. If those shipments were delayed in customs, it could cause massive losses.
Partnering with FlavorCloud
Postal knew that in order to stand apart from the competition and deliver exceptional service, they would need to work with an industry-leading partner to handle these international shipping complexities. They discovered FlavorCloud through their existing partnership with ShipBob. The immediate appeal was the guaranteed delivery promise right at checkout. Having all duties, fees, and landed costs upfront with Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) service meant that Postal never had to worry about recipients seeing a bill at delivery.
FlavorCloud drives great value because our customers are able to send gifts to their recipients without worrying about duties, taxes, VAT, GST or anything else. A lot of our competitors didn’t offer DDP in the beginning, which gave us a competitive edge.
Alex Park, Logistics and Warehousing Manager for Postal
The value didn’t stop there. Postal was impressed with the hands-on support they received and the opportunity to meet with FlavorCloud’s Director of Global Trade Compliance to ensure they could avoid delays at border crossings. Even though they integrated through a partner, ShipBob, they were able to work directly with FlavorCloud’s customer service team to improve their international logistics setup and processing.
Seeing Results
Postal is now a leader in corporate gifting, helping their customers reach recipients both domestically and internationally. Postal grew their client base by 400% after partnering with FlavorCloud, and nearly 50% of that volume is international. Delivering reliable, best-in-class global gifting experiences, has allowed Postal to set itself apart from competitors.
In fact, Postal was one of FlavorCloud’s Top Cross Border Shippers of 2023 showcasing just how successful they have been. As Shannon Leiner, VP of Merchandising and Operations at Postal put it, “At Postal, we empower marketing, sales, customer success, and HR teams to incorporate gifting as part of their offline strategy, and we won’t let the recipient's location get in the way of their gifting efforts.” Prepaid duties and fees, reduction in cross border delays and seizures, and strong classification support from FlavorCloud allowed Postal to do this and focus on their outstanding growth.
Conclusion
The international gifting and swag industry faces the particular difficulty of duties and fees responsibilities being pushed onto the end consumer. Postal has overcome many of these barriers with a partnership with FlavorCloud, which allows pre-paid duties and fees, support with customs, and HS code classification.
Postal's partnership with FlavorCloud has been instrumental in their ability to deliver seamless, positive gifting experiences on a global scale. As Postal and FlavorCloud continue to innovate and expand into the B2B sector, they are poised to unlock even greater opportunities and set new standards in the corporate gifting and swag industry. A powerful strategic partnership can drive business growth and create the ultimate delivery experience.
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With international sales on the rise, the opportunities have no borders. With FlavorCloud, you can tap new markets risk-free by offering global guaranteed delivery promises. Go global today.