45% Decrease on International Shipping Costs
At a Glance
"The FlavorCloud support team and AMs have been fantastic to work with from the onboarding process through daily support of our shipments and continue to be a major asset in our growth as our needs expand. It’s great to see our past requests considered and implemented in recent updates, and it’s clear that the team is committed to our success."
Andy Pekala
Fulfillment & Operations Manager, Loop & Tie
How Loop & Tie Decreased International Shipping Costs by 45%
Loop & Tie is a corporate gifting solution focused on directly connecting the billions spent annually on corporate gifting with small businesses, makers, and causes through choice-based gifting. As the only carbon regenerative gifting solution.
Loop & Tie helps companies to align their values through intentional gifting by focusing on making an impact through gifting in three core areas of sustainability:
Economic
Social
Environmental
Is It a Gift if You Have to Pay for It?
Loop & Tie faced significant issues shipping their customers’ corporate gifts internationally. They needed a solution to help them navigate duties and taxes, take on importer of record, and provide a seamless, end-to-end solution.
Unexpected Duties
One of the biggest challenges was that the gift recipient—often a customer or employee of Loop & Tie’s customer—was often required to pay unexpected duties and/or taxes to receive their gifts. Ultimately, this meant the gift didn’t quite bring the desired impact.
Carrier Reliability
Loop & Tie encountered problems with their shipping carriers and could not reliably send the gifts prepaid of duties and taxes. This made offering a consistent customer experience challenging, resulting in decreased customer satisfaction and increased complaints. The cost and effort of shipping gifts internationally was becoming a big headache.
Customer Service
Loop & Tie faced challenges in customer service related to international shipping. Because international gifts could not be reliably sent prepaid of duties and taxes, the end-customer often had to pay these unexpectedly. This meant customer experience suffered and complaints increased.
A One-Stop Shop for International Shipping
Loop & Tie began their search by reviewing service providers in the international shipping space. They needed an anywhere-to-anywhere solution—a one-stop shop for international shipping.
DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Options for Their Customers
Simple Integration
Managed Customs Clearance
Global Trade Compliance Services
Cost Savings on Their Shipping
High-Quality, Expedited Service
What set FlavorCloud apart was that it was an end-to-end solution that could ship “absolutely anywhere”. FlavorCloud offered premium shipping with cost savings through its Global Carrier Network. The seamless integration of the DDP solution ensured end recipients would no longer be charged duties and fees to receive their gifts.
What set FlavorCloud apart was that it was an end-to-end solution that could ship “absolutely anywhere”. FlavorCloud offered premium shipping with cost savings through its Global Carrier Network. The seamless integration of the DDP solution ensured end recipients would no longer be charged duties and fees to receive their gifts.
A Resounding Success
Loop & Tie opted to offer express services exclusively for their gifting platform to provide an expedited, higher-quality experience for the end customer. But an increase in quality didn’t mean an increase in cost. In fact, one of the immediate improvements noticed after implementing FlavorCloud was a massive drop in label costs. On implementing FlavorCloud’s global logistics platform, Loop & Tie saw a 45% decrease in label costs.
Another significant advantage was the ability to ship duties paid, resulting in a substantial drop-off in customer complaints—an 18% reduction in the rate of support tickets received regarding international shipments. End customers were no longer being asked to pay duties and taxes to receive their gifts and no longer needed to reach out to Loop & Tie customer support for assistance with the customs clearance process or questions about pending fees.
Over the last year, Loop & Tie has seen a 19.4% increase in orders and a 17.5% increase in order value.
Through FlavorCloud, Loop & Tie now ships gifts, including clothing, electronics, kitchen goods and appliances, cosmetics, sporting and outdoor goods, games, and much more to all corners of the globe. From India to Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Denmark, the Philippines (and more), people are being delighted by socially conscious and sustainable gifts.
FlavorCloud has become an integral partner for Loop & Tie since its implementation. They’ve appreciated the responsiveness and visibility of the broader FlavorCloud team, having accessto engineering and compliance experts when needed.
Breezy integration
Loop & Tie began working with FlavorCloud in November 2021—2 months after introduction—to improve their shipping of international gifts.
When Loop & Tie selected FlavorCloud as their international shipping solution, they worked directly with the FlavorCloud tech team to integrate. The biggest hurdle Loop & Tie faced was ensuring their data was accurate and robust enough for customs use. They hadn't previously collected detailed customs information from product suppliers, so they needed to obtain precise tariff code information for a sizeable portion of held inventory. This was the most time-consuming aspect of the implementation process. However, once they had accurate data, implementation was quick and seamless and took a matter of days.
Loop & Tie can now ship absolutely anywhere, barring embargoed countries, after a smooth and breezy integration with FlavorCloud.
“Having correct HS codes is vital in shipping internationally. We work with our merchants to ensure they get this right. It can be time-consuming, but it’s an essential building block in shipping internationally. We’re always on hand to help, and one of our points of difference is we automate customs compliance through our managed service — so it’s always easy with FlavorCloud.”
Whit Bolland
Head of Compliance, FlavorCloud
A Partner to Grow With
Loop & Tie was looking for a premium international shipping solution to help them navigate duties and taxes, take on merchant of record and provide a seamless end-to-end solution for international shipping. By smoothly integrating with FlavorCloud, they increased transparency of prices for their customers, improved user experience, reduced complaints, and decreased international shipping costs by 45%!
With FlavorCloud, Loop & Tie ships anywhere seamlessly and without hassle.