Latest / Honest Ecommerce / Scaling Logistics at Brandon Blackwood: People, Process, Data
Transcript
- speaker-0: When small brands are, you know, getting into logistics and and all this stuff, ⁓ is there like anything super common that they tend to like overcomplicate or just make too hard too early? speaker-1: Do not overcomplicate a a pack out, you know. I for a warehouse, the most simple thing you can do is literally give them the most clear instructions on how to pick and pack an order. If it's overcomplicated with okay, fold the shirt this way, put the insert in that way, okay, we need the water bottle facing exactly logo out. Okay, does that if it's too many components, it really can overcomplicate things and that's when human error occurs and then that's when it's leading to inconsistency. speaker-0: Honesty Commerce is a weekly podcast where we interview direct-to-consumer brand founders and leaders to find out what it takes to start, grow, and scale an online business today. Honesty Commerce is proudly produced by Electric Eye, a Shopify Plus partner helping e-commerce brands sell more with strategic design and development. Visit electriqueye.io for more information. Hey everybody, welcome back. To another episode of Honest E-Commerce. Today I'm welcoming the show Nima Frasier. She is the director of logistics and a founding team member at Brandon Blackwood, New York, where she leads global logistics, fulfillment, and supply chain operations for the recognized luxury fashion brand. Nima, welcome to the show. speaker-1: Thank you for having me. I was so excited to be here. This is so cool. speaker-0: I am happy to chat. We were already having too much fun before this and we said we just gotta go. so so for ⁓ folks that are ⁓ unfamiliar, could you talk a bit about the types of products that you and the team are bringing to market over there? speaker-1: Yes. ⁓ so as Chase so lovely stated, I am a founding member of Brandon Blackwood, New York. So I've really been there, you know, from the beginning of sort of like the operational build out for the business. ⁓ I am the director of logistics, so really my main role is overseeing transit operations, warehouse team management, anything, you know, freight or transit related. I kind of manage and oversee ⁓ the scope of work around it. ⁓ and so yeah, that being said, Brandon Blackwood, New York, we offer ⁓ handbags. We do outerwear, swimwear, footwear, and we also do apparel. But I always say our bread and butter are really the handbags. ⁓ that really is what put us on the map. And then from there we kind of expanded into the other categories. ⁓ but yeah, we're accessible luxury, our price point is very competitive with Coach, with Jack Moose, with Kate Spade. So we offer, you know. real leather, genuine leather handbags at an accessible price point. ⁓ and it really is so awesome to see, you know, the loyalty and the dedication we have with our customers and how they support the brand, the brand story, the business. So it's really awesome to be a part of it. And I'm really, really blessed and just honored to have been there from the beginning and to really support that growth as we, you know, expand our SKU count, categories, all that good stuff. So yeah. speaker-0: Exciting. That's amazing. Now, I guess just take me back in time, take me to the beginning. ⁓ how did you, I'm assuming Brandon, how did you guys connect? ⁓ how did you end up on the team? And, you know, what were the problems that he was facing that he needed someone like you to help him solve? speaker-1: Yeah, so I've actually known Brandon for a really long time. I met him when I was in college. I used to actually be a dancer. I was a professionally trained dancer and I was ⁓ dancing at a conservatory. And ⁓ at the time Brandon would come visit the conservatory really often. He had a lot of friends who were dancers and ⁓ yeah, he just was kind of in my sphere. And we were always really cool, but we really, really connected more post grad. ⁓ he the time had designed a bag that went viral. ⁓ and he was at one point just doing fulfillment from his apartment in Brooklyn. And once you know we had that, once he really had that momentum, he was like, hey, I need actually to get a warehouse. I actually need to kind of flesh out my operational structure because now I'm really seeing, you know, high volume. So essentially he called me in. ⁓ He knew that I had experience working. I used to actually After my sort of like so once I kind of I'll say closed out my dance career and I stopped sort of like pursuing that ⁓ in a more professional way and kind of did it more recreational, I had a lot more free time and I started managing a soul cycle location in Park Slope, Brooklyn. And that's kind of how I got my segue into like sort of like operational learning and ⁓ like corporate understanding and team communication, team management, ⁓ budgeting. So I opened a Park Slope studio. under obviously Soul Cycles team and I gained a lot of operational experience there, which he was aware of. So he was like, hey, I'd love for you to apply this skill set to my brand. I need someone to come in and lead operations. And I'm like, at first I was a little hesitant because I've never worked in the fashion space. ⁓ but then I was like, you know what, Nima, give it a chance and just see what happens. So I told him I was like, hey, I I I was like, hey, I'm open to doing this for two weeks. And if I like it, I'll stay. And then if not, you know, no hard feelings. We'll just, you know, Continue because Brandon and I are really good friends. So I didn't want to, you know, affect our friendship in a negative way. So yeah, so I just was like, Hey, let's just see two weeks and just try it out. And two weeks turned to six years. And I'm obviously still there. So it was it really was a match made in heaven. So I I'm really, really happy that I took that chance. ⁓ so yeah, really the bag went viral. And that's kind of when I came in and was like, Hey, we need to find a a a new warehouse. We need to figure out what our CX platform looks like, we need to build out our tech stack. And so yeah, I came in and did all of that. And then I hired out an e-comm coordinator. We worked really closely together to obviously manage inventory, fulfillment strategies, CX communication, all that good stuff. ⁓ but yeah, it really started with just this moment that really kind of catapulted us into this next fear. I I sometimes I feel like we like quantum leaped. It was like one day we were getting, you know, 10 orders a day, next day we're getting 500. So it was really kind of cool to see that leap happen, but also it's like, how do we sustain that? How do I make sure that we can keep, you know, our customers with us? How do I make sure we can keep that rip? How do I make sure that we're sustaining our success? So that really comes with the operational structure, that 3PL. So yeah, that's really how everything kind of seguayed into the next. speaker-0: What is the next big idea that could change your business? A pricing change? A new bundling strategy? Adding subscriptions? Tweaking your shipping offer? Most brands make these decisions based on gut feel. 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No commitment, no credit card, just three opportunities worth exploring. Head to intelligems.io slash audit and get your free audit in just a few minutes. That's intelligiems.io slash audit. Intelligiums.io slash audit. To me, it sounds like you had you had some skills from the SoulCycle experience, but you were still kind of taking a big leap into something that you perhaps like didn't have a mastery in. you know, how much of this was just learning on the fly and and figuring it out. speaker-1: Yeah, you know what? I I will say a lot of it was. ⁓ I think in terms of like anything related to team communication or team management, definitely have that down. But it comes to like invoice reviews, budgeting, that not a problem. But really applying my skill set in the fashion space in terms of like Just like SKU management, UPC, character count. I learned so many things. Like when I tell you, I learned a lot in real time. And that was really sort of like the biggest blessing that could happen to me because now I'm prepared for literally almost any scenario. I can handle really anything, even when it comes to like, you know, vendor production timelines, my warehouse SLAs, like contract negotiations. I learned so much and even like, you know, little mistakes that happen, because I have a a a philosophy where For me, I feel like I I can never fail. Everything I do, any action I take, it's me learning, growing and understanding. So failure to me just does not exist. And so whenever I would make, you know, a mistake or whenever I would come across a hiccup, I was like, Hey, Nima, this is time to learn. This is really actually great. This is happening because now you know how to avoid it in the future and it won't happen again. So yeah, I definitely learned a lot in real time. Like one example of that would be ⁓ how we manage pre orders. We, you know, tend to do like we'll have a a really big drop and we'll sell out of a SKU in like less than 10 minutes. And we're like, hey, let's monetize this moment. Let's do a pre order. We'll say, Brandon will say, hey Nima, I want to put 500 units available for the particular SKU. Let's have this pre-order. Let's, you know, capture this rev while we can, and then we'll obviously go into production and ship everything out in time to get to our customers. So a scenario like that, I'm like, yeah, like no problem. Let's do it. But I realize that, you know, we need a middleware which is like an OMS or an IMS to hold those orders while we wait for production to be completed. So there were things that I wasn't aware, like certain Shopify guidelines where you can't have an order held for a certain amount of time. It has to sit in another portal in order for it to still be applicable for your revenue. So it was just me understanding how the pre-order flow works. And now we've done, you know, I've managed so many pre-orders now and I can like do it with my eyes closed. But it was definitely a matter of understanding, okay, cool, where am I holding these five hundred orders as I'm waiting for production to be completed. Okay, I need to look into having middleware. What is middleware? ⁓ an order management system, an inventory management system, or an ERP. Okay, cool. Let me look into that. So it was a lot of just me problem solving in real time, like putting out little mini fires. ⁓ and then once those were put out, it was just a matter of making sure that they don't come up again, right? So it's just really for me the biggest part was finding third party, you know, vendors, softwares, partners that can really s not only support the growth of the brand, but also support the sustainability of it because I want to make sure that we have longevity. I don't want just to have a you know, a short term solution obviously. We want something long term that can, you know, sustain us for years to come because I knew we're gonna do more pre order. So it's just, you know, me learning and then creating protocol and practices around that new information. speaker-0: Now do you think that anyone listening to this show, they could also figure it out? speaker-1: You know, I think, yes, I think it's doable. I just think you especially with AI and chat D and all the things that now we have all these cool resources. ⁓ but I think it's definitely possible. I just think that you have to in in terms of my role, like being operations and logistics, organization is so is just super important. Organization and just making sure that you're constantly following up with your vendors, constantly being on top of things. And it's really a big part of it, I think, across many industries is really building relationships. I think Anyone can build a relationship with someone. And I think it's so important to make sure that you are present. Your vendors care about your business. They care about you. And in order to do that, you really have to make sure you're building relationships and just constantly, you know, being present. I think that's a big part of it too. Where sometimes people tend to they'll find like a software or find something that's like very automated. And then they just, all right, cool, plug and play. I'm done. Plugged it in, played, we're good to go. But it's like you still have to monitor, you still have to manage it, you still have to make sure the relationship is good because You wanna make sure that you're getting the the best possible service and people are not going to support you if they feel like you don't care. So it's really important to make sure that you're maintaining relationships. So I really feel like the skills, organization, relationship management, ⁓ just general, really just being passionate and being like taking the initiative and being a go-getter. I think anyone can do it. It's just a matter of having that mentality and also just being patient because it's not always gonna work out. There are gonna be hiccups, there are gonna be things that kind of happen. When it comes to transit, there's always like, you know, custom issues or ⁓ there's a delay, ⁓ there weren't enough boats, the vessel was full. I have to wait now another week for vessel availability to get my shipment from my vendor to my, you know, facility. So it's just being open to problem solving and being patient. And just, yeah, as you go, your skill set just grows. And so I really think it's possible for anyone, honestly, truly. speaker-0: Most brands outgrow their legacy choices long before they switch. Bad platform decisions do not fail all at once. They fail slowly, then suddenly. 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Let's pretend that there's an alternate reality where you're looking to help out new brands, et cetera. ⁓ and you know, I come to you and I've got, we just had like a huge hypergrowth moment. Things are happening for us. ⁓ and we need to, you know, we're seeing maybe these operations, ⁓ we need to polish some stuff up. You know, I was may wear I was a founder wearing a million hats, and I just, you know, I don't have I need help, right? So you come in and you help us out. What are you looking at first to like see if there's problems or or or you know, where where are you gonna spend your kind of time in those first couple of weeks and months? speaker-1: Yeah, that's great. ⁓ so for me, I kind of break it down into three categories. I break it down by people, process, and data. So for me, people, so starting with that is just kind of like you have to really have an understanding of who owns what, who's responsible for what, what SLAs are in place, which is a standard level agreement that you have at your 3PL. So for me, I start first with people. Who is accountable for what and whose role is what? And is that clear? Because sometimes when you know that line is blurred and multiple people are working on one thing, or some person thinks they own, you know, invoiced into another person thinks they own expensive, it just it it gets too it gets too jumbled up. So I always start with people. Who owns what? Who's accountable for what? And is that clear? Do do we understand whose role and who's doing what? And then from there we go into process. So from the moment an order comes in. To the second it gets delivered to that customer, what is the process? I usually would ask, like, hey, just walk me step by step, what is your current process? And then from there, I kind of, you know, obviously will find the gaps in communication or the gaps in efficiency, or you know, just determining, hey, just from a simplified standpoint, from when the customer clicks, you know, check out to when that order hits the warehouse to when it actually is picked and packed, there's a label on the box and it goes out. What is that process? What's getting stuck? What's getting duplicated? What's delayed? Where can we find the gap where we can create more efficiency? And then we go to data. So obviously data is incredibly important. That's how you determine forecasts and that's how you determine really any of your planning is centered around data, customer data, inventory, fulfillment, everything. So for me, making sure that your data is accurate, because I've noticed that in the past, especially with warehouses, you know, sometimes I'll like I'm a stickler when it comes to invoicing, when it comes to account management. I look at literally every penny we're spending to make sure it correlates with the work that's being done at my 3PL. And it's imperative to make sure that that data is correct. So our inventory numbers accurate. Right. You know, are they telling you, hey Nima, I have 150 units of the black, you know, Kentuck trunk in stock and then I'm looking in Shopify and I only see 70. So what's happening here? You know, so it's like just making sure that information is as accurate as possible so that you can make the best possible decisions moving forward. And then kind of like a bonus with that would definitely be tech stack in relation to the order flow. So, what is your current tech stack? And is that really helping? And is that really optimizing? Because I think now in the e-commerce sphere, there are so many different software, so many different tech partners, just everything from loop to redo to order protection to like there's just so many different things. So you want to make sure that your tech stack is really a match. for your business and for your workload and for your 3PL's capabilities, you know, because at my previous 3PL, you know, they were weren't as vetted as my current 3PL. So they needed a different level of support that my new 3PL didn't need. So I had to kind of adjust my tech stack based on what my warehouse team needs. And so that's also really, really important when it goes going back to people, is that really managing your warehouse team in that relationship. is truly my day-to-day priority. I make sure that I'm am on top of them. I'm communicative with them. They know, ⁓ hey, if Nemo's emailing us, we gotta get this done by end of day. They have a level of respect for my role, but also for the business and they know how I like things done. And so yeah, very, very imperative. So bringing it down just people, process, and data. That is really the top three things that I would dive into first. And then from there, obviously create a plan. depending on what the business goals are, what their sort of timeline is and speaker-0: Two brands can have the same Black Friday Cyber Monday revenue and walk away with completely different businesses. Same top line, different lifetime value, different repeat purchase rate, different margin trend three months out. Revenue tells your board what happened. It doesn't tell them what you built. The difference is whether the retention system was built for the sale or not. That's what Flovium does. They're a lifecycle marketing agency for Shopify brands and Clavio Elite Master Partners. And instead of running sales as one-off campaigns, they build the infrastructure that turns first purchase into habit and a habit into an advocate. So this year's Black Friday Cyber Monday buyer isn't a one-time transaction. Grab a free retention diagnosis call with Flovium now. Eight weeks out is the last window to actually fix what we find. Head to Flovium.com for more information. That's flo-w-i-u-m dot com, floweum dot com. When small brands are, you know, getting into logistics and and all this stuff, ⁓ is there like anything super common that they tend to like overcomplicate or just make too hard too early? speaker-1: That's so Yeah, definitely I I feel like I I think a lot of brands, especially more like luxury brands, or you know, they have this particular sort of like almost a customized experience for each customer and you know, the price point's a bit higher, so you want to offer this amazing, incredible unboxing experience and all these things. And I feel like it's so important to not overcomplicate a process that is standardized. Do not overcomplicate a a pack out. You know, I for a warehouse, the most simple thing you can do is literally give them the most clear instructions on how to pick and pack an order. If it's overcomplicated with okay, fold the shirt this way, put the insert in that way. Okay, we need the water bottle facing exactly logo out. Okay, does that if it's too many components it really can overcomplicate things and that's when human error occurs and then that's when it's leading to inconsistency. Because you want things to be as cons especially if you have high order volume, you want things to be as consistent as possible. And when you tend to overcomplicate a simple process, it just it doesn't make sense, right? So I think the most important thing is that sometimes luxury brands assume the operations need to be like highly customized or complicated to stand out. But really you need to have clear And repeatable processes. That is really how you create consistency. Clear, repeatable processes, not creating complexity around the most simple task. So I think that is really the key here. And also it's easier to train people that way, right? It's like it's a lot easier to train people to measure performance, to identify mistakes, and ultimately scale if you have clear and repeatable processes. speaker-0: Hey everybody, just a quick reminder. Please like this video and subscribe if you haven't. We're releasing interviews like this every week. So don't miss out. Now back to the interview. speaker-1: So that is what I always, always recommend for really any brand, small, large, medium, keep your processes simple, repeatable, trainable. You measure success, and that's really how you can scale. speaker-0: I see something similar on kind of the tech and the website side of things. People and not to throw the category under the bus again, but it tends to be luxury brands over invest in experiences prematurely, it is the hard way to say it. they're hundred percent basically just taking money from their bottom line that should be used for growth or for other capital investments and investing it into a super highly customized experience. Yeah, I even arguing now to use like but like they're they were going headless too fast. They were doing a custom build too fast. ⁓ they were interjecting all of this complexity, like you said, not into the ⁓ you know, the order process as you were mentioning, but it to in in the the website process. And they were just building technical debt and they were building in expense line item expenses with people to manage it for them. ⁓ well before it truly made sense. And and so I always am like so upfront with brands like, hey, like you need to make sure that the investments you're making into your experience are also in line with what you can afford. Yeah. speaker-1: No, exactly. That's key. It's like staying in budget and also just understanding. I feel like to your point, like they jump the gun and it's like, hey, we need to hone in on just the simple processes first. And then once we really hit that volume, then we can maybe expand. But it really starts with just truly what is your bread and butter, stick with clear, repeatable processes so that you can really scale. And I agree, I think like sometimes, especially when it comes to like luxury, ⁓ like they think that like luxury be should be reflected in the customer experience. But really that's not the case. Like you want your customer to have the easiest, most simple experience. You don't want it to be too much because you want them to return. You want it to be as simple as possible. So why overcomplicate something that the customer doesn't even need, you know? So 'cause even recently I went to like a an operational summit hosted by a three PL and they were, you know, this this three PL they were so flashy with like, ⁓ my god, we have You know, this customized WMS and AIS implemented and you can have a virtual assistant within your warehouse management system and there are all these cool tools we have and I honestly wasn't impressed. I'm like I I don't care about all these like, you know, flashy things. I'm like, I care, hey, can you pick and pack and get this order out in time? That's what I care about. I I don't necessarily need all of these fancy tools. I just want you to get the order out, meet your SLAs, keep my customers happy. That's really all I need. speaker-0: We're talking a lot about f ⁓ fulfillment and you know, kind of the first step in a young brand's journey is at a certain point they go, We can't do this ourselves anymore. You know, what in your mind, w when is that point or what are some of the indicating factors that are gonna be happening to where it's like you guys should really consider making the move? speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ I think so the best time for a business to scale from in-house fulfillment to a third party, 3PL, warehouse, whatever we want to call it, I I feel the best time to do that is when your time management is getting skewed. So if your team is spending more time or yourself, you or yourself are spending more time packing boxes, managing inventory, troubleshooting shipments. dealing with carrier issues on the phone with FedEx, like hey, the back of the stuck. If you're spending a lot of your time doing that versus focusing on strategy and the actual growth of the business, then it's probably time to start looking for a logistics partner, a warehouse partner. So I feel like that is definitely the key component where if you can if you have the time, like typically what I ask founders, because you know I also consult on the side and I'll ask founders, hey, do an audit. of w just do an audit of what your day looks like. What are you spending most of the most of your day on? What are you spending most of your time on? And what could you be allocating that time towards that's more beneficial towards bigger picture for your business? So if you're spending a lot like I said, if you're spending a lot of time doing these little things like packing an order or packing your ⁓ my God, you to go get supplies, you have to go to the the U line order, you need to get tape. ⁓ wait, we have to look at this freight bill or if you're constantly doing those sort of ⁓ daily tasks. And it's taking up so much of your time, then that's when you really need to look for that third-party support in the fulfillment space and find a warehouse partner because really founders should be spending most of their time really looking at bigger picture, focusing on growth, initiatives, really really growing the business. And it's hard to do that when you're spending most of your day picking and packing orders. You know, so that's really what I say. I'm like, do a daily, just do an audit. of what your day looks like. How am I starting my day? How am I ending my day? And where am I allocating most of my time? Okay, cool. How can I reallocate this time to actually growing my business and try you know, have a partner that I really trust can get my orders out. So that's what I always say. I'm like, look at your time management and really just do an audit. speaker-0: That's amazing. Now I can't thank you enough for coming on the show here and sharing all those amazing insights. If I'm listening to this and ⁓ I want to get a hold of you or or drop you a line, where should I go? What should I do? speaker-1: Yeah, so I am like I said I'm consulting on the side. So if you want to reach out to me for any sort of any new founders or 3PL optimization or even just auditing or just maintenance or any advice, you can find me at Nima at brandonblackwood.com. and yeah, my LinkedIn, I'm sure I can Perfect. LinkedIn is there. ⁓ yeah, so speaker-0: We'll have it in the show notes. speaker-1: I'm really always available. ⁓ and I'm always so excited to work with new brands and it's very it I I just I it really does warm my heart to help a business really scale and to see the profitability from choices that we make from the beginning that have such an impact long term. That is really what I love I love to see and I love to be a part of. So thank you so much for even having me on this podcast. This is so cool and I'm definitely gonna, you know, send this out have my friends and everyone just take a peek at it because I think it's so I haven't I think there should be more podcasts on e commerce and operations, especially as, you know, the world of e commerce is forever growing. So it's so cool to see that we have platforms like this to really help one another out and share tips and just share insights and just experiences. So this is really awesome. And I'm very excited to see kind of how the rest of the year unfolds as we come to a close. I can't believe twenty twenty six is almost over. It went by so fast. speaker-0: Absolutely. Nima, again, thank you so much for coming on the show today. speaker-1: Thank you, Chase. Have a great rest of your day. Really appreciate this. Thank you.