Initially, Kitu was sold in local grocery stores and shipping products themselves. The company saw significant regional success, and was looking to scale. As a fast-growing brand, they faced similar challenges other brands faced – increasing competition, complexity of selling across multiple channels, changing customer expectations, costly storage and fulfillment options, and minimal customer and product data. With an upcoming Shark Tank appearance on the books, the Super Coffee team decided it was time to bring in a new partner. They turned to Whitebox for their sales expertise on Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, and branded sites, as well as DTC, B2B, and wholesale logistics and fulfillment capabilities.
The approach was simple, but the execution needed to be flawless. With the early energy and success the company had with regional clients, they knew there was an opportunity to increase their customer base. Super Coffee needed increased visibility and to make it easy for customers outside of their region to access their products. Whitebox focused on the marketing of Super Coffee across multiple ecommerce channels, as well as fulfillment for their direct-to-consumer orders.
Starting with Amazon, the Whitebox team created educational and engaging brand content to promote their new coffee products. To increase search ranking and win the Buy-Box, Whitebox optimized product listings, leveraged Sponsored Products ads, and created A+ content . From there, Whitebox focused on Super Coffee’s Shopify site. Since Kitu is integrated with The Whitebox Platform, it was easy to enhance buying options on their Shopify site. By enabling subscriptions, offering tiered shipping options to increase cart size, and testing various product configurations (multi-pack, build-your-own pack, etc.) Super Coffee was able to increase average cart sizes on the brand site. Lastly, the team focused on Walmart Marketplace. Early platform data shows a minimal overlap between Walmart Marketplace shoppers and Amazon Shoppers, so listing these products on Walmart Marketplace gave the company another opportunity to expand their customer base.
"The key value Whitebox brought to the table for us was flexibility. Brands live and die by their ability to be flexible and change with the consumer. Whitebox has given us the ability to quickly test product variations, change shipping options, and create listing on various channels. This flexibility has been key to our growth."
Whitebox’s ability to quickly test product configurations – variety espresso packs, coffee and creamer multi-packs gave the team the data they needed to make advertising and operational decisions. Additionally, Whitebox was able to offer insights and analysis on pack sizes which improved margin for ecommerce sales.
The Super Coffee team knew branding was key to solidifying their place in the consumers mind. Whitebox’s Seller Fulfilled Prime badge enabled the Super Coffee team to provide all consumers a completely branded box and packaging experience, even on Amazon orders. Additionally, the company wanted to offer expedited shipping (1-3 days) across all channels, nationwide. Whitebox handled fulfillment for Amazon, branded Shopify store, Walmart TwoDay, as well as kitting and prep for brick-and-mortar retailers such as Costco.
"As our company scaled, and we focused on growth, and the space got loud, it was nice to know we had someone to rely on to get the job done. There was a general feeling of comfort and trust knowing that part was not something we had to worry about."
"The thing that made Whitebox the perfect fit for us was that it was a turn key solution - a 3PL on the fulfillment side, and a marketing machine within Amazon. We could focus on growing our retail business while Whitebox focused on our Amazon presence handled fulfillment, and handled customer service. It was really an asset-light way for us to get involved with ecommerce."