Learn how UK-based supplement brand, ARTAH, leverages ShipBob as their scalable, tech-driven fulfillment partner.
Customer Profile
ARTAH has a powerful supplement line full of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and botanicals that allow customers to address health concerns such as aging, gut health, skin health, fertility, and more. ARTAH is a London, UK-based brand and was started by Rhian Stephenson, a Nutritional Therapist, Naturopath, and overall wellness enthusiast.
Key metrics
- 900% growth over 4 years
- 2-3x order volume spikes effortlessly fulfilled
- 100s of lot products stored by ShipBob
About ARTAH
In her many years as a Nutritional Therapist and working at the forefront of the fitness industry, Rhian Stephenson noticed an alarming trend: many people struggle with energy, focus, and gut health despite living a healthy lifestyle and being physically fit.
Rhian dove into the supplementation market and realized there was a lack of high-quality wellness and longevity supplements in the UK. She decided she wanted to create products that were functional, potent, and packed with benefits to help people live longer, healthier lives.
As a result, ARTAH was born in 2021. Because of their efficacy, science-backed formulas, and product line that offers something for everyone, ARTAH has experienced explosive growth since their launch 4 years ago.
In order to keep up with growing demand and expand into B2B channels, ARTAH needed a fulfillment partner that had advanced technology and white-glove support. That’s exactly what they found in ShipBob.
Learn how ShipBob has helped ARTAH meet customer demand, scale across channels, and offer innovative solutions to support their continued growth.
Leveraging ShipBob’s global network and all-in-one fulfillment platform to achieve effortless scalability
As told to ShipBob by Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH.
At the time of ARTAH’s launch, we were referred to a local 3PL that helped us get up and running. But within the first few months of working with them, we realized they didn’t suit our needs.
Not only did they not specialize in DTC ecommerce fulfillment, but they lacked accessible technology that we needed to grow. We had no autonomy to go into the system and deal with things ourselves. For example, if I needed to cancel an order, I had to reach out to our account manager who would have to do it manually on the backend.
Ultimately, we were only with that 3PL for 6 months. We knew we needed to outsource fulfillment to a provider that had competitive pricing and plug-and-play technology. That’s what lead us to ShipBob.
“ShipBob’s dashboard and systems are incredibly easy to use, and it puts fulfillment into layman’s terms. We have fulfillment information at our fingertips and anyone at the company can easily use the dashboard. Having access to advanced, real-time technology is really important for us, especially now as we continue to scale our brand. We wanted to work with a partner that was continually evolving and could place tech at the forefront. That’s exactly what we’ve gotten with ShipBob.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
ShipBob has an impressive catalog of integrations that we can play around with, and the ones we currently use have been incredible. ShipBob’s integration with Gorgias works amazingly well. We use Prediko, which is connected through Shopify, for inventory management, and the integration is really smooth. It allows us to firm up our supply chain and safeguard our inventory holding. It’s been beneficial to have a direct link from the warehouse to our inventory management system.
Choosing ShipBob as our fulfillment partner meant there was minimal risk for us. It made sense from a financial point of view that we would be backed by a globally recognized company that would offer us preferential shipping rates, which we wouldn’t get from other small 3PLs.
“We’re constantly looking at expanding into different markets, so working with a global fulfillment partner was a factor in our decision. While we’re currently only fulfilling orders from the UK, we know that with ShipBob as our partner, we could seamlessly place inventory in new countries and keep everything within the ShipBob platform.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
If we wanted to start storing products in the US or mainland Europe, we would have a direct connection there because of ShipBob, while allowing us to keep everything within one ecosystem. This is really important as we scale our operations and supply chain.
Gaining a fulfillment partner that’s like an extension of our team, allowing us to take time off
ShipBob has helped us in so many ways and has been such a supportive, capable partner.
It’s a weight off my shoulders that I can take a few days off work and know that everything will keep ticking while I’m gone. Our Merchant Success Manager, Peter, is always looking over things for us. It’s comforting to have a second set of eyes on everything. We’ve established a great relationship with Peter, as well as the team in the warehouse, who we’ve been fortunate to meet during site visits.
The ShipBob team is also very proactive. We frequently have conversations with Peter about strategy, but if I have a million and one things to do in a day and don’t have the time to get things off the ground, Peter will say, ‘leave it to me, I’ll get it up and running.’ That’s amazing, and such a relief.
“ShipBob has provided us with a high level of support, problem-solving, and collaboration. Their level of commitment to us is obvious. Our relationship is very two-sided, which is important to us. The ShipBob team understands our product and our brand; they’re truly an extension of our team, not just someone we call on to get orders shipped out. ShipBob is part of the ARTAH ecosystem.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
Meeting domestic and international customer demand when order volume spikes 3x the regular amount
Working with ShipBob has been really collaborative. We’ve been able to have open dialogue and maintain a constant loop of communication. ShipBob always wants to know when we have upcoming promotions, so fulfillment center staffing is adjusted accordingly and they’re properly prepared. ShipBob is very keyed into our business pipeline.
“The level of support and agility ShipBob has given us has been incredible. We’ve received press and gone viral, and then had unexpected peaks in orders where volumes doubled or tripled in one week. Partnering with ShipBob has given us the ability to adjust our resources to meet demand. No ask has ever been too big for ShipBob, which is amazing.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
ARTAH is a UK-held entity, and when we launched, we were doing the majority of our business in the UK. Having a partner like ShipBob that allows us to tap into all of the various UK carriers has been unmatched.
And the flexibility of being able to send orders abroad is really nice. A lot of competitors in the UK only let you fulfill orders domestically within the UK, and if you want to ship orders to Europe, you have to find warehouse space on the mainland and ship from there. That’s not economically friendly for a growing company like ours. ShipBob’s adaptability and support for scaling orders to customers regardless of location has been great for ARTAH.
Using ShipBob’s “impressive” DTC and B2B solutions for seamless omnichannel fulfillment
ARTAH is primarily a DTC business, but we also have relationships with B2B retailers.
We’re constantly impressed by ShipBob’s turnaround times and ability to meet SLAs for our DTC orders. We joke ShipBob is too fast because sometimes we’ll receive an email from a customer asking to change their order and we’ll have to tell them, ‘sorry, it’s already gone to packing,’ and the customer literally ordered 5 minutes ago. Even though we have the ability to add delay to order processing, ShipBob is so quick, and we love that.
We’ve also been able to benefit from ShipBob’s evolving cut-off times. Month over month ShipBob’s same-day fulfillment cut-off times have gotten extended to later in the day (now until 6 PM in the UK), which allows us to meet more of our customers’ needs.
In the B2B area of our business, we work with several partners that have strict SOPs. Each retailer has specific instructions for how goods need to come in and how everything needs to be packaged. We submit a high level of detail about these orders to ShipBob, and they are executed precisely.
What really speaks volumes about ShipBob is if there’s something they’re unsure of, they go the extra mile to ring us and double check. ShipBob knows that if we don’t deliver something exactly as it’s described, we’re the ones getting charged by retailers.
We’ve been very impressed with ShipBob’s B2B capabilities – everything from freight to packaging to palletization. We’ve seen our lead times dwindle with our B2B orders in the last few months, which has given us more time to get orders out the door and into our customers’ hands.
Achieving compliance with ShipBob’s lot tracking capabilities and inventory management tools
In the UK, supplements are categorized as a food item, which means we have to meet certain storage criteria.
“It’s been very comforting that ShipBob is able to help us with food safety compliance. The ShipBob team at the fulfillment center has had conversations with us on how to make sure our products are best stored safely and securely. We’ve received strong compliance and willingness to implement additional measures with ShipBob.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
Over the course of our partnership, ShipBob has evolved their inventory management tools, which is important for a business like ARTAH. All of our products come in a batch and all supplements are date coded, so we operate on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis. If we ever have an issue with products, I’m able to track it down to the lot number and where exactly it’s stored in the fulfillment center, which is crucial in our supply chain. This has been really helpful for us.
For example, about a year ago customers were reporting a minor packaging issue with a particular item. We were able to identify the SKU in the lot tracking system, and because of the level of detail in the dashboard, we were quickly able to find where they were stored in the warehouse, and we were able to send the products back to our manufacturer to get the issue rectified.
That entire process took about a week, which I think is really impressive considering we have hundreds and hundreds of lots stored with ShipBob. The fact we were able to narrow that down to the T is super important for us in terms of compliance.
It was a stressful situation, but it was important that we had ShipBob’s technology to guide us through it. It’s impressive that we were able to pull up an order from any customer and find out which batch they ordered. It’s also important that if any other product compliance issues arise, we’re very safeguarded by ShipBob’s technology.
“We’re backed by ShipBob’s WMS system that has all of the details I need at my fingertips. If push comes to shove and I’m in crisis mode, I know that ShipBob’s tech will allow me to find what I need to come to a resolution.”
– Connor Stewart, Head of Operations + Impact at ARTAH
Gaining creative, out-of-the-box solutions for subscription order fulfillment from ShipBob
We launched subscriptions as part of our business model last year. Since we implemented it, we’ve experienced nothing but growth in that area. ShipBob has given us a ton of fulfillment hacks that have been very valuable. Our Merchant Success Manager, Peter, has identified ways we can optimize our operating costs in the subscription area, which is really important.
For example, whenever someone orders products from ARTAH on a subscription, they get a jar for their first order, and then each subsequent order comes in a resealable tear pouch.
We worked with Peter using Royal Mail large letter envelopes for subscription refills, which is not only more cost-effective for us, but it also allows the parcel to be delivered to the customer’s letter box and they don’t have to be home to sign for it. That has been a game-changer, not only for our costs but our customers’ experience.
What’s next for ARTAH
We’re looking forward to expanding our product catalog, channel diversification, and territory expansion.
It’s reassuring to know that ShipBob is fully up to speed with our account and can support us through expanding into new channels and markets. Plus, we’ve recently entered into a standard contract with ShipBob, which is exciting. ShipBob has worked with us so we can have a prolonged partnership.
ARTAH’s team at ShipBob
Sam Ford
Sam is the Account Executive who helped ARTAH get started with ShipBob.
Sergio Estevez
Sergio is the Implementation Specialist who onboarded ARTAH to ShipBob.
Peter Fazekas
Peter is the Merchant Success Manager who supports ARTAH.
Get started with ShipBob
Need a global omnichannel fulfillment partner to help you scale? Connect with ShipBob to learn how we can support your brand.
