Learn how science-driven wellness brand Stonehenge Health switched to ShipBob Plus and not only saved big, but unlocked inventory placement, lot tracking, and mid-market scale.
Customer Profile
Stonehenge Health is a science-driven wellness brand focused on helping people feel sharper, stronger, and more balanced at every stage of life. Known for its targeted “Dynamic” supplement line, the brand offers formulas that support brain function, gut health, joints, nerves, immunity, and women’s health using thoughtfully sourced, research-backed ingredients. Their products are designed to work synergistically for full-body support, and with subscription options, bundled savings, and a 90-day money-back guarantee, Stonehenge Health is a trusted partner in long-term, proactive wellbeing.
Key metrics
- 7 years with their old 3PL
- $1M/year in cost-savings after switching to ShipBob Plus
- $3 saved per shipment on average
- 14 SKUs
About Stonehenge Health
Stonehenge Health was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Ethan Cohen with a clear mission: bring greater transparency and scientific rigor to the wellness supplement industry. Frustrated by a market crowded with flashy claims and under-dosed formulas, Cohen set out to build a brand grounded in research, meaningful ingredient levels, and real-world testing.
From the beginning, Stonehenge Health focused on evidence-backed formulations and consumer feedback, using in-home user testing (iHUT) and guidance from medical and nutrition experts to refine products before launch. This science-first philosophy helped the company earn trust with customers seeking natural solutions for gut health, metabolism, and appetite support, and positioned Stonehenge Health as a fast-growing direct-to-consumer wellness brand built on credibility rather than hype.
Today, Stonehenge Health’s commitment to research-backed formulas and high-quality ingredients has helped the company scale into a multi-million-dollar brand. As the hero brand within the Hi-Altitude Brands portfolio, Stonehenge Health continues to develop science-driven supplements designed to support real health outcomes, serving millions of customers worldwide.
We sat down with Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands, to discuss how Stonehenge Health switched to ShipBob Plus and not only saved big, but unlocked inventory placement, lot tracking, and mid-market scale.
Saving $1M while achieving better fulfillment after switching to ShipBob Plus
As told to ShipBob by Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands.
When he started Stonehenge Health back in 2014, our owner initially fulfilled orders himself before quickly realizing that wasn’t sustainable in the long term. If we were going to grow, we’d need a professional fulfillment solution.
We ended up partnering with our first 3PL, who we hoped would support us, but looking back, they were terrible. Things started out alright (they were okay at fulfillment), but the more we scaled, the more we kept running into problems. They weren’t well integrated with Amazon or our ecommerce platform; they had poor stock control and very little inventory visibility; they didn’t do lot tracking at all; and that was just the beginning. For seven years, it was issue after issue.
The breaking point came when the old 3PL tried to raise their price. They told us that the owner of the warehouse we were in was upping their rent, and to cover it, they’d be charging us 33% more for their services; otherwise, the location would close. We felt we were already overpaying for mediocre fulfillment, so that was the last straw.
We started looking for other fulfillment providers, and that’s when we found ShipBob. As we talked to ShipBob, we discovered that they had all the capabilities and solutions that our old partner lacked, and those capabilities would actually save us a ton of money. A lot of it came down to shipping.
Shipping used to be a huge cost center for us, because our previous 3PL didn’t have any ability to do carrier rate shopping. They only worked with UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS, but we could only choose one of those to use for all of our shipments.
ShipBob’s model is completely different. Their software has a carrier selection algorithm that automatically chooses the fastest, most cost-effective carrier for each unique package, and they work with the same, plus many more highly vetted carriers (for which they monitor performance and optimize lanes at the zip code level).
Leveraging ShipBob’s intelligent carrier mix, vast network, and algorithms, our actual per shipment rate is at least a dollar less than it was before. Combined with every kind of fee being lower, switching to ShipBob has saved us $1 million dollars in one year alone.
“When we first spoke to our ShipBob sales rep, we felt like ShipBob’s solution was almost too good to be true. They showed us a pricing comparison between our old 3PL and ShipBob, and the cost-savings were dramatic: over $1M. We couldn’t believe it. But after running lots of numbers as the year went on, I can confirm that’s legitimately what we saved by switching to ShipBob.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
The best part is that, on top of saving a million dollars a year, we’re getting better quality fulfillment and no longer have a ton of problems. No fulfillment solution is perfect (that’s just the nature of logistics), but we’re not dealing with the onslaught of daily and weekly issues that we had before. It’s a significant change, and we’re thrilled with the results.
Distributing inventory across ShipBob’s network to cut shipping costs by $3/order on average
In addition to better carrier options and rates, our fulfillment and shipping costs also decreased thanks to ShipBob’s network advantage.
Stonehenge Health is based in California, and 20% of our business is there, but the majority of the US population is on the East Coast. To reach customers in both regions cost-effectively, we needed a more centrally located fulfillment center, or better yet, multiple across the country. But with our previous 3PL, the ability to have multiple locations was always a question mark; while they could conceivably support that expansion, it felt really weak.
With ShipBob, having multiple locations was never a question. Through the Inventory Placement Program, we went from using one warehouse in Southern California to being in multiple regionally located fulfillment centers, which drastically reduced our out-the-door shipping cost. The ShipBob dashboard even provides detailed reporting on our average shipping zone, shipping costs, and transit time by location, and we can optimize our inventory distribution based on that data.
“We started using ShipBob’s Inventory Placement Program to split inventory between two fulfillment centers, and it’s been going really well. We’re saving more than $3 per shipment on average between carrier rate shopping and inventory placement, and we’re only using two locations. ShipBob has fulfillment centers all over the US, so we could easily expand into 3 or 4 warehouses to drive shipping costs down even further.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
Leveraging best-in-class technology and reporting that mid-market brands need
What really sets ShipBob apart from our previous 3PL and the other fulfillment solutions on the market is its technology advantage.
I ran a fulfillment warehouse for 14 years, so I know firsthand that pretty much any 3PL can pick, pack, and ship; that’s not the hard part. It’s the software, the reporting, the analytics, and all the optimization that’s so challenging to get right.
Those elements will make or break your ecommerce business as you scale, so your partner should have them mastered, and that’s the huge win that I see from ShipBob’s platform.
ShipBob’s technology is very, very good. The other fulfillment and warehouse software solutions I’ve worked with have been giant piles of crap in comparison.
It’s very blunt, but that’s the reality: it’s a bunch of really old, archaic systems out there that people get stuck in because they’re legacy. That is not the ShipBob system.
ShipBob is a very tech-focused company, and there are so many engineers, data analysts, and overall smart people who are making very good decisions about what the platform should be, how it should work, and what it should look like (in part by actually listening to their customers).
“ShipBob is a technology company first and foremost. It does fulfillment, and does it extremely well, but ultimately, technology is at the core of the business. As an ecommerce merchant, that should be the thing that you’re most focused on, and ShipBob knocks it out of the park.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
All of the reporting ShipBob offers is amazing. Our old 3PL’s reporting was essentially non-existent, so we had to download whatever minimal data we could get and try to figure it out ourselves. We also had no visibility into where an order was in fulfillment from beginning to end.
With ShipBob, it’s the opposite. They have reporting on storage, fulfillment, inventory, and shipping, and the transparency is complete. I’m a data person, and the analytics dashboard is so easy to use. If I ever want to export reports to slice and dice them in Excel, I can do that, too. ShipBob’s integration with Shopify Plus is also very good, so the data flows seamlessly between platforms and updates everything in real time.
“The number one thing that any mid-market company evaluating fulfillment partners should consider is: What is the software platform like, and does it meet all your needs? For us, ShipBob absolutely met all our needs and more. They provided way more data, visibility, and ease of use than we were getting before, even more than we thought we needed. ShipBob’s already built out so many of the tools and reporting capabilities brands want, so don’t bother reinventing the wheel. You can use what ShipBob provides, because it’s all great and all right there for you.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
Achieving lot tracking and temperature-controlled warehousing to keep products fresh
As a health and wellness brand, we use FEFO (First Expired, First Out) to make sure we’re sending fresh products to customers. This means that lot tracking is super important for us, so we can always know which products are closest to expiration.
Our previous 3PL had no lot tracking at all, so it’s been awesome to leverage ShipBob’s, which are so detailed and transparent. If there’s ever an issue with a customer’s order, we just open the ShipBob dashboard, pull up the order, and we can see exactly what products they received from which lots. We don’t even have to ask the customer for that information, since ShipBob already tracks it in their system.
Taking action with lots is easy, too. If we had to do a reshipment, I’m able to create a new order from another product lot and send it; We have the flexibility to choose what lot somebody receives on one-off shipments; We were able to put a temporary hold on one particular lot batch recently because it wasn’t done with testing yet, and everything worked out fine.
“We’ve never had a recall, but if we ever did, ShipBob has us covered in terms of compliance. We could immediately put a hold on the impacted lot, and also know exactly who purchased it or received it. I hope we never have to recall products, but just the fact that we’re prepared for one now is huge. It’s incredibly important, and not something we had the ability to do until we partnered with ShipBob.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
We also have some products that are temperature sensitive, and because of that, we have to be choosier with the fulfillment centers we use. Fortunately, ShipBob has temperature-controlled facilities (with A/C and humidity control), so we can keep our products viable.
Elevating the customer experience with custom packaging
We’ve always been passionate about customer experience, and we’re constantly looking for ways to evolve and push it to new heights. To that end, we recently redesigned our packaging and started using our own custom-branded boxes and poly mailers to ship orders.
ShipBob not only supports our custom packaging, but they also select the right packaging for each order based on its contents. It saves us money and helps us deliver a premium unboxing experience, so it’s a win-win.
Enjoying a peak season so smooth, it feels like just another day
Supplements are a part of many peoples’ New Year resolutions, so while we do run sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, our peak season is really January and February.
ShipBob works with a lot of supplement companies, so they get it and are prepared to support us whenever peak hits. The great thing about ShipBob is that, at least in the fulfillment centers we’re in, there are people picking, packing, and shipping almost seven days a week year-round. Because of that, peak with ShipBob doesn’t feel like peak; it just felt normal, like any other day. That’s the real win.
Resolving issues fast with dedicated, responsive support
One of the biggest wins with ShipBob Plus is the speed with which issues are resolved. We’re a multi-million-dollar business, and I do not want to sit around waiting for a problem to get fixed. When we were with our previous fulfillment partner, the support was definitely lacking –we had weekly meetings and internal reps, but issues still took forever to address.
Invoicing, for example, was a nightmare. They invoiced us twice a month and every invoice always had problems, because their process was complicated and almost entirely manual. If there was ever a question or concern (which was almost every time), then it was a constant back-and-forth between multiple stakeholders and teams. It would literally take months to get credits and to resolve mistakes.
It’s night and day with ShipBob. We have our own dedicated Merchant Success Manager, Larkin, who is awesome. She is so responsive, and actually gets stuff accomplished fast, which has been a huge benefit. There’s so much more willingness to get stuff accomplished, and it’s been a breath of fresh air.
“Excellent support is non-negotiable for a mid-market brand like ours, and ShipBob Plus delivers. When we first partnered with ShipBob, we met with Divey, their Co-Founder and COO, and he introduced us to the fulfillment location and technology personally. Just the fact that we have his email speaks volumes to ShipBob’s commitment to support, but the best part is that I don’t have to reach out to him.
We have a phenomenal account manager whom I can communicate with directly, and she and the rest of the team are always on their game, so I don’t need to go to the boss. That was not the case in our previous experience, so having dedicated, capable support has been great.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
Partnering with innovators who are open to feedback
There are a lot of fulfillment partners out there that aren’t interested in change, with the mindset of “this is how we do things, because it’s always been that way. Take it or leave it.”
But I run our ecommerce website, so I’m constantly talking to customers and implementing changes based on what they say. I know how important the feedback loop is, so it was absolutely key for us to find a fulfillment partner that’s as open-minded as we are.
ShipBob is that partner. They’re constantly innovating, their willingness and interest to hear merchant feedback is world-class, and they’re amazing at taking that information and developing it into the next level of service.
ShipBob even hosts an annual merchant event, Fulfilled, where hundreds of brands get to speak with ShipBob’s executive team and give feedback directly to the people making decisions. I felt like my feedback was impactful, and ShipBob actually took action in response.
“Everyone I’ve met that works at ShipBob is a great person. I must have interacted with 50 people now across different fulfillment centers, at their merchant event Fulfilled, through onboarding, and in all the different meetings and conversations I’ve had, and I’ve never met anyone I didn’t like. The entire ShipBob Plus team is excellent. I’ve partnered with lots of companies in lots of different spaces, and that is not always the case. But ShipBob is a stand-up operation, run by stand-up people.”
Gregory Frye, VP of Operations at Hi-Altitude Brands
The evolution we’ve seen from ShipBob even just this past year has been incredible, and we’re excited to see where we go next together.
What’s next for Stonehenge Health
In the health and wellness space, product development is always top-of-mind. All of our products are backed and formulated by doctors, and so much effort goes into finding the best ingredients and creating best-in-class supplements. We’re constantly comparing ourselves to other brands and striving to offer superior products with health claims based on studies and science, and not just a gimmick you buy once that doesn’t work.
As a research-driven company, we have multiple doctors and a head of product development who are always thinking about what’s next for us. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible in the health and wellness space, and there are many more product categories we want to explore.
We’re also diving deeper into the product categories we’re already in to take a more targeted approach to health. Probiotics are a great example: we have a probiotic that everybody could use, but we recently launched one specifically for women.
Currently, our priority is sustaining our growth. We’re always growing, we’re always looking for new opportunities and optimizing, but we’re not going too big, too fast. Our focus has always been on developing the highest-quality, most effective products we can, and with a partner like ShipBob, we can do what we do best and leave fulfillment to the experts.
Stonehenge Health’s team at ShipBob
Larkin Arnold
Larkin is the Merchant Success Manager at ShipBob who supports Stonehenge Health.
Jordan Altamuro
Jordan is the Solutions Engineer who onboarded Stonehenge Health to ShipBob.
Casey Armstrong
Casey is the CMO of ShipBob, and serves as the Executive Sponsor for Stonehenge Health.
Get started with ShipBob
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