Learn how Australian health and wellness brand ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream partnered with ShipBob to cut costs and time on international shipments and deliver a bette customer experience to US customers.
Customer Profile
Australian health and wellness brand ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream has helped women navigate their hormonal health since 1997. Founded by Max and Carol Hamilton, who initially turned to Wild Yam and Chaste Tree as a natural alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Their vegan, hormone-free formula is naturopath-recommended and has supported over 1 million women through periods, perimenopause, and menopause. Since taking over the business in 2020, Harmony Rutledge has continued to grow ANNA’S internationally, with a renewed focus on women’s wellness, education and empowerment. The brand also gives back through The ANNA’S Project, supporting a variety of charities and community initiatives.
Key metrics
- 36% increase in US sales within one month of launching local fulfillment
- 71% improvement in US shipping times
- 1,200+ stockers across Australia
- 70% of sales from DTC channels
- 7-person team managing global growth
About ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream
In 1997, Carol Hamilton received news that no woman wants to hear: her endocrine system was shutting down. The doctors offered her hormone replacement therapy; she said no, and went looking for another solution instead.
That search led her to two well-respected herbs in women’s health – Wild Yam and Chaste Tree, and the development of a formula that would become ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream.
What started as one woman refusing to accept a diagnosis became ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream: a TGA-listed, vegan, hormone-free formula built to help women move through every stage of life (including periods, perimenopause, menopause, and beyond) without synthetic hormones.
Nearly three decades later, that same original formula has gone viral and reached more than 1 million women worldwide, championed along the way by naturopaths, practitioners, and health voices like Barbara O’Neill.
Today, ANNA’S has grown from a single jar of cream into a broader product range, reaching women across the globe. Guided by Harmony’s vision, the brand continues to grow with a mission centered around women’s wellness, education and empowerment, supporting women through every stage of life.
We sat down with ANNA’S COO, Melissa Gourlay, to discuss how the brand leverages ShipBob to expand globally affordably and easily, achieve boots-on-the-ground support, and run a successful brand with a small team.
Choosing ShipBob to break down the barriers to global expansion
As told to ShipBob by Melissa Gourlay, COO of ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream.
As a global brand, we’ve always had customers in the US. In the past, we shipped internationally from Australia to the US.
That got harder when the recent tariff changes came into play. Many Australian businesses stopped shipping to the US altogether because of it. We were lucky enough to be able to absorb some of the tariffs, but some extra charges were passed to our customers, and we saw a decline in business.
That’s when we sat down to figure out international expansion and how to make our customers’ experience even more seamless. One thing became clear: to get our products into customers’ hands quickly and affordably, we needed fulfillment centers in other countries.
ShipBob was highly recommended to us by several people we trust. We met our Account Executive, Johnny, and the rest of ShipBob team, and they were wonderful. This solidified that partnering with ShipBob was the best move for our business.
“We’re a small, dynamic team, with just 7 of us running the whole company, so leaning on the right partners – ShipBob especially – has been key to our success.
For us, outsourcing to an expert partner like ShipBob is far more beneficial than bringing fulfillment in-house and trying to run it ourselves. This way, we not only have access to ShipBob’s resources and network, but also have an experienced team to guide us. Their recommendations and support have been incredibly valuable as we’ve expanded internationally.”
Melissa Gourlay, COO of ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream
Leveraging ShipBob’s US network to drive 36% higher conversion and 71% faster shipping
ShipBob made the global expansion process far easier than we had initially believed it could be. It was just a matter of getting our products into ShipBob’s Texas fulfillment center. From there, ShipBob simply receives orders, fulfills them, and ships them out. Onboarding was quick and we were shipping orders in no time.
ShipBob’s pricing was simple: a flat fee, no hidden costs. The team connected us with recommended tax agents and other resources to get set up right. They helped us through the whole process, and it just made everything amazing from start to finish.
“A lot of companies think expanding internationally is super hard and complicated. We did too, at first. But ShipBob made the process much easier than we expected. Having their team guide us through the setup and connect us with the right resources gave us the confidence to expand our operations into the US with simplicity.”
Melissa Gourlay, COO of ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream
After we started using ShipBob’s Texas fulfillment center, we sent an email letting our US customers know they could place orders for domestic delivery.
That month, we saw a 36% increase in sales, simply because US customers could get the product faster.
We’re seeing incredible financial gains from expanding our network through ShipBob. We charge in USD, so we don’t have to convert currency back and forth. And we’re shipping in larger amounts, so we can absorb more of the tariff costs ourselves and pass on only a small portion to customers.
Transit times have improved. Before ShipBob, shipping times to the US ran up to 14 days. Now, we’re at 4 days, so US customers are getting orders 71% faster.
Overall, establishing a global footprint has been made so easy with ShipBob, and we’ve seen the benefit from every angle: financially, operationally, and most importantly, for our customer experience.
Achieving top-tier support from start to finish
A huge part of what made international expansion so easy was the help we received from our team at ShipBob. We’ve had impeccable support from them from day one, and every day since.
It started with our Account Executive, Johnny, in Australia, who got us set up in the US, connected us with the right people, and made sure we felt comfortable every step of the way.
Pramod, our Implementation Manager, was equally fantastic. Even after implementation wrapped up, he’s been responsive and open to questions. Just the other day, I reached out to him for help with something. He was on a call with me the very next day.
Having local, boots-on-the-ground support in Australia is critical for us, and ShipBob delivered. ShipBob’s support team has been very responsive. They go above and beyond.
Tracking every batch for total inventory visibility
ShipBob’s lot tracking capabilities have been really important to us, especially since we send multiple batches at a time.
Tracking everything by batch means we’re not just guessing what we sent over or what’s remaining. ShipBob’s software has been extremely helpful for FEFO inventory management.
Simplifying Amazon fulfillment under one roof with ShipBob’s FBM solution
Being able to manage our US inventory through ShipBob has been a game changer. Rather than using ShipBob’s Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) solution, we use Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, with ShipBob supporting our operations by holding inventory, fulfilling B2B orders, and shipping stock directly to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
Instead of running separate international shipping channels from Australia, we can ship larger quantities of stock to ShipBob, hold the product there like our own warehouse, and use it to support our US operations, including our website orders, B2B customers and Amazon FBA inventory. It’s so much more straightforward and cost-efficient for us.
What’s next for ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream
It’s been a huge year for ANNA’S, and we’re not slowing down any time soon!
We’re looking to leverage ShipBob’s global network to get stock in the UK and Europe, as well as launch on Amazon UK before the end of the year.
We’ve also opened up to our B2B channels, including US retailers who now get stock faster and without paying tariffs. Finding additional wholesalers is a major focus for us, both online and in-store.
That growth goes hand in hand with giving back. As part of Harmony’s vision for ANNA’S, supporting women and giving back to the community has become an important part of the brand’s mission. This year, we launched The ANNA’S Project, which supports global and local initiatives including grassroots sports, a women’s domestic violence shelter, and children in Uganda.
It all comes back to that mission: helping and empowering women globally. That’s a big part of why ANNA’S partnered with ShipBob in the first place; to get our products to more people, help more women, and do it with a partner who shares our values. ShipBob has been incredibly supportive along the way. We always want partners who align with us, and ShipBob has done exactly that.
*The metrics in this case study were supplied by the Merchant. ShipBob makes no representations regarding their accuracy.
ANNA’S Wild Yam Cream’s team at ShipBob
Pramod Bora
Carlos is the Principal Implementation Manager who onboarded ANNA’S to ShipBob.
Nan-Chun Lee
Nan-Chun is the Merchant Success Manager who supports ANNA’S.
Johnny Dawes
Johnny is the Sr. Account Executive who helped ANNA’S get started with ShipBob.
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