Learn how sugar-free chamoy brand, I Love Chamoy, leverages ShipBob for fulfillment to save time, maintain a lean team, and expand their business while ensuring food safety compliance.
Customer Profile
Annie Leal started I Love Chamoy in 2021 to create an alternative to traditional chamoy, which can be high in sugar. In the years since Annie launched the brand, they’ve added new Hispanic-inspired products such as chili mango chamoy, low-sugar chamoy candies, and chilito, a sugar-free sweet and savory spice blend.
Key Metrics
- 6 SKUs added since launching their 1 hero SKU
- $34 increase in average order value
- 10+ hours per week saved on label printing alone
- 2-3 fewer team members needed thanks to ShipBob handling fulfillment
- 350 brick-and-mortar stores & 3 marketplaces
- 2 US fulfillment centers
About I Love Chamoy
Annie Leal didn’t originally have aspirations to start a CPG brand. But in 2021, her father was diagnosed with diabetes, and things changed.
As a Mexican family, chamoy, a sweet and tangy fruit-based condiment, is a staple in the Leal household. But after his diagnosis, the sauce’s high sugar content wasn’t suitable for Annie’s father’s diet. That’s when she created a delicious sugar-free chamoy.
Through that process, Annie realized that others might enjoy the product too. She launched I Love Chamoy and almost immediately went viral on social media. Over time, the brand grew, and Annie knew that continuing to self-fulfill orders wasn’t sustainable for the brand’s growth trajectory. That’s when she decided to outsource fulfillment to ShipBob.
Learn how I Love Chamoy has been able to expand their business, enter into new marketplaces, and introduce new products since handing off fulfillment to ShipBob.
From self-fulfillment at home to shipping DTC and B2B orders with ShipBob: how ShipBob’s omnichannel capabilities have helped us scale
As told to ShipBob by Annie Leal, owner of I Love Chamoy.
In the beginning, my parents helped me ship I Love Chamoy orders from their house, which we turned into a mini fulfillment center. It was chaotic. The bulk of my day was spent buying shipping labels, packing orders, and counting inventory. It was a tedious process that required a lot of manual labor.
At one point, we were trying to buy the cheapest shipping labels possible, and we had labels from both USPS and UPS. There were times we accidentally switched them, and packages would get sent back to us.
Not only was self-fulfillment logistically complicated, but it was expensive. In addition to high shipping costs, we spent so much money on packing supplies. Even though we bought supplies from more affordable providers, it quickly added up. And not only were we storing our product, but we had to make space for all of the packing supplies we needed to ship our own orders.
We interviewed a few different fulfillment providers, but ShipBob stuck out above the rest.
“As a founder with a lean team, I want to outsource anything I don’t have to oversee closely. That’s why I started vetting fulfillment partners and chose ShipBob.
Outsourcing fulfillment to ShipBob has been one of the best things for my business.”
Annie Leal, owner of I Love Chamoy
We first launched on our website, and to this day, it continues to be our best channel and top priority. But we’ve also added other marketplaces and channels like TikTok Shop, Walmart Marketplace, Amazon, and Faire. In addition to DTC orders, we also use ShipBob to ship to marketplaces and hundreds of retailers and boutiques. In addition to the automated DTC order flow, ShipBob’s B2B process is easy, and we can submit order requests and include shipping instructions.
Opening a warehouse or outsourcing to experts: how we decided partnering with fulfillment experts was the right decision
For a long time, I Love Chamoy only had one SKU: our sugar-free chamoy.
But as we began thinking about introducing additional products and adding new marketplaces, I got scared about the logistics side of those decisions. We weren’t going to be able to manage that level of operations on our own.
People told us we should explore leasing a warehouse and hiring a team, but I was nervous to do that, as that was new territory with many moving parts. Ecommerce can be unpredictable, and I didn’t want the responsibility of managing a warehouse lease and a team of full-time employees.
As a founder, it’s important to know your strengths and opportunities. For me, I love marketing, creating new products, and connecting with customers. My skill set is not on the operational side, so I welcomed that being taken off my plate. I trust the people who are better at that than me, and that’s ShipBob.
“ShipBob is so much more than a pick and pack 3PL. ShipBob provides data I didn’t have access to before. Using the ShipBob dashboard, I can see where orders are going, which states we ship to most, and other critical information that informs how I move my business. That level of detail is invaluable.”
Annie Leal, owner of I Love Chamoy
Plus, ShipBob has so many automated systems in place to handle lost orders or if something goes wrong. Those are the types of things that fell through the cracks when we managed fulfillment and logistics on our own, so it’s incredible to have ShipBob bridge that gap and handle it for us.
“ShipBob has allowed me to step back from the fulfillment aspect of the business. I’ve saved over 10 hours per week with ShipBob, and that’s just the time needed to print labels. I couldn’t even imagine how much time I’d be spending on picking and packing as we’ve grown if we were still self-fulfilling. I would have had to hire at least 2 additional employees to focus on fulfillment alone. While I still stay on top of things, it’s nice to be able to take time off without worrying about orders going out.”
Annie Leal, owner of I Love Chamoy
Going from 1 SKU to 7 and nearly quadrupling AOV: how outsourcing fulfillment to ShipBob helped us drive more revenue
The biggest unlock we’ve experienced since partnering with ShipBob is product expansion. We went from 1 SKU to 7, plus we’ve added many bundles. There’s no way we could have done that while we were self-fulfilling orders from my parents’ home.
ShipBob’s digital bundling feature is huge for us. With digital bundling, ShipBob packs bundles as they’re ordered, so we’re not tying up inventory in pre-packaged bundles. This is advantageous for testing things with our customers. With digital bundles, we can include a gift with purchase or be particular about how we present products to a customer. Digital bundles with ShipBob have allowed us to stay agile and increase how much money our customers spend with us. It is an essential part of our business.
Instead of getting 1 bottle of chamoy and paying for shipping, customers can get 4 bottles in a bundle and qualify for free shipping. They’re incentivized to buy more, and it doesn’t require any lift from us. ShipBob handles it all.
“Since adding new SKUs and implementing bundles with ShipBob, we’ve greatly increased our average order value (AOV) by $34 because we can offer bundles and multiple SKUs. That’s been a huge boost in revenue.”
Annie Leal, owner of I Love Chamoy
Plus, ShipBob handles all the picking and packing for our marketplace bundles. This has been an advantage for us because not all marketplaces can handle bundling as efficiently or cost-effectively as ShipBob.
Ensuring food safety and quality: how we know ShipBob maintains the integrity of our shelf-stable products
ShipBob has taken great care of our shelf-stable food products. They match the strict standards we follow at our co-packer. Plus, I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit one of ShipBob’s warehouses; it’s clean, professional, and full of brands I trust. That gives me peace of mind.
Using the lot management capabilities in the ShipBob dashboard, we track our expiration dates and prioritize older inventory when needed (first to expire, first out, or FEFO). There have been times when our ShipBob account manager has even helped us notice products with upcoming expiration dates so we can ship those items before a newer lot of inventory.
Leveraging a true partner: how ShipBob’s supportive team understands our unique needs
From day one, the ShipBob team has been incredible. Our account manager is fantastic. She’s responsive, patient, and helpful even when I’m stressed and asking the same questions over and over.
Working with ShipBob feels like a true partnership. I appreciate that I’m talking to real humans, not bots, unlike other companies. When I’m stressed about something, it’s comforting to have a real person to work things out with.
What I like about ShipBob is that I can be vocal about my company’s specific needs and am heard. We tried distributing our inventory across multiple fulfillment centers around the US, but in the end, it didn’t make sense for us to be in some regions.
Because chamoy is a cultural product, we do well in Hispanic-populated states. We use ShipBob fulfillment centers in Texas and California because that’s where our customers are most heavily concentrated. That means we can ship fast and less expensively to these hubs of our customer base. ShipBob gives us the flexibility to adjust that based on our needs.
What’s next for I Love Chamoy
This year we’re focusing on our website, experimenting with limited-edition drops, and continuing to grow. Limited runs are easy with ShipBob. We can send them 2,000 new units and never restock them. We’re also doubling down on bundles because they drive value for customers and revenue for us.
This past peak season was amazing with ShipBob. We experienced a big spike in order volume, especially from TikTok. And now, we’re ready for even more growth. We look forward to partnering with ShipBob as we continue to scale our business.
I Love Chamoy’s team at ShipBob
Ann Daniel
Ann is the Merchant Success Manager who supports I Love Chamoy.
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