Ingram Micro reduces manual intervention and increases speed to market for Little Unicorn, paving the way for growth.

Little Unicorn was launched in 2014 with the goal of creating quality goods that inspire nostalgia that support the modern lifestyles of young families. Early products included affordable, high-quality diaper bags and soft goods.

What began with as an online store soon transformed to include specialty shops around the U.S. and before long, the company’s move to a multichannel sales strategy required an order fulfillment solution to support it.

Little Unicorn needed a solution that addressed direct-to-consumer needs and enabled fast onboarding for a growing base of specialty retailers. This required supporting brick and mortar stores and drop shipments on behalf of specialty retail websites.

Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services offers the operational capacity, warehouse network, technology platform, Commerce EDI technology and competitive shipping options Little Unicorn needs to support drop shipping and establish retail channels and quickly and easily.

The power of technology

Using technology and automation provided by Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services, Little Unicorn is able to do more with less. Pre-built connectors between Shopify (Little Unicorn’s cart provider) and Shipwire (Ingram Micro’s order fulfillment platform) enabled easy integration to retail partners, and using Commerce EDI technology eliminated much of the manual work typically required to build and test integrations.

The increased efficiencies have enabled faster product launches, since go-to-market times have been shortened. Little Unicorn added over 25 retail channels in four months (retail replenishment and drop ship orders) and new ones can be added in weeks, rather than months. Thanks to better automation, teams are able to focus more attention on inventory availability and strategic growth.

Saving on shipping

In addition to technology improvements, Little Unicorn reduced shipping costs by leveraging Ingram Micro’s negotiated small parcel rates. The company has passed its savings down to retail partners and end customers, too, making for a better experience all around, and will be able to focus more funds on other strategic investments.

As Little Unicorn continues to expand and look beyond the domestic market, Ingram Micro is proud to scale operations and technology to support its growth.