Lara Guevara walks DTC founders through logistics projects that cut costs now: carton optimization, 3PL audits, visibility tools, and supplier diversification. She shows real numbers: one brand cut per-shipment costs by 40%, another dropped late-order rates from 8% to 2%.
Questions this video answers
$2 per shipment
10,000 orders
$20,000
15%
99%
Chapters
Foreign. You're listening to Supply Chain Moves, the podcast built for DTC founders who want smoother supply chains, lower cost, and faster launches.
I'm Lara and I'm here to share the lessons I've learned building and fixing.
Supply chains for brands like yours. In part one we broke down the basics like what logistics is, why it's often misunderstood, and what are the hidden costs. Now in part two, let's talk about optimization. The projects you can actually run to cut cost, improve delivery times, and even future proof your logistics. Here's question number six what's one project a 1 million brand can do right now? My favorite is carton optimization. Most brands pay for air they don't need.
Literally half empty cartons.
Get deal by dimensional weight.
A supplement brand I worked with resized.
Their cartons to fit bottles snugly. They save $2 per shipment over 10k orders. That's 20k saved. Question number 7 how do you know if your 3pl is the right one? Check your SLAs if they're consistently late, inaccurate or hitting you with surprise fees.
Those are red flags.
One apparel brand found out 15% of their orders were late during the FCM they switched 3pls. Cost per unit went up slightly, but accuracy jumped to 99%.
Customers complaints practically gone.
Question number 8 what tools can you help with? Visibility? You don't need enterprise software after ship, a free tier reduces a customer tickets with tracking links Flexport. This gives you real time dashboards for your freight. Even Google sheets if updated by your forwarder. This keeps everyone alive.
A candle brand I work with cuts.
Wears my order tickets by 40% just by setting up aftership. Question number nine how do you protect yourself from disruptions?
Diversify?
Don't they rely on one port, one forwarder, one courier? An outdoor gear brand split shipment 70%.
West Coast 30% East Coast.
When LA port was jammed, their east coast goods kept moving. They stayed in stock while their competitors run dry.
Last question.
What's coming in in the next three to five years? Two big shifts near Shoring Mexico and Latam are rising Faster lead times, lower tariffs. Number two AI driven logistics, predictive tracking.
Automated rerouting tools that used to be.
Enterprise only are trickling down to startups. Thank you.
Thank you for hanging out with me.
On supply chain moves.
If this episodes make your supply chain a little less painful, share it with.
Another founder because nobody deserves to learn these lessons the hard way. I'll see you on the next one.
