Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence comm and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now it's Ash Jamshedpur. Ash, you are the founder and CEO of Ship Stop. You're found on the web at ship top.com. Ash, it's great to have you.

Speaker 2 00:01:18 Thank you for having me. It's, it's a pleasure to be on the show.

Speaker 1 00:01:21 Yeah, well, so ecom logistics and fulfillment partnering. Tell me a bit about the work you do, who you serve and what that looks like.

Speaker 2 00:01:29 Yeah. So we are a third party logistics company and e-commerce fulfillment provider, based in Canada. So we help, e-commerce brands and online merchants with their order fulfillment and logistics needs. anything from, ocean freight, to North America and then fulfillment across North America to consumers, B2B fulfillment. that's the area we focus on.

Speaker 1 00:01:56 Yeah. Well, I would love from your Perspective. How is that world been going over the past few years? And specifically, not necessarily few years, but just very recently. What is the E-com world looking like right now, particularly when it comes to logistics? And I'm sure, again, we've had some great innovations in that area, and I'd love to learn a little bit more kind of how ship top plays a role in that.

Speaker 2 00:02:22 Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 00:02:23 So it's an extremely fast paced, industry. As you can imagine, e-commerce is changing every day. And, we and every other third party logistics company is, trying to keep up and and innovate and find efficiencies and everything that we do. so, yeah, it's an ever changing industry. one area that we're focusing on a lot of chip top is, section 321 fulfillment from Canada and to the US. it's a hot topic. Of course, companies like TMU and Sheehan are taking advantage of this, US provision to import goods into the US duty free. Pretty much paying no duties on their imports. shipping low value orders under $800. So that's an area we focus on. And, we have fulfillment centers across the US border, in Canada, where we fulfill orders and ship to US consumers, duty free.

Speaker 1 00:03:31 Okay. So this is something I don't understand. Can you, pretend we're a fourth grade, eighth grade class and explain that just a little bit more for those who don't don't understand how duties and tariffs work and and how this law is set up currently.

Speaker 2 00:03:49 Yeah. For sure. So, section 321 is a US provision in, the customs laws of the US, allowing goods under $800 to enter the US duty free. so in comparison to large US corporations like Walmart or Amazon, where they import goods from overseas into the US, pay millions of dollars in duties. companies like Tim and Sheehan are shipping individual orders from China or overseas into the US, and each individual order, or shipment is valued under $800. And so it enters the US duty free. and they gain a competitive advantage because they don't have to pay those duties, and the consumers don't have to pay the duty so they can have a more competitive pricing.

Speaker 1 00:04:45 Yeah. when folks come to you, your clients, what are they typically doing beforehand and how do you help them level up?

Speaker 2 00:04:54 Yeah, definitely. So most of our clients are either doing fulfillment in-house from their own warehouses, or they're working with a different, third party logistics company or fulfillment company. And, for various reasons, they're looking for a different solution or a different partner that can provide them, perhaps a more customizable fulfillment solution.

Speaker 2 00:05:19 And that's, that's something that we focus on a lot. So, most of our clients are ecommerce brands direct to consumer brands. and yeah, they're either doing fulfillment in-house and, we find efficiencies, through our operations for them and reduce their costs, reduce their transit times to consumers. or they're working with a different fulfillment company. And like I said, for whatever reason, they're looking for something slightly different. Either it's a service or the rates or like I mentioned, they're looking for a Canadian fulfillment company that can do section 321 fulfillment from Canada to the US for them.

Speaker 1 00:05:58 So yeah. Yeah. And and in terms of like, cost, efficiencies, why is it better to partner with you rather than build out all their own infrastructure?

Speaker 2 00:06:12 Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. so, the third party logistics industry and companies like us, take advantage of economies of scale. So we have very large warehouses. So our square footage of rent, is typically lower than what you'd be able to get on your own in a smaller warehouse.

Speaker 2 00:06:33 and the the biggest advantage of working with a company like ours is we have a buying power when it comes to, shipping. So when we go to our shipping partners like UPS, Fedex, DHL, they know who we are. They know how many brands we're working with, and they are able to give us, very highly discounted shipping rates. which we then pass on to our clients. And that's something that, the clients take advantage of by working with, with a third party logistics company. because the volume of shipping that we're doing is significantly more than any individual brand would would have. so those are a couple of the main reasons. the other one is to streamline your operations. I mean, logistics is while it's complicated, it's it's also fairly simple. it's getting goods from point A to point B, so if you work with the right partner, they can streamline that process and operations for you. And you can focus on your sales, marketing and growing your brand, as opposed to dealing with day to day logistics.

Speaker 1 00:07:44 Yeah. Ash, what are you looking forward to? Is there any, you know, evolutions or technology on the horizon that that you're kind of excited about when it comes to fulfillment, logistics, you know, shipping, distribution. I mean, it really is like if if someone looks at, you know, like what Amazon has done, for example, or just other folks, I mean, it really is staggering just how much activity gets done with relatively few problems. but, you know, again, I think with, you know, continuing to improve these systems, there's as I mentioned earlier, there's likely some things that you're kind of excited about.

Speaker 2 00:08:29 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, AI and machine learning is at the heart of every industry. And, it's definitely the case for us as well, looking to implement, AI and, and machine learning in different parts of our operations, whether it's, through our inventory and order management platform, looking to streamline, demand planning. Inventory planning? or it's machine learning and robotics within our warehouse looking to for ways to to become more efficient and, get orders fulfilled faster.

Speaker 2 00:09:10 trying to, you know, and a lot of ways companies like Ship Top are allowing direct consumer brands to compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart, allowing them to take advantage of having multiple fulfillment centers and, doing same day fulfillment and, using next day delivery. So, yeah, we're we're constantly looking at, at ways to become more efficient, which leads to faster transit times, lower shipping costs, lower fulfillment and storage costs. So, all of that allows us to really help our clients and help direct consumer brands with, to be more competitive in in a fast paced industry, and a very competitive industry.

Speaker 1 00:10:05 so when you like, what stage should someone be. prior to them having a conversation with you, or should they kind of already be shipping products out of their garage or, what what's too early and what might be a little bit too far down the road?

Speaker 2 00:10:27 well, we actually at Chip top, we work with companies of all sizes. So whether you're a startup or, you're an enterprise company, we, we work with various companies in different of different size operations.

Speaker 2 00:10:41 so and, you know, the right time is really when you notice that, logistics is taking too much of your time and, and it's really holding you back from being able to focus on areas where your time is more valuable and, sales, marketing. and so, you know, the right time is when, like I said, when, you find that a logistics partner would be able to streamline, your operations and allows you to focus on different parts of the business. But again, as it relates to shipped off, we we work with startups, we work with, mid-market and enterprise clients, of all sizes. So.

Speaker 1 00:11:29 Yeah. Excellent. All right. So, your website is Shipt top.com. and, and some of the industries I see you've got listed here are beauty and cosmetics, health and wellness, apparel and accessories, home goods, pets. what does I mean, what do you usually talk about on a first call or to just to see if this might make sense for somebody.

Speaker 2 00:11:55 yeah.

Speaker 2 00:11:55 So on typically on, our first calls with the prospect, we look at, what e-commerce platform they're using, what sales channels they have, or are they, more of an omnichannel seller where they're in retail doing B2B fulfillment, B2C through e-commerce platforms and, and just kind of getting a better understanding of, their sales channels and their, their technology. and then looking at order volume, how many orders they're fulfilling each week, each month. if there's seasonality, with their, with their sales, and, and from there then we put together, either a quote or a customizable solution around their needs. We, we, we try to, focus on building really custom solutions around a client's needs. So depending on what we learn on that initial call, we we come up with a, with a proposal on how we can, serve them, based on their needs or how we can improve their, their current, distribution fulfillment process.

Speaker 1 00:13:08 Yeah, yeah. You know, and of course, not only just, you know, efficiency and potential cost savings here, but, you know, to our founder led companies where the founders very actively involved in operations and shipping.

Speaker 1 00:13:21 I mean, it's just a lot of headaches. I mean, there's a lot of, I'd say invisible time thieves in any business. But certainly, again, when you're thinking about fulfillment and shipping, I mean, that stuff can really hack away at, at your schedule. So listen, I mean, if you like, work until ten at night, every night or midnight, you know, to kind of because you got to get the orders out. That's, that's a part of everyone's story, or at least a lot of people's stories. But then at some point, you're kind of ready for that next level. and I would imagine that some of what you've seen with your clients.

Speaker 2 00:13:55 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we work every day to to simplify logistics, simplify onboarding, simplify pricing, and working with some of the other, legacy third party logistics company. The pricing is so complicated. Onboarding is so complicated. We're just trying to simplify all of that and, really allow our clients and potential clients to to be able to, streamline this, this part of their business, this portion of their business.

Speaker 1 00:14:27 As. Jamshid, for your website, ship top.com. When someone goes to your website, what do they click on? What should they do?

Speaker 2 00:14:35 you could reach out and, go on to the contact us page or get a quote and just reach out to us. if somebody is interested to reach out to me directly, they can found me on LinkedIn. That's, where I'm most active. And. Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:14:53 Awesome. All right. Ash Jamshedpur again, CEO of Chip top your website chip top.com. Thanks so much ash.

Speaker 2 00:15:01 Thank you Josh appreciate it.

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