The StartOps Team
TLDR:
Stord is a 3PL that helps brands achieve Amazon Prime-like logistics capabilities through a highly-integrated physical and software platform.
Basic info
Year founded: 2015
Team size: 1k - 5k
HQ location: Atlanta, GA
Regions served: USA, EU
What’s the story?
Founded by Sean Henry and Jacob Boudreau, Stord began asset-light, a single “control tower” that would let shippers manage and fulfill orders across a network of partner 3PLs.
In 2021, they moved into first-party fulfillment, and now operate 11 of their own locations across the US and Canada, while continuing to expand their partner network.
Stord has also built fully-featured replacements for customers’ OMS, IMS, TMS, WMS, cart pricing and delivery date promise, and post-shipment and returns experience. While not required to use their platform, they believe the best way to create a seamless experience for customers is to have every software system natively.
4 years ago, they expanded from pure fulfillment into freight brokerage and parcel services.
Who is it for?
Mid-market brands seeking Prime-like fulfillment capabilities without Amazon scale
Companies needing 1-4 distribution locations
Brands doing at least 1k orders/month ($1M/year) through their accelerator program
How does it work?
3PL — Stord operates 11 first-party 3PL locations and 40+ partner locations across US/Canada, as well as 2 partner nodes in Europe. They support kitting and custom packaging, and offer both standard and cold chain capabilities.
Retail and B2B distribution — Stord runs its own retail consolidation and retail prep operations, as well as B2B distribtion.
Freight — Stord is a freight broker, and customers can use them to book FLT, LTL and drayage.
Parcel — Customers can get a parcel rate card directly from Stord, who then tender packages to the ideal partners in their network of last-mile and courier carrier partners.
Software — Stord's software platform can replace an ever-growing number of 3rd party software tools for customers, including the WMS, OMS, IMS, delivery date API, and post-purchase and returns experience.
What makes it different?
Hybrid ownership model: Stord gets the best of both worlds — their own warehouse network where they control everything, and a large 3PL partner network that is deeply integrated with their software.
One-stop shop: Stord has worked hard to ensure that everything a customer needs — whether it's physical services like freight, fulfillment, and parcel; or digital services like order management and analytics — can be obtained without ever leaving the Stord platform.
How much does it cost?
Pricing is set on a per-customer, contract basis.
Despite premium service, Stord seeks to be price competitive with other major 3PLs on a TCO basis.