Cabot Creamery


Cabot Creamery logo with cheese tray representing parcel shipping for perishable goods

Cabot Creamery, an award-winning dairy cooperative based in Vermont, implemented the cloud-based Descartes XPS™ multi-carrier parcel shipping solution, integrated with Shopify, to streamline its entry into direct-to-consumer (D2C) fulfillment. Managing a diverse mix of non-perishable and perishable orders with demanding shipping requirements, Cabot leveraged Descartes XPS to simplify and expedite the fulfillment process, lower shipping costs, and ensure accurate, on-time shipments to enhance the customer experience. 

The Challenge: Unique Shipping Requirements Dampen Efficiency  

The small fulfillment team at Cabot Creamery is responsible for picking, packing, and shipping DTC orders across an extensive range of products from branded merchandise to perishable cheese. The team also fulfills time-sensitive orders for internal departments, regularly shipping large quantities of cheese across the U.S. in support of revenue-promoting sales and marketing tactics. Cabot sought an agile multi-carrier shipping solution to streamline its labor-intensive shipping workflow, curtail shipping costs and ensure customers—both ecommerce and internal—receive perishable orders on time, every time. 

“Descartes XPS is so simple to use. Shopify orders move seamlessly into XPS, labels print automatically, and tracking numbers appear in Shopify after we ship—it’s like magic! Plus, we’re able to pre-build box options to ship with fewer clicks and allocate shipping costs to the appropriate department by creating internal billing numbers. The entire fulfillment process is faster, easier and more cost-effective thanks to Descartes.” 

- Kim Abbot, Corporate Fulfillment Coordinator, Cabot Creamery 

Cabot Creamery is a farmer-owned cooperative and certified B-Corp that has been making award-winning products with love, pride and purpose for over a century. The high-quality milk produced by the Cabot farm families throughout New England and New York is crafted into dairy products, including “The World’s Best Cheddar,” other styles of cheese, butter, Greek yogurt, sour cream, dips and other specialty products. 

The Solution: Automated Shipping Workflow Enhances Performance 

Using the cloud-based Descartes XPS™ multi-carrier parcel shipping solution, Cabot Creamery simplified and accelerated order fulfillment. By taking advantage of Descartes’ discounted shipping rates and enhanced functionality, such as prebuilt box options, bulk CSV-format address uploads, and real-time tracking, Cabot automated shipping workflows to increase efficiency and productivity, while reducing costs across its diverse range of ecommerce and departmental shipments. 

“Our warehouse team ships everything from bars of cheddar and cheese gift boxes to branded apparel to ecommerce customers. Plus, we ship thousands of pounds of cheese every month to support our sales and marketing teams—which requires a great deal of prep work. Imagine 2,000+ pounds of cheese, separated into multiple shipments and packed in individual cooler boxes with ice, going out in a single day,” explained Kim Abbot, Corporate Fulfillment Coordinator at Cabot Creamery.  

“In addition, the parcels need to not only arrive on time, but they also must look visually appealing,” said Abbot. “Descartes XPS has been a gamechanger for simplifying how we manage our unique shipping needs—without the stress and hassle of manual processes.” 

When Cabot launched its DTC ecommerce platform, the vendor did not have the ability to select carriers based on its diverse shipping requirements and was missing out on cost-saving opportunities as a result. “With Descartes XPS, we’ve cut costs by taking advantage of the more cost-effective USPS for shipping small parcels, such as branded merchandise, while using FedEx to send time- and temperature-sensitive cheese orders that require next-day delivery,” said Abbot.  

Abbot added, “The experience with Descartes XPS has been very positive; the warehouse team really likes using it. And, if we have a question or need help, a real live person is there to offer immediate assistance—a customer service rarity today.” 

The Results

Lower Shipping Costs

With multiple carrier options, Cabot can select the most cost-efficient shipping method based on order type (e.g., USPS’s cheaper rates to ship merchandise and non-perishable parcels, and FedEx services for perishable shipments).

Enhanced Sales Support

In addition to tracking shipments for ecommerce customers, Cabot can effectively support its sales and marketing activities by ensuring perishable cheese shipments arrive on time and in excellent condition and are automatically billed to the correct department.

Greater Efficiency & Productivity

By integrating Descartes XPS with Shopify and multiple carriers, Cabot’s fulfillment team can quickly and seamlessly import orders, print labels, compare discounted shipping rates, and track shipments, while scaling easily to manage any seasonal volume fluctuations.  

Happy Fulfillment Team   

With its user-friendly interface, simple searchability, and scale integration, Descartes XPS removes the friction from Cabot’s shipping workflow while saving time and ensuring accuracy. Plus, with the easy, straightforward user experience, training new employees is a quick process.

Success Story

Cabot Creamery

INDUSTRY WHITE PAPER

Reduce Costs & Increase Efficiency: How Multi-Carrier Shipping Software Can Help 

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHT

Descartes XPS Ship

Ecommerce shippers save time and money on international and domestic shipments with this scalable multi-carrier parcel shipping software.  

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