From Startup to Exit: How Uqora Made it Happen With ShippingTree

We were looking for someone a little more high-touch. We didn’t want to feel so disconnected.

— Spencer Gordon, Co-founder, Uqora

Businesses born out of personal needs are typical in the startup world. When Jenna Ryan was stuck in an awful cycle of UTIs, she kept hitting a seemingly unnecessary brick wall. Her options; cranberry juice and antibiotics. That’s when she knew something had to be done. Ryan knew that to solve the problem she would have to take matters into her own hands.

With her then-partner, and now husband, Spencer Gordon, the two of them founded Uqora, a direct-to-consumer brand that produces proactive urinary tract health products and UTI relief products using science-backed ingredients. Soon after their 2015 soft launch, the company received some unexpected press, confirming there was wide interest in solving this underappreciated problem.

Upon their focused re-launch in 2017, Uqora was using a small 3PL company to ship their products. That is until the fulfillment partner sent the wrong company’s product to hundreds of their customers — a potentially catastrophic event for a small business.

Bigger Doesn’t Equal Better

Uqora felt the safe thing to do was to switch to the more established and much larger company. But as they soon found out, bigger doesn’t always mean better.

Gordon found the new all-in-one fulfillment partner lacked the customization and necessary reports they needed, and since their account rep was hard to reach, they felt disconnected. This was not ideal for a young, growing business. Ryan and Gordon began looking for a new fulfillment partner that could meet several of their requirements:

Offered a high-touch, personal connection
Integrated with Shopify and Recharge, two essential technology platforms
Ability to scale with their business
Had all business-critical reports and proper inventory counts

After interviewing nearly a dozen potential suitors, ShippingTree checked all of the boxes.

The Importance of High-Touch Support

For Gordon and Ryan, the choice was easy. ShippingTree made them feel like they were an important customer, not just another name in a list of accounts. The entire Uqora team found ShippingTree to be more accommodating than they imagined — a surprising benefit for a startup. And because of the seamless integrations with Shopify and Recharge, the transition was “easier than expected.”

Making It Happen With ShippingTree

Having ShippingTree as their new partner paved the way for Uqora to run their business more efficiently. ShippingTree’s reporting allowed them to finally gain visibility into the data they previously couldn’t see. They reduced costs by taking advantage of ShippingTree’s smart multi-warehousing technology and by working in conjunction with one another to develop new packaging designs.

“They make things happen that need to happen,” says Gordon.

The Uqora-ShippingTree partnership is one of the most fulfilling business partnerships we have,” says Gordon. “We helped each other get better. We’ve experienced growth together and established a very good level of trust.

Here are the results Uqora is seeing since their partnership:

In less than three years, ShippingTree is fulfilling a nearly 1700% increase in monthly orders. This 18x growth was unthinkable at the time they began their partnership.
Realized 25% savings in packaging costs due to improved design and sourcing. In addition to working with a packaging designer to improve designs, ShippingTree also helped implement packaging dynamic plans for certain orders.
Lowered postage costs by 30% by using their smart multi-warehouse technology, money they put towards customer acquisition and product development.
With the added insights provided through ShippingTree’s reports, Uqora gained visibility into the data they weren’t before, leading to better planning over their inventory and saving time on their monthly close.
ShippingTree handled fulfillment operations as Uqora achieved triple-digit growth and moved hundreds of thousands of products. This growth and milestone helped lead to Uqora being acquired by PharmaVite, the makers of Nature Made Vitamins and Supplements in 2021.

The ability to find a partner like ShippingTree to help them grow allowed Uqora to scale up to serve hundreds of thousands of customers on their path to urinary tract health. ShippingTree’s role in contributing to their triple-digit growth led Uqora to be acquired by Pharmavite.

When creating Uqora, Jenna Ryan and Spencer Gordon made it happen. When it came to being a reliable business partner that went above and beyond, ShippingTree made it happen. Combined, Uqora’s growth was unstoppable, a key factor in making the PharmaVite acquisition happen.

When you have a trusted business partner truly invested in your success, great things can happen — and that is how small businesses grow.

+1700%

In less than three years, ShippingTree is fulfilling a nearly 1700% increase in monthly orders. This 18x growth was unthinkable at the time they began their partnership.

25% Savings in Packaging

Realized 25% savings in packaging costs due to improved design and sourcing. In addition to working with a packaging designer to improve designs, ShippingTree also helped implement packaging dynamic plans for certain orders.