Rapid growth is exciting — until your logistics partner can’t keep up. For a supplement brand selling vitamin gummies online, that moment arrived fast. They needed supplement fulfillment built for health and wellness brands, not a generalist warehouse pretending to be one. Here’s how Argents Express Group solved the problem.
The brand’s previous 3PL had no experience handling ingestible products. That created real problems — not just operational ones, but regulatory ones.
Lot tracking was inconsistent. There were no temperature monitoring protocols for a product sensitive to heat. Fulfillment errors were generating consumer complaints and a growing rate of returns. However, the biggest concern was compliance: without proper lot traceability, the brand could not respond adequately to a recall scenario.
At the same time, the brand was pushing into two new channels simultaneously — subscription box fulfillment and specialty retail accounts. Each had different SLA requirements and packing specifications. Their single generalist warehouse could not manage all three channels reliably.
Argents took over the brand’s full supply chain, starting upstream. Our team managed ocean freight from their overseas contract manufacturer and handled all customs clearance — including FDA Prior Notice filing, which is required for ingestible products entering the US.
Because FDA compliance starts with the facility itself, we registered our Chicago warehouse as an FDA food facility. This made the brand’s inventory eligible for compliant storage and handling immediately upon receipt.
Next, we built lot and expiration date tracking directly into our WMS receiving workflow. Every inbound pallet was scanned and assigned a lot number and expiration date at receipt. In addition, we implemented first-expiry/first-out (FEFO) pick logic — so the oldest inventory always ships first.
This gave the brand something they had never had before: full traceability from import receipt through to end consumer. Therefore, when a retail buyer requested recall-readiness documentation, the brand could produce it immediately.
We built three separate fulfillment lanes at our Chicago facility — one for each channel. DTC orders received same-day pick and ship. Subscription orders ran as planned batch cycles on a fixed schedule. Retail orders were case-packed and labeled to each buyer’s specification. As a result, each channel met its SLA without competing with the others.
“Our previous 3PL couldn’t track a lot number to save their lives. Argents gave us full traceability — and peace of mind every time we get a retail audit.”
99.7% Order accuracy rate across all channels
100% Lot traceability on all inventory
40% Reduction in returns from fulfillment errors
0 FDA compliance incidents
With compliant storage and accurate fulfillment in place, the brand passed two retail buyer audits and expanded into specialty health retailers. They now manage DTC, subscription, and retail channels through a single Argents account — with one team accountable for all three.
Ingestible products carry unique responsibilities. Because they are regulated as food or dietary supplements, the warehouse facility, the handling protocols, and the traceability systems all matter in ways that a standard fulfillment operation simply cannot address.
Argents combines FDA-registered facilities, compliant WMS systems, and multi-channel fulfillment expertise under one roof. We handle the import freight and the warehouse, which means there are no gaps in accountability between inbound and outbound.
Ready to talk about your supplement fulfillment needs? Reach out to our team.