Local brand’s carrier oils soothe the body and mind of its customers
Spas, along with their calming lush, and earthy scent, bring comfort and ease to our active bodies and busy minds. This is what ABCD Organics, a local brand offering pure, organic, therapeutic-grade essential and carrier oils, envisions to similarly do: alleviate the internal worries of their customers while relaxing their physiques. With fulfillment expert LOCAD, ABCD Organics delivers ease and comfort to stressed hardworking Filipinos by directly bringing these oils right to customers’ doorsteps.
Easy as ABCD
Suffering from severe acne problems, ABCD Organics CEO Neil Bernardo turned to essential oils and found that tamanu oil can help alleviate skin conditions. His personal success story of clearing his acne, along with a lack of essential oil industries in the country, persuaded him to kickstart his business. He also saw the potential for plant-based and therapeutic-grade essential oils to do well in the local online marketplaces. The scarcity of stores offering similar products, as well as the growing interest of Filipinos in aromatherapy, further propelled his business for growth.
ABCD Organics started as a homegrown business where Bernardo and his mother handled every aspect of the business – from packing and marketing to quality checks. “My mom did makeshift quality checks that included randomly throwing away boxes to ensure that the packaging is done correctly and not hastily,” he narrates.
To make the process easier for his mom who had poor eyesight, Bernardo labeled his products in four-letter words along with appropriate colors for each product. This labeling proved effective as his customers could easily identify the products with their four letters and designated color. For instance, oregano essential oil was labeled as “OGNO,” avocado as “AVCD,” and basil as “BASL.”
ABCD Organics started with roughly 25 orders per week. Bernardo’s mother soon tapped other family members to help in the logistics which they found manageable at that time. The sweet smell of success finally came when just weeks before the pandemic, ABCD Organics hit 150 to 200 orders per week.
The sweet smell of success
From the very start of the lockdowns, ABCD Organics was included in the list of vendors who were allowed to deliver their products: they were “essential” oils and qualified as “essential” goods.
From a steady stream of orders during the company’s first few months, its sales grew a few weeks before the pandemic, hitting an average of 40 to 50 daily orders. Those numbers continue until now.
As a result of that high volume of orders, the family dynamic of doing fulfillment did not last long. Bernardo started outsourcing fulfillment to professionals to keep up.
During his search for a fulfillment partner, not many providers returned his call, probably because ABCD Organics was a start-up business. LOCAD was the exception and partnering with it fueled the company’s further growth. ABCD Organics signed up with LOCAD at the end of 2020 as one of its first clients.
Bernardo cited LOCAD’s services as his selling point, pointing out that his own IT background helped him better understand the benefits of its technology. Before, he manually encoded sales numbers and other data; these days, he has more time to focus on improving other aspects of the business.
The owner also credited LOCAD’s way of managing their products because the firm is doing it with care, like how his family members did it. “My sales are picking up because of the partnership. I have more time to focus on handling the marketing side of ABCD Organics because of LOCAD,” Bernardo shares.
Venturing beyond essential oils
For the next few months, Bernardo envisions expanding ABCD Organics’ product line by increasing its portfolio of essential oil blends and hanging diffusers. Artisanal bar soap and linen sprays can also be expected in the upcoming roster of new products.
LOCAD’s services not only enable business expansion but also allow Bernardo to have quality time with his loved ones. “Before partnering with LOCAD, my family and I could not go on vacation trips. After employing their services, I can now have more time with them while being able to attend to ABCD Organics’ other aspects,” Bernardo emphasizes.
He looks forward to furthering collaboration with LOCAD as it not only helps boost the sales of ABCD Organics but also frees his and his family’s minds from unnecessary worries. Just like how spas, along with their calming and refreshing scent, lull our minds and bodies into serenity.