Meet Karlo Nazarian of Ship Depot in Alhambra

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karlo Nazarian.

Karlo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I left corporate America in 2006 and started an eCommerce logistics business with my brother. Our services included procuring products, warehousing inventory, and fulfilling online orders. Like any new startup, the first few years were very challenging as we struggled to learn the business and compete in an industry-changing daily. We discovered our niche was with small boutique online sellers. Through my industry contacts, we were able to reach out to a few small etailers and convince them that if they gave us all their labor intensive “dirty work”, they could focus on what’s important, growing their business and delivering awesome customer experience. And our sales pitch went something like this: How much time and money are you spending on researching vendors, procurement, warehousing, shipping, etc. How about if we took over all that and did it better, for less? More time for you, less money out of your pocket. That simple sales pitch got us started.

In 2018 we started Ship Depot with the goal of scaling the business and branding ourselves as a full-service 3PL company. But we didn’t want that to minimize or degrade our reputation for our 5-star customer service. We knew that to do it effectively we needed to continue thinking and operating like a boutique 3PL service provider, offering unique, specialized services and being “one phone call away” for any of our customers, no matter how large we got. Almost every potential prospect we would talk to would tell us that they felt their 3PL service provider just didn’t care enough to respond or handle requests on time, with care or accuracy. As a business owner, that rang as a monster opportunity for me.

In our business, I tell my clients they can call me any day/ any time. If I have to, I will drive to the warehouse and do an inventory count, process an order, package a product, or troubleshoot a system. My wife doesn’t like it so much, but she knows why I do it. We have a motto: Our business is like a daycare. Parents will drop off their babies here and we need to take care of them and make sure they are properly received, handled, and picked up in a timely manner… We love getting compliments for our going-above-and-beyond attitude and work ethic, it puts a smile on everybody’s face 🙂 And we make sure our team members get rewarded.

Our senior management team is a combination of what I call young and old blood. From 26 to 48 years old (me being the 48, yikes!) we have lots of energy, therefore, work long hours and are radically passionate about providing awesome customer service. Which makes sense because they help pay our bills:) and everybody in our organization believes in this. In addition, we are radically transparent with our clients. We give them what they ask for. If there is a misunderstanding or mistake on our part, we will step up and accept it, learn from it, and continue improving our game!

Has it been a smooth road?
No doubt, it has been a very bumpy road. Took a lot of trial and error to learn how to do things better and more efficiently. Because we are in a very thin margin business, the only way we can survive and stay competitive is by constantly looking to improve our game. As simple as it sounds, delivering quality 3PL services for our customers doesn’t come without daily headaches. From a myriad of inventory issues to complex ecommerce integrations, we are always confronted with unexpected issues that require immediate and in depth expertise. And because online businesses are running 24/7, there are all types of challenges when it comes to troubleshooting and fixing problems without any disruption to our clients’ businesses. So yes, we have gone through some serious growing pains. Luckily, we now have much improved technical systems and operational processes, but every day we continue to find little opportunities to do things better. Finding the right talent and building the right team was also a big challenge.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in the following:

Inventory management
Online or Offline Order fulfillment
Building kits, bundles, specialized packages, etc.
Amazon fulfillment services (FBA)
Integrated Technology services.
Fully customized Shipping and Handling services

We are known for our customer obsession attitude. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that we add value to our customer’s businesses. I guess you can say not only do we get sh*t done, but we get it done right. And all this is done with our awesome technology platform. Our entire business is managed online and that gives our clients full transparency into everything through their own login portal/dashboard.

I am most proud of every single one of our team members. We are one big family and we operate that way. That means that every day is a mystery as to what new challenges we will face and overcome.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
With the right amount of passion, drive and determination, LA is the perfect place for anyone to start a business.

Contact Info:

• Address: 905 Westminster Ave #F
  Alhambra, CA 91803
• Website: shipdepot.com

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