You probably already know Tiege Hanley. The men’s skincare brand has been a fixture of Chicago’s West Loop for nearly ten years, with over 500,000 customers and more than three million boxes shipped worldwide. What you might not know is how a company that hand-packs every order in a 10,000-square-foot Chicago warehouse manages to deliver to 108 countries every month.
“I don’t think we would be where we’re at today without Amazon,” Kelley Thornton, Founder and CEO of Tiege Hanley, said. “They are integrated into almost all aspects of our business.” International delivery, domestic logistics, subscriber retention, it all runs through Amazon, freeing the 25-person team in the West Loop to focus entirely on building the best skincare products possible.
Tiege Hanley launched in 2016 with a simple concept: give men everything they need for a skincare routine in one box with clear instructions. On day one, over a thousand customers ordered. Within five months, the company was cashflow positive. Ten years later, the company now ships to Canada, the UK and across Europe, with Australia and Asia on the horizon.
Tiege Hanley now ships to Canada, the UK and across Europe, with Australia and Asia on the horizon.
With the help of Amazon programs, Chojnacki said, Tiege Hanley customersare able toget their products faster nationally and worldwide.
The full Tiege Hanley teamworksfromtheirWest Loop headquarters handling marketing, finance, customer experience, operations, and fulfillment.
Getting product overseas from a single Chicago warehouse used to mean customers waited days. “If we’re shipping from here in Chicago, it’s going to take between three, four, five, six days,” said Patrick Chojnacki, the company’s Manager of Marketplaces, who grew up in nearby Joliet and attended the University of Illinois Chicago. With the help of Amazon programs, Chojnacki said, Tiege Hanley customers are able to get their products faster nationally and worldwide.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) lets Tiege Hanley store inventory in Amazon’s global fulfillment network and ship to UK customers no matter where they placed their order, whether that’s Amazon or Tiege.com. Thornton said MCF transformed the UK business overnight. “Amazon MCF in the UK has really uncomplicated our supply chain,” he said. “We’re now delivering products in one to two days and that has improved our sales in that region by 25 to 35%.”
Chojnacki explained why speed matters for a skincare company built on routine. “If we partner with someone like Amazon and have the product placed in a location that is closer to you or in a distribution area that gets it to you faster, that is incredibly important,” he said. “Without Amazon, our expansion internationally would likely be slower and more difficult.”
Subscribe & Save solves a different problem. Tiege Hanley is a routine-based company. The products work when customers use them consistently, month after month. Subscribe & Save automates that cadence for over 30,000 subscribers. “Like with any routine, if we’re gonna go to the gym, skincare, whatever it might be, doing it for a few days is really not going to make a massive change,” Chojnacki said. “If you sustain yourself and do this week over week, over month over month, that’s when you really start to see the impact.”
Without Amazon, our expansion internationally would likely be slower and more difficult. The availability ofproductis invaluable, and using these tools and features really makes it happen.
Thornton said Subscribe & Save also adds predictability to the business. “When the Tiege.com business could be up and down, Amazon’s always consistent and the reason why is we know that we have thousands of customers on Subscribe and Save.” Selling in Amazon’s store now represents approximately a third of the company’s total revenue.
The full Tiege Hanley team works from their West Loop headquarters handling marketing, finance, customer experience, operations, and fulfillment. “We’re fortunate to be in Chicago,” Thornton said. “Chicago is a place where talent is abundant. We have a Midwest attitude around being friendly, doing business the right way, and treating people with a lot of respect.”