When United by Blue added dropshipping to their storefront, the goal wasn’t just to expand their catalog, it was to do it responsibly. As a purpose-driven brand known for removing one pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold, their ecommerce operations had to support, not compromise, that mission.
But manual vendor processes quickly created roadblocks. With Flxpoint, United by Blue found a way to automate the hard parts of dropshipping while staying flexible, scalable, and aligned with their values.
From Local Retail to Nationwide Dropship: Why the Shift Made Sense
Founded in 2010, United by Blue began as a brick-and-mortar retailer focused on sustainable materials and environmental impact. In 2013, ecommerce helped the brand amplify its mission. But when the pandemic hit, internal purchase orders slowed, and the team saw an opportunity to try dropshipping, with a twist.
Dropshipping was easily justifiable as COVID hit everyone’s supply chains in pretty profound ways.
Daniel Taylor, Omnichannel Merchandiser
“We began reaching out to vendors who wanted to unload excess inventory based on the uncertainty of how the year would play out," Daniel continues.
Instead of building a one-size-fits-all workflow, they launched curated dropship partnerships, one at a time. This helped them onboard smaller brands and float new product ideas without adding risk, but the manual work quickly became unsustainable. Inventory was shared via emails and spreadsheets, and order tracking relied heavily on team members juggling updates manually. That’s when they turned to Flxpoint.
Automating Dropship Ops With Flxpoint
United by Blue needed a platform that could simplify vendor onboarding and support varied integration types, from flat files to full Shopify and API connections. Flxpoint delivered. According to Taylor, they understood what they were asking of their vendors because they’d already been through the process themselves.
When onboarding as a vendor for another Flxpoint client, our ops team was impressed by the easy integration process. We thought it would be a pleasant pitch to partners to say, ‘here’s how easy it is to set up,’ having done so from the other end.
Daniel Taylor, Omnichannel Merchandiser
Today, United by Blue connects to vendors through CSV files, APIs, and Shopify store integrations. With Shopify locations and tags, vendors retain control over the products they make available. This flexible setup helps the team cater to each partner’s technical capabilities.
“Using Flxpoint, we’ve been able to successfully react to the specific needs of each of our partners,” Taylor says. “It feels like there’s enough flexibility to determine a suitable workaround if they don’t want to do things a certain way.”
The results? Major time savings and smoother internal operations. “Before, our customer experience manager was tasked with sending order and tracking information emails to customers in addition to his regular duties. Now, all of those emails are automated,” he explains.
A Smarter Way to Scale a Mission-Driven Brand
With inventory automation in place, United by Blue has more time to invest in the heart of their business, developing ethical products and growing their brand with purpose. Their team now uses Flxpoint not just to scale their vendor network but to do it in a way that’s sustainable on both an operational and environmental level.
They’re able to launch new product lines without taking on inventory risk, maintain accurate listings without manual oversight, and offer better visibility across orders, all from a single platform.
By using Flxpoint to automate the backend, they’ve built a dropshipping model that supports growth without the usual ecommerce headaches.
Sustainability at Scale Starts With Smart Tech
United by Blue proves that you can expand your catalog and impact, without expanding your workload. With Flxpoint as core parts of their ecommerce stack, the brand now runs a more efficient, mission-aligned business that’s ready for what’s next.
If your team is managing growing vendor lists, juggling spreadsheets, or trying to scale without losing control, United by Blue’s story shows there’s a better way forward.