Case Study
How THNKS Increased Its
AOV by 70% with Coasters
“Everything has been handled by Coasters flawlessly.
We simply promote products and Coasters handles the rest.”
– CEO, THNKS
Growing
business with gratitude
Thnks is a leading relationship-building platform that enables brands to instantly send personalized gestures of appreciation ideal for business development and team member gratitude. www.thnks.com
Highlights
CHALLENGES
- Shipping alcohol to different states
- Remaining in compliance with a complex web of regulations
- Manage all alcohol inventory, sales, and fulfillment with a single partner
Solution
- Partnering with Coasters, the nation's alcohol 3PL for compliant alcohol sales and delivery
- Leveraging Coasters' national network of liquor stores and vast inventory
- Fulfillment handled by Coasters
Results
- Thnks was able to add alcohol to their marketplace within weeks of partnering with Coasters
- AOV grew by 75%
- Increased LTV and heightened brand perception
- Zero compliance issues
Challenge
Adding alcohol and custom bundles to Thnks marketplace
Founded in 2016, Thnks quickly established itself as a leader in the gifting space, especially among business professionals. Over time, Thnks heard a similar question from hundreds of customers: “When are you going to offer alcohol as a gifting option?” In addition to the pressure of responding to customer feedback, other gifting platforms were starting to add alcohol to their platforms.
Thnks leadership understood the value of adding alcohol to its offerings, but a complex system of regulatory, inventory and fulfillment hurdles made it seem like it wouldn’t be possible without a substantial investment.
When looking for an alcohol fulfillment partner, Thnks realized that there were few–if any– companies that could execute to their high standards.
“
We knew our customers were willing to pay a premium for alcohol – especially when sending it as a gift. We knew that we could drive up AOV and provide amazing value to our users with cocktail bundles and other upsells like engraving, but there were so many problems we had to solve to make it happen.
Fortunately, we found Coasters. We see customers sending alcohol as a gift and having such a good experience that they not only come back to the platform to buy alcohol, but they are sending out more non-alcohol gifts, too.
”
“
Research was pretty daunting at first. We quickly realized we couldn’t sell alcohol legally or compliantly without working with a licensed alcohol 3PL. Shipping alcohol also has unique legal challenges within each state.
We learned Coasters was already assisting companies like Drizly, ReserveBar, and Vivino. We thought if they could help brands such as those, they could be a good fit for us.
”
“
The Coasters team worked with us every step of the way to ensure we were set up compliantly to receive payment and ship alcohol in every state we chose to sell in. Selecting the products and creating custom bundles, like tequila flights and cocktail sets, was also a piece of cake. Their team is amazing at helping us curate our offerings based on customer feedback.
”
Solution
Partner with Coasters to sell and ship alcohol online with a single partner
Inventory
Compliant sales
Fulfillment
Corporate Orders
“
The biggest advantage of working with Coasters is that we can sell alcohol online without doing much legwork. We trust Coasters to handle compliance, product inventory and fulfillment. And their corporate gifting services have also been a huge advantage for us – especially around the holidays and major corporate events!
”
“
Since we include bundles and creative product offerings in so many other non-alcoholic categories, we really wanted to ensure we could offer bundles with alcohol to our customers, too. Coasters was great in helping us craft bundles like “Taste of the Bourbon Trail” (selection of 3 craft whiskeys) or the “Manhattan Bundle” (all the ingredients needed for the classic cocktail), which our customers love!
”
Results
Increased sales and customer satisfaction
With Coasters’ help, Thnks was able to seamlessly add alcohol as a gifting option.
Thnks curated a selection of brands and types of alcohol that their customers love, including bundles and creative product offerings. After customers order from Thnks’ website, Coasters handles all the day-to-day operations of shipping and fulfilling orders while adhering to all legal and compliance regulations.
increase in AOV from $65 to $110.
of customers receive their order in three days or less
of customers that purchase alcohol return to place another order.
PARTNERS WE WORK WITH
