Case Study

Tails & Trotters

About Tails & Trotters

Founded by Aaron Silverman and inspired by the regional cured hams of Europe, Tails & Trotters is the Pacific Northwest’s first signature pork producer using pigs finished on local hazelnuts. Tails & Trotters can be found in stores and restaurants nationwide. Our flagship store in Northeast Portland provides customers with everything from holiday hams to sweet Italian sausage and ground pork for the home cook.

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Tails & Trotter's Challenge

Tails & Trotters’ previous eCommerce system did not accommodate selling products by net weight. This deficiency led to significant difficulties, ranging from inability to charge customers accurately for the products they receive and confusion around packing orders.

This difficulty arose particularly with higher-priced items like Tails & Trotters’ Sweetheart Ham, or Premium Pork Steak, which retails at $21/lb. Ultimately, Tails & Trotters needed a system that could handle cases like:

Selling items by weight and custom increments

Reconciling orders with final packed quantities

Ability to handle flat-rate shipping, local delivery, and pickups on one platform

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Freshline's Solution

Freshline’s retail e-commerce and fulfillment tools enabled Tails & Trotters to set a custom pre-authorization amount to serve as a deposit for Tails & Trotters’ sold-by-the-pound products. With this feature, they could ensure a guaranteed payment for their products’ final weight by the assigned fulfillment date. This eliminates manual refunds, top-ups, and cutting heavy - while ensuring their customers only pay for what they received.

Tails & Trotters was able to sell items by their desired unit of measure (LB), while setting minimum case sizes and purchase increments (i.e. 5LB, 2.5LB) that matched up with the average weight of the item.

Finally, Tails & Trotters was able to create multiple service locations such as PNW Shipping, Nationwide Shipping, and Local Pickup - all with their own unique fulfillment schedules and minimums.

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The Result

Tails & Trotters has been ecstatic with the operational improvements and the increased sales seen from ease of use with the new site and more functionality for its customers.

When asked to comment on partnering with Freshline, Aaron, Tails & Trotters' owner said:

"Overall, the site worked fantastic this season! I think we doubled our online sales, and most of our new customers who pre-ordered & just picked up at the shop were new customers. Lots of details still sifting in of course, but I definitely wanted to let you know that it was an amazing improvement over what we had. Thank you so much for all the personal support you continue to provide!”