[Case Study] Alen Corporation maintains 300% growth with Stord

Alen Corporation utilizes Stord to power their consumer experience through a robust physical fulfillment network with integrated technology allowing continued commerce growth.

About Alen Corporation

Air pollution kills millions of people per year - contributing to one in ten deaths globally¹. Since the pandemic, demand for portable air purifiers has been dramatically growing. In 2020 the market swelled by 57%² and now the air purifier market is valued at $23.72 billion and forecasted to reach $48.9 billion by the end of 2034³.

Founded in 2005, Alen Corporation is an Austin-based innovator of award-winning HEPA air purifiers, that has experienced firsthand the urgent demand for quality air purifiers. With 5 unique units designed for different home use cases and a robust DTC and B2B business model, Alen Corporation is uniquely positioned to continue growing rapidly as market opportunities skyrocket.

The challenge of demanding demand

In Alen Corporation’s 20 years, they have seen both a massive shift in overall market demand as well as a demand for elevated consumer experience. In 2005 Amazon first introduced the concept of two-day delivery model for e-commerce fulfillment, since then consumers have come to expect all brands to provide faster and cheaper delivery with greater visibility into their order status.

From 2005 to 2020, Alen Corporation managed all of its own warehousing and fulfillment operations from a single node in Texas. This setup required massive investments into personnel, equipment, and land. When the pandemic intensified operational pressures, Alen Corporation confronted the complicated decision of expanding its own capabilities or pivoting to a commerce enablement provider.

With the need for Alen Corporation’s products in demand across both the private and public sectors, the strain across their existing systems caused long packout delays - with an average of 5 days lead time before an order was ready to be shipped to a customer. This dwelling caused communication mishaps, confused and angry customers, and forced costly parcel service levels to attempt to hit promised delivery times.

Fast as the wind

Alen Corporation required a change and couldn’t leave its customer loyalty up in the air. With Stord, Alen Corporation simplified its entire consumer experience by leveraging a complete end-to-end commerce enablement platform. Instantly, Alen Corporation was able to unlock a multi-node strategy through Stord’s network of first-party and vetted partner fulfillment locations, bringing products closer to customers and alleviating cumbersome internal operational expenses. From 2020 to 2025, Alen Corporation has scaled from one location to three robust centers.

This distributed inventory is powered by Stord’s Order Management System (OMS), Stord One Commerce. Through a digital understanding of all inventory, Alen Corporation can easily ensure all B2B and DTC orders are fulfilled from the most efficient location based on workflows defined by their internal teams.

Alen Corporation’s dispersed inventory necessitated perfect records of all orders.  All sales channels and marketplaces were also integrated with Stord's OMS, which intelligently communicates with warehouse associates and Alen Corporation teams, providing real-time status reports on all orders - eliminating internal confusion and dwell time. These systems instantly flag any unexpected delays and route critical alerts so that all orders make it out the door rapidly.

Since working with Stord, Alen Corporation has dramatically reduced the time it takes to prep an order for shipment from five days down to one, allowing a stated delivery of free 2 day shipping. Now, Alen Corporation is exceeding expectations and delighting their end consumer on every order at scale.

Sustained growth despite complexity with single commerce enablement provider

Alen Corporation’s expansive network of fulfillment centers creates a complex inventory management requirement. This is further intensified due to their configured orders and subscription replacement filter add-ons. With different availability of cosmetic options across the various model lines, the potential for errors in the packaging process is elevated. These additional steps contributed to Alen Corporation’s original lengthy packaging time, leading to shipment delays.

Stord’s team of experts created dedicated solutions to ensure that all variations of orders are properly sourced, starting with the in-cart selection process by the end consumer and flowing effortlessly to the picker. These picking and packing strategies contributed drastically to the reduction of packout times and delivery delays.

Through Stord, Alen Corporation has a single commerce enablement partner, meaning all order records, delivery information, inventory logs, and human workforce is vertically integrated to benefit their end consumer experience. This design eliminates the pain of disparate partners struggling to communicate, leveraging incompatible technologies, or pointing fingers when exceptions arise. Instead, a single partner, dedicated to Alen Corporation and its customers, aids the consumer journey from the cart all the way through to their front door and beyond.

A breath of fresh air

Care is at the center of everything for Alen Corporation: care for their team, care for their products, and care for their customers. Alen Corporation lives this through a history of donation and philanthropy, donating equipment to those on the healthcare front-line and those without means.

This same dedication to care is also at the core of this partnership with Stord. Stord’s team constantly evaluates performance and aligns those efforts with Alen Corporation’s growth goals. This lockstep approach makes it possible for rapid expansion into new locations and markets without the need for expanding headcount or infrastructure investments. Together, Alen Corporation can identify emergent markets and reach them with the same level of care.

The future of Alen Corporation

Alen Corporation is poised to exceed its ambitious goals and Stord is ready to help surpass them. In the immediate future, Alen Corporation is looking to expand globally - eyeing fulfillment centers in Canada and beyond. This multi-national structure would open totally new markets while maintaining Alen Corporation’s free 2 day shipping promise at scale without sacrificing consumer experience or bloating operational expenses.

The Alen Corporation team can breathe easy knowing that they will always deliver the best HEPA air purifiers on the market with industry-leading consumer experience on every order anywhere in the world with Stord.

References

1. Our World in Data - Air Pollution Our Overview of indoor and outdoor air pollution
2. Los Angeles Times - Air Purifiers in Demand as COVID-19 Collides with Wildfire Season. What buyers should know.
3. Fact.MR - Air Purifier Marker