📦 Case Study: How Casper Scaled Its Mattress Business with 3PL Fulfillment
🛏️ Brand Overview
Brand: Casper Sleep Inc.
Founded: 2014 (USA)
Industry: Sleep / Consumer Goods (Mattresses, Pillows, Bedding)
Sales Channels: DTC via website, Amazon, retail partnerships (Target, Nordstrom)
Fulfillment Partner: XPO Logistics (now GXO), and later Radial for omnichannel
Scale: $100M+ in revenue within 2 years of launch
🚨 The Challenge: Hyper-Growth with Heavy Products
When Casper launched in 2014, it disrupted the mattress industry with a simple idea: sell high-quality mattresses online, ship them in a box, and offer a 100-night trial.
But rapid growth came with serious operational challenges:
- Mattresses are bulky, heavy, and high-value — making shipping expensive and complex
- Returns (up to 10–15%) required reverse logistics planning
- Casper had no warehouse or logistics background — but demand exploded
- Fulfillment had to be fast, reliable, and scalable nationwide
They needed a logistics solution that could deliver the brand experience while handling the physical complexity.
✅ The Solution: Outsourcing Fulfillment to 3PL Partners
Casper made the strategic decision to outsource logistics from Day 1, choosing 3PLs with national infrastructure and experience in large-format goods.
Key Steps Taken:
- Partnered with XPO Logistics for initial warehousing and nationwide shipping
- Implemented a hub-and-spoke model, storing inventory closer to major customer clusters to enable 2-day shipping
- Later added Radial to handle DTC, retail, and omnichannel logistics as they expanded into physical stores
- Developed custom integrations between their e-commerce platform and the 3PL’s WMS (Warehouse Management System)
The 3PLs handled:
- Inbound freight from manufacturers
- Kitting and compression of mattresses into boxes
- Order fulfillment across the U.S.
- Handling returns — including coordination with donation centers or recycling partners
📈 The Results: Fulfillment Became a Growth Enabler
| Metric | Before (In-House Trials) | After Outsourcing |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment time | 5–7 days | 2–3 days nationwide |
| Delivery accuracy | ~90% | >99.5% |
| Return coordination | Manual and inconsistent | Streamlined with 3PL process |
| Warehousing footprint | 1 location | Multiple regional DCs |
| Cost per shipment | High, unpredictable | Stable, scalable unit economics |
🧠 Strategic Benefits Realized
- Scalability: Casper could serve thousands of customers weekly without building its own logistics team.
- Focus on brand & product: The team focused on innovation and marketing, not warehouse ops.
- Customer satisfaction: Fast, reliable deliveries and smooth returns helped drive 5-star reviews and word-of-mouth.
- Data & forecasting: Their 3PL provided analytics to optimize inventory placement and lower costs.
💬 What Casper Said
“We knew from the beginning we couldn’t be experts in everything. Outsourcing fulfillment was key to letting us scale fast while keeping the customer experience seamless.”
— Neil Parikh, Co-Founder, Casper
📌 Lessons for Other Brands
- Outsourcing early is not a weakness — it’s strategic.
Casper scaled rapidly by focusing on what they did best and handing off fulfillment to experts. - Choose 3PLs with infrastructure aligned to your product type.
Bulky items require different handling and delivery logistics than beauty or apparel. - Integrate tech from the start.
Real-time data helped Casper make smarter inventory and delivery decisions. - Returns matter as much as deliveries.
Casper turned returns into an experience that maintained customer trust.
🌍 Final Word
Today, Casper is a global sleep brand valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. Its early decision to outsource logistics didn’t just solve operational problems — it enabled its rise as one of the most recognizable DTC brands in the world.