How Underoutfit reached 7 figures in 6 months and beat inventory stockouts.

Underoutfit’s 8fig Journey

Shapewear line Underoutfit launched and exploded in 2021, scaling from 0 to 7-figures in just 11 months. The founders, veteran eComm experts with a passion for creating brands from scratch, knew they had to be proactive after seeing the strong response to the product. Keeping up with the inventory, customer service, and warehouses quickly became a logistical nightmare and they needed a funding partner who understood the dynamic challenges of eCommerce as well as they did.

So how did Underoutfit scale so fast? By focusing on product quality. Intimate apparel is much more than fast fashion, it’s about everyday comfort. This is why Underoutfit’s strategy is to get the second purchase, not just the first.

“The first thing you do when you get out of the shower is go to your most comfortable shapewear brand,” said Felix Leshno, co-founder of Underoutfit. “That’s the experience we’re trying to create, to get customers’ brains to work automatically. Once you get a customer used to a certain level of comfort, the hand goes automatically.”

Underoutfit is delivering on its product quality promise – just read the customer reviews. As Felix says, “they’re like poetry.”

Eliminating Stockouts: Underoutfit’s Inventory Challenge

Underoutfit achieved success fast, experiencing 300% growth in 5 months and scaling from 0 to 7 figures in less than a year. This increase in demand came with growing pains, including stockouts of popular products. In June 2021, Underoutfit went from 200 to 600 orders a day and the warehouse began to collapse. Felix and his co-founders knew that this lack of inventory could be detrimental to the brand as it grew.

“Selling out is the most painful experience an eCommerce store can have so we understood we needed to get more inventory,” Felix explained. “Once you sell out it affects your ads but it also creates a much bigger ripple effect. People who want to exchange sizes can’t, so you have to return. Your support tickets start collapsing because you don’t have enough agents.”

Sales were great but internally, Underoutfit was in crisis mode. Felix knew that they needed access to capital to order more inventory, but doubted that he could find the right partner who both understood the dynamic nature of eCommerce and offered a fair cost of capital without taking revenue.

“We would not give up revenue… you don’t take equity out of your baby,” Felix said.

That’s when he found 8fig, an eCommerce funding solution that was equity-free, continuous, and designed to scale. This partnership allowed Felix to:

• Build a long-term growth plan focused on potential growth
• Take on adaptable, cost-effective capital
• Boldly execute an aggressive business plan with low risk

How 8fig Stood Out Against Other Funding Solutions

Felix isn’t shy about Underoutfit’s decision to take on funding because he’s confident that he chose the best partner to scale. “None of the other deals made any sense,” Felix said when remembering other lenders he evaluated. “We’re not like other startups. We have financial options, so I was looking for the best one.”

Online store owners experiencing hyper growth have the luxury of high product demand and good margins, but inventory challenges stand in the way of higher profits and scale. One-time loan disbursements for inventory tend to be bandaids rather than solutions, since in-demand products need to be restocked continuously.

“8fig was the only one who gave us the opportunity to create a long-term plan for a large amount,” Felix said. “$300K sounds like a lot of money but I understood after a month or month and a half I’d have to look for more inventory funding.”

Unlike other lenders he approached, 8fig also understood the dynamic nature of eCommerce supply chains. This is because the planning and funding technology that powers an 8fig Growth Plan was built by payment processing and supply chain risk management experts.

“With 8fig, there was a much deeper understanding of the merchant channel and how we order the inventory and how long it takes to deliver,” Felix said. “ECommerce is all about logistics and I felt good with 8fig as a partner because they understood that part.”

Underoutfit’s BFCM Success Continues Onwards

Unlike other eCommerce stores who have fallen prey to 2021 supply chain disruptions, Underoutfit was fully stocked and ready to take advantage of the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales event this year. As a new brand with a lot of inventory, Underoutfit also has freedom to take more risks such as lowering prices to play with Facebook’s algorithm.

“8fig is the best solution for someone that wants to make sure they never sell out again,” Felix said. “We can look at growth on a different level as 8fig allows us to order more inventory, spend more on advertising, and hire more customer service specialists.”

During BFCM, Underoutfit more than doubled its daily revenue, and after the weekend they’re continuing to grow from this high point. Felix knows that this ability to scale comes from having the right growth partners in place, and it also means him and the Underoutfit team can continue to focus their strategy on repeat customers and purchases.

The continuous and flexible nature of 8fig’s Growth Plans make it possible for online sellers to seize opportunities like BFCM. The technology analyzes past revenue to understand potential growth, and then lets sellers decide how much money they need to scale. The cost of capital is injected continuously rather than a lump sum, minimizing the risk and lowering the cost compared to other lenders.

8fig’s powerful Growth Planning tool lets our sellers reap the benefits and scale faster than they ever thought they could.

“I recommend 8fig to every eCommerce seller,” Felix said. “It’s the smartest solution I’ve seen so far.”

Are you ready to scale your eCommerce business to new heights? Start building your free Growth Plan today and apply for funding, or read more seller stories.