Story

Casey Heim comes from a small farming town in Kansas where his family runs the local Case IH farm equipment dealership. This gave Casey the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of business operations from a young age. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and went on to work at major companies, like Honeywell.

After buying a boat in 2017, Casey became interested in wakesurfing. The expensive wakesurf products on the market deterred Casey from making a purchase. WAKE 10 was born when he decided to build his own device that creates a surfable wave when attached to a boat. Casey contacted a local plastics company in Kansas City to manufacture the main component of his product, the plastic body of the wakesurf shaper, but he needed to find a supplier to create the suction cups. He continued his search on Alibaba.com.

Solution

Casey placed his first order on Alibaba.com in 2018 and had to arrange shipment separately with freight forwarders. The traditional freight forwarding experience is complex and difficult to navigate. Casey had little clarity into pricing and could not track his order. While the product met his standards, his freight experience was subpar.

He later heard about Alibaba.com Freight and decided to try out the new solution. His experience immediately improved. The user-friendly interface impressed Casey, turning a daunting and complicated task into a simple, step-by-step process. He could access necessary information about his order and shipment all in one platform, compare quotes from different freight forwarding companies, and track his order in real-time through the “Shipment Visualization” tool. One of Casey’s favorite features is the ability to manage his orders door-to-door. He orders less than a container load (LCL) of suction cups twice a year directly to his warehouse, saving him time and energy.

Success

After doing all of the assembly, packaging, and shipping 
himself for two years, Casey now has a supply chain set up through Alibaba.com that allows a more hands-off approach to grow WAKE 10. He receives the parts he needs through an easy, reliable, and transparent shipping method. Casey expects to expand the product line this summer with four new innovative products. The WAKE 10 products are sold in 30 different countries but Casey hopes to continue growing the business.

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