Introduction

Located in the heart of Asheville, North Carolina, WNC CBD dominates the coastal cannabis industry. WNC, named for the Western North Carolina region in which the business is based, is a family-owned and operated hemp distributor, focused on providing great products and exceptional customer service. 

Michael Belliveau, the founder of WNC CBD, founded the business in January 2019, after a longtime friend introduced him to another hemp brand. “I did it all for about three years. Even days where I had over 100 orders to ship, I was doing all that by myself.” said Belliveau. “ I was your customer service rep. I was your sales rep. I was the one weighing out your order, putting it into bags, heat-sealing it, putting it into a box, printing the label, shipping it…I literally did it all.”

But even in the early years, the scale of customer claims was beginning to impact the business. 

Route is the gold standard

“Almost immediately, I was dealing with shipping problems where customers’ orders were damaged in transit, or their order was somehow lost and never delivered. Being so small at the time, every dollar counted, but we still wanted to be able to do the right thing and replace the package for those people. And so we had to file claims with the carriers, and that was just a massive headache,” Belliveau recounts. Then he came across Route. 

“It was music to my ears…it allows the replacement or refund process to be a lot smoother and hands off, and it’s taken  a lot of customer service work off of our plate and allowed customers to file the claims for replacements on their own. Without a doubt, Route has increased sales and allowed for fewer support tickets.”

And while Belliveau says the cost and time savings for his team have been significant, the biggest benefit Route provides his business is seamless customer experiences. 

“We have proudly cultivated our passion for cannabis for over 15 years with a commitment to providing an unparalleled experience to our customers by delivering the highest quality hemp products. Route fits right in by offering shipping protection to the many customers we service,” said Belliveau. “Without Route, if a customer had an order that was marked as delivered, but they didn’t get it, we would replace that. And if we did, we would either be operating at a breakeven or loss. Now with Route, we’re providing customer satisfaction, profitably.”

Seamless CX that scales

Since 2019, WNC CBD has scaled significantly. They now have 17 full-time employees and are currently building out their third location, including a wholesale and production facility and retail shipping facility. 

In closing, Belliveau left these thoughts for other ecommerce business owners. “Route allows for a seamless experience if customers have an issue. Traditionally, if you have to replace a customer’s package, it’s at a loss. With Route, you’re actually making more money. It also dials down the number of customer claims surrounding issues with packages and just allows them to resolve them in their own portal, which is really great. Any business that doesn’t have Route is losing time and money.”

"Any business that doesn't have Route is losing time and money.”