Ohi can deliver bottled drinks within two hours, thanks to new micro-fulfillment

Want that bottle of wine, that craft brew or canned coffee…and want it now, or as close to now as possible? While many online purchasing platforms allow for next day delivery and same day shipping, that near-to-instant-as-possible gratification required physically shopping for such things.

Enter Ohi. This micro-fulfillment company based in New York City allows brands to sell their products to customers within a two-hour delivery timetable, made possible by its network of ‘micro warehouses’ in big metropolitan locations like New York City and Los Angeles. “We really focus on beverage and beauty,” says Ben Jones, CEO and founder of Ohi.

Ohi started just a year ago, but it has seen an uptick in volume from beverage brands that’s ten times what it was at the end of March, and it has quadrupled the number of brands using its services since March. “It used to be if you want something straight away, your option is to go down to your local CVS, and you buy it, but if you’re trying to compete with this in direct to consumer, you need to offer that similar level of experience,” Jones says. “It’s more the immediate gratification.”

Ohi offers either same day or two-hour, sustainable delivery options for consumers who place their purchase between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., seven days a week. Using proprietory technology, Ohi positions the inventory of its brand partners closer to the end consumer, using a network of smaller warehouses located throughout city centers, and Ohi partners with courier services to ensure packages are transported, sometimes via walk and bike messengers. “Our customers are very happy to order Athletic in the afternoon and have it waiting for them when they get home,” says Jamie Lissette, CEO of Athletic Brewing Company. “One customer ordered at 5:30 and had it delivered by 6 p.m., timed perfectly with his Uber Eats order. We sell thousands of packages of non-alcoholic beer a week, and it is great to have same day options in certain metro areas.”

“We help brands predict what they should send us,” Jones says. “For example, we might say ‘you’re going to sell 30 in the next month so they’ll send it on a big truck to our location, and then our system checkout offers consumers the option of two hours or same day.”

Ohi works with numerous, different couriers to ensure this two-hour or same-day delivery window. “It often comes within a half an hour,” Jones says. “It’s very fast, and we have customers texting us, saying ‘This is incredible. Normally, I have to wait five days, and now I’m getting it in less than two hours.”

Part of Ohi’s incredible growth can be pointed to the overall growth in direct to consumer because of the COVID-19 virus. “I think this will continue to grow,” Jones says.

Michael Sharon, CEO and co-founder of  Taika, a specialty canned coffee brand, says that Ohi enabled his company to quickly switch to selling direct to consumer. “In early 2020, we had built a strong business delivering our perfectly calibrated, adaptogen infused coffee directly to startups in San Francisco,” Sharon says. “As soon as the pandemic hit in March, 100 percent of those customers disappeared, but we were able to use Ohi to pivot overnight from becoming a B2B business to delivering coffee DTC within two hours.”

Sharon points out that Taika’s transition from B2B to DTC happened during the very early days of the pandemic when many companies were taking weeks to deliver their products direct to consumers, and Ohi helped Taika deliver more than 50,000 cans of coffee within four months of their launch. “Ohi also was the only company we were able to do this with in all three cities we were operating in – New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Sharon says. “They simplified the process of warehousing and delivering our refrigerated coffee and allowed us to focus on innovating on the product experience and our marketing rather than building a team to manage the backend operations.”

 “We regularly get delighted text messages from our customers telling us how they love the delivery speed,” Sharon says.

Same day delivery options has been game-changing for OLIPOP, healthy alternatives to soda. “Delivery beverages same day really brightens our customers’ days,” says Eli Weiss, director of customer experience. “Being able to find a delicious drink they love in the morning and have it later that day really leveled up our offering, and Ohi’s attention to detail on every single delivery really changed the game for us.”

 “The surprise – and delight – element for the customer to see the same-day shipping option on our site and then to receive the product so quickly, sometimes in less than an hour, is incredible,” adds Steven Vigilante, growth marketing for OLIPOP. “It has created some awesome UGC (user-generated content) moments for us on social. It’s also hugely beneficial for us to be able to quickly send product out to influencers and celebrities in two of our key markets, New York City and Los Angeles.”

Recently, OLIPOP launched a new flavor, and Vigilante says Ohi was integral to its success. “Launching our Orange Squeeze a few weeks ago with the same day delivery vastly improved our overall execution of that launch,” he says.

Ohi is bringing, on average, 60 new brands a month on board. “We keep growing and keep accelerating,” Jones says. “If you put yourself in consumers’ shoes  - if they’ve been getting products within two hours, that’s what they come to expect, and that becomes the new norm.” 

 Ohi has plans to expand, and eventually, it might have a network of micro-distribution centers across the country. “My hope is that we continue growing very quickly and bring on new brands and new markets to offer this as an amazing experience to consumers all over the U.S.”