How Vermont Marshmallow Doubled Wholesale AOV with Vanik

Learn how Vanik grew Vermont Marshmallow’s average order value by 100% while saving 10+ hours a month

Founded in 2019 by chef Alexx Shuman, Vermont Marshmallow was born out of a simple yet bold idea: to reinvent the marshmallow. What began as a one-woman business at farmers markets in Vermont has grown into a thriving company with a growing national presence. Now in its sixth year, the brand has expanded beyond local events into ecommerce, wholesale, and foodservice, with demand consistently outpacing supply.

Staying true to its Vermont roots, the company has maintained its artisanal quality while selling nationwide through their DTC site, wholesale, and food service channels. They pride themselves on simple ingredients that make their marshmallows “boldly flavored” and “pillowy as heck.” A core collection anchors the brand, while monthly and seasonal releases keep things fresh and exciting for customers. 

At the heart of Vermont Marshmallow’s wholesale success is Katelyn Whitman, the company’s Director of Business Development. Katelyn started on the packaging line three years ago and has since worked in nearly every role except making marshmallows herself. Today, she leads wholesale growth with a focus on building relationships and helping retailers succeed with the product.

The Vermont Marshmallow Wholesale Expansion

When Katelyn joined, she immediately saw the opportunity to double down on wholesale. She began cultivating direct relationships with store buyers, walking into shops, recommending products, and building strong connections.

That effort paid off. Today, Vermont Marshmallow is in over 100 stores nationwide, ranging from co-ops and independent gift shops to specialty chocolate retailers. Their wholesale model has become a core driver of revenue, with many accounts reordering monthly or even biweekly due to strong sell-through.

Challenges Before Vanik

Before using Vanik, Vermont Marshmallow’s wholesale operations were time-consuming and manual. “I had a spreadsheet with names, email addresses and order history - it was my holy grail. I had to email 50-60 retailers asking if they needed a reorder in addition to informing them of any new special releases. Launching new flavors required hands-on communication and heavy back-and-forth,” Katelyn told us. 

Because Katelyn didn’t have any tools or platforms to help, this was a manual and time-intensive process that did not stop when the order was placed. “After the retailer placed an order, I needed to manually create each shipping label and invoice which took time away from other areas of the business. This process was certainly not scaleable.” 

How Vanik Transformed Wholesale for Vermont Marshmallow

Vermont Marshmallow partnered with Vanik to simplify and grow their wholesale business by  making ordering seamless for their growing wholesale customer base. 

“Vanik integrated directly with our DTC Shopify store and quite honestly, it shouldn’t have been that easy to set-up - it is wild for me to think about how we were set-up ready to go in less than 45 minutes. Now, anytime an order is generated by Vanik, it automatically flows to Shopify, so I no longer need to spend time creating a label or invoice, it’s like magic!”

Not only can Vanik stay on top of retailers to collect reorders seamlessly, it is also able to launch seasonal flavors without the bottlenecks of the past. Instead of manually emailing retailers and creating labels one by one, Katelyn is able to email all of her retailers to let them know about new flavors “allowing them to purchase what they want in a few clicks.” 

“Leveraging Vanik has really been transformative to the Vermont Marshmallow business. In only a few short months, we’ve increased our average order value by about 100% (or around $100 an order) because our retailers can now easily purchase items from our entire catalog right through an email.”

Not only is Katelyn seeing a revenue jump, she’s also getting time back in her day. “I’d say that Vanik is easily saving me 10+ hours a month. And I’m putting that time right back into the business - working on forecasting, strategy, and better equipping the business to scale.” 

On the other end of the Vanik experience, retailers “have been loving the straightforward, intuitive buying process that has been making the entire ordering process smooth and stress-free.” 

Looking Ahead with Vanik

Katelyn sees Vanik as an essential partner in Vermont Marshmallow’s future growth:

“I’m already a Vanik power-user so needless to say that I’m super stoked for the growth of Vanik. It’s allowing me to kind of put our wholesale business on autopilot and think about other areas of the business. I only see our Vanik book of business growing over the course of the next year.”

If you’re looking to learn more about how Vanik can help you scale your wholesale business, while getting time back, set-up time to chat with the team.