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How Wild Earth Saved $720,000+ by Switching to Platter

Wild Earth is a biotechnology company pioneering plant-based dog food treats and supplements. Through research, they have found that dogs on plant-based diets live, on average, about one and a half years longer than those on a meat-based diet. The protein is sourced from yeast, which is a lot cleaner and more environmentally friendly than alternative pet food brands. The result is complete nutrition with all the flavorful benefits your furry friend expects. Following an expensive and complicated tech shakeup, Wild Earth was looking for a partner to help simplify storefront maintenance and give them control.

$720,000+ saved in annual developer costs
Reduced reliance on 3rd party apps and developers
Moving away from headless to a simplified storefront operation
Customer
Wild Earth
Platform
Shopify Plus
Industry
Pet Food

“Platter is great. They respond super fast. When we had a few panic moments they were on top of it immediately even in some instances when it was technically end of day or after hours.”

Nikita Michelsen
Chief of Staff, Wild Earth

The Problem

Lack of Flexibility

Prior to moving to Platter, Wild Earth’s site was built using custom code preventing non-technical team members from making storefront contributions or customizations. The team was hesitant to make changes in fear that it would result in breaking the site or creating bugs.

Complications with Headless

Wild Earth had recently moved to a headless commerce solution, which required a team of four dedicated developers. When taking into account software fees and headcount, the solution’s running costs were in excess of $60,000 a month. In addition, analytics and other vital integrations habitually broke because of custom code.

Storefront Complexity

Besides the headless solution, Wild Earth’s storefront was built using up to 15 different 3rd party apps, all with their own integrations and customer service teams. Managing the storefront requires wrangling communication between over a dozen different partners, which puts a strain on the team (not to mention added thousands of dollars in operating expenses).

Why Platter

Empowering Non-Technical Team Members

Platter’s theme and app bundle is designed to empower non-technical team members. The Wild Earth team is now able to create their own pages or customize existing ones without relying on expensive developers with slow timelines.

Quick, Easy Turnarounds

Compared to other solutions that Wild Earth was presented with, Platter provided unmatched speed to market and quality.

Moving Away from Headless

Platter allowed Wild Earth to completely move off of their previous headless solution, unlocking over $720,000 in annual maintenance fees in the process.

Simplified Maintenance

Unlike their previous storefront solutions, Platter wasn’t all custom. That means that they receive ongoing support and don’t have to worry about upgrading or squashing bugs, since Platter handles that for them. 

“Platter is great. They respond super fast. When we had a few panic moments they were on top of it immediately even in some instances when it was technically end of day or after hours.”

Nikita Michelsen
Chief of Staff, Wild Earth

“Platter is great. They respond super fast. When we had a few panic moments they were on top of it immediately even in some instances when it was technically end of day or after hours.”

Nikita Michelsen
Chief of Staff, Wild Earth

Results

Wild Earth, a biotechnology company focused on plant-based dog food, switched to Platter to overcome several challenges. They saved over $720,000 annually on developer costs, gained increased control and ease of use, and simplified storefront maintenance. Previously, their site required custom code and a headless commerce solution, leading to high costs and complexity. Platter's theme and app bundle empowered non-technical team members, allowed a complete move away from headless solutions, and provided ongoing support, significantly reducing operational strain and costs.

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