Shady Rays sells fashionable sunglasses in over 140 styles. Founded in 2012, they started out packing orders in their basement with the help of an occasional parent. Today their business has grown up in a big way, fulfilling thousands of orders worldwide.

Shady Rays entered the market with a unique proposal: Sell designer-quality polarized sunglasses at a reasonable price. At their start in 2012, Shady Rays, like many early ecommerce businesses, fulfilled around twenty daily orders from their basement. Today they fulfill ten thousand or more orders in a single day in their state-of-the-art warehouse. It’s an understatement to say they’ve come a long way since their beginning.

Growing with the right partner

Shady Rays moved into a new warehouse and distribution center in early 2019. As they prepared to make this seismic leap in the growth of their business, they turned to their trusted inventory management partner for help. SkuVault Core not only provided Shady Rays with industry-leading software solutions but also provided support for how best to set up their new warehouse.

“When we opened this distribution center, SkuVault Core was extremely effective in helping us start this operation.“

A blank space can be intimidating for a company moving into a new warehouse with limitless possibilities. That’s where SkuVault Core’s experience was able to help guide Shady Rays in setting up their space. SkuVault Core’s inventory management software helps companies manage their inventory levels and other aspects of order fulfillment, including picking features that help efficiently pick, pack, and ship out orders on time. For Shady Rays, this meant helping them optimize their new space for their current processes while allowing room for future growth.

On the software side, SkuVault Core’s inventory reporting features let Shady Rays know when an item is running low and when it’s time to restock. These actions help stop oversells, which cause the canceling of orders and can ruin repeat customer business before it starts.

“The user interface is extremely straight forward. It’s simple to go in, set up, and train people on.“

The ease of the SkuVault Core system has helped them to more quickly turn around their orders, which in turn gives Shady Rays the time and ability to expand their business.

Building a movement over a business

In many ways, Shady Rays has disrupted the business of selling sunglasses with a truly unique business model.

Co-owner Dan Ratterman put it succinctly when he said, “People will buy a pair of expensive sunglasses, and almost everybody would either lose them or break them at some point.”

This observation led Shady Rays to enter the market with a very reasonable price point for high-quality and shatterproof polarized sunglasses in a wide array of fashionable styles. The average price for shades is around $48, and their quality and style are comparable to products offered at two to four times the price.

But Shady Rays unique value proposition doesn’t end there. Every pair of shades comes with a lifetime guarantee and two free replacements for when a pair is inevitably lost or broken. Their business model fully stands by their mantra of “Live Hard. We got you.”

Over the years, Shady Rays has grown to meet the needs of the market.

The company started selling three different sunglasses styles. Today their website boasts over 100 sunglass styles, snow googles, UV shirts, and more!

In addition to an innovative pricing strategy and return policy, Shady Rays also donates 10 meals to those in need for every pair of sunglasses sold. This partnership with Feeding America has resulted in over 20 million meals donated.