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Fresh Wreaths, 500% More Shipments: Weston Farms Grows With ShipStation and Klaviyo
In 2002, Erin Weston traded a New York City publishing office for the red soil of North Carolina. She was set on becoming a farmer. There was just one problem.
“It was November, and I wasn’t sure what farmers did in November,” Weston said.
Her dad had an idea: cut magnolia from her grandmother’s one tree. Weston did, and people loved it. Then they asked for wreaths. She taught herself, asked every critic to show her a better way, and kept growing.
Today, more than 7,000 trees grow at Weston Farms, a farm and design studio near Raleigh, North Carolina, that ships wreaths, garlands, and bouquets across the country.
Handcrafted magnolia wreaths built to impress
Walk the grove and the leaves steal the show. Each one is deep, glossy emerald on top, with a soft, chocolate-brown underside that looks like velvet. They hold their beauty for years.
A 28-inch Weston Farms wreath carries about 1,000 leaves. Other magnolia wreaths on the market may be closer to 75. The result is full, lush, and impossible to miss on a door, window, or dining table.
Peak season shipping: Two months that make the year
About 25 cutters, 10 makers, and two people in shipping keep it moving. And 80% of the year’s orders land between October 15 and December 15.
Before ShipStation, that rush ran on spreadsheets. Orders came in one at a time from PayPal. Weston retyped each one into a Google Doc, then into FedEx software, while tracking every ship date by hand. One wrong digit in an address could mean a lost order.
She remembers thinking she didn’t know how much longer she could keep going.
ShipStation order management that turns orders into a harvest plan
In 2021, Weston started using ShipStation, and the retyping stopped. Orders now flow straight from the Weston Farms website, addresses and all.
“It’s a gift,” Weston said. “So many hours have been eliminated.”
The bigger win is how she uses it. Weston added a custom ship date field, so customers pick when their wreath should arrive, sometimes months ahead. A week before each date, her team filters by it and pulls a harvest list. That tells them how many people to send out to cut, make, and ship.
ShipStation helped us prioritize. We could filter by the date an order was received, the day it was going out, and the day it needed to be harvested.”
Erin Weston — Creative Director and Founder
Weston Farms
ShipStation takes care of the details, too. Tracking goes out automatically, so Weston’s late nights sending tracking numbers from her phone are over. A gift message field replaced her hand-typed emails asking, “Is this a present?”
ShipStation saved us so many hours—about 40 a week.
Erin Weston — Creative Director and Founder
Weston Farms
ShipStation analytics that stretch the selling season
ShipStation analytics show Weston which products sell best and how this year compares with last, with no number crunching.
Last year, she saw one wreath style take off in October. This year, she promoted it in September, booked orders earlier, and let customers know she could ship later. A short selling window got longer.
Klaviyo email marketing: Advice worth taking
Then came Klaviyo. A consultant told Weston to email her list every week. Weston had her doubts. She’d spent plenty of time deleting other companies’ emails, and she didn’t want to add to anyone’s inbox.
I thought weekly emails were a horrible idea. I hired the consultant, so I trusted her. She was not only right, she was very, very right about Klaviyo. I was wrong, and I like being wrong.
Erin Weston — Creative Director and Founder
Weston Farms
Her emails share new products, size guides, and ideas for styling a wreath beyond the front door, like on a window or a table. They also double as a creative test run. Weston makes a limited batch of about 15 pieces and sends it to her list. Customers’ response tells her which pieces deserve a bigger run. As a small team, she can move fast, and her list tells her where to go next.
The results speak for themselves. At certain times of year, up to 40% of her sales come from Klaviyo outreach.
What’s next for ShipStation and Klaviyo
Weston uses ShipStation and Klaviyo together to run her business, and she sees even more room to grow after the order ships.
“Continuing to look at ShipStation post-purchase, and incorporating that with Klaviyo, will be a place of growth,” she said.
Her next idea starts after delivery. Magnolia wreaths last for years, but the foliage doesn’t stay fresh. A well-timed email can tell customers it’s the perfect moment for a refresh. It’s also a chance to ask how the wreath held up and what they’d love next.
Since adopting ShipStation, Weston’s shipment volume has grown about 500%. And her customers keep coming back. She sees many of the same names every year.
“Continuing to bring people high-quality, beautiful things, even if it’s the same thing year after year,” she explained, “that’s the best compliment.”
Weston still remembers the first time she spotted her wreath in a Garden & Gun gift guide. She did a double take, sure someone had copied her work. Then it sank in: it was hers.
“It’s a good feeling,” she said.
Her grandmother, whose one tree started it all, is a humble woman. Weston thinks she’d say two words: “keep going.”
That’s the plan. One tree became 7,000, and with ShipStation and Klaviyo working together, Weston is ready for what grows next.
Your busiest weeks are coming. Start shipping with ShipStation today, and connect Klaviyo to keep your customers coming back.
