543% growth and a 7% cost: How one NZ founder used 3PL to crack the US market

A few years ago, Garth Ivory, a founder of a business in Christchurch, New Zealand, faced a challenge many ambitious business owners know all too well. He had a great product and the right certifications to sell in the United States, but no clear plan to get it there reliably, profitably, and at scale.

What followed was a journey with messy importer headaches, an accidental discovery, fast growth, and hard lessons that all came from going all-in on a new market.

Today, Garth is a founder of Arlo Hub. A 3PL company built from everything he learned along the way.

This is his story.

The importer problem

Getting your product certified to sell in the US is no small feat. After clearing that hurdle, Garth partnered with a US-based importer who would bring the products in and sell them. For a while, it worked. At least it looked like it.

Then that importer got acquired.

Sales plateaued. A second importer came into the picture, and Garth quickly realized that import companies often do not have the same drive or passion to sell and grow your product the way you or your team would. Their own internal distractions, from office politics to competing priorities, meant growing his product line was never truly their focus. It was exhausting.

Garth found himself flying to the U.S. again and again, spending significant time, money, and energy just to sort out basic issues, including, at one point, getting his own company’s domain name back. It was unsustainable.

He knew the U.S. market held real potential for his product. He just needed a better way in.

The 3PL decision that changed everything

The breakthrough didn’t come from a consultant or a strategy session. It came from a casual conversation with a friend.

The friend mentioned warehouse space they had available in the US. They would handle storage, shipments, orders, and returns all for 5% of sales. In essence, it was the 3PL model, though Garth didn’t necessarily have that label for it at the time.

He decided to go for it. He admits it was uncertain at the time as he didn’t know exactly how it would play out. But looking back, he calls it the best decision he made during that entire period of building the business.

The numbers that changed everything

The results were striking. In the first year working with the 3PL, the business grew by 133%. Over the next five years, it grew by 543%.

And through all of that growth, there were no complaints. No issues. The arrangement ran so smoothly that Garth didn’t even need to formally renew his agreement with the 3PL partner; it just kept working. In fact, it worked so well, he chose to increase the fee from 5% to 7% of sales without being asked.

Why increase the fee voluntarily? It comes back to a principle he holds firmly: “You take care of your people, and they will take care of your company.” He felt the 3PL team was delivering extraordinary value, and he wanted to reflect that.

It also made strong financial sense. With 3PL, the total cost of doing business in America was just 7% of sales. There were no leases, no payroll, and no major overhead tied to running a local operation. It was a lean, scalable model that allowed the business to grow without the usual weight of U.S. expansion dragging it down.

The decision to move across the Pacific

After years of growth, Garth made the call to relocate the business HQ from New Zealand to the US. He was clear that this was the right move at the right time. Running everything remotely is excellent when you’re building your foundation, but eventually the sales volume demands a physical presence.

He had built that foundation. The US move made sense.

But he quickly discovered setting up a business in America is a different challenge entirely.

The minefield of going it alone

He describes setting up in the US as exciting but deeply complex, particularly when it comes to taxes and structure. “It’s like a minefield,” he says. “You don’t know what you did wrong until it’s too late.”

There’s no shortage of advice available from Google, from AI, from consultants, from well-meaning contacts. But the challenge is that most general advice isn’t tailored to your specific business, your product, your structure. What works for one company can be exactly wrong for another.

Which state should you incorporate in? How do you set up banking? How do you handle payroll, FICA, medical benefits? How do you move assets from your home country into the US efficiently?

Garth experienced these challenges firsthand: tax missteps in the early days, a frustratingly complex process to set up a bank account, and the stark contrast between the simplicity of his 3PL years and the operational weight of running a full U.S. entity.

And the cost structure changed dramatically. Where 7% of sales was his only American overhead during the 3PL years, now came leases, payroll, FICA, medical benefits, and all the personnel complexity that comes with a physical team.

What Garth would tell a founder or business considering entering the US market today

His advice is practical and grounded in real experience:

No one knows your product like you do. No one is as passionate about it as you are. So, stay focused on what you do best - selling. Let your 3PL handle the distractions: the storage, the fulfilment, the returns, the logistics. Use that model to reduce your operational costs and prove the market before you commit to the full cost of a US operation.

He even suggests that if having a US presence feels important for sales, you can rent a small office for your sales team and continue using the 3PL for everything else. You don’t have to do it all at once.

Make that move when you’re genuinely ready, when the sales volume justifies it and you have the foundation under you. Not before.

Why ArloHub exists

ArloHub was built with this exact journey in mind. The systems, the processes, the team all put together by people who have lived through the challenges of international expansion firsthand.

The goal is simple: we handle your US operations efficiently and effectively while you focus on growth. And when you’re ready to make the leap to a full US setup, we help you do that the right way for your specific business.

Because the 3PL model works. The numbers prove it. The founder’s story proves it. The question is just whether you’re using it.

Additionally, if you're looking for bookkeeping support as you grow your US presence, Arlo Performance, ArloHub's sister company, is there to help you keep the numbers in order every step of the way.