How Go Coconut Partnered with Canada’s Largest Book and Gift Retailer

Louis Provencher is one of the co-founders of Go Coconut, a Canadian company that makes ready-to-play couches for families. Go Coconut’s founders met at Concordia University’s Executive MBA program, where it was originally developed as a team project. They decided to launch their first product The Coconut in late 2020. 

Go Coconut’s play couches are manufactured in Canada. The foam for their couches is sourced locally, with their supplier located less than 20 kilometers from their factory. Each couch is compressed to a smaller size so that they can be shipped to customers easily. 

Go Coconut doesn’t recommend storing compressed couches for more than three weeks to maintain the quality of its foam and fabric. This is why, according to Louis, “dropship is the only business model we could operate because of the type of product we sell.” Each couch is shipped directly to customers from Go Coconut’s manufacturing facility. Go Coconut is partnered with Canadian retailer Indigo on Convictional. 

How did you get started drop shipping with Indigo on Convictional?

Shortly after we launched, Indigo was looking to support small businesses in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic through a program they called Mini Marché. They prioritized partnerships with brands that were Canadian owned or managed; BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) owned or managed; women owned or managed; LGBTQ2+ owned or managed; environmentally friendly (organic, chemical-free, locally sourced, ethically made); and/or philanthropic and purpose driven.

We met a lot of the criteria they were looking for and we were honored to have been chosen as one of only 12 businesses across Canada from more than 450 applicants to the program.

Once we were chosen, we got integrated with Indigo on Convictional right away. It was super simple — we went in and followed the onboarding steps. I’m not a technical person by any means and even I thought it was smooth. 

Is there a successful retail partnership story you can share?

We’re a seasonal business. Everything happens around the holidays. In early November, Indigo ran a 20% off sale on the entire store. At that point, we expected 400 sales over the entire holiday season. The day Indigo ran the sale, we got around 220 orders!

All I could see on my phone was Convictional, Convictional, Convictional, all day long. That was such a good memory of the best day we had since the business first started. 

All I could see on my phone was Convictional, Convictional, Convictional, all day long. That was such a good memory of the best day we had since the business first started. 

What is a challenge you’re facing with dropship at the moment?

With Convictional, there is no need to manage anything because everything is seamless. But this isn’t the case when with some of our other partners that don’t use Convictional. 

For example, another large retailer we work with offers our products, but they aren’t linked with our inventories directly. So every time they pass through an order, I have to check whether it is available. I have to create a bill manually. It’s a lot of wasted time and it creates lots of possibilities for mistakes as I’m transcribing things. Sometimes I might have to say, hey, no, sorry, we don’t have this in stock. It’s not an ideal system and it just adds complexity. 

What tips can you share for brands who are just getting started with dropship?

Two tips come to mind. First, don’t be intimidated by dropship. When we got started with it, it seemed a little scary. But you’ve got to jump in and just give it a shot. 

Second, as a small business owner, you have so many things to think about all the time. Focus on what you’re good at, which is making your products and growing your business. Choose partners where you don’t have expertise and where they can support you. Indigo gave us an opening with dropship that we wouldn’t have considered if it wasn’t proposed to us. 

Could you share what you’re excited about for 2023?

There’s so much we’re excited for this year. We’re launching outdoor waterproof covers for Coconuts. We’re also releasing a cover sheet for one single Coconut in the spring. We’re also excited to be making our accessories available for sale through our retail partners. There are also two new shapes we’re planning for later in the year.

We’re also expanding by adding another story to our location. We’re running out of space and need room to store all these new pieces. 

Thanks to Louis for participating in this conversation!

This post was originally published in our weekly newsletter The Assortment. Subscribe on Linkedin to get the latest customer stories, retailer recommendations, and Convictional product updates.