Nailing omnichannel fulfillment: 3 tips from Seed Health’s SVP of supply chain

I was recently served an ad on Instagram for a makeup product I immediately knew I wanted to try. Here’s the (very circuitous) route I took to purchasing it:

1. I swiped up on Instagram and was sent to the product page on the brand’s website. I decided on a color, added the product to my cart, and went to check out.
2. I then saw shipping was going to take 7–10 days, which was fine, but I became curious if they were selling on Amazon where I could get that 2-day Prime boost. I hopped over to the Amazon app and saw that was actually an option. As I, again, added the product to my cart, I thought twice: What if this actually wasn’t the right color? I wanted to try it in person. 
3. I did a little research and saw I could find the product just a couple of blocks away in a beauty store near me. I laced up my sneakers, walked to the store, tried on the makeup, and added it to a literal cart (instead of a virtual one) before heading home, product in hand.

This is how consumers shop now. For every purchase, there is a ton of choice involved. Do you want to go to a store? Get fast and free shipping? Buy seamlessly inside of Instagram? 

And brands are the ones who have to accommodate consumers’ rising appetite (and expectation) of shopping wherever they please. It’s a huge and complex challenge. 

Keith Frymark, the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Quality at Seed Health, has navigated this challenge head-on, guiding Seed’s expansion into new retail channels (like Amazon and Target) while continuing to prioritize a high-touch customer experience and the sleek, beautiful packaging the brand is known for. (The brushed glass, seed green jar that holds their signature daily synbiotic currently sits on my bathroom counter.

In a recent AMA with The SOP Community, we dug into Frymark’s key tips for mastering the move to omnichannel and scaling your retail operation in a way that prioritizes the long term. Here’s what he had to say:

You can’t do it without cross-functional collaboration

Frymark emphasized that operations can’t exist in a silo — it requires close partnership with other teams like marketing and finance. “We work very closely with brand and marketing,” he explained. “I have one-on-ones with almost every functional leader at Seed.”

These dedicated meetings allow Frymark to get ahead of potential challenges and align on solutions. “I can share, ‘Hey, I hear you on this, but from a supply chain perspective, here’s what I think would work best. How can you help me, and how can I help you communicate those across the broader team?’”

Frymark also involves cross-functional stakeholders in the hiring process, tapping into their insights on candidates’ collaboration skills. “It’s so important for people working with teams and other leaders to not just have that process go through a silo of your department,” he said.

Bring data to the table

As Seed Health expanded into new channels like Amazon and retail, Frymark leaned heavily on data to make strategic choices. A recent example: The team discovered that unique packaging inserts for each channel were causing significant SKU proliferation and wasted spend.

“We’ve been able to come back and say, ‘Okay, by having a very unique insert in each of these packages for each channel, we’re creating unnecessary SKU proliferation…if we simplified that card and made it universal across all channels, we will save half a million dollars a year,’” Frymark shared. “It’s very hard to argue with that.”

This data-driven approach allowed Frymark to get buy-in from stakeholders like finance, who could then go back to the brand team and have a constructive conversation about the tradeoffs.

“Operations is saying we can get economies of scale, we can forecast better across channels and distribute that inventory accordingly,” Frymark said. And when you come to the table with deep financial analysis, your counterparts are more likely to see your point of view.

Hire for the long term, and don’t settle for quick fixes

When it came to building out his team, Frymark took a methodical, patient approach — even when there were pressing needs to fill. “Sometimes patience is a virtue,” he said. “You can have hot roles…and you rush to hire somebody to fill the seat. But if you waited 2-3 more months, you might end up actually having a better process. You might get the right person in place, and you’re going to save yourself the headache.”

Frymark’s North Star was finding people who could eventually replace him, not just execute on his directives. “Hire people that can replace you,” he advised, explaining that this frees up the leader to focus on more strategic, long-term priorities.

He also emphasized the importance of a rigorous, cross-functional interview process to ensure new hires have both the technical skills and the right cultural fit. “We’re very methodical: multiple rounds of interviews, project assessments, interview panels,” Frymark shared. “You also need to make sure they have the skills to perform in that environment.”

Overall, Frymark’s approach boils down to balancing the human and technical elements of operations. As he put it, “I’m not a big fan of huge operational teams. I think what’s nice about operations is you can reduce the need for people” through efficient processes and smart technology.

But he’s also acutely aware of the value of relationships, both internally and externally: “I see a lot of people on this call who I just have tremendous respect for as operators and experts in the field and people that I lean into for advice,” Frymark said. “Vendors that I worked with 10-15 years ago that I still communicate with…that’s why I love this line of work. I think it’s so fun that there’s a really cool community [StartOps] that helps support each other.”

By fostering those connections, leveraging data, and building a nimble, high-performing team, Frymark has positioned Seed Health for omnichannel success. His advice is a playbook any ops leader can follow.