The average lifespan of a smartphone is two short years. As a result, over 135 million smartphones are discarded every year in the US alone. The electronic waste clogs landfills as the batteries charged with toxic metals leak into the ground. Meanwhile, big tech prepares consumers for the next release cycle.
Teracube is an eco-friendly smartphone company that aims to lessen the environmental impact of our smartphone habit. Unlike most, Teracube offers an active vision for a sustainable future.
Teracube phones boast twice the lifespan of the average smartphone. Use your smartphone for twice as long and – voilá – you slash smartphone eco-waste in half.
“Small changes can make a big impact,” says Teracube founder Sharad Mittal. As we wait for sweeping policy changes to save the planet, it falls to us to be the change we wish to see. Each of us can choose to consume in ways that preserve our precious resources.
We talked with the Teracube team about changing habits for the better, eCommerce obstacles, and how to make shipping work for a truly global company.
The Teracube Mission
Environmentalism is a quandary for product-based companies. You want to sell as many products as possible, yet every item sold adds to the environmental burden. How do you resolve this inherent contradiction?
"Most companies try to say they're sustainable in their materials," Mittal said. "But there are very few companies talking about making [products that] last longer. That's where we are creating sustainability in our products."
Teracube minimizes waste by prolonging the lifespan of its phones, up from two years to four years. The company also offers cheap repairs (only $39) to encourage buyers to hold on to their phone for as long as possible. Add an excellent warranty to the mix and you’ve got a smartphone that’s ready to go the distance. Wired Magazine gave their phones a glowing review based on performance and features.
Long-term, Teracube's goal is to enable people to repair their phones themselves. This idea derives from the fact that many people simply discard their devices when they break, given the cost of phone repair from brands themselves.
Though still in startup mode, one day, Teracube wants its phones to be made with 100% eco-friendly components and by fair-trade practices. At present, Teracube phones are made from 25% recycled plastics. For every phone sold, the company plants a tree in the Amazon rainforest.
Teracube is walking the talk when it comes to actionable climate change preventing.
How to Succeed in eCommerce
Teracube was founded in Redmond, Washington, and now ships to over 50 countries around the world. Global eCommerce is a big leap, even for experienced entrepreneurs with a great idea. Newcomers to eCommerce should feel open to asking to help, said Andy Karuza, Chief Marketing Officer at Teracube.
“Don’t go it alone. Get advice from other entrepreneurs! Ask them what services they’re using for various aspects of their company, and that includes for shipping and logistics,” said Karuza.
Though a do-it-all-yourself narrative dominates the entrepreneurial space, it’s neither effective nor accurate. If anything is true of entrepreneurship, you’ll go further by identifying your needs and asking the right people for help.
“We wouldn’t have known about how great Easyship was until we asked another entrepreneur and they recommend Easyship to us,” said Karuza. Asking for help can yield great insight, and quickly, making your runway much smoother in the days ahead.
You want to be selective about the tools you use, says Karuza. “Pick a solution that can scale with you. You don’t want a solution that you outgrow in a few months or one that becomes cost-prohibitive when you should be seeing more cost efficiencies at scale.” It’s important to identify your needs, then invest in technology that can give you real results.
This is proven advice from a company that’s expected to grow its international sales by 30% in 2021, and 350% year-over-year in 2021. Easyship’s global courier network has been vital to this expansion, says Karuza:
“We’ve certainly saved money, and definitely increased revenue by having the ability to sell and ship anywhere in the world.”
Shipping Success with Easyship
Shipping and fulfillment is a last-minute consideration for many entrepreneurs. After all, the fun part is creating, not delivering. But at a certain size, you need the right technology to keep your business running smoothly.
Teracube uses Easyship automation to streamline its shipping and fulfillment processes, plus save up to 70% off all rates. Using Easyship as a fulfillment platform makes it easy to keep all the moving pieces working together.
“We couldn’t imagine doing this [all ourselves], from managing our warehouses to manually uploading and creating shipping solutions for customers,” said Karuza. “We needed an easy, scalable logistics solution for processing our shipments and managing them.” Once Teracube receives an order, Easyship does the rest.
Before Easyship, Teracube was manually creating orders into the courier website, then transferring the tracking information to customers one by one. With Easyship, the company linked its cart checkout directly with multiple courier services. All that back-and-forth from courier to the customer? Eliminated.
Each incoming web order automatically creates its own shipment in Easyship, and uses Teracube's pre-selected couriers. Fulfillment is basically on autopilot and Teracube doesn't have to lift a finger. “The increase in inefficiency is priceless,” said Karuza. And where you save time, saving money isn’t far away.
Teracube gets the world's cheapest rates on shipping – up to 70% off retail – thanks to Easyship’s partnerships with all global couriers. As Andy says, “Easyship’s platform gives you simple choices on logistics providers, allowing you to pick the best one based on speed, cost, etc. This allowed us to operate out of multiple countries in order to save on shipping.”
Looking ahead, Teracube is bringing its eco-friendly smartphones to more global markets. The money it saves on shipping goes right into research and development, which will one day hopefully result in a 100% sustainable smartphone.
Easyship allows Teracube to streamline its shipping processes and expand globally without the hassle. If you're ready to give Easyship a try, create a free account today.