Tumble is a fast-growing, direct-to-consumer rug brand that has built strong demand in the United States.
They sell design-forward, washable rugs and have grown with a simple model: provide quality rugs and an easy customer experience that includes free shipping for consumers.
As the business scaled, demand started to show up outside the U.S. as well. Canada was the first place that stood out. It was close, familiar, and already showing signs of customer interest.
“Our products can have a place in anyone’s home. We wanted to bring them to more customers, and Canada was the natural first step.” — Tumble
The opportunity was clear, but their existing model wasn’t built for it. To make Canada work, Tumble needed more than demand. They needed a different way to fulfill it.
Challenges
Tumble’s products are large, bulky and heavy. It was immediately obvious that shipping them from the U.S. into Canada on a per-order basis would be too expensive. Because Tumble covers shipping for customers, those costs could not be passed through and would directly impact margins.
“Our products are bulky and heavy. Shipping from the U.S. into another country just didn’t make sense economically.” — Tumble
Cross-border wasn’t just inefficient—it would fundamentally break their model.
That ruled out cross-border early. To make Canada viable, Tumble needed to move inventory closer to the customer and fulfill locally.
That would fix the cost structure, but it introduced a new set of challenges:
- setting up a local entity
- managing tax registration and filings
- handling compliance requirements
- taking on ongoing administrative work
For a lean team, this was not practical, especially because this was Tumble’s first time selling outside the U.S..
“There were a lot of unknowns. We were looking for guidance from someone who had done this before.”
— Tumble
Goals
Tumble needed a way to:
- Make Canada viable by fulfilling locally
- Avoid setting up local infrastructure
- Launch quickly without introducing compliance risk
They weren’t just testing a new market—they were looking for a model they could scale.
The Passport Solution
Tumble launched Canada using Passport Global In-Country Enablement, turning local fulfillment from a complex operational lift into a ready-to-deploy model.
Instead of building infrastructure from scratch, Passport provided the foundation to operate in Canada as if Tumble already had a local presence. Passport didn’t just support the launch—it made the in-country model possible without requiring Tumble to build it themselves.
This included:
- handling in-country compliance and regulatory requirements
- providing the financial infrastructure as Tumble’s Merchant of Record to operate without a local entity
- coordinating customs and acting as the Importer of Record
- guiding product and labeling requirements
This was especially important because it was Tumble’s first international launch.
“Canada was our first international market, so having someone who had done this before and could guide us made a big difference. For the parts where we couldn’t do it ourselves, Passport stepped in.”
— Tumble
Passport focused on the areas that are difficult to build internally and high risk to get wrong.
This allowed Tumble to launch without taking on the operational burden of running an international entity.
Results
Passport’s first major impact on Tumble’s expansion to Canada was speed to market. Tumble expected the Canada launch to take four to five months. With Passport’s support, it took less than 60 days.
Once live, Tumble was able to capture existing demand in Canada and turn it into a reliable, growing revenue stream.
- Canada became a consistent and expanding part of the business
- Demand translated into repeatable revenue—not one-off orders
- Tumble began investing in Canadian marketing with confidence in their fulfillment model
More importantly, Canada proved that international expansion didn’t require building market-specific infrastructure each time.
It established a model Tumble could replicate.
Operationally, the Passport model held without adding internal strain.
“We don’t need to handle any of the paperwork related to the countries we’re expanding into. For a team our size, that’s been really beneficial.” — Tumble
More importantly, Canada established a repeatable model. Tumble is now expanding into the UK using the same approach and is actively evaluating additional markets.
What started as a single market launch became a repeatable system for global growth—one that Tumble is now applying to new markets with confidence.
Rethinking Fulfillment When Cross-Border Breaks Down
For brands with large, heavy, or margin-sensitive products, cross-border shipping isn’t always the right fit.
If you’re seeing demand in markets like Canada but can’t make the economics work, the next step isn’t to pull back—it’s to rethink how you fulfill.
Passport Global In-Country Enablement gives you a way to operate locally without building local infrastructure from scratch.
If you’re evaluating Canada or your next market, the next step is simple: talk to our team to see how an in-country enablement can turn international demand into a scalable, repeatable growth channel.
