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Tariffs squeezed small ecommerce brands. North Carolina’s Deliveri is pitching a shipping lifeline.

Tariffs are forcing ecommerce brands to rethink logistics. Deliveri, a Raleigh-based startup, brings enterprise shipping tools to SMBs—especially for LatAm

Maija Ehlinger

07 Jan 2026 — 2 min read

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Tariffs “shook up” the ecommerce world in 2025, leaving brands of all sizes scrambling to restructure their operations in 2025.

And that pressure isn’t letting up in 2026, says North Carolina founder Jason Brown.

“I spoke to countless ecomm brands who were on the precipice of closure because of the extreme hike in importing their goods. Even those who manufacture in the US were still being impacted significantly, because their inputs were sourced internationally,” Brown told Hypepotamus.

Some companies took out loans just to cover the cost of orders. Others shelved expansion plans entirely. Brown watched dozens of foreign businesses abandon the US market altogether, redirecting their efforts to customers in other countries.

The fallout has intensified focus on how ecommerce brands, especially small and emerging ones, handle logistics. But that is where Brown’s latest startup, Deliveri, comes into play.

Deliveri’s Message To Shippers

For new brands, shipping costs often come as a brutal surprise.

“They have done an amazing job creating, manufacturing, and sourcing their product, and then marketing it. But then when they go to ship their first sale, they end up spending so much on shipping that it eats all of their profit margins. They try to negotiate rates with couriers, but because they are small and ship very little, they don't qualify for the competitive (or steep) discounts that are provided to the big players," Brown added.

Deliveri's Jason Brown

The tariff upheaval of the past year has only compounded these challenges.

Beyond cost, there's the customer experience to consider. Buyers track orders closely and expect updates. Providing branded tracking pages, easy returns, and timely notifications increases customer satisfaction and builds loyalty. But most early-stage SMBs lack the time, money, or infrastructure to deliver on these expectations.

Deliveri works as a global shipping platform, or a unified hub for branded tracking, insurance, customer communication, competitive shipping rates, and return services.

Those things individually aren’t unique. But Deliveri’s approach of bringing all those services and tools into one platform is. The goal is also to provide smaller, up-and-coming brand-led founders with enterprise-level solutions that have been inaccessible to them previously. As a rate aggregator, for example, Deliveri can help customers find the best courier for their needs, saving up to 90% on shipping costs.

Where Deliveri distinguishes itself further is through its focus on international shipping.

Brown's vision is about "giving them an opportunity to sell their products on the global stage" while providing the tools to strengthen customer relationships with better shipping and tracking experiences.

"We need to help these SMBs who care about their brand actually have a better shot at success," Brown says. "We need to get them the tools that do that earlier, so they don't fail in their first year, like 70%-90% of all ecomm businesses."