Company Size : 2 Owners / Managers
Company Age : 6 years
Sector : Online Retailer
Before
Running a successful .IE online shop using a standard “shopping cart” technology, our client was planning to extend their business into the UK and beyond, and also to launch a series of niche-specific shops.
Key problem was that the existing technology was limited in coordinating activities across multiple sites, with multiple currencies, different marketing language, all complicated by a handful of very specific marketing approaches to help differentiate them from their competition.
Objectives
- To support a single distribution hub for all on-line shops
- To streamline manual processing required to approve and process orders
- To support marketing initiatives based on customer purchase history
- To add “scale” to their business without hiring additional staff
Solution
The system implemented was given a label of ERP (“Enterprise Resource Planning”) software, as it managed products, suppliers, stock and availability. It also included a significant CRM (“Customer Relationship Management”) capability as it stored and processed purchase and other engagement histories. From our perspective, it is a comprehesive Business Management system, and was built using our BusinessManager+ software.
The solution included a real-time integration element into the shop technology to provide stock levels, customer specific special offers and to receive orders and other updates from the system.
The system was configured to automate processing where all was in order, and more importantly, that exception cases, such as reorder triggers, were proactively notified and prepared for easy processing.
The solution included a warehouse front-end, with Order Dispatch, Goods Receipt and Stock Take functionalities.
And the system was built to support unlimited front-ends with multiple currencies and complete control over all public-facing content and categories.
Key Benefits
Much simplified management and overview of order activity, with system prompts for items that need attention.
Multiple shop / sales channel support ensures that the future plans for the business are fully supported.
Targeted marketing supports repeat purchases, product upsell and cross sell activities.
Time spent managing products and orders was reduced significantly.
Integration with their accounts software further reduced manual workload and ensured that their accounts are always current.