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Automation of Just-in-Time Vendor Workflows Leads to Better Decisionmaking and Increased Profitability
Committed to helping communities enjoy the ride for over 45 years, Wheel and Sprocket is also dedicated to a great customer experience at every turn.
eCommerce
Commerce Studio
The growing company needed to replace its slow, locally-based order management solution that was causing pain points at every turn.
Commerce Studio was chosen for its ability to consolidate customer records, purchase orders, and Just in Time (JIT) workflows.
Automation and improved efficiency led to higher order profitability and increased time to focus on brand expansion.
Company
What started in 1975 as a small bike shop in Wisconsin has grown to 9 locations and a thriving eCommerce store. Wheel & Sprocket believe it is their job to make sure you have a fun, easy, and fair experience no matter what style of bike you enjoy. With a generous philanthropic arm, the company is truly committed to providing the best for the entire cycling industry.
Challenge
With immense growth in product assortment—from 100 to well over 30,000 SKUs—the company needed to optimize its order, inventory, and product management processes. Their previous program had a database that was slow and expensive to maintain, taking them an hour to print just 350 pick tickets and packing slips.
While the Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system kept their business lean, the existing process of working with vendors was cumbersome at best. They were looking for a solution to automate JIT workflows to vendors and have greater visibility into supplier inventory levels.
Instead of a new solution they'd have to build from the ground up, they were seeking one that integrated seamlessly with their current tools: ChannelAdvisor, ShipWorks, Shopify, Magento2, eBay and Amazon.
Solution
Commerce Studio allowed Wheel & Sprocket to streamline their JIT workflows to vendors. Visibility into supplier inventory quantity allowed them to view vendor stock to more effectively purchase goods. They were even able to automate their purchasing and fulfillment operations with seamless integration with ShipWorks. Now, shippers do not have to filter through thousands of orders, just the ones that are ready to ship.
They were also able to consolidate customer records and purchase orders, aggregating backordered items into one PO for vendors. Their database is now simple to navigate and manage. They can create views, reports, custom fields, formulas, and workflows with ease. What was previously an accounting nightmare is now an automated data export.
Results
Commerce Studio has been a game-changer for Wheel & Sprocket. Set up time was much quicker than alternatives since the platform integrated with the tools they already used. They realized huge improvements in order profitability through automation in JIT workflows and better inventory visibility.
The time to print pick tickets and packing slips was slashed, saving countless painful hours. They gained visibility into their data to make decisions that drive profitability and saw huge improvements in order profitability through automated margin reports. Now that their processes are streamlined, they are more efficient and able to spend time focusing on growth.