THE PANDEMIC & CHANGING B2B LANDSCAPE

Since 1963, National Sporting Goods' (NSG) has primarily been a B2B distributor selling toys with the goal of getting kids off the couch and playing outside. NSG is a small to medium-sized business (SMB) that has continued to expand throughout its history, however, the pandemic introduced an unprecedented period of change in distribution and demand for direct to consumer (D2C) eCommerce.

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“With the explosive growth in D2C demand and changing B2B landscape brought on by the pandemic, NSG needed help creating order out of the chaos.”

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Challenges faced by NSG:

• Scaling Difficulties - Operations relied on Peachtree and in large part, manual order-entry. With a large network of retailers, NSG's systems struggled to keep up with the order volumes, and inventory was difficult to track and manage
• Systems integration - Distribution increasingly included fewer medium-sized retailers and more large chains such as Amazon, Walmart, Target and Coles. With these partnerships, integrating with EDI became a major part of the equation
• Customer Satisfaction - Selling through a large number of channels all drawing from the same inventory led to unreliable data, the risk of overselling, missed orders and higher customer service costs.

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ORDERBOT TICKED ALL THE BOXES!

After thorough research and evaluation of various options, NSG opted to implement Orderbot’s order management software as it can be tailored to the specific needs of small businesses:

• Can handle a growing volume of orders all the way up to enterprise level
• The application can be accessed from anywhere and on multiple devices
• All the reporting can be provided in one place.
• Orderbot can help manage commissions
• Can integrate with Shopify, Amazon, and EDI, and sync all channels
• Can connect to their 3PL's and offer direct from Asia fulfillment

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THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

Streamlined Order Processing: With Orderbot in place, orders from various channels were automatically consolidated and categorized, reducing the chances of human error and accelerating processing times. This allowed NSG to scale with demand and ship out a whopping 20% more orders per day.

Seamless integration : Whether orders came through EDI, Shopify, or Amazon, Orderbot provided NSG one central location for all channels to communicate orders, pricing, product data and real-time inventory availability.  

Enhanced Customer Experience: Orderbot now offered NSG real-time updates on stock levels, enabling the business to maintain accurate inventory counts and avoid stockouts. Along with quicker turnaround times and an enhanced customer experience, their number of repeat customers increased by 104.7%

Improved Efficiency and Productivity: All SMB employees wear many hats and by automating time-consuming tasks, the newfound efficiency led to increased productivity and reduced operational costs.

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“Trusting Orderbot as the central source of truth, scaling up would never again be an issue and NSG was well-prepared to handle the sudden volume growth surges and distribution challenges that 2020 brought.”

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