Background
XTM was born when a handful of influential friends put their heads together. During a 1999 brainstorming session, Peter Forras, Gary “X” Rae and Bill “The Uncle” Dalton sat down in a spirit of competitiveness, irreverence and deep respect, to explore what their combined lifetimes of snow expertise could teach them. The three decided to create a brand that would change the face of Australia’s snow sports industry and show the world that Australia is a country to be taken seriously in Winter sports.
The brand’s value proposition was high quality product at an affordable price resulting in a massive clientele base from on-mountain stores to city based boutique Retail outlets. They also had their sights set firmly on the overall outdoor market which offered a product synergy and global aspirations to distribute into North America and Europe.
“We wanted to extend our global reach” says XTM founder Peter Foras ” but also to better service our more isolated customers that were close to the mountains. We needed to tell people our story and make it super easy for them to support us. As we grew, I also wanted to be mindful of our headcount to ensure we expanded in an efficient and streamlined manner”.
Solution
XTM engaged with Brandscope and loaded consecutive pre-book and in-season releases onto the platform along with a magnitude of marketing and technical product information to drive brand awareness. Brandscope was then integrated into the SAP Business One system to deliver greater backend efficiencies with ordering and inventory control. Sales Agents and internal staff were then educated on the system and Retail partners prepped in readiness to pre-book launches. As a latter step, international catalogues were loaded at specific currencies to service a growing network of global distributors.
“The onboarding process was very well executed and you could tell very quickly that Brandscope was going to be a solid long term partnership”, recalls Peter. “Implementing new technology into a traditional business full of old heads was daunting but the structures were there to guide the team along, which resulted in a quick update by everyone involved”.
Outcome
The new online ordering process was immediately embraced by a solid portion of the Retailer clientele with pre-book orders quickly flowing into the SAP ERP. Refill orders soon followed as the system continued to entrench and the more isolated accounts began to increase order volumes because “it was easy to use and access” (some accounts grew by over 400%).
“By giving our trade partners the ability to see our stock availability and allow them to order 24/7 as opposed to office hours has been the main refill driver. It has also been a perfect marriage for those retailers who prefer to buy without sales rep input directly from the screen, they have effectively quadrupled their budget with us as it is their preferred way to buy”.
Marketing campaigns were later launched to further incentivise brand and specific categories. Distributors also rallied behind the system to place bulk future orders for respective territories.
“Embracing the platform into the business created true win/win benefits for our old and new customers, agents, distributors and our bottom line in broad cost savings’, said Peter. “Everyone found the system to be very intuitive and effective, and it’s consequently evolved into a essential part of our business in an effort to sell more, reduce costs and expand our domestic and international distribution.”
Testimonial
“We chose Brandscope first and foremost after consultations with leading retailers that use a combination of multiple online ordering platforms and traditional methods. It became clear to us that they placed all their Brandscope orders first due to the speed and ease of using the platform.”
Background
Unify Brand Partnerships (UBP) is a UK based distributor of sport, outdoor and lifestyle brands throughout the UK.
Management formulated a high growth strategy which included the addition of an online B2B system capability to market and sell our products.
The B2B needed to:
- easily provide product and marketing information to Customers
- support the pre-book and refill sales process
- enable Customers to place pre orders easily and review real time stock availability to purchase in season stock
- support Internal Teams in processing the increased volume of orders more efficiently
The UBP business needed to introduce automations that would protect against the expected parallel costs in taking on additional resources to support the growth.
Taking on new brands to drive growth is a big commitment, outlined Dominic Flanagan, Head of Finance at UBP. “Our systems need to be able to deal with the associated challenges to deliver the desired growth. Automation and delivery of efficiencies was required to support the management of increased Customer Service workload, the generation of catalogues, samples and showrooms that really ate into the profit of each new acquisition.
We’d never engaged with B2B before but were impressed with Brandscope’s functionality, intimate knowledge of the nuances around the wholesale process and overall capacity to deliver cost saving automations and more streamlined procedures.”
The other challenge was collating, analysing and formulating bulk purchase orders to support manufacturing and pre-book demands within a very tight window, a situation expected to worsen as the brand volumes grew.
“Due to the high volume of pre-booking, we needed to get the final bulk orders completed within deadlines,” recalled Dominic. “If we could secure and process orders faster we would have more time to review the buy, resulting in greater ordering accuracy, with better and faster decision making on additional inventory purchases.”
Solution
UBP considered a number of B2B options and identified Brandscope as the right solution to support the targeted growth.
UBP engaged with Brandscope and spent ten weeks integrating their Orderwise ERP to automate order, inventory and product information data flows between the two systems, while loading the seasonal pre-book releases for their first four brands. Due to the complicated nature of the territory set-ups, pricing and segmentation modules were also introduced to ensure correct views for Retailer partners at product level.
“The onboarding process was very fluid and we found the Brandscope team to be highly efficient and supportive in the overall process, from a technical and non-technical point of view”, said Dominic. “They spent a lot of time with our internal team workshopping our processes and market interaction to ensure that pricing, market segmentation, territory structures and information feeds were all optimised by implementing the right modules. Management, Marketing, Sales, IT and Customer Service departments were all involved in this process. Integration, support and ongoing service is great.”
Outcome
The impact on pre-book timelines was dramatic, with orders being received into the Orderwise ERP 200% faster than prior seasons awarding UBC with more time to review and then formulate bulk orders.
“Pre-books came in faster, but we could also report on the orders that were still in motion (buy plans) giving us visibility on popular Retailer styles. By having this information, we were able to order additional stock against trending styles which fuelled in-season refill and gave us greater control over stock obsolescence. This is extremely key in helping to manage inventory exposure and capital risk.”
The administration weight on internal resources also diminished (despite new brands coming online) due to orders being received directly into the ERP from the retailer or sales representatives, and Retailers having greater access to information like marketing assets, barcodes, product specifications to self-manage.
“By engaging the Retailers in the system,” said Dominic, “it’s allowed us to do more with less but also refocus internal energies into areas that really help our partners as opposed to double processing data.”
“Brandscope’s functionality is closely aligned with the nuances of wholesaling and it’s very apparent that the system has been well thought out with respect to real life application,” says Dominic. “This was particularly relevant with pricing, but also in defining territories, product segmentation and custom filtering to ensure that our Retailer buyers were always seeing information that was specifically relevant to their own business. This really instilled confidence in the tool which will continue to equate to greater engagement.”
Overall we are very pleased with the decision to engage Brandscope as our B2B Solution.
Testimonial
“The Brandscope software platform is backed by business processes, as much as it is technology, focussed on streamlining traditional wholesale methods and delivering both profitability and scalability. If your strategy is to grow fast on limited resources and capital, then it’s built for you.”
Background
Stokehouse is a global wholesaler that develops and markets lifestyle brands to independent retailers in the surf and lifestyle fashion channels. The company, with offices in California, France and Australia, has successfully launched Vissla, Amuse Society, D’blanc and Sisstrevolution to over 1000 retailers in more than 40 countries. Stokehouse had implemented a new global ERP platform to support the launch of their first brand, Vissla. The Australian subsidiary was looking for a B2B e-commerce solution to integrate into the ERP and support their sales division.
“Early during the research and analysis phase”, recalled group Partner, John Mossop, “we were being encouraged by our retail account base to connect the ERP to Brandscope, which they described as the best-in-class B2B platform. We spoke to our sales agents about the software and they supported the view of our key retailers”.
Solution
The Isync ERP was linked to the Brandscope B2B system via a simple API connection to facilitate streamlined seasonal catalogue loads. The integration also supported the automated transfer of orders directly into the ERP and inventory (for now and future) back into the Brandscope system. Price Books and Segmentation modules were introduced to ensure that Retailer partners were able to access live, accurate product information that was customised to their environments.
“The wholesale industry can be complicated when you’re dealing with multiple brands across surf and lifestyle channels,” said John. “From a Retailer and Sales user perspective, the system was very intuitive, but it was integral that the tool could also manage an assortment of segmentations across territories, multiple currencies and an array of pricing and discount schedules at the back end. Brandscope facilitated all of this and in a very streamlined and simplistic way”.
Outcome
Since the implementation of Brandscope, Stokehouse’s Australian subsidiary has seamlessly onboarded hundreds of retailers which has helped Vissla become a key, emerging brand in the surf industry. Orders are placed by Retailers and then instantly integrated into the company’s ERP system and distributed directly to the warehouse for fulfillment. It effectively removes the need for any order administration for both sales reps and Vissla’s head office, meaning more quality time can be spent on maintaining the relationship between brand and the retailer. There was also greater collaboration on pre-book orders with Agents taking greater initiative and creating suggested orders by month/category/price/colour to workshop with Retail partners, resulting in deeper and broader pre-books.
“The move to engage with the Brandscope system was widely welcomed by our accounts,” said John, “and it helped facilitate the rapid growth of the brand through both heightened awareness and ease of ordering. The platform entrenched itself within the Stokehouse business and we’re now using it as the primary tool for disseminating digital marketing collateral as well. From a sales perspective, it has become a one-stop-shop for the sales team and our Retailer partners resulting in a much higher level of collaboration and relationship building. The system streamlines and expedites the launch of new brands into the market which complies with our aggressive brand growth strategy”.
Testimonial
“The Brandscope system greatly assists the Stokehouse Limited group to quickly launch and grow brands into the market efficiently and profitably. It’s provided our business with the technical sophistication required to manage a multi-faceted business model with respect to broad pricing, territory and segmentation arrays ensuring that our sales team and Retail partners see customised, accurate information across brand, release and product levels at all times. It’s easy, it’s fast and it’s effective!”
Background
Russell Corporation is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway with a wholesale focus on manufacture and distribution of the Sherrin and Spalding brand. The business was configured towards traditional sales methods based on a network of sales representatives and independent Agents who serviced a high volume of leisure and sporting retail stores and clubs. The product release program supported both pre-book and refill of set lines.
“There was a massive reliance on our sales team to be everywhere at once to drive our sales program”, said Nathan Collins, Sales Director “which impeded our efficiencies to launch quickly into the marketplace and pick up refill orders in between our team’s in-store visits. We also saw value time saving efficiencies that a B2B could bring to our team which would allow them to focus on other projects such as broadening distribution, working closer with major accounts and generally working on brand awareness and dollars per door”.
Solution
Implementation of Brandscope B2B platform into the Russell Corporation wholesale business with a complete integration into Microsoft Navision. The 2019 Spalding and Sherrin in-season catalogues were then uploaded and digital flyers distributed to Retail partners to advise how to use the system to view and purchase. Sales teams were then workshopped on best practices and the system officially launched.
“We were all very committed to getting behind the tool and supporting our sales team as much as possible in the transition”, recalls Nathan, “and Brandscope were very thorough in their support mechanisms. It was obvious that the training team had comprehensive knowledge of the mechanics of the wholesale sales process and garnered support from our team quickly.”
Outcome
The sales team gradually embraced the power of the platform and took more control of the pre-book ordering process by constructing multi-month assortments resulting in deeper and broader commitments. Retailers also engaged gradually and started collaborating with their sales representatives with both pre-book and refill ordering, becoming more independent and taking greater control of their own ranging. Retailer feedback suggested that “shopping on their own terms” resulted in more experimental buying and aggressive replenishment on key selling styles. It also led to greater commitment with clearance given the ease of viewing and ordering.
“There was a real surge of engagement in the brands once retailers started using the tool,” said Nathan. “Giving our partners more control over their ordering process and greater access to accurate information really took their confidence in the Russell Corporation to another level. It was the same for our sales team who suddenly had more time to focus on the business as opposed to constantly being in the business and channel their energies into areas that provided the greatest return. They also had access to live information and could quickly communicate opportunities to many Retailers quickly. It’s been a great move for the business as a whole, which is very mature, and will set us up for a push into New Zealand providing internal efficiencies and growing sales.”
Testimonial
“Engaging with Brandscope was like turning a light on in a dark warehouse. Our sales team and retail partners suddenly had a level of inventory visibility that immediately converted to increased sales. We also saw a much higher level of collaboration between them due to the platforms shared order creation functionality which completely busted the myth that digital B2B inhibits personal relationships. If anything, it fostered commercial relationships.”
Background
Hoka One One had just been introduced into the Australian market off the back of strong growth and brand popularity in the United States. The challenge lay in introducing the brand quickly and efficiently to an array of Australian independent Retailers across a broad spectrum of sporting accounts, and streamlining the pre-book and refill process to maximise fast, profitable growth.
“Having worked in wholesale for many years”, says National Sales Manager, Ian Thomas, “we were quite adept at launching new brands and products into the marketplace, but the situation with Hoka One One was quite unique”. “We knew the opportunity was there, so it was more a matter of shaking up the status quo and doing it differently to maximise the growth profile”.
Solution
Hoka One One worked intimately with Brandscope to load consecutive seasonal releases and supporting marketing assets to drive brand awareness amongst a target audience of independent sporting Retailers. Agents were selected and trained in the use of the platform and a full integration completed with SapphireOne ERP system to minimise human intervention in the order capture and release process. Retailers were then introduced to the system by the Agents and Brandscope training specialists and assisted in a far more streamlined pre-book and refill process.
“We really focussed on using the tool to its maximum” says Ian, “and making it the primary platform for all our ordering… a commitment that paid us back in spades once the product arrived and we started shipping”.
Outcome
Retailer adoption was immediate, as many had already used the system for other brands and the Hoka One One brand quickly grabbed shelf space in a broad sporting distribution channel, ignited by a platform that was accessible and just made business easy for Retailers and Sales Representatives.
“If you were to really burrow down into key success factors”, summarised Ian, “it really came down to our Agents taking more control of the ordering process and collaborating more effectively with our Retailer partners on pre-book orders. And our Retailers being able to dial into the system 24/7 and intuitively view accurate inventory and marketing information and just go shopping when they needed more stock”.
“To a large degree, Brandscope was the glue that brought it all together and the cog that drove the result. It certainly made the whole process a lot easier and more enjoyable”.
Testimonial
“Brandscope was the perfect vehicle to launch a high performing brand into the Australian market as it delivered a direct connection with the buyer and a 24/7 channel to communicate sales and marketing information to assist their buying decisions. It was a level of immediacy and collaboration that we simply could not have achieved using traditional methods. Brandscope was a prime driver in us reaching our aggressive growth projections.”
Background
Amer Sports is a global brand house that promotes an ethos focussed on health, wellness and sustainable consumption and supports over twelve proprietary sport and outdoor brands sold across over 88 countries. The Australian New Zealand subsidiary had implemented an SAP ECC 6 enterprise system which had a B2B module that offered simplistic functionality more suited to refill ordering.
“Our business model is heavily oriented towards pre-booking”, outlines National Sales Manager, Stuart Wright, “and the corporate ERP module we had access to did not provide the functionality to cater for the nuances this type of selling demanded. It’s a very visual and collaborative process between our internal and external sales team and our Retail partners. We also wanted to adopt a more sustainable wholesale model and divert the need for traditional sampling and cataloging to something more digital. We began the due diligence process to find a suitable vehicle and Brandscope emerged a solid contender based on market feedback and review of alternate options, both domestically and internationally.”
Solution
Brandscope was adopted as the primary pre-book selling tool and the Arc’teryx, Wilson, Suunto, Salomon and Atomic seasonal releases loaded onto the platform, accompanied by supporting digital marketing assets. The system was integrated into the global enterprise SAP ERP to facilitate automated flow of orders, inventory and product status to eliminate any manual processing and ensure data timeliness and accuracy. External and internal sales teams were then workshopped by the Brandscope training division in “best practices” and Retail partners introduced to the platform via digital EDM, with links to an array of online supporting materials.
“The onboarding process was well-coordinated,” said Stuart, “and the relevant support mechanisms in place to ensure a transition from a more traditional to digital model of pre-booking, but also refilling. It was quite a learning experience for our older sales guys and Retailers but they were willing to adopt in an effort to be more sustainable and streamlined in interactions. From a back-of-house perspective, we were also excited about the impact on our Customer Service team in freeing them up to invest more time into proactive practices as opposed to just entering orders.”
Outcome
The resulting pre-books illustrated that “old dogs could indeed be taught new tricks” according to Stuart, with pre-book orders coming in faster, ahead of deadline and broader in category representation. The sales team were also more proactive in constructing detailed suggested orders and collaborating with Retailers to control the pre-book process, resulting in budgets being met and deadlines achieved to comply with manufacturing demands. “The aesthetic nature of Brandscope really contributed to Retailer engagement,” stated Stuart, “as they found the buying experience far more interactive and dynamic than the typical spreadsheet and catalogue mix. The feedback was also very positive about the ease of constructing multi-month buys by category with their Sales Representatives and then collaborating to finalise before being sent directly to the ERP for automated processing. We were also able to launch quickly as we’d mitigated the need for every Retailer to be physically visited, contributed to a faster pre-book and reduced travel costs. We now get 100% of orders for Arc’teryx through Brandscope, have eliminated catalogues and vastly reduced sampling (Amer now relies on fabric swatches) which aligns with Amer’s sustainability promise.”
Pre-book orders flowed directly into the SAP system and were bucketed under the relevant retail entities allowing for multiple months, varied product pricing and alternate shipping addresses.
“Though our focus is predominantly on pre-book,” said Stuart, “the platform has also been very effective for refilling as many buyers are in front of their computers and can quickly see and judge opportunities that we communicate to them. It’s a new level of immediacy and intimacy that has benefited us over our competitors. The impact on the internal team has also been marked”, added Stuart, “with the Customer Service team not having to deal with as much information provision as they have prior. Retailers have really been managing themselves which has afforded the team with a greater capacity to be more provocative and communicate opportunities such as best-sellers and new stock as examples. Overall, Brandscope has really helped us get to that next level of wholesale”.
Testimonial
“Implementing the Brandscope platform into Amer Sports has helped us to achieve a new level of collaboration and immediacy with our Retail partners and has been instrumental in our journey to becoming a more sustainable and profitable business. It’s a partnership that we’d highly recommend to any wholesale brand Supplier wanting to achieve similar results.”
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