Reducing order processing time in a fashion retail company

Cinereus Creations is a retail company with significant participation in the global swimwear market. Following a successful acquisition by an international fashion giant, numerous challenges arose in areas such as information systems integration, cultural adjustment, and the implementation of best management practices.

The sales team in North America received personalized attention from an experienced customer service team in charge of receiving and processing hundreds of orders daily. As the integration progressed, the volume of operations and the implementation of new tools began to create friction within the team.

The challenge

Global management sought to systematize part of the sales representatives' work on a leading B2B platform connecting wholesalers and retailers. Although the tool proposed was widely recognized by the reps as an industry standard, full integration with the company's internal systems could take months of coordination across CRM, ERP, inventory management, shipping, and returns, to name a few.

The company's temporary solution involved the customer experience team taking orders from the external platform and uploading them to the internal systems. This situation created a significant loss of efficiency, since two people were required to enter the same information on two platforms that did not speak the same language. Simultaneously, the team had to continue handling and processing orders by phone and email.

The increased volume led to longer processing times, and errors soon followed.

Our solution

We delved into the operations to understand where the bottleneck was. Previously, the team entered orders directly into the ERP or through bulk data uploads in standardized or plain-text formats. Now, each agent had to download the order from the external platform, break it down, adjust it, and upload it directly to the ERP reference by reference (or try to reconcile the external platform's format with the bulk upload format before uploading it to the system).

• We mapped and documented the process. We measured the time and cost impact of the new operating procedures.

• We implemented a data collection and transformation process, converting data matrices from the external tool into compatible vectors using advanced Excel functions.

• We created a bridge file in Excel that converted the external platform's format (matrix and user-centric) into a flat file that could be easily processed by the ERP (vector and system-centric).

• We trained the team on the tool and created hands-on workshops to test the solution in real-world scenarios. As each team member became familiar with the tool, a series of tests were conducted to fine-tune the processes and ensure it worked as intended.

• Once the solution was validated and implemented, we proceeded to program the VBA code to automate the task.

Last but not least, we held regular follow-up sessions to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation. These sessions allowed us to gather feedback from the team and make any necessary adjustments.

The customer experience team achieved time savings of between 3 and 10 minutes per order processed (depending on order size; the larger the order, the greater the time savings).

The data entry error rate was reduced to 0% since team members no longer had to manually manipulate order data; they simply operated the tool and uploaded the flat file to the ERP system.

The team's response speed increased significantly, their workload was reduced, and capacity was freed up to focus on more strategic issues.

The company had estimated savings of US$27,000 in annual processing costs (the experience team consisted of 20 members, each processing an average of 8 orders per day, considering business days only).

Spoiler alert: what was initially conceived as a temporary solution while the technology integration was underway ended up being the permanent solution due to its low implementation cost. Essentially, the solution bridged the gap between the B2B platform and the ERP, eliminating the need to manually reprocess information while the final technology integration was being developed. Instead of waiting several months for an IT solution, the company was able to immediately capture operational efficiencies, reduce errors, and maintain business continuity with a low-cost, easy-to-adopt implementation.

The Result...

Digital transformation doesn't always imply massive investments, and the best solutions aren't always the most complex. Sometimes, simply identifying the bottleneck and moving quickly with creative alternatives is enough. Speed ​​is also a competitive advantage. While an organization awaits for the ultimate solution, a well-designed interim solution can generate savings, reduce risks, and create value from day one.

Confidentiality notice: The company's name and details have been edited to protect its confidentiality. Some images and visuals are for illustrative purposes and do not necessarily correspond to the formats, systems, or tools used or delivered during the project. The methodology, challenges, and results described accurately reflect the work performed.

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