Earthbound trading co pro#
Now, with a solid way for internal staff to collaborate with vendors, the Earthbound Trading is working on a way to deliver product information from vendors to customers, all while growing an online presence and providing an exceptional customer experience for the target customer.įor years Earthbound Trading relied on Retail Pro software to accomplish their tech strategy, and routinely upgrades to latest releases and products. Having more product knowledge helps close more sales as well. Questions are answered quickly so decisions are made promptly and are supported by product knowledge directly from the manufacturer or distributor. So Fleitas and his team created a portal where they can directly communicate with vendors and vice versa.Īll of Earthbound Trading's internal departments can interact within the system, creating new orders and providing a central means of communication. Keeping accurate records that can be recalled easily is also critical. So the retailer often deals with import regulations, which makes it crucial to know and understand customs codes and capture product history. Much of what Earthbound Trading sells are unique items from exotic locations, from small towns and villages in China or Brazil, for example. "We really had to create a collaboration tool with an efficient workflow," Fleitas explained.
Like many retailers, one of the biggest challenges Earthbound Trading faces is collaboration with vendors, particularly those from other countries.Įarthbound Trading deals with all sorts of partners, big and small vendors as well as with various departments such as accounting and marketing - including the photographers who take inventory pictures for the online store. The company still managed to do very well, but it realized that technology would really make operations efficient. The entire infrastructure was clearly not tech friendly. Feedback was given by managers over the phone.
Despite having 30 stores, no formal analytics were in place.
Products were stored in a warehouse, counted visually, and tracked using spreadsheets. "Customers in today’s world request a lot of information, so we need to provide it," said Marcelo Fleitas, VP of Information Technology at Earthbound Trading.īut at that time, they did not have the technology tools to do it.īack in 2001, Fleitas explained, Earthbound had five computers, Internet dial-up service – yes, it was AOL - and merchandise was replenished by faxing orders to headquarters. Its 136 stores are found within regional shopping malls, tourist markets and outlet centers in the US. identified that challenge, and knew also that addressing it properly would be tremendously beneficial both in revenue and in customer experience – so the retailer chose Retail Pro POS and retail management software as the solid backbone to their tech strategy.īackground: The Need for Digital TransformationĮarthbound Trading is a lifestyle retailer that sells an eclectic mix of globally sourced products and focuses on minerals, native art, hand-crafted items, essential oils, incense and jewelry. For retailers, gathering that type of specific information for hundreds – sometimes thousands – of products and then communicating it to multiple store locations and to customers is an enormous IT undertaking.Įarthbound Trading Co. More than just wondering about cost, customers are routinely asking questions concerning products' origin, fair trade status, material, etc. Today's shoppers also want quite a bit of information about the products they are interested in buying. When expectations are clearly defined, retailers can expect to be able to deliver a high quality customer experience. Data - and its analysis - needs not only to be accurate, but also to be shared with vendors. In order to meet that goal, retailers must have excellent two-way communication with their suppliers first. One of the tenets of excellent service is to provide clear communication with customers.
0 kommentar(er)
