In turn, that can bring new life to old processes that have fizzled, and add effervescence to flat sales.
Ritway is in the business of fulfillment, helping their clients fulfill a vision that builds customer relationships from attraction and interaction to satisfaction. When you go into a supermarket or convenience store to buy a Coke, many of the displays, coupons, specialty merchandise, seasonal items, and promotions that you see are part of an online B2B solution created and fulfilled by Ritway.
Ritway is more than just the logistics of delivering merchandising materials for soda pop. Their solutions manage fulfillment, add life to sales, and provide consumer insights into how and why they buy. They help discover insights and trends, profit tools, and brand excitement. “Ritway is a relationship business based on solving problems. We communicate through technology. That’s where new relationships are initiated and how we move in tandem with changing needs of our clients.”
“The technology solutions of Efficience give us the framework to solve problems, to accommodate needs, and to be responsive to change. That’s how relationships are built.”
Director of Development, Ritway
A major business opportunity was at hand with an established client. Ritway had the advantage of the most experience with the client. But, one RFP qualification was outside their reach. Rather than decline the invitation, they chose to partner with Efficience for the extra technical skills. It was a winning combination.
The customized Efficience solution was the only way to accomplish what the client needed. Together, they created a proprietary, B2B platform that accommodates 5,100 users in ten countries who access 4,000 unique SKUs in a dedicated, web-based supplier catalog. The myriad of fulfillment items seen in stores began as a tiny speck of data in a sophisticated portal supported by a massive backend database. The platform orchestrates all that data.
“THE SOLUTION WAS WELL AHEAD OF ITS TIME IN 2009, AND IT CONTINUES TO SERVE US WELL TODAY.”
Ritway had established many of the business processes. So, there was life before the platform. But it was cumbersome in labor, time, and costs. Suppliers trying to work without information tools run risks. Without data, forecasting is a fancy word for guessing. That can mean a warehouse filled with wrong guesses or the empty shelves of missed opportunities. It was difficult to adapt quickly to predict and realize exponential sales potential.
Ritway used their extensive experience with the client to carefully map the processes upfront. Ritway is talented at defining processes and needs precisely. That requires patience and a different mindset to go from “Just do It,” to “Just think about how we do it.” The upfront time saves you in backend headaches. That’s what makes you a good partner in the technology development process.
Now, production through Ritway is beyond efficient, almost “Just-In-Time,” somewhat like Kickstarter where buy-in is established in advance. Schedule and reminders are built in, orders are locked down, and merchandise is produced based on actual demand.
Multiple payment gateways connect to the shopping cart. Real-time estimating tools and shipment schedules prevent surprises. The data points generated instantly inform the entire process. Overall, 99.8 percent of orders are filled the same day. The platform enhances processes dramatically, translating into lower costs and increased satisfaction for all parties.
On a technical level, it is a thing of beauty and brains with the style of e-commerce and an XML PunchOut catalog. The XML PunchOut acts as a driving force for customer engagement and fulfillment. It plays well with others, adapting to a variety of e-commerce and procurement platforms as it connects directly to the vendor’s purchasing systems. That makes it easier for buyers to do business with you (and to choose you over your competitor). It also provides greater marketing efficiencies and added effervescence for flat sales.
The value of a business-to-business E-commerce solution is higher sales, increased marketing efficiencies, cost savings in labor and outdated processes, and a long-term client relationship that has exponential yields to both parties on the path of mutual success.
The technology and the business continued to evolve together. That initial opportunity has gone well beyond one RFP. It has cultivated a long-term client who says their working relationship with Ritway is “interdependent and integrated into each other’s success.” Staying in step with client and market needs requires a framework that is flexible and responsive. For an e-commerce application, it should also be fun, easy, and engaging.