FEATURE APPLICATIONS IN IRELAND
E-COMMERCE SOLUTION HARVESTS ONLINE SALES
Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform and replicates changes instantly, providing a trusted and accurate representation of stock from the ERP. “Our customers are starting to see the
benefits of the webstore and the convenience of being able to order online whenever they like,” said Scivener.
FROM ZERO TO CRM, ERP AND E- COMMERCE IN FIVE YEARS Around 30 per cent of orders are already being processed online after just a few months, and orders are expected to rise fourfold into the thousands within the next six months. “Our sales representatives were initially a
Having enjoyed rapid growth as a result of their success, Fastparts has recently made significant investments in their IT; implementing a CRM solution and replacing their 25-year-old ERP system
T
heir outdated ERP no longer fit their business model and prevented them
from achieving their long-term goal of implementing a webstore. Once these vital upgrades were in place, the company was finally able to explore an e-commerce solution that would bring it in line with its competition and meet demand for parts during the peak agricultural season.
TACKLING THE PEAK PERIODS Prior to the implementation of an e- commerce solution, Fastparts was primarily operating its order process by phone; with dealers calling head office directly and sales representatives manually processing orders. Parts director, Sinead Scrivener says:
“Due to the seasonal nature of agriculture, we encounter our busiest periods between May and September. During this time, we were inundated with hundreds of calls-per-day, with up to ten callers on hold at any one time. Customers couldn’t always get through to place orders and we were unable to dispatch products the same day.” In addition, Fastparts was printing
product catalogues in-house, which was proving an expensive, time- consuming and ineffective way of
32 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 | IRISH MANUFACTURING
marketing new products. “The tipping point was when we printed
our last catalogue in 2012 and it was immediately out of date,” explained Scrivener. “Adopting an e-commerce solution was a natural progression. Up until this point we were quite an old- fashioned company, but we realised we needed to move on fairly quickly to protect our future growth.” Having previously trialled two
unsuitable retail-based webstore platforms, it was crucial for Fastparts to find the right partner and roll out their e-commerce operation.
THE PATH TO SEAMLESS INTEGRATION Fastparts opted for Sana’s e-commerce solution to fit with their business model and CRM solution, and to integrate with their existing ERP platform. Scrivener explained: “The fact that Sana
offers a specific B2B e-commerce solution rather than a retail-based one was the overriding factor in our decision. The basic features and functionality fit nicely with our business model.” Instead of manually updating stock and
pricing every 24-hours as Fastparts had done when trialling previous webstores, Sana integrates seamlessly with their
Fastparts opted for Sana’s e-commerce solution to fit with their business model and CRM solution, and to integrate with their existing ERP platform
dubious of the new system, especially after the previous false starts, but the feedback has been very positive. They have access to more information including stocks, pricing, pictures and recommendations so they have a better understanding of the products,” Scivener explained. The latest update, Sana 9.2, offers
sophisticated features for webstore administrators to have greater visibility of key information and processes. Using the data already present in the ERP, managers can view product images, create bills of materials and sort products by physical dimension. Customer feedback has also been
largely positive, especially around the platform’s functionality and ease of use. “Sana has enabled customers and our sales representatives to be more productive and independent. They can access everything they need more quickly and spend less time waiting in phone queues,” said Scivener. Having learnt from previous false starts
with webstores that the right partner is key, it was important for Fastparts to choose an e-commerce provider who understood their requirements. “Sana just seemed to understand our
business model straight away and this was really important to us. We were really happy with the support and the communication; it was very clear who we needed to approach with different queries.” Once the rush of the peak agricultural period has passed, Fastparts plan to prioritise online orders to incentivise customers to order online and push Sana to its full potential.
Sana Commerce
www.sana-commerce.com/gb/ T: +44 161 768 1271
/ IRISHMANUFACTURING
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