From Crisis to Growth: How a Retailer Revamped Direct Sales for Long-Term Success
During the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers faced declining business-to-business (B2B) sales and excess inventory. Forum Solutions helped a leading consumer goods retailer achieve significant revenue growth and enhanced customer engagement by helping them implement a direct-to-consumer sales and fulfillment strategy.
Challenge:
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a consumer goods retail client experienced a significant decline inB2B sales as third-party distributors scaled back on orders, resulting in excess inventory for the client. With products sitting in warehouses and uncertainty looming with the pandemic, the client needed to quickly adapt their go-to-market approach to minimize any further losses in the supply chain.
To address this issue, the client adjusted its business model to place greater emphasis on direct-to-consumer sales. With this transition came major challenges, including:
Operational Limits – The existing supply chain and financial systems were not designed to manage direct-to-consumer orders, which involved a higher volume of smaller transactions.
Website Scalability – The existing website lacked the ability to process a high volume of orders.
Forum Solutions partnered with the client to implement new technologies, supporting a smooth transition to a direct-to-consumer sales model.
Approach:
Working side by side with the client, Forum Solutions leveraged cutting-edge technology integrations and best practices to revamp the client’s direct distribution capabilities to support the new supply chain model. Several best practices were implemented, including:
Process Flow Mapping – Mapped critical steps in the customer journey, from purchase to backend financial systems, creating clear visibility for areas of improvement.
Requirements Gathering – Collaborated with stakeholders across departments to gather requirements on how to scale the eCommerce site, supply chain and logistics operational readiness. Forum assessed operational capabilities of the warehouse partners and supported the finance team on how to account for these transactions in the financial systems.
Systems Implementation– Partnered with the internal IT team and vendors to select, develop, test, and deploy the solutions necessary to support the direct sales requirements at scale. These solutions included establishing a new direct to consumer website and technical order fulfilment and financial system integrations with multiple warehouse and 3rd party logistics partners.
By taking a holistic approach and working closely with the client from start to finish, Forum Solutions delivered key project milestones every step of the way. The Forum Solutions team provided hands-on-support throughout the requirements, implementation and troubleshooting phases and established a mechanism to implement continuous improvements as direct to consumer sales grew.
Results:
A new direct sales market presence was created through a new website launch and marketing programs which resulted in significant year-over-year growth over a 4-year period. Strong 3rd party logistics integrations allowed for a reduction in shipping costs and improved delivery timeline for customers. Detailed order data insights provided the customer support and logistics teams real-time visibility into issues and areas for improvement.
With the transition to a direct sales approach, our client gained deeper, real-time customer insights, allowing them to more accurately track purchasing behaviors, preferences, and trends that were not available in the legacy platform. Real-time insights enabled more control and rapid adaptation in product marketing.
With the correct systems and technology in place, the client is better positioned for future growth and market expansion. They are equipped to deliver direct-to-consumer sales and marketing and fulfilment of their products.
Forum Solutions is a management consulting company dedicated to crafting and delivering transformational outcomes for our clients, our colleagues, and our community. With our help, clients become more agile, resilient, and connected, bringing great ideas to fruition with brilliant results. From start-ups to the Fortune 50, business leaders rely on Forum Solutions to help them form and realize their strategies. Our company is a certified Woman Owned Business that believes in developing and growing our colleagues, company, and region in a socially conscious way.