When SAVSERVICE wanted a tool to digitalise the distribution process, they already had multiple warehouses, thousands of retailers as customers and an army of sales representatives. The envisaged online ordering marketplace had to streamline the ordering from a distributor, assist sales representatives with their work and automate the tracking of sales and promo campaigns.
Among the main concerns that SAVSERVICE wanted to address were inefficient distribution routes, limited ordering channels and human-factor errors that persisted with manual orders. Moreover, the B2B marketplace had to be flexible enough to serve not only SAVSERVICE’s needs but the needs of other FMCG distributors, manufacturers and importers, too.
SAVSERVICE’s internal IT department created a working prototype of an ordering platform and tested the idea on the first users. To go beyond the prototype, SAVSERVICE needed an experienced vendor. In ELEKS, they found a team that understood their business and was ready to implement a minimum viable product against their demanding timeline.
Our team started with a four-week product discovery phase to confirm the product assumptions and find out what the users want. We also conducted a series of in-depth interviews with SAVSERVICE and their customers. Our business analytics and software architects outlined the optimal architecture of the marketplace, refined the functional requirements and developed a complete product vision and its development roadmap.
Less than four months after the discovery phase, SAVSERVICE received a ready product: their Web-based iOrder platform. We built the architecture and user experience of the marketplace according to the needs of both retailers and distributors. The platform is fully flexible so that every distributor can make their separate marketplace within the system with their own product hierarchy and promotion rules.
With iOrder, retailers are not limited by the visits of sales representatives to make product selections and place orders; this means that retailers can replenish their stock more often, while sales representatives can optimise their routes and save operational costs. The marketplace supports regular synchronisation to display only the most accurate information on product availability and active promotions. Additionally, the platform meets all the security and performance requirements and can scale to accommodate the accelerated growth of users.
In the six months since the marketplace launch, the number of retailers permanently using the tool doubled, from 450 to 900. SAVSERVICE report that iOrder guarantees absolute transparency of their relations with the distributors. Several distribution companies that sought to optimise their operations also joined the platform.
The distributors have seen up to a 15% increase in order frequency. They have also been able to shorten the regular promo campaigns launch cycle, the moment the campaign is initiated to the moment the goods are delivered to the retailer, from two weeks to just a couple of days.
Though sales representatives still visit retail shops in person, the marketplace has become their essential tool for producing the best results. The marketplace takes care of routine ordering activities while the sales representatives have time during their visits to focus on upselling, new product promotions and planning. SAVSERVICE estimates the potential growth of sales at 13%.
