Accelerating Ecommerce Inventory Management & Fulfillment with Descartes OzLink for Acumatica
As a full-service merchandising agency, SwervePoint manages more than 50 business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce fulfillment programs for its Fortune 500 customers. After outgrowing its legacy system, the company implemented an eCommerce integration solution, Descartes OzLink™ for Acumatica to modernize and streamline its global ecommerce order fulfillment process, delivering enhanced customer service, reducing costs, and attaining greater operational efficiencies.
The Challenge: Mounting Customer Expectations
SwervePoint provides branded promotional merchandise through managed ecommerce fulfillment programs for its Fortune 500 customers, processing 200-300 shipments from its central location each day. The company’s error-prone, paper-based order fulfillment practices could no longer meet customer expectations, generating an unacceptable level of mispicks, poor inventory control, and inefficient order turnaround. After bringing ecommerce and order fulfillment in-house in 2011, SwervePoint required a robust ecommerce inventory management solution, fully integrated with its Acumatica enterprise resource planning system (ERP), to automate and streamline the order fulfillment process.
" By moving from a paper-based system to a fully automated system with Descartes OzLink, we have a much more efficient picking process, significantly fewer mispicks, and much improved inventory control. And the Descartes team was highly responsive, flexible, and very well-versed in adapting their product capabilities to business operations overall; we’re extremely happy with them."
--Kevin Phoenix, Principal, SwervePoint
The Solution: Streamlined Order Fulfillment Process and Improved Ecommerce Inventory Management
After outgrowing its paper-based, manual system, SwervePoint implemented Descartes OzLink for Acumatica to streamline warehouse operations, automate shipping processes, and seamlessly integrate ecommerce applications with its ERP.
Since much of SwervePoint’s merchandise looks very similar—often varying only by size, logo, or color—the chance of mispicks is high. To increase order accuracy and provide real-time visibility, the company implemented wireless picking with Descartes OzLink. Pickers use barcoding and scan guns to validate order items, quantity and bins, thereby eliminating picking errors and the need for a physical inventory count that typically shut the warehouse down for a full day. The solution directly integrates with the Acumatica platform, ensuring the activities on the warehouse floor are reflected in real-time in Acumatica.
By automating the order fulfillment workflow, SwervePoint simplified the picking process and increased productivity. “Previously, when we’d bring in new or temporary staff, it would take a few weeks to get them up to speed, due to the lack of location visibility and training in manual practices. Now, new staff are productive within only a day or two,” enthused Kevin Phoenix, Principal, SwervePoint.
The Descartes OzLink solution also helped SwervePoint to meet climbing customer expectations. “Customers expect if they place an order today, it will ship today—no matter what time the order comes in or how many lines on the order. Descartes OzLink ensures the speedy turnaround time our customers demand,” said Phoenix. “And with Descartes Order Express™, we’ll be able to optimize which carrier we use—based on time, transit and overall costs—which is going to help us save a lot of money for our customers.”
The Benefits of an eCommerce Integration Solution
Increased Productivity: Seamless integration of Descartes OzLink, Acumatica, and ecommerce applications streamlined the order fulfillment process and eliminated error-prone manual processes, ensuring efficient order processing and supporting volume growth.
Tightened Inventory Control: Barcode scanning, order validation, and real-time visibility dramatically improved SwervePoint’s inventory control. The Descartes Ozlink solution enables accurate cycle counting, eliminating the need for downtime due to physical inventory counts.
Satisfied Customers: Automating the order management process with Descartes OzLink helped SwervePoint meet rising customer expectations, enhancing customer service by minimizing shipping costs and increasing fulfillment accuracy, speed, and consistency.
Increased Accuracy: Order validation with barcode scanning dramatically reduced mispicks. By integrating Descartes OzLink, Acumatica, and ecommerce applications, SwervePoint increased accuracy and eliminated unnecessary and costly errors.