Topo Designs is a Colorado-based outdoor gear company with a loyal following and a very distinct ethos: Do right by customers, employees and the planet. Attraction to an outdoorsy lifestyle has led to substantial growth over the past few years. The company realized that its growth goals outpaced its software’s capabilities and a modern ERP was required. Customer communications and order accuracy were suffering and significant growth in its wholesale business was adding a layer of complexity. An alternative was needed to allow for management of the entire merchandise lifecycle.
Business Situation
NetSuite was selected as the ERP. A solution to execute the entire shipping process, from carrier selection, to pick & pack recommendations, to label & invoice printing was needed. Making the right investment now would protect against untold future costs and risks to the business.
Our Solution
Topo turned to Pacejet for a complete parcel execution system, to maximize the growth coming from the NetSuite implementation.
The Outcome
The combination of NetSuite and Pacejet helped Topo confront the realities of today’s business environment and grow through them.
Since implementation, the company increased its orders by 35%, reduced inbound customer service tickets by 80%, and added a new business unit – without any warehouse headcount increases. Topo also reduced wholesale chargebacks by over 85% and substantially lowered its packaging costs, all while achieving an 89% retention rate among its warehouse employees (industry average is well under 70%).
Topo’s loyal customers have a very high reorder rate, and keeping up means shipping more packages to more people. While that is often accomplished by simply adding headcount, that isn’t always a possibility. Customer complaint reductions also allowed the company to reallocate staff to form an entirely new business operations unit, devoted solely to supporting growth of wholesale accounts.
Perhaps most importantly, Pacejet helped Topo make good on its promise to always treat its employees right – by investing in tools to set them up for success! Topo not only used Pacejet to achieve growth objectives, but to discover previously hidden sources of savings.
The system’s ability to analyze and recommend packing layouts found lots of empty space in boxes. Topo was able to switch to smaller, more environmentally friendly packaging. What’s more, better understanding of packaging needs led to more predictability and opportunities to negotiate better pricing further in advance.
On the wholesale side of the business, Topo not only reduced its number of chargebacks, but gained the ability to better contest those issued in error.
