Advertorial: Orderlion – Scaling faster and smarter
From taking all night to manually process orders to wrapping it up in two hours… well, that’s the kind of transformation that gets wholesalers excited. We met with SJB Foods, a member of The Wholesale Group, and Orderlion to discover how their partnership has transformed the business into a digital powerhouse
Like so many other family businesses, SJB Foods was created with the most traditional of wholesale roots.
“SJB was started by my father about 30 years ago, selling cooked meats from van sales in the local area,” says James Berisford, Director, SJB Foods.
“Around 10 years ago we came off van sales and focused on building the business. I joined around seven years ago and we began to expand the product range to include non-food, dry goods and frozen foods.
“We’ve grown the business since then though we remain small and condensed, operating about 40 miles each way from the depot. We have our area and we do it well, supplying a diverse range of customers from schools and colleges to seasonal businesses such as ice cream shops and fish and chip takeaways.”
FUTURE FOCUS
Despite its traditional van sales beginnings, it is clear that SJB Foods is firmly focused on the future as the foodservice wholesaler has launched a white label app to provide its customers with a digital platform to rival any business-to-consumer offerings.
“We were looking for ways to stand out from the competition,” says James. “We were contacted by Orderlion and when Gabriel Van Heerden, Head of Sales, introduced us to a white label app solution, we knew it was different to anything we’d seen before. Working in partnership with Orderlion, we wanted to launch it straight away. It has been a game-changer for us and our customers.”
So how have customers adapted to using the app rather than their usual tried-and-tested methods of ordering? James explains: “The uptake has been fantastic – more than 70% of our customers now place orders via the app or website, with the remaining 30% using voicemails that we process through the Orderlion AI.
“Our aim is to onboard every new customer to the app because we’ve seen such a significant increase in basket size when customers can browse the full range.”
SMOOTH PROCESS
Embracing new technologies can be a challenge, so Gabriel was keen to find out how the set-up and integration process was for SJB.
James says: “There were no teething problems. Our ERP support team were hands-on throughout and we had no service disruptions for our customers whatsoever. This was the most important thing for us – to maintain customer service while we upgraded our systems.”
Gabriel asks: “How are you finding the Orderlion AI component working within your business?”
“Honestly, it’s brilliant!” says James. “All the voicemails that come into our answering system get pushed through to a dedicated Orderlion inbox. It takes the dialogue, matches it to each customer’s order history and prepares an order that’s ready for confirmation. While the system needs to learn each customer’s ordering patterns initially, which is how AI works by learning these details, we’re now at the point where, once a customer has placed a number of orders, we barely need to check them before confirming. We know they’ll be right.”
CHANGE FOR GOOD
“Has this new technology changed how your team operate?” asks Gabriel.
“It has yes,” says James “We’re using both the white label app and Orderlion AI and it’s made a huge difference, particularly with night-time order processing.
“What used to take us all evening now takes just an hour or two, and it keeps improving as it learns. We’ve reduced the time spent on late-night phone orders by around 75%, but we haven’t reduced our headcount. The team who were previously focused on data entry are now driving upselling, building customer relationships and handling promotions. It’s all about running more efficiently across the whole business.”
Gabriel asks: “What has been the biggest impact of the white label app?”
“Our customers – chefs – really like the option to digitise orders and be able to see the full transparency of our range and all the promotions that are on offer. In fact, visibility of our entire range has grown our customer order basket by at least 20%. It’s also much easier to launch products by sending a push notification direct to their mobile. It’s made it much easier for us to grow the business.”
Gabriel asks: “Has the white label aspect made a difference to your brand identity?”
“Definitely – having our own bespoke, white label app has just given it a much more personal touch and it helps connect us closer with our customers. There’s still the personal element with someone at the end of the phone and we can easily message them if anything is an issue, plus we’ve just got more time now to focus on creating more personal relationships with customers instead of just taking orders.”
Gabriel asks: “As a member of The Wholesale Group, would you recommend other wholesalers in the group do the same?”
“Yes, and sooner rather than later,” laughs James. “Not only are we driving the business but we’re also making savings and running smoother as a business.”
READY TO SCALE YOUR WHOLESALE BUSINESS?
See how much time and revenue your business could save.
Visit www.orderlion.com/en/customer-stories/ to see real stories and real results.
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