Customer Success Story
Perfect Snacks achieves ecommerce optimization through automation with Celigo
Business Systems Analysis Manager
at Perfect Snacks
About
Made with whole-food ingredients, like freshly ground nut butter, organic honey, and 20+ superfoods, all Perfect Snacks products are Organic when possible, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO Project Verified, Low-GI, and Kosher.
You can find Perfect Snacks products — Perfect Bar® and Perfect Bar® Snack Size — in the refrigerated section of more than 35,000 fridges nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Costco, Starbucks, Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Publix, and many more, as well as online at www.perfectsnacks.com.
Background
And they were very successful, partnering with well-known brands like Costco, Target, Walmart, Kroger, and Starbucks, and bringing in large orders from consumers and retailers alike. However, their processes were struggling to keep pace with their rapidly-growing business. Many of their procedures, including those around billing and fulfillment, were heavily reliant on manual transactions and file uploads. As a result, the team had limited real-time insights into their inventory. When the company started to undergo several rapid shifts, the Perfect Snacks team decided it was time to upgrade and automate its operations.
The Challenge
During this time, the company’s order volume was increasing, and their manual processes were no longer able to scale as quickly as needed. Prior to implementing the new systems, all order creation and fulfillment required large file uploads to multiple platforms and manual intervention to format correctly. Occasionally, these uploads were so large they would slow down system processing to the point that the productivity of other operations was affected.
The delays caused by manual processing meant that order status information was not posted in real-time. And, without current visibility of their inventory and orders, the Perfect Snacks team was unable to make data-based business decisions. Additionally, given the reliance on manual processes, the system was prone to human error.
At their most cumbersome, the company’s ecommerce procedures required dedicated headcount for invoicing and fulfillment-based tasks.
Once NetSuite was in place, the Perfect Snacks team decided that they needed to make the most of this new system, and that meant choosing an integration platform that would help them extract the maximum value from their investment. The company’s CFO evaluated several potential solutions, and Celigo came out on top.
“Celigo has significantly helped us to automate and optimize our ecommerce business. Without it, we would not be able to sustain the volume that we currently have.”
Business Systems Analysis Manager, Perfect Snacks
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“Celigo has significantly helped us to automate and optimize our ecommerce business. Without it, we would not be able to sustain the volume that we currently have.”
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The Solution
With Celigo now part of their tech stack, the Perfect Snacks team got to work recreating the processes they already had in place, but with integrations and automation through Celigo rather than manual file uploads. The Perfect Snacks team calls this Phase One, which was all about getting “baseline operational.” They quickly implemented several pre-built connections, including Amazon and Shopify integrations, and established a few custom ones as well with the help of a dedicated developer.
Phase Two involved expanding on their pre-built integrations and taking advantage of additional functionality. For example, the team activated pay-out reconciliation flows and explored new features, all the while increasing their overall knowledge of Celigo through real-world experience.
Currently, the company is in Phase Three: evaluating their remaining manual processes and finding ways to automate them with Celigo. At this point in time, Perfect Snacks is actively looking at where teams are still completing processes manually and where they see the largest needs for process improvement.
Bottomline
high-volume flash sales and promotions that the previous systems would not have been able to handle.
Moving from manual to automated processes involved a cultural change; through end-user training and process documentation, the company has been able to increase user adoption across multiple departments. While this cultural adjustment is ongoing, the Perfect Snacks team has seen greater reliance on and trust in Celigo and NetSuite.
Another benefit has been the significant reduction in time-consuming manual labor, which has freed up employees to spend their efforts on other, more strategic tasks. Perfect Snacks no longer had to complete as many manual order fulfillments and invoices, which allowed them to allocate resources elsewhere.
“Post-Celigo implementation, we have been able to systematically create, fulfill, and bill over 100K orders per year since 2020, which was about a 60% increase to our annual volume prior to having the automation features,”
Business Systems Analysis Manager, Perfect Snacks
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