See how an appliance wholesaler manages customer notifications for 400,000+ products.
In October 2021, Appliance Parts Company (APC) was looking for a way to better manage multiple customer notifications.
When purchasing an item from APC, customers have the option to place wholesale orders online, by phone, and in APC retail locations. A lot of the products APC sells are unavailable same-day, so it needed a way to alert customers when products were ready for pick up.
Challenge
With 400,000+ stock-keeping units (SKUs) and 16 bricks-and-mortar locations in five states across the US, pencilling in customer notes and making calls just wasn’t going to cut it.
APC was lacking a way to quickly notify clients when orders were available. It managed client notifications by phone: referencing multiple systems, running custom reports, and taking hand-written notes before calling clients to let them know their items were in stock and ready to pick up.
We needed a way to let our customers know when their orders arrived and were ready for pick up.
Jim Swane, Senior Manager
Appliance Parts Company has 400,000+ SKUs – everything from stove knobs (each colour has its own SKU) to refrigerator door replacements. Whoa.
Managing phone calls and running reports to find stock availability wasn’t efficient, scalable, or very fun for employees. If a client wasn’t available or APC employees were not available to answer the phone, the process would start all over again.
APC needed an efficient way to know when orders were in and communicate to clients. It took employees a lot of time to research and communicate a simple message to clients.
Solution
MessageMedia’s solutions team worked with APC to create a workflow in NetSuite. This now triggers templated SMS to customers when their product is ready for pick up. It’s really that simple.
The messages we need to convey are short and simple – perfect for SMS.
Jim Swane, Senior Manager
Results
When APC began using MessageMedia’s SMS for NetSuite notifications to customers, Swane says his staff understood the value of NetSuite and adding customer records into the system.
SMS made it clear why customer records are important
Jim Swane, Senior Manager
Now, as soon as their item is delivered to the store, the client is notified via SMS that it’s ready for pick up. And after adding MessageMedia’s NetSuite integration, APC has reduced phone calls, improved employee efficiency, and increased customer and employee satisfaction. Boom.
APC’s internal team receives fewer client complaints, and customers arrive for pick-up knowing that their order is ready. “It’s important for me to keep my people happy.” says Swane.
What’s next
APC is currently working with MessageMedia’s solutions team to batch alerts by customer record. The idea is to prevent customers from getting a ton of messages when multiple orders arrive in the same shipment. It’s also keen to develop more use cases for SMS in its business. Watch this space for updates.
Working with MessageMedia
We’ve reduced phone calls – both inbound and outbound – regarding order inquiries, and we’ve increased our customer service levels, letting customers know when items are ready.
Jim Swane, Senior Manager, APC.
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