The biggest difference has definitely been the reduction in administration.
Before using a platform like Ordermentum, orders came from everywhere - phone calls, emails, text messages, photos of handwritten orders and messages to individual salespeople.
Then somebody still had to manually enter all of that information.
Ordermentum has probably reduced that type of administration for us by around 70%.
That means our team can spend much more time looking after customers, developing new business and improving our operation instead of manually processing orders.
The Digital Catalogue is also important because customers can see the range themselves and order when it suits them rather than relying on someone from our team to process everything for them.
What has your experience with Payments been?
Payments have definitely become so much easier.
One of the least enjoyable parts of running any wholesale business is chasing overdue accounts and having uncomfortable conversations about money.
Since using Ordermentum, I would estimate we've reduced those conversations by around 70%. It also gives us more confidence around payment and cash flow.
What has been your experience with Growth Engine?
Growth Engine has been a really useful tool for us.
Having leads pushed through to us creates another opportunity to connect with venues that may not otherwise know Ecoflow.
For a growing supplier, anything that can introduce relevant customers into the pipeline without relying completely on traditional cold calling is valuable.
What has your experience been with Sign Up Links?
Sign Up Links are a great idea, particularly because they allow us to understand where a new customer has come from.
They're also very easy for the customer - we can simply send them a link and they can connect with us directly.
In what other ways has Ordermentum helped you grow?
Upselling has definitely been one of the benefits.
A customer might originally come to us for coffee cups, but once they're browsing the catalogue they can discover lids, napkins, takeaway containers, paper bags and other products they didn't originally contact us about.
What do you think about Insights?
The Insights feature is excellent. Being able to see sales performance and understand whether customers are still actively purchasing from us gives us much better visibility over the business.
Instead of simply looking at total monthly revenue, we can start understanding what is actually happening inside the customer base.
Why do venue customers love Ecoflow Packaging?
Hospitality moves fast. If a café realises at 4pm that they're running out of cups, telling them you'll respond in two days isn't really helping them.
We have a late order cut-off and we've built the business around responding quickly and solving problems.
Ultimately, we want our customers to feel that Ecoflow is part of their team rather than simply another supplier.
What is the venue experience like with Ordermentum?
Once someone connects with us, our team follows up quickly and makes sure they can find the right products.
Ordermentum handles the transactional side extremely well, which means our team can spend more time on the human side of the relationship…It’s so important to us.
Technology should make business more efficient, but it shouldn't remove the relationship between supplier and customer.
What would you say to another supplier considering using Ordermentum?
If you're another packaging supplier in Adelaide, I'd probably tell you not to use it - I don't need the extra competition!
But seriously, I think the direction is obvious.
Technology has changed almost every industry, and wholesale distribution is no different. Customers increasingly expect ordering to be simple, digital and available whenever they want it. You can either adapt to that change or eventually get left behind.
For us, Ordermentum has helped reduce administration, improve payments, give customers an easier ordering experience and provide better visibility over our business.
