Mega Distribution, a wholesale company based in California, U.S, connects retail businesses with successful, nationally recognised brands. Their customers are mainly small businesses, but as their catalogue has become more mainstream, their clients now include yoga studios and doctors’ offices.
This shift from a niche industry to something more mainstream has kept Mega Distribution busy and expanding, but not without experiencing purchasing and inventory challenges.
To give you a clear idea of the level of growth they experienced, let’s look at some figures. Mega Distribution began with a limited range of around 20 products. Now they distribute for 20 companies, and their catalogue includes over 600 products (and counting). It’s fair to say the change in both the number and variety of their product range was, and continues to be, massive.
With this rapid growth and increased interest in their catalogue, Mega Distribution’s purchasing manager and general manager, Brian, knew they needed to get an inventory system to correct some issues. His background is in sales, not purchasing, so he quickly recognised he needed the right software to support his role, make his job less of a headache and save time.
Purchasing was a heavy-going task. Brian and the team relied heavily on guesswork and manually going through stock in the warehouse, which was eating up precious time and energy, leaving little space to consider inventory forecasting.
Before StockTrim, Mega Distribution was:
“Either ordering way too much or not enough - it was hurting the business.”
Rather than being a source of excitement, introducing new products was quickly becoming the hardest part of Brian’s role:
“Seeing what products everyone was selling was impossible without countless spreadsheets or reports. [Plus, there were either] back orders or too much stock sitting around.”
Things changed when they found StockTrim through an app store, whilst searching for software that would integrate with their inventory management system, Cin7.
Brian jumped on StockTrim’s free trial in June 2019 and quickly began to reap the benefits. When we asked him to outline the top benefits of using StockTrim, his answers were:
- Time: “Once it was working, it was saving tons of time.”
- Confidence: “Gave [us] confidence in what [we] were doing.
- Customisable: “Really customise it to suit the vendors.”
- Visibility: “Complete visibility around the ordering process.”
- Service: “[The team are] really helpful and responsive”.
Beyond the day-to-day advantages of using StockTrim, Brian recognises the strategic gains to be made and how the data visibility can help shape decisions across various departments. For example, the marketing team now has a clear direction of which products need promoting, based on what’s not currently moving or what’s nearing its expiry date.
It’s clear that StockTrim helps Mega Distribution do business better. They are no longer over-ordering; they rarely run out of products; they can order everything within twenty minutes compared to the previous time of one hour per company; they are not sitting on a bunch of products, and Brian can redirect more time into sales and pursuing new brands and products to distribute.
It’s your turn to move to automated, smart, easy-to-use software
If you are a business ready to leave behind the headaches, uncertainties and wasted hours of manual purchasing, do a Brian and join StockTrim.
Trial StockTrim today for 14 days FREE, with no credit card required.
