Jul 18, 2019

From Paper to Profits | Price Mart

The Scenario

Price Mart, a retail distributor that ships products to more than 150 stores across the Western United States, faced a unique shipping problem. Routinely, they would receive orders that had to be split, directing some of the product to be stored in warehouses and the rest was sent to individual customers. Managing these unusual split orders was done completely on paper.

As their business grew, Price Mart's paper-based management system began to hinder their ability to move and track products efficiently. This led to order fulfillment errors, decreased efficiency, and customer frustration.

They needed a better way to handle split orders, track their inventory, and monitor deliveries to customers. That's when they turned to AltSource, a custom software development company in Portland.

Gary Altman

Warehouse Manager, Price Mart

“AltSource did more than ‘just’ build software for us – they helped us be more efficient, productive and profitable thanks to that software.”

Custom software

Product strategy

Supply chain

Distribution

Features & Benefits

To make it easier to manage Price Mart's customer orders, AltSource designed a point-of-service system and a dedicated customer portal (EDI). Price Mart's customers now had the flexibility of submitting and tracking orders digitally.

AltSource also updated Price Mart's inventory management platform to enable split inventory orders, which limited the need to store and shelve split orders prior to order fulfillment.

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By addressing this unique shipping problem, AltSource's solution streamlined processes, which reduced handling time and the number of steps required to fulfill customer orders. Doing so increased order accuracy and expedited order fulfillment times.

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Business Impact

Simplified Customer Order Processes

Implementing a dedicated customer portal sped up ordering and gave customers peace of mind.

Reduced Order Processing & Fulfillment Times

Digital order processing made it faster for customers to input what they needed, and employees could then receive and fulfill orders more quickly.

Decreased Order Errors

As customers inputted their orders directly into the portal, it greatly reduced order errors previously caused by manual data entry.

Improved Warehouse Efficiency

With an updated inventory management platform, Price Mart now has full visibility and control of inventory, split orders, and orders in process.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

The addition of the portal has improved customer communications and provided transparency in the fulfillment process.