Migrating from Paper to Mobile Order Taking Makes an Impact for Knight Sport.
National distribution is no easy feat. Just ask Knight Sport Director, Paul Pavlou. With an inventory of over 5,000 individual items, including physical education, sporting and health educational equipment, clothing and apparel, the company services schools, universities, pre-schools, government departments, educational institutions, sporting clubs and organisations.
The challenge
Knight sport’s sales team are expected to deliver a personalised buying experience to each of their clients, requiring them to be knowledgeable about their products, buying history, as well as be productive with on-the-spot digital ordering.
The real-life scenario: Sales Consultants writing orders on a paper-based form, then faxing (yes it still exists!), emailing or sometimes calling it back to the back-office order processing team, and handling back-and-forth questions and issues related to the order (e.g. out-of-stock orders, product SKU mistakes, missing signatures) meant that customers would often wait a long time for their delivery.
The solution
Knight Sport implemented the VIPS Everyday Order Application, giving them required visibility around all orders placed in the field to also provide management with a single, unified view of the field team activity and order detail. VIPS equipped the sales reps with a mobile order entry which enables them to take orders efficiently through one touch point.
The immediate results:
- Reduced mistakes
- Reduced order fulfilment turnaround time
- Maximised efficiency
- Less surprises
- Improved customer service
- Visibility for the customer as a PDF copy of the order is immediately sent to them.
“In just a few weeks, we launched the VIPS Everyday Order App. We can move to the next step and integrate this into our inventory system. This will eliminate a further step, which means less human error and less surprises at the end of the month.”
Knight Sports’ sales team have readily adopted the new streamlined ordering system. Delivery times have shrunk and the sales team have shown great enthusiasm for the new mobile sales solution, and now have the time to focus on the customer and not on paperwork.
Last Words
“We look forward to working with Bruce and the team at VIPS on the next stage of our Digital transformation. The first step was to provide the sales force with a mobile order entry solution but now we want to put the power of information they need to sell in the palm of their hands; information that empowers them to consult their customers in a more personal fashion, provide better service and heighten customer satisfaction” ~ Paul Pavlou – Knight Sport Director.