Background: The Client sells rare and distinctive coffees from around the world to homes and offices throughout the United States via the internet. A long-time client of Fulfillment Works, and owner of a robust e-commerce site with an admin panel developed by its own programmers, the Client suddenly faced a dramatic rise in the number of online competitors (and potential erosion in the company’s market share) following a worldwide boom in coffee consumption.

Issue: It quickly became apparent that in order for the Client to remain a step ahead of the competition, it needed to offer customers better and faster service, including free shipping and same-day fulfillment of orders placed by 3pm. This necessitated the Client placing orders from its e-commerce site in real time to Fulfillment Works, as well as generating real-time inventory status reports. (Previously, the Client had sent batch order files to Fulfillment Works.) The only problem being that when the Client’s e-commerce site was originally created, it was not created with this functionality in mind.

Solution: Teaming with the Client’s programmers, the programmers at Fulfillment Works enabled the Client’s shopping cart to connect directly with Fulfillment Works’ warehouse management system via a proprietary Application Programming Interface (API). This provided an easy way for the Client to directly place orders, create new client accounts, and offer a greater window for same-day shipping, and perform other customizations (such as kitting and gift wrapping) as required. What’s more, Fulfillment Works’ API allowed the Client’s e-commerce site to query the warehouse management system, giving the company the ability to create real-time inventory, backorder and shipment reports.

Bottom Line: Today, the Client enjoys not only strong market position, increased online sales and blazing fast customer service, but the ability to keep its finger on the pulse to a degree it had never previously imagined, proving that nothing smells as sweet as success.