Cavender’s

Western Wear Leader Spurs Business Growth with TrueCommerce ecUtopia Platform and Jesta ERP

Objective

Replace an EDI vendor with a market leader and trusted partner that would successfully collaborate on high-value strategic initiatives to position the business for long-term competitive advantage

Solution

Implement the TrueCommerce ecUtopia Platform integrated with an existing Jesta Vision Suite ERP Platform

Benefits

• Improved collaboration with vendors, including the ability to share analytics, helps optimize product availability
• Three-way matching of POs, packing slips, and invoices enhances productivity across multiple departments
• Automating manual processes allows staff to move from operational to customer-facing roles
• Enhanced fulfillment visibility combined with exception reporting drives “meaningful business enablement”
• New EDI-driven capabilities help cut shipping costs and lead times while optimizing inventory
• Seamless integration automates the movement of EDI data in and out of Jesta’s Vision Suite ERP
• EDI portal helps automate communication with smaller vendors that don’t use EDI

Background

Cavender’s is a legendary western and workwear retail chain based in Tyler, Texas. Founded in 1965, the family-owned brand currently has 84 stores in 14 states, as well as a strong online presence. Cavender’s is also famous for its rodeo booths.

According to Larry Waterman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, relationships have always been the foundation of Cavender’s success.

“First as a customer and later working for a competitor, I saw that all the things that made Cavender’s unbeatable — great assortment, healthy in-stocks, exceptional associates and more — were possible because of deep and meaningful relationships with customers, as well as with employees and vendor partners,” says Mr. Waterman. “That all started with James Cavender selling boots out of the trunk of his car. Partnerships matter here.”

More Connected with a “Great” Strategic Partner

When Mr. Waterman joined Cavender’s in 2018, he recognized that they needed an EDI vendor that could deliver the strong partnership orientation the company required.

“We needed an EDI partner that could help us implement significant initiatives to grow our business intelligently, become an even better partner to our merchant vendors, bring more offerings to our customers, and advance our technical and data analytics capabilities,” explains Mr. Waterman. “When we connected with TrueCommerce ecUtopia at last year’s National Retail Federation conference, the potential for collaboration was immediately evident.”

In addition to superior EDI technology and longstanding experience in the clothing industry, TrueCommerce also offers best-of-breed customer service. “The TrueCommerce team approaches every situation with a can-do attitude, resolves the issue and then addresses the root cause.” Mr. Waterman continues. “We think of them as a great partner.”

More Supported with Exceptional and Ongoing ROI

In addition to immediate business benefits, Cavender’s partnership with TrueCommerce brought with it lots of potential for efficiency gains and competitive advantages across multiple business areas.

“Where we see the biggest initial return on our TrueCommerce investment is through improved collaboration with our largest vendors” Mr. Waterman explains. “We’re now able to provide them with analytics that support their production and distribution planning and ultimately help ensure that we have the right products in the right place at the right time.”

Mr. Waterman continues: “The TrueCommerce ecUtopia Platform gives us multiple ways to enhance productivity internally. In particular, we are now able to automate the longstanding manual process of matching up our POs, packing slips and invoices. This will benefit store operations, our buying department and ultimately even accounts receivable. Thanks to these efficiency gains, we can reallocate payroll from operations to customer-facing roles.”

Cavender’s is also rolling out carton-level receiving, assumed receiving and other operational automations made possible by TrueCommerce technology.

“This process is a journey more than a destination,” Mr. Waterman points out. “For example, many of our merchant partners are small businesses. They’re growing with us and gradually creating capabilities of their own. Over time they can take more advantage of what EDI can provide for both them and us.”

“Incredible Business Enablement”

Another major business benefit of their partnership with TrueCommerce is improved visibility for Cavender’s hardworking merchandising department.

“Until now, our merchandising organization hasn’t had great visibility into product flow and order fulfillment,” states Mr. Waterman. “For example, they might not know there was a problem with a vendor not shipping or short-shipping until they got a call from a store manager.”

Adopting TrueCommerce EDI changes that equation.

“Now they’re able to spot these kinds of issues much sooner thanks to automated exception reporting, from a price change between a PO and an invoice to what’s actually on the road to our stores for our customers,” Mr. Waterman continues. “That’s incredible business enablement.”

More Prepared for What’s Next Thanks to a Three-Way Partnership

The value of Cavender’s relationship with TrueCommerce ecUtopia is enhanced by the EDI solution’s end-to-end integration with Jesta’s Vision Suite ERP Platform. Cavender’s first began working with Jesta in 1997 and the relationship has only grown stronger over the years.

“Jesta is a great technology company and a good partner with a win-win mindset,” Mr. Waterman says. “They’ve worked synergistically with us and with TrueCommerce to evolve our overall solution along a very aggressive timeline over the past year. I’d characterize this as a constructive three-way partnership.”

More Omnichannel Than Ever

With thriving brick-and-mortar and online sales channels, as well as its “pop-up” rodeo booths, Cavender’s is no stranger to omnichannel retail.

“We’ve been omnichannel since before omnichannel was a hot topic,” touts Mr. Waterman. “For example, we’ve been fulfilling online orders from our stores since we first launched our website. We also do a lot of distribution directly from vendors into our stores.”

Mr. Waterman sees ongoing omnichannel expansion in Cavender’s future, adding “Our new capabilities are already helping us drive inventory efficiencies.”

Doing Business in More Directions

As part of the TrueCommerce Unified Commerce solution portfolio, the ecUtopia Platform is a key enabler that can drive even greater supply chain efficiency for this leading retailer.

“TrueCommerce ecUtopia offers Cavender’s new ways to advance our business, our communications and our partnerships with vendors. It brings rich data analytics to our business and enables us to leverage new opportunities like direct-to-customer vendor shipping and other new distribution strategies — even potentially vendor managed inventory or vendor managed analytics,” emphasizes Mr. Waterman. “They’re a great company with incredible technology and customer support capabilities along with a partnership-oriented approach. I would highly recommend the TrueCommerce ecUtopia Platform to other retailers, and I look forward to exploring more opportunities with TrueCommerce.”

“Where we see the biggest initial return on our TrueCommerce investment is through improved collaboration with our largest vendors. We’re now able to provide them with support analytics that support their production and distributing planning and ultimately help ensure that we have the right products in the right place at the right time.”

Larry Waterman
Executive VP and COO
Cavender’s