Trenditions

Pairs EDI and B2B eCommerce to Automate Order Processing and Boost Online Sales

Objective

Meet the stringent procurement requirements of large retailers, simplify everyday business processes, and improve the customer experience with agile three-way integration across an ERP environment, EDI solution and B2B eCommerce platform

Solution

Integrate TrueCommerce eCommerce platform with an existing TrueCommerce EDI solution already connected to Odoo ERP to automate B2B order processing from an online storefront

Benefits

• Automation greatly reduces manual data entry, eliminating the need to hire additional staff and facilitating substantial processing volume increases
• Order data flows directly in and out of the Odoo ERP environment with no retyping
• Simplified onboarding enables rapid addition of new retail customers and EDI documents
• A superior B2B eCommerce experience drives a 20%- 25% increase in online order volume
• EDI/eCommerce integration lets one person manage orders from both channels from a single dashboard
• Reliable support resolves issues quickly to keep orders flowing

Background

Founded in 2006, Texas-based Trenditions is a leading designer, importer, and wholesaler of branded fashion accessories for the western, farm, and ranch channel. Their large and growing list of products includes purses, wallets, belts, caps and much more, with frequent new additions.

Among Trenditions’ most popular licensed brands are Justin Boot Company, Red Dirt Hat Company, and Catchfly. Their 1,500-plus retail customers include Tractor Supply, Boot Barn, Cavender’s, Coastal Farm & Ranch, Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply, and numerous independent retailers across the US and Canada.

AUTOMATING ORDER PROCESSING WITH INTEGRATED EDI

Trenditions has been a TrueCommerce EDI customer since the very beginning in 2006. According to Jeff Pecora, President, Trenditions needed to deploy an EDI solution almost immediately upon opening their doors because one of their first customers wanted to do business through EDI.

“We chose TrueCommerce EDI because the company offered a single-vendor solution at a reasonable cost,” Mr. Pecora recalls. “Since then, we’ve seamlessly added customer after customer after customer to the platform and it’s always worked very well for us.”

That early EDI system was a standalone software application that ran on a dedicated PC. A lot has changed since then.

“Now our TrueCommerce EDI is cloudbased, integrates with our ERP, and the functionality and usability has improved dramatically,” notes Derek Hagan, Director of Business Systems. “Our order-taking is almost completely automated now. We’re in the process of integrating several more EDI documents to eliminate manual entry of tracking numbers and other data.”

Rapid customer onboarding was a welcome factor.

“We also appreciate that it doesn’t take an Act of Congress to add a new trading partner into the mix,” Mr. Pecora adds. “Even when a trading partner is brand new to EDI, it’s easy to onboard them or setup a new EDI document with them.”

RAPID ROI WITH B2B ECOMMERCE

In 2021, Trenditions reached out to TrueCommerce with a new request. The brand had already been selling via a B2B website for several years, but they wanted the advantages of a better customer experience, integration with their EDI solution, and a more intuitive interface for everyday tasks like adding new products.

TrueCommerce was an ideal fit, and in February 2022 Trenditions launched their new B2B storefront using TrueCommerce’s integrated eCommerce platform. From start to finish the implementation took only eight weeks. Now their online orders flow directly to their ERP just like EDI orders.

“From my perspective on the business system side of things, the fact that the TrueCommerce eCommerce Solution integrates directly with the TrueCommerce EDI solution we were already using is a huge bonus,” Mr. Hagan shares. “The seamless branding experience is also a big plus.”

“The new site is more current, more customer friendly and more functional,” offers Mr. Pecora.

Trenditions has seen about a 20% to 25% increase in online order volume since launching the new B2B eCommerce site. That win has been supported by TrueCommerce’s email blast feature.

“We wanted to have a promotional event tied to Mother’s Day, so we sent an email blast using the capabilities of the TrueCommerce B2B site,” clarifies Mr. Hagan. “It really helped us direct people to the new store, and we got significantly more orders in the following days.”

Another advantage is the eCommerce solution’s dashboard view, which gives the Trenditions team new, at-a-glance insights into its order data. With these tools, the company can quickly assess order trends, ensure transparency with customers, and make strategic decisions to further increase sales.

“I think all the improvements with the eCommerce solution tie together, so I don’t know if I can quantify it all—but I know I’m very happy with the excellent results,” Mr. Pecora highlights.

Just two months after launch, the eCommerce investment is already producing a significant return.

“From the positive customer feedback and improved order accuracy, plus the fact that we could eliminate somebody having to rekey the online orders, I think it’s more than paying for itself,” describes Mr. Pecora. “Then add the lift in orders from having a more userfriendly, easy-to-manipulate website with better content.”

MAJOR TIME AND COST SAVINGS

Mr. Hagan estimates that without integrated TrueCommerce EDI, Trenditions would need to hire “at least four” more customer service representatives to handle the high volume of orders from their largest EDI trading partners.

“Just one big customer like Boot Barn or Cavender’s can send thousands of orders per month over EDI,” explains Mr. Hagan. “The manual entry of all those lines would take somebody a week.”

A new high-impact benefit with TrueCommerce eCommerce is streamlining of the order processing workflow.

“Previously, we had somebody managing EDI orders and someone else doing website orders,” relates Mr. Hagan. “Now it’s just one person managing both—and they can do it all in the TrueCommerce platform.”

“Without our two TrueCommerce products it would basically be impossible to handle our order volume,” Mr. Hagan asserts. “The automation is absolutely essential to process all those orders with minimal errors.”

CONSISTENTLY GREAT SUPPORT

TrueCommerce had a longstanding track record of solid EDI support for Trenditions, and this has continued with the new B2B eCommerce implementation.

“We work with a lot of different vendors, and TrueCommerce is one of the best when it comes to contacting support, getting somebody on the phone and resolving an issue,” Mr. Hagan states.

“That has definitely carried over to our experience rolling out our eCommerce site. If I have a question, our Account Manager gets back to me quickly with a solution. He has absolutely been one of the biggest keys to our success.”

“It really feels like we have TrueCommerce Support in our corner,” echoes Mr. Pecora. “If I compare our TrueCommerce experience to any other implementation we’ve done, it’s just head and shoulders above—not only from the standpoint of efficiency and effectiveness, but also with helping us get comfortable and up to speed as users.”

AN AWESOME ACCESSORY: COST-EFFECTIVE PRICING

Key to becoming a trusted partner to a growing company is offering a cost-effective pricing structure that scales up or down without being burdensome.

Mr. Pecora remarks, “What’s great about TrueCommerce that is not great about some of its competitors is the scalable pricing. The TrueCommerce pricing structure really works to address all the various business sizes and transaction volumes, while offering a fantastic software solution.”

DELIVERING ON THE CUSTOMER PROMISE

With both EDI and eCommerce, TrueCommerce has achieved the objectives and delivered the benefits it has committed to with Trenditions.

“Many software vendors make a lot of promises in terms of payback and functionality,” Mr. Pecora observes. “With TrueCommerce I feel satisfied that we’ve accomplished the promised objectives with both our EDI implementation and the continuing growth of our eCommerce implementation—and that’s pretty rare.”

“With TrueCommerce I feel satisfied that we’ve accomplished the promised objectives with both our EDI implementation and the continuing growth of our eCommerce implementation—and that’s pretty rare.”

Jeff Pecora
President
Trenditions