“We have brought in many novelty products from niche brands. Our team has ample time to bring the best in supplements, training equipment, and workout apparel. The virtual warehouse arrangement has helped us collaborate better. This decision also helped us pool the resources which otherwise would have turned into bottlenecks. We are now forwarding these benefits to our clients and expanding our presence with a greater pace.”
-Jesper Orum, CEO.
“Only Approved” is active in the European fitness arena and has 10 staff members onboard. Only Approved was launched by a group of wellness enthusiasts and professional bodybuilders. It was started with the vision of bringing American nutrition and fitness products into the European markets systematically. Their primary focus is on working with the Niché companies. They offer the products that they can personally recommend and also take complete care of concerning legalities. Currently, they are focusing on expanding their outreach and product portfolio.
Challenges Faced
Managing multiple products, dropshipping, and coping up with the orders were the most significant roadblocks of their success story. The business was rapidly expanding, and clients were demanding new types of products.
“We were working hard on finding the best products but the demand in terms of volumes was always one step ahead of us. We were struggling to keep up with our expanding product list and new fulfillment partners. After we collaborated with new people, managing the inventory became even more daunting. Spreadsheets and mailing lists were outgunning our efforts while the productivity kept falling steadily. Soon we were looking for a permanent fix that could synchronize orders, inventory, and logistics partners.”
-Jesper Orum, CEO.
Without an appropriate solution, growing at this scale would have required much more resources and effort. They needed to expand the service footprint and cater to the diversification demands from their customers quickly. Since their products were sourced from across the Atlantic, dropshipping was the fastest way to ramp up the operations. They tried using spreadsheets with personal messaging apps to manage operations, but soon they realized the need for dedicated solutions.
The Solutions Provided By Orderhive
Only Approved chose Orderhive after weighing the market offerings. They were looking for a value for money solution as some of them were too expensive while others were too primitive to handle their requirements. The project inked on 4th June 2018 was implemented over a period of four months, and it brought tremendous positive changes in their bottom line.
Inventory Management
The inventory management module is a true asset as the Only Approved team is now maintaining ideal stock levels with accurate forecasts. They are now able to manage the pricing, bulk discounts, and optimal stock levels. Now it is possible to club different items of an order by making the decisions regarding which item to store and which items’ deliveries to schedule through dropshipping.
Order Management
Europe is very different from other markets due to the policies for nutrition and supplementation products. Orderhive helped them display the right products and the relevant descriptions as per the particular country. They are now fulfilling orders for many new geographies and working with multiple brands which previously didn’t map Europe as sales territory.
Warehouse Management
Distributing the physical warehouse into multiple virtual warehouses has helped them manage the space smartly without affecting the operations of the other products. Shipping too is simplified as the resources are distributed through the multi tenant infrastructure.
The Result
After implementing Orderhive, they were able to set up a common warehouse where each partner was assigned a dedicated space. Orderhive rendered a multi-tenant architecture which divided their warehouse into several virtual warehouses. This helped increase their effective utilization dramatically, and they have added a lot more products since then.
Orderhive has helped them evolve into a strong player in the European Niché market despite the food regulations and legislations. Only Approved is now offering an unparalleled product mix in the region with a strong commitment to timely deliveries. The implementation has saved them hours of inventory calculations and cross-checking before order fulfillment.
They are using inventory management, order management, and dropshipping modules extensively. The fitness shoppers often club various types of products from different brands, and delivering them all together has become easier than ever before. As a business based on goodwill and expertise, they were meeting the expectations of consumers on time. The company management took note of this factor, and they are working on multiple enhancements recently.
Only Approved is now eyeing to redefine the fitness equipment and nutrition industry as it continues to grow its portfolio and presence rapidly. The team also shared that the increased confidence experienced in the infrastructure and their ability to meet demand as one of their biggest internal victories.
