April 2021 - 38

TECHNOLOGY
Streamlining the
Supply Chain and
Boosting Customer
Engagement
How The Bruce Co. found a way to simplify
wholesale ordering and increase customer
engagement through technology.
By Teresa McPherson
W
arren Patterson knew there had to be a better
way. As owner of Barrie's Garden Centre in Barrie,
Ontario, Canada, his biggest challenge was finding
the time to place and receive orders from the multiple supplier
companies he did business with. And as the world became
more digital, he began to seek a way to make wholesale
ordering easier.
The result was forming the company LinkGreen, an online
ordering solution for independent retailers and an online
ordering solution for their vendors.
" Think of Amazon for the business world, " says Ken Klopp,
who handles business development for the company, " except
it isn't putting vendor against vendor for pricing but a secure
connection between vendor and customer.
" It was called LinkGreen because it was for the green
industry, but within the last two years, they had to rebrand
themselves to OrderEase because it's not only exploding within
the green industry, but the same technology is solving the
same problems in other industries as well, particularly with
family-run small businesses.
" If you're not a big box store, your struggle is the same
because it's a family-run business that needs a better way to
manage their information, place their orders, see what they
get, have information flow up to their website, connect to their
vendors, " Klopp says. " The struggle is the same. "
A Garden Center Solution
It's the reason Middleton, Wisconsin-based The Bruce Co.
implemented the system in their stores. " They said, 'We've
been trying to do this for years, and here is the solution that
will help us build our business better.' "
Klopp describes OrderEase as a funnel that allows all the
vendors that a garden center works with to be present on one
platform - pricing, inventory, and product information such
as pictures, descriptions and attributes.
38 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | APRIL 2021
" So when The
Bruce Co. connects
with the vendor, all
of that information
flows up into
OrderEase and into The Bruce Co.'s point of sale system and/
or their website, " he says. " For example, if they purchase a
product from Prince, all that information flows up to the
IGC's website, and that's one less thing that the Bruce Co.
has to figure out how to manage. If an image changes, if the
description changes, all of that naturally flows from Prince up
to The Bruce Co.'s website.
" It also naturally flows into their point of sale (POS) system, "
he says, allowing The Bruce Co. to push orders electronically
from the POS system into the ERP system of the vendor -
eliminating errors, getting orders in quickly and allowing the
IGC to check against inventory.
" Once the order is pushed down, the invoice and the packing
slip or anything else can actually get pushed up to The Bruce
Co. electronically, again eliminating errors and eliminating that
manual entry. "
Through the platform, The Bruce Co. has access to vendors
that they work with. " Those vendors can't see each other's
information, but it allows the Bruce Co. to go to one place and
order products from Prince, Morning Dew Tropicals, from TDI
Brands, De Vrooomen, etc. and it's all managed through one
technology. "
Ordering on the Go
There's also a mobile app that allows for The Bruce Co. to
place orders with their vendors and get that information from
them on the road. In addition, Klopp says a manufacturer or
supplier rep that works with The Bruce Co. can actually place
an order on behalf of them with the Distributor. The order gets
digitally placed through the system, and it's captured by the
April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021
