March 2023 - 45

TECHNOLOGY
software programs that integrate; Shopify and Acumatica
do just that. Acumatica updates Shopify with product
information and inventory to sell. Once Shopify sells it, those
orders come back to Acumatica to update inventory and our
accounting general ledger. They work together to allow our
staff to find the perfect product to fit the customers' needs
and locate where to find it.
Establishing Solid Platforms
Some software will be complementary, but it's important
to think about the foundational pieces; those types of
software call themselves platforms for a reason. Shopify
and Acumatica are such software. It was a difficult and
unique, but fundamental, decision to go with these two
at the core of our operations. Most other garden centers
have a POS system and then a separate e-commerce
system, which necessitates those two systems talking to
each other seamlessly through costly custom integrations.
That integration needs to work well in order to establish
consistency and fluid processes between your online and
in-store business.
We learned the hard way that your customer and
inventory data can get out of whack between the two
systems. It can be like running two different businesses that
sold the same products to the same customers. It also didn't
align with how our teams were organized, leading to a lot of
friction in our processes, which our customers then felt. We
decided to join those two " channels " into the same software,
Shopify, to create " omnichannel " harmony between the two
channels. Our customer experience staff serve in-store and
online customers side by side.
Part of being a platform is the inherent ability to work
well with the other software in your business. Integrating
software together is where business automation happens.
Business process automation allows our staff to be more
productive, so we can get higher output for the same
number of people. As garden centers, our staff are always
stretched thin during the spring and holiday seasons.
These technology tools have automated a lot of historically
manual processes. Our teams are freed up to work on more
value-added activities. Creativity in the approach to seeking
out the simplest processes to ultimately create incredible
customer experiences is where the magic happens in
modern businesses.
Improved Customer Experiences
With Klaviyo & Zendesk
Our supporting systems like Klaviyo and Zendesk are
weaved seamlessly into those platforms. Specifically,
Shopify acts as a conduit through which important
information makes its way into those customer-facing
communications systems. In turn, they deliver the right
information at the right time and foster an intimate
and personalized conversation with the customer over
time on their preferred communication channel. Klaviyo
is our outbound communication system managed
by our marketing team, and Zendesk is our inbound
communication system managed by our customer contact
center (CCC).
Klaviyo's tight integration with Shopify allows us to target
customers with emails and texts based on purchasing
patterns. For example, we deliver care instructions
upon purchase of plants. If customers forgot to buy
complementary " success items, " Klaviyo knows it and will
automatically remind them to purchase. This integration
is an example of punching above our weight because
recreating those joint capabilities ourselves would cost tens
of thousands.
Zendesk fields any questions from customers, displaying
for the CCC the customers' previous purchases right next
to their question. They can quickly drill into orders or
see which plants they are questioning. This saves a lot of
research time and clicking around. Zendesk also hosts a help
center in which care instructions and other FAQs reside for
customers to help themselves, further reducing labor costs
and resolving inquiries faster. We've started to implement
artificial intelligence (AI), which uses this help center
information to deliver answers to questions through humanlike
conversations.
Creating a Foundation for Growth
We've undergone a lot of change to get all these systems
in place - and not without heartache. Change is hard.
However, we know it's all to improve and grow, and this year,
we'll be prepared to use it as an engine for strong growth.
The Shopify engine is continuing to generate powerful
opportunities through world-class partnerships.
You may have heard of Google and Meta. The partnership
with Google integrates our products into its search engine
and YouTube. It sends them to the top of the page for
searchers of plants in our area and displays them on
our relevant YouTube videos. The partnership with Meta
(Facebook and Instagram) allows us to sell products directly
through our posts without the customer needing to leave
the social network. Within its partnership with both of
those tech giants, it launched Shopify Audiences to find
new customers who are predicted to like our brand due to
shopping data across the millions of stores using Shopify.
It's a powerful acquisition tool that can allow us to decrease
our cost to acquire each customer (CAC) which is key when
having a smaller advertising budget.
In 2023, Chalet will start to ship select products to reach
more customers. This past year, we launched our second
store, with a potential third in the coming years. Acumatica
has the tools and best practices for establishing an efficient
shipping operation quickly while balancing inventory across
locations. We've connected the marketing toolset with the
operational toolset that's needed to find customers and
deliver our products, services and brand experience.
Closing Tips
For those in the earlier stage of your digital
transformation, my advice is to think ahead and do your
research. There's no one size fits all, but there are a lot of
options. With some creativity, you can fit the right pieces
together to create an agile and resilient business that's
prepared for growth and any future challenges.
Lawson Thalmann is e-commerce and technology manager at
Chalet. He can be reached at lawsont@chaletnursery.com.
LGRMAG.COM | 45
http://www.LGRMAG.COM
March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2023
