Construct-A-Bear goes all in on omnichannel—in simply 4 weeks

Twenty-five years in the past, Construct-A-Bear Workshop was born. Since then, youngsters have created greater than 200 million furry stuffed animal mates. For a retailer that has constructed a reputation for itself with its distinctive in-person experiences for youngsters and households, the sudden onset of a worldwide pandemic was like a punch within the intestine. 

The corporate was already working with software program developer Deck Commerce to improve its order administration system when the world abruptly shifted in March 2020. With a lot of its 500 international retail areas shut down to cut back the unfold of Covid-19, the corporate needed to speed up its direct-to-consumer omnichannel growth plans not solely to drive income but in addition to maintain as a lot of its associates working as attainable. 

B.C. (BEFORE COVID)

For its first 20 years in enterprise, the corporate used a home-grown order administration system (OMS) to maintain observe of orders and stock. However as gross sales grew, firm leaders realized the legacy system simply wasn’t going to chop it. That was partly as a result of the system siloed channels (stock and orders), in order that they lacked omnichannel and complete order
administration capabilities. And it was partly as a result of it was turning into clear the system lacked the capability to assist the corporate’s projected progress. 

So in 2017, they went in search of an answer that will up their order administration sport in addition to streamline, optimize, and combine the corporate’s omnichannel retail operations. After weighing their choices, they selected Deck Commerce’s order administration answer—a software-as-a-service OMS that included all of the performance Construct-A-Bear wanted to satisfy its long-term targets. 

A SUCCESSFUL PIVOT

By January 2020, the corporate was prepared for the subsequent step in its omnichannel journey. The companions mapped out a plan to develop the retailer’s omnichannel commerce capabilities utilizing Deck Commerce’s in-store achievement module (ISF). The plan was to launch the brand new system within the third quarter of 2020, however then the world shut down. 

When the lockdowns started, Construct-A-Bear shortly swung into motion, implementing Deck Commerce’s ISF module in simply 4 weeks. By leveraging the ISF capabilities, the corporate was in a position to flip its bodily shops into microfulfillment operations—a transfer that allowed it to keep up retailer operations and preserve as many associates working as attainable.

The profitable launch of its new omnichannel technique within the midst of the pandemic yielded rapid outcomes. The corporate shipped a median of two,400 orders per week from shops, which was double Construct-A-Bear’s preliminary objective. It additionally skilled a 30% improve in weekly e-commerce volumes through the first few months of Covid. And on prime of defending revenues and giving associates the chance to work, the transfer has allowed the retailer to proceed its predominant mission: offering its younger prospects with the flexibility to make particular reminiscences, one furry buddy at a time.