Key facts
- DTC ecommerce brand, established in 2013
- Live in JUST eight weeks
- 500% INCREASE in order processing speed
[Pullout quote] “Before Brightpearl, we had no stock system in place – and it was chaos. Customer service was poor and we had no visibility – it was a nightmare. Working with Brightpearl has completely transformed how we operate.” – Olly White, Director, Goose & Gander
Launched in 2013, Goose & Gander is a unisex clothing brand based in the South West of England, UK. The brand was the brainchild of childhood sweethearts, Olly and Maz. What they lacked in fashion industry experience, they made up for with vision, creativity and a bold determination to succeed.
The business started out with a local high street store. However, it wasn’t long before the couple-turned-business-partners realised that operating as a direct-to-consumer ecommerce (DTC) brand was the way to go. Like many DTC brands, they started selling directly to their loyal clientele exclusively via their own Shopify website.
Rapid Growth – Zero Visibility
As Goose & Gander’s reputation as creators of quality, on-trend unisex clothing grew, so did the number of daily orders. Before long, the company was receiving thousands of orders a day.
The trouble was, despite having a successful Shopify website, they didn’t have any operational infrastructure and stock software up and running to help manage the huge demand.
“Looking back, it was crazy – and it had a hugely negative impact on customer experience,” said Goose & Gander’s Director, Olly White.
“We had zero visibility and we were frequently overselling stock, but it would sometimes take a couple of weeks for us to realise. We’d then have to get in touch with customers to explain that we didn’t actually have the stock to be able to fulfil their order.
“We were issuing lots of refunds – and customers were understandably very unhappy with the level of service, as were we.
“It wasn’t sustainable and we knew we needed to take urgent action.”
‘A Breath of Fresh Air’
In 2019, Olly and Maz sought support from two separate cloud-based business software suites – but they were let down by both.
“We began working with a larger ERP provider but that was a terrible experience”, said Olly. “Actually, it was a complete nightmare because these software companies aren’t built for retail, and we found that out the hard way. Working with them felt like a never ending experience – and one that was extremely expensive, too.”
Then in 2020, they discovered Brightpearl – and they haven’t looked back.
Olly added: “Brightpearl were an absolute breath of fresh air after our experience with other, supposedly similar companies.
“We were impressed that Brightpearl could easily and instantly connect to our Shopify site at no extra cost – whereas Brightpearl’s ERP competitors try to charge you extra for third-party integrations.
“We love Shopify because it’s so user-friendly and intuitive – and we quickly loved Brightpearl for the exact same reason.”
No Wild Goose Chase
It was vital for the entire Goose & Gander team, working from a 5,300 sq ft warehouse, that their transfer to using Brightpearl was fast-tracked. With a peak holiday season approaching, the team could ill afford to be stuck in a wild goose chase. They need the system live and running within 90 days – and regular ERP providers can take up to a year plus to deploy software.
The dedicated Brightpearl team stepped up to ensure the brand was live on the Brightpearl platform within a rapid turnaround time of just two months – perfectly timed for their peak season.
Almost overnight, the day-to-day operations at Goose & Gander were transformed.
Brightpearl easily integrates with everything from ecommerce providers like Shopify to shipping providers. This gives businesses, like Goose & Gander, complete visibility and control over everything that happens after a customer hits ‘buy’.
The platform is also completely scalable, so it can grow and adapt as businesses do.
[Pullout quote] “Brightpearl has given us back so much time every day – our team gets our orders out five times faster than before, and we’re freed up to focus on more important aspects of growing the business” – Olly White, Director, Goose & Gander500% faster order processing
Thanks to the Brightpearl platform, Goose & Gander has turbocharged the way it processes orders.
The team is now able to deal with large volumes of orders five times faster than before.
Customer experience has also been transformed, as overselling of stock has become a thing of the past and customers get speedier-than-ever service.
With the Brightpearl platform up and running, the Goose & Gander team are exceeding targets – and enduring far less stress.
“Brightpearl has totally transformed our business. We now feel in control of our behind-the-scenes processes and everything runs like clockwork, including our stock and order management,” said Olly.
“Our main priority when we signed up for Brightpearl was being able to successfully manage our stock and to get orders out the door as quickly as possible – Brightpearl have helped us do that, and lots more.
“We save so much time compared to how things were run before, which means myself and Maz can concentrate on more important aspects of running and growing the business. There’s also no more overselling because we have complete visibility over our stock at all times.”
“That means our customers are so much happier now – and when our customers are happy, we’re happy.
“We’ve got big plans so it’s nice to know that Brightpearl comes with scalability, too. It’s flexible and it’s futureproof, and that goes a long way.
“We’re excited to look to the future, with Brightpearl on our side.”