How Southwest Traders Uses Online Ordering Platform to Increase Productivity and Customer Satisfaction

Foodservice distributor Southwest Traders had a problem: Its growth ambitions were being hampered by a custom ordering system that was cumbersome and difficult to manage. As Brad Smith, vice president of procurement, put it:

The challenge was that our sales reps had to manage our business on behalf of the customer. If the customer wanted to know where their order was, our sales reps had to call the shipping department to get the answer. If there was a payment problem, the sales rep had to drop everything and go to the credit department.

The company needed a new, comprehensive and easy-to-use platform that would be fast, efficient and accurate for the company’s sales representatives and customers. After a thorough procurement process, the company selected the Cut+Dry technology platform:

It makes business seamless. Now there is a self-service and mobile model that frees sales reps from all the research questions they had to answer. Information is instantly available online

The Cut+Dry platform gives food distributors like Southwest Traders a digital shopping experience they can share with restaurants, allowing them to place orders on their phones. Smith says the platform helps expand sales and marketing capabilities:

It is a digital catalog that allows customers to see everything we offer. Every SKU that we have in stock is available for purchase through the platform with all the information such as ingredients, photos and allergens. The customer can pay their invoices and track the status of their orders.

Platform adoption

Southwest Traders began its search for a technology provider during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The vetting process included existing and emerging technology players. The company looked at five companies and asked for live demos of their products before launching Cut+Dry in early 2021. According to Smith, the impact was significant:

We have double-digit growth since 2021. The key metric in our business is revenue per case. We have managed to increase sales without hiring a single person. The same number of sales representatives can serve more customers, which is more cost-effective. Our cost per case is falling dramatically, which is phenomenal.

Southwest Traders’ sales representatives are now viewed more as consultants than order takers. They can spend time talking to customers one-on-one rather than being bogged down in administrative tasks. Smith says the technology also helps the company’s marketing team:

We can go to our suppliers that we buy products from and say, “OK, who wants to be front and center on the platform? Who wants to promote on the platform?” That’s an additional source of income.

From a customer perspective, an e-commerce catalog lets customers browse products and place orders. They can use keyword research technology to discover new products and expand their product assortment. As many as 90% of customers now order online—a big departure from the past, Smith says:

We used to have our own online platform. We never managed to get it above 50%. We stalled at about 39%.

Southwest Traders CIO Ambrose Earle says the high adoption rates have been achieved because the user interface has the same look and feel across desktop, tablet and phone. The company continues to help customers and employees get the most out of the system and drive transformation:

We’re just trying to continue to cut costs like any other company, but not in huge chunks. It’s an industry that’s changing. It’s a little bit difficult… The bottom line is we have to be easy to work with as a company.

Business transformation

Earle says the key to long-term success in digital transformation will be his company’s ability to continue to maximize the use of the Cut+Dry platform and adopt cloud and a range of other technologies to ensure high levels of customer service and employee productivity and safety. He explains:

When we think about digital transformation, a lot of that work is about operational execution – improving our warehouse management system that our associates use to identify and select the right cases, and delivering technology to drivers. We’ve made a lot of investments in security and compliance.

Work is underway to find ways to automate manual tasks, both on the enterprise and client side. Smith cites an example:

We’ll start uploading inventory levels so the system knows when we’re down to five crates of strawberries, for example. If we’re out of strawberries, the system will ask customers if they want something else. This process will increase speed and real-time customer feedback on alternatives and substitutes.

The company is also interested in exploring Cut+Dry’s real-time analytics and how new technologies like artificial intelligence can help improve customer service. Smith refers to an example of targeted marketing:

That’s something they’re working on. The system scans Google Maps and says, “Here are all the restaurants. We’ve looked at their menus online. Here are the products you have that you can sell to them.” So it’s about making our sales reps more efficient.