Leading outdoor furniture manufacturer leverages Infor AI and automation to improve revenues and customer experiences

Grosfillex achieves 10% revenue increase with AI generating insights for a particular set of accounts

In the aftermath of the pandemic, the outdoor furniture industry is on a continuous growth trajectory, appealing to a diverse range of customers including restaurants, hotels, and homeowners who recognize the importance of crafting unique outdoor experiences. Made in America manufacturer of high-end outdoor resin furniture, Grosfillex acknowledges the necessity of embracing technological innovation to remain competitive in this enduring market. By integrating advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, Grosfillex is elevating the efficiency and precision of manual processes. This strategic approach enables the company to furnish its dealers and end consumers with a curated selection of premium products, ensuring timely service and deliveries. This commitment to technological evolution positions Grosfillex to not only meet customer expectations but also drive increased revenue.

“In just one week of implementing Infor AI, we have gained valuable insights that were previously unavailable for thousands of our customers. The impact has been substantial, with a remarkable 10% surge in revenue observed for accounts that we promptly addressed based on the flagged insights,” noted Andrew Rinehimer, Grosfillex e-commerce account manager.

Andrew Rinehimer

Immediate revenue improvement with customer profitability grading

With more furniture transactions being done online, Grosfillex aims to provide a rich experience for customers on its e-commerce site so they can easily find what they are searching for and view products in the best way possible, minus physical touch.

However, sometimes dealers and consumers may overlook or fail to comprehend the extensive array of products available on Grosfillex's e-commerce site. This necessitates Grosfillex's sales team to identify and dedicate their time to these accounts, ensuring they are well informed and offered the right products. This proactive approach not only boosts sales for dealers but also provides consumers with a comprehensive furniture solution from a single vendor.

Recognizing the importance of analyzing customer profitability to address these challenges and grow the business, the Grosfillex sales team faced a significant challenge. Manual data pulls across multiple systems and extensive analysis, sometimes taking up to 3 hours for a single account meeting, made it impractical to analyze and manage the thousands of customers efficiently.

Consequently, the team often found themselves wasting time with high-profit accounts when this time could be better spent invigorating low-profit accounts.

“There was a significant loss in revenue due to inefficient use of time, where a more focused approach could have been applied. A notable incident occurred last week when an account surfaced on my AI dashboard, and to our surprise, we were unaware of an ongoing business relationship with them. Upon closer examination of their product assortment, it became apparent that this dealer only had a limited selection of Grosfillex products on its website. The immediate response was to reach out to them and express our gratitude for their continued business. This initiated prompt communication, revealing that they had placed just one order in the past 12 months. However, we are optimistic about cultivating a stronger partnership, aiming for them to place 100 orders in the next 12 months,” Rinehimer explained.

The introduction of the innovative Infor AI solution ensures that every salesperson has a personalized dashboard, featuring scored accounts, enabling them to take targeted actions and customize sales strategies accordingly. Following the transition to the cloud with Infor CloudSuite Manufacturing, the integrated technology, including AI, seamlessly applies to data gathered from various systems.

Consequently, a customer profitability score is automatically generated on the first of each month, providing a comprehensive assessment with high, low, and medium profitability gradings.

AI-driven customer insights empower the sales team to devise new promotional plans, negotiate pricing and contracts, and craft other effective sales strategies swiftly and precisely. Furthermore, these insights serve as a valuable tool for identifying potential issues with the online website experience and taking corrective action to increase e-commerce transactions. For instance, customers with lower grades may not be purchasing a best-selling product line that aligns with their needs, due to inadequate online visibility. In response, the recommended course of action is to collaborate with the digital team, implementing necessary web fixes to attract customers to the best-selling product line.

In summary, the outcomes achieved through the implementation of Infor AI for customer profitability grading encompass:

• Increased revenue: 10% revenue increase within a week by expanding the product assortment for a specific group of low-graded accounts. 5% increase in gross margin % within a month by making pricing adjustments. Expected revenue boost by tailoring promotions to high-graded accounts.
• Enhanced sales productivity: 83% improvement in sales productivity through the automation of customer profitability grading. The time required to prepare for customer meetings decreased from 3 hours to just 30 minutes.
• Improved customer experience: Deliver a more curated product assortment, contributing to an overall better customer experience.
• Enhanced online shopping experience: Identify products that may not be well represented on the e-commerce site.

Improving customer satisfaction with product recommender

CEO Frans Govers

Grosfillex is a global organization offering a wide range of high-quality resin products, led by CEO Frans Govers. It is headquartered in in Robesonia, Pennsylvania, and its North American operations include manufacturing facilities and distribution centers in Pennsylvania. Grosfillex North America includes two operating divisions: The Consumer Product Division markets products through mass merchants, while the Commercial Product Division caters to dealers and operators of the foodservice and hospitality industry, specialty retailers, and to other professional markets.

“A big challenge in the furniture industry is that even though people know you cannot have everything in stock all the time, they do expect you to have everything in stock all the time,” Govers observed.

Effectively managing inventory in the outdoor furniture industry, given its seasonal nature and persistent supply chain challenges, necessitates organizations to accurately anticipate customer demand. Addressing the complexities of stock availability, Grosfillex is integrating AI-driven product recommendations. This empowers sales and service teams to suggest alternative products that are currently in stock to customers.

“Managing thousands of products makes it impractical for employees to provide such intelligent recommendations without extensive experience or a tool like AI. Equipped with product recommender, we anticipate fulfilling more orders, leading to increased revenues and heightened customer satisfaction,” Govers said.

Improving on-time deliveries with new customer activation workflow

Securing a new customer represents a significant achievement for any organization. However, the excitement of this milestone can be short lived if there are delays in processing the new customer's information, leading to potential delays in timely delivery of goods. Grosfillex experienced the challenges associated with activating a new customer in its ERP system, underscoring the critical importance of streamlining this process for smoother operations.

“Numerous emails were exchanged with document attachments circulating through various tasks in the process. Regrettably, there was a lack of visibility into the customer activation process, hindering our ability to promptly identify and address issues causing delays in creating a customer ID within the system” said Dave Sarge, Grosfillex application analyst.

The manual customer activation process, conducted through emails and the subsequent investigation of delays, not only consumed valuable employee time but also resulted in dissatisfied customers. Delays in product delivery could potentially impact crucial events or the opening of new establishments for hotels or restaurants.

Photos courtesy of Grosfillex

With the integration of Infor ION Workflow as part of Infor CloudSuite Manufacturing, Grosfillex has successfully automated the entire activation process, providing real-time visibility. Now, users can conveniently access the Infor Portal to view their assigned tasks and monitor the status of the entire workflow process. The transformation of the customer activation process is remarkable, reducing the duration from 1 to 2 weeks with the manual approach to an efficient 1 to 2 days with the automated Infor ION Workflow.

Rinehimer concludes: “The biggest game changer with these new Infor technology solutions would be involving our time management. Now we have a lot of extra time to just focus on other things. Using the software is going to help all Grosfillex’s employees but also, at the end of the day, our customers.”

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