Background
From humble beginnings in the founder’s kitchen in 2014 to a global, household name, Paleo Ridge have been on an upward trajectory. Their B2B channel has reflected the same impressive growth, requiring a shift to a comprehensive platform.
The challenge
Paleo Ridge’s B2B channel exploded during the pandemic, in line with the boom in dog ownership. The business works with a variety of customer types, from independent shops to multinational supermarket chains.
As a result, they needed an eCommerce platform that could manage various price lists, discounts, and payment methods.
“We have a diverse range of customers, so we had to consider a lot of things - such as payment terms, different levels of margin - all things that are simple in isolation but can become complex when they’re added together. But it didn’t feel like that with SparkLayer - it was painless and very clear”, Will Green, Director of Sales and Marketing.
The business was spending time manually reconciling and processing invoices. The team was getting feedback from customers that the format of the invoices was unhelpful and difficult to access.
The solution
Paleo Ridge were up and running within a day of implementing SparkLayer. The business was using Shopify previously, and SparkLayer’s tagging structure made transferring customer data straightforward.
The onboarding process with SparkLayer was seamless for both the business and buyers. The team communicated the platform change via email to their customers and had high levels of interest and early-stage adoption.
“We had very few queries during the onboarding process, and internal teams and end customers were up and running quickly. Everyone’s found it easier than the previous setup; customers are spoilt for choice with the variety of B2B features. We did a lot of research, and we looked at a lot of the different options. On the first call we had with SparkLayer, it was like ‘Right, we need this’. The onboarding process was great; really smooth. We thought we’d be able to go live in a week, but it was all done within a day”, Will Green.
One of the first things that the Paleo Ridge team did was set up Customer Groups based on buyer segments. Each group has a price list assigned to it based on order and relationship history. Payment terms are also set per group; for example, newer customers pay upfront, while loyal buyers can pay via net terms.
“There are multiple types of customers that we have when it comes to B2B - independent, small stores, chains, and large retailers like Sainsbury’s. So we needed a platform that catered for all of those”, Will Green.
Paleo Ridge have also implemented order rules, primarily minimum order quantities. As their products are frozen, they need a way to ensure efficient shipping - namely, a specific number of products per delivery in order to be kept frozen in transit.
The brand also offers free shipping on all B2B orders, and adding a minimum order quantity rule ensures they maintain a profit margin that works for the business, as well as operational efficiency.
The results
One of the biggest benefits Paleo Ridge have seen is regarding time spent on B2B each week - not only for their team, but for their end customers. They cut manual B2B time by over 140% compared to the previous time spent each week.
SparkLayer’s native invoicing tool has saved further time each week. The business populates an invoice template, and the documentation is then stored within the My Account section of each customer account. This has improved the customer experience, and the support team spends less time each week locating and resending invoices.
The Sales Agent tool within SparkLayer has also added value, “It’s being used daily, and it’s brilliant”, Will Green. This feature allows the business to place orders on behalf of customers. Not only does this speed up the placing and processing of orders, but it also adds a layer of customer service.
SparkLayer’s AI-powered Intelligent Cart has proven hugely valuable to the business, too. Using this tool, customers can send emails, images, or PDFs with order details directly to their cart via a unique email address. The cart then auto-populates with their items. All Customer Group settings and order rules are applied as the default.
“There were a lot of new features, like the AI cart, that we didn’t have with the previous setup that we were really excited about testing out - some of which our customers had been requesting for so long before we moved to SparkLayer, and to have those from day one was amazing!”, Will Green.
“We went through many iterations of websites - with our previous setup, we had to put in a lot of customisation to be able to offer our B2B customers what we wanted to offer. There were some bugbears with the old system, because it was essentially taking an eCommerce system and making it work for trade as much as we could. We need to be futureproofing ourselves, and there’s peace of mind in working with SparkLayer as we know they also prioritise this." ~ Will Green, Director of Sales and Marketing
Explore more
To learn more about Paleo Ridge, visit their website.
To see how SparkLayer works with Shopify, you can explore via the links below: