Sustainable impact through less inventory
It’s a challenge that can feel like a constantly moving target, especially in e-commerce: what do customers want, and when do they want it? Staying on top of that question and keeping the right inventory to match is a complex game that’s hard, and time consuming, to win. That’s where Optiply comes in. They’re harnessing the power of data to help companies have exactly the right inventory at exactly the right time. Never more, never less.
Data-driven sustainability
Optiply uses AI to delve into a web shop’s data and forecast the perfect mix of inventory to meet customer demand. It not only saves companies time and money, it also boosts sustainability by helping them purchase only what they need, keeping excess products out of the supply chain. By using technology to automate that process, companies can optimize inventory and spend their time focusing on their own core business. In fact, on average, Optiply users spend 80% less time on purchasing.
Easy access to key insights
More than 400 customers are already using Optiply to optimize their inventory management. But the company is also working with Google Cloud to create an even easier-to-use tool that will give businesses of any size quick insight into their own KPIs that may be a mystery to them now. “One of the things we’ve noticed in the market is that people are not tracking the problem, let alone aware that there’s a solution,” says Sander van den Broek, Optiply co-founder and CTO. “With this data, we’ll be able to calculate certain KPIs around inventory and display those back to the customer.”
Sustainable growth, targeted partnerships
95% of Optiply customers are in the e-commerce space, so the Econnections program was a perfect fit for the scale-up’s ambitions. “What I really love about this program is that it’s very specific to what we need,” says Wiebe. “It’s valuable insight directly about problems we’re experiencing at the moment.” The PostNL pilot has also given them the opportunity to test their custom integration on a much larger scale. Their growth goals are ambitious, but also focused on sustainability in the long term. “The faster we grow, the more impact we make on sustainability of supply chains worldwide, the better for the environment,” Wiebe explains. “But we don’t believe in hyper growth or growing 600% year over year, at any cost.” Their strategy is 5,000 customers, 500 partners, 50 countries, in five years. And they’re on the right track, making inventory more sustainable along the way.
Optiply is partnering with PostNL in a pilot project as part of the Econnections program. They’re working with PostNL’s fulfillment business on ways to streamline inventories and optimize the process for both PostNL and their fulfillment customers. “The value is distributed between the fulfillment company, PostNL, and the client, the web shop,” explains co-founder and CEO Wiebe Konter. “On cash flow, it will affect the client, but on space it will affect PostNL.” And it makes a positive impact on sustainability for both partners.
