Branche: Meat, Trade | Software: CSB INDUSTRY ERP
Online grocery shopping is on the rise, this is what Wolfgang, Stephan and Michael Otto have experienced too. While their business was already doing well in pre-COVID times - facilitated by a revolutionary business idea, premium products, and the right technologies –, the customer base of their Otto Gourmet online meat store has grown substantially in 2020.
Food commerce needs ERP
The success story of OTTO GOURMET began with the Wagyu cattle of farmer Dan Morgan, on the meadows of Nebraska. During his time as a business consultant in the USA, the eldest of the three brothers, Stephan, tried a piece of the marbled beef and was amazed. A short time later, the premium meat cuts were on the menus of nearly every top chef in Germany, with OTTO GOURMET supplying the restaurants directly.
The company founders quickly found out that selling grocery online is a complex matter, from both operational and legal aspects. The ERP system plays a major role. Wolfgang Otto: “We have chosen the CSBSystem because my brother, Michael, got to know it at another company and knew it had the right functions for us.”
Starting out with invoices and delivery notes, they soon added labeling with integrated scale connections, followed by rolling stocktaking. Today, the ERP system manages the entire goods and information flow – from quality tests in receiving to cutting, batch-based inventory management, EDI for supplying food retailers, and to traceability.
ERP and e-shop, united through data warehouse and data trade
The team behind OTTO GOURMET do not see themselves as salespeople. They want to advise. With great enthusiasm, the company’s 120 employees support around 1,000 chefs from top restaurants and in excess of 65,000 private customers. “Our sales in the food serving industry have declined due to the coronavirus. On the other hand, we now have even more retail orders coming in through our online store,” Wolfgang Otto explains.
If you order at OTTO GOURMET, you will always buy a premium product. The price for one kilo of steaks easily adds up to 70 euros or more. “You surely owe your customers an explanation why this is so. You have to provide a great deal of information about origin, age, date of slaughter, etc. Ultimately, we have to tell the full story in our web shop.”
The interaction between the Magenta online store and the ERP system is crucial: two different software worlds, united through data warehouse and data trade. This connection includes the price maintenance as well as all food-relevant aspects like weights, sell-by dates, and lot sizes. Through the direct communication between the ERP modules and the web shop, availability of the products is verified automatically upon placing an order, taking into account the delivery times. As a result, picking can be initiated as soon as the order comes in. “In this way, we guarantee extremely fast response times and, ultimately, a high level of customer satisfaction,” says Wolfgang Otto. The orders will soon be entered directly in the ERP system, replacing the order entry in the web shop.
Complete data availability
The right strategy, a fundamentally new marketing approach, and leading-edge technology: this combination has ensured the success of OTTO GOURMET. Since the beginning, Michael has been in charge of the technical systems, Stephan has been the strategist, and Wolfgang has been the marketer. The entrepreneurs can no longer imagine their daily routines without their ERP. “I’m responsible for purchasing, so I work with the system every day. For example, pulling data that I need for sales or coverage planning. The system provides me with all the details that I need, so I can also use it as an analysis tool. I’m more than happy.”
