👋 Hello great people of the D2C Community! This is your host Berkay writing.
In today's D2CVille Exclusive, we had an absolutely wonderful interview with Derric Haynie , Head of Demand Generation at Pipe17 and Co-founder of EcommerceTech .
Soo, drum rolls please!
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Meet Derric, the guy who went from hustling at high-stakes poker tables to rocking the tech and marketing scene. Now, he's "The Tools Guy", where he hooks up ecommerce teams with game-changing tech. Derric's all about the thrill of seeing merchants light up with that "aha" moment when their profits shoot through the roof. He's turned his knack for innovation into a daily mission of making businesses boom.
🃏 From professional poker to digital marketing BE: Derric, Tell us more about yourself!
DH: I’ve taken a bit of an unconventional path. Mostly I’ve run my own businesses, starting with playing high stakes poker professionally for 10 years, then launching a poker tech tool, selling that company and starting a digital marketing agency, then selling that company and moving in-house in ecommerce. It was there where I found the niche I really wanted to focus in on for my career: connecting ecommerce teams with powerful and innovative ecommerce technologies.
I have a passion for ecommerce itself, watching entrepreneurs create and bring successful products to market, but personally I don’t actually want to own my own physical product company, I mean, it’s challenging, right!?
“The Tools Guy” DH: And then I also have a passion for technology, and using technology to scale a company. So, with my experience in vetting and onboarding tech tools into ecommerce, and my strong understanding of the needs for ecommerce merchants, and especially knowing that all ecommerce brands simply cannot invest the requisite time into staying on top of the commerce enablement technology industry… Here I am. “The Tools Guy.”
The Tools Guy
Of course, being in-house at Pipe17 drives me to focus on helping merchants connect with this one specific technology, but my passion to see merchants onboard new tools, turn them on, have that “aha” moment where they see the results and the profit from technology, that’s what I live for. It’s like watching kids open presents at Christmas (and those presents can sometimes be $100s of thousands of dollars in annual profit…).
Other than my professional life, I take my son to soccer and swim practice and games, I play pickleball (try to daily), and I hike around Walnut Creek (San Francisco area) with my wife and son and dog.
📦 Pipe17 and omnichannel order operations BE: How about Pipe17?
DH: Pipe17 helps ecommerce brands and operations teams with our Omnichannel Order Operations Hub, which seamlessly integrates your existing selling, fulfillment, and back-office channels. By using custom-built rules and logic (and without the need for developers), you'll be reducing manual processes, human errors, and significantly improving the efficiency of your order operations. With Pipe17, you'll experience the power of touchless, automated order flows, making your operations smarter and simpler.
No-code ecommerce connectivity If you're a brand facing moderate to severe order operation complexity and looking to control your order flow from start to finish, without the need for IT involvement or developers, Pipe17 could be the solution you need. Our unique approach combines no-code ecommerce connectivity with order flow automation and data normalization, empowering you to manage your orders effectively, from anywhere to anywhere. We don't require a complete overhaul of your tech stack; we act more like a turbocharger for your existing systems, with seamless integrations.
This means you can be up and running in just a few days, with the flexibility to adapt and expand your global order operation partners, selling channels, tools, and processes as your business grows. Reach out to us if you're ready to transform your order operations into a more efficient, controlled, and scalable part of your business.
The omnichannel strategy is difficult! BE: How does Pipe17 tackle common order and inventory issues in ecommerce to make the whole process smoother?
The most fundamental issue with ecommerce orders and inventory are that they are spread across multiple channels, applications, and warehouses. Modern ecommerce businesses recognize the importance of omnichannel selling and distributing inventory across various warehouses to enhance delivery speeds and reduce costs.
However, this omnichannel strategy introduces a complex network of interconnected channels and applications, all requiring seamless communication to effectively meet customer promises, such as timely deliveries and accurate inventory display across all sales platforms. Instead of approaching omnichannel as a problem that needs to be stitched and band-aided together at every corner, Pipe17 views omnichannel as a necessity for ecommerce businesses and is the central influence for every aspect of how we build and design the Pipe17 Omnichannel Order Hub .
Pipe17 makes the process of managing and optimizing omnichannel selling, fulfillment, and inventory smoother by making it quick and easy to connect all the channels an ecommerce business relies on into a centralized hub which provides powerful yet simple to customize logic for when, where and how orders, fulfillments, inventory, products, and returns are handed off between channels.
We call this order operations and Pipe17’s solutions are built to run at the speed of transactions, scale reliably as volume grows and channels change, and deliver fully automated and touchless experiences that puts ecommerce operators in control of, instead of at the mercy of, their omnichannel operations.
💪 D2C Order Management Strategies BE: Can you give some tips for successful order management strategies?
DH: There is no one-size fits all “best strategy.” The perfect strategy for one brand might be an utter disaster for another, and that’s totally fine. The best order management strategies are focused on constantly striving towards efficiency and automation.
The two most important components of a great order management strategy are:
Flexibility and Adaptability : A robust order management strategy must be flexible enough to adapt to changing market conditions, customer demands, and technological advancements. This adaptability ensures that the business can respond swiftly to new challenges and opportunities, whether they arise from shifts in consumer behavior, supply chain disruptions, or new sales channels.
Visibility and Accuracy : Effective order management requires a high degree of visibility into every aspect of the order process, from inventory levels and supplier performance to customer preferences and delivery status. Accurate, real-time data is crucial for making informed decisions, optimizing inventory, ensuring timely fulfillment, and maintaining customer satisfaction. This visibility and accuracy help in minimizing errors, reducing costs, and enhancing the overall efficiency of the supply chain.And to get this done right, make sure you have an order operations solution (like Pipe17 ) that enables your business to constantly optimize, adapt, and expand on your order management strategy without causing your existing workflows to break or having to wade through long and costly development projects.
Check out our cross-border shipping guide for aligning your order management with logistics operations!
📝 Inventory management: Accuracy and misallignment BE: Managing diverse products with various SKUs can be tricky. How does Pipe17 handle this, making sure inventory tracking stays accurate?
DH: Inventory accuracy and misalignment can significantly challenge ecommerce businesses, often leading to customer dissatisfaction, increased costs, and lost sales opportunities. As ecommerce businesses grow and product catalogs expand, inaccurate or outdated inventory can cripple businesses balance sheets and cash flow. Pipe17 helps ecommerce operators manage diverse product catalogs and omnichannel inventory by making everything visible, ensuring no channel is operating in a disconnected silo, and by giving ecommerce operators inventory control at the most granular line item level.
Centralized dashboards make it easy for anyone to see where their operations and inventory are at any given point, and detailed event logs make it quick and easy to dig into the data. The inventory changes that occur from every single transaction that flows through Pipe17 is instantly synchronized to all of a businesses connected channels, so your ecommerce platform reflects accurate inventory when an order is placed on your marketplace and vice versa.
Creating dynamic product bundles and kits is as simple as point-and-click in Pipe17, and by treating bundles and kits as a collection of individual line item SKUs Pipe17 ensures that inventory is accurately updated for the bundle, kit, and component SKUs whenever one is shipped or restocked.
Check out our guide for successful inventory management !
📈 Ecommerce growth BE: Growing pains are common in ecommerce. How does Pipe17 support businesses as they grow, ensuring their order systems stay efficient and scalable?
DH: Regardless of how ecommerce businesses pursue growth, if operational efficiency is not maintained or improved in tandem with sales growth then any top-line revenue gains merely fuel the added expenses of a more complex, chaotic and confusing order operation instead of contributing to increased profitability. Pipe17 is laser focused on helping ecommerce brands, merchants, sellers, and 3PLs grow more profitably by optimizing their order operations. The Pipe17 Order Hub is all about enabling ecommerce businesses to be more agile, responsive, and in control of their order flows than ever before.
Adding a new sales channel Looking to expand your reach by selling on a new channel? Simply add the pre-configured Pipe17 connector to your account, and in minutes that new channel will be fully incorporated into your existing order operations, flows and processes.
Adding a new 3PL partner to increase your fulfillment capacity? Connect your new 3PL and adjust your order routing rules with customizable filters in minutes to start automatically sending orders from any of your sales channels to the optimal fulfillment warehouse—with no manual facilitation required.
Want to increase your average order value by bundling your top selling items into a singular kit? Quickly create and sell any combination of individual SKUs with Pipe17’s dynamic product bundles, and ensure error-free bundled product fulfillment with automated line item splitting prior to routing for fulfillment.
🤔 Ecommerce SaaS strategies BE: As the Head of Demand Generation, what strategies have proven effective for Pipe17 in standing out in the competitive ecommerce SaaS landscape?
DH: As the Head of Demand Generation, one of my initial challenges was pinpointing Pipe17's exact niche in the crowded ecommerce SaaS landscape. While Pipe17 incorporates elements of an integrations platform as a service (iPaaS), order management, and inventory management systems, it transcends these categories. We act as a 'turbocharger' for these tools, automating tasks typically handled by operations managers and ecommerce employees. This automation, especially in Order Operations requiring connectivity and complexity, is our unique edge.
Realizing that our platform uniquely streamlines and enhances existing systems helps us stand out. We provide more than just software; we offer solutions that turn mundane and repetitive tasks into automated, efficient processes. This understanding shapes our marketing and product development strategies.
Additionally, we contribute to the ecommerce community through education. We host quarterly virtual events that bring together top talent in ecommerce, offering insights and fostering a knowledge-sharing culture. This not only aids in standing out but also aligns with our commitment to empowering operations teams with the latest industry knowledge and best practices.
AI in ecommerce BE: What are the upcoming important trends in the field of operations that should be taken into consideration?
DH: AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a significant emerging trend in ecommerce operations. While opinions on AI vary widely, its potential usefulness for ecommerce operators is undeniable. Think about it like this, ecommerce has dozens of tools and systems all sitting there with a pile of unique data. AI is like hiring a team of data scientists to uncover the secrets hidden inside your own data. AI can enhance processes, workflows, data analysis, and error resolution. The exact applications in ecommerce are still evolving, but its potential to streamline operations and suggest efficiency improvements is a trend to watch. Stay informed and discuss potential AI applications with your vendors to ensure you're prepared for this evolving landscape.
Pipe17 Remember to follow Derric on LinkedIn. If you're looking for an all-in-one omnichannel order management app, visit their website !
Or check their socials: Twitter , LinkedIn , TikTok .
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