Founded in 1968, Meadow Farms stands as New England’s oldest and largest fundraising company, based in Massachusetts. As a leader in the fundraising industry, Meadow Farms found itself at a crossroads when it came to selecting an ecommerce platform that could meet its complex needs. Their existing system, while functional, lacked the flexibility and features necessary to manage a rapidly growing number of micro-stores and the complexity of orders originating from multiple warehouses. CEO, Tim Jones needed a platform that could streamline operations, reduce manual labor, and improve the customer experience.
In this case study, Tim Jones shares why Meadow Farms ultimately chose Cart.com as their e-commerce platform to manage their multiple micro catalogs (or micro-stores), highlighting the specific features that made the difference and how the platform has positively impacted their operations.
The Need for a Flexible Platform
"Fundraising is very unique," says Tim Jones. Meadow Farms wasn't just looking for a basic ecommerce solution; they needed a platform that could manage their fundraising model, which involves orders coming from multiple warehouses and supporting thousands of micro-stores where each micro-store represented a single student in classroom. He needed a platform that could handle the diverse requirements of each student, from product customization, profile customization to order processing. Cart.com’s templated engines provided the perfect solution, allowing Meadow Farms to manage and scale their storefront without sacrificing the unique needs of each school district, student and catalog.
In addition, Tim needed a platform that could integrate with other tools, like Avalara, to manage sales tax across numerous states. "The fact that you guys had Avalara was really a comforting thing" Tim notes. This was one of the key factors in Tim’s decision, especially given the complexities of selling nationally.
Saving Time and Reducing Customer Service Calls
One of the standout features of Cart.com for Meadow Farms was the ability to combine orders from multiple micro-stores into a single transaction and breaking each line item out by warehouse. This not only improved the customer experience but also reduced the workload for their customer service team as some schools allowed cold storage items from warehouse A while others relied on a separate warehouse for typically sold goods in warehouse B especially knowing his fulfillment network is bound to grow. Plus, keeping this capability while simultaneously allowing users to split purchases for multiple students in a single order was yet another feather in the cap for Cart.com.
"We have a lot of siblings that fundraise together," Tim explains. "You can take a single order and check out with 4 items going to one sibling and 4 items going to the other. It’s a single transaction, customers paying one shipping charge."
With other ecommerce platforms they didn’t have that option. Historically, they would get customer service complaints from shoppers saying they wanted to purchase the items, but didn’t want to pay shipping costs on a second order. "We don’t get any more of those calls, and that was huge," says Tim. With the reduction of customer service calls, it helped the team to focus more on critical tasks.
Streamlining Operations with Scheduled Exports
Another time-saving feature for Meadow Farms was the ability to schedule exports directly to external vendors, such as magazine publishers. Previously, Meadow Farms had to manually run export processes daily, which was time-consuming and prone to errors. With Cart.com, these processes were automated using a scheduled export feature, freeing up valuable time and resources. “It’s 5 minutes, 10 minutes every day... something that doesn’t need to be done manually,” Tim explained.
Enhancing Competitive Advantage Through Cart.com’s Checkout Experiences
Tim believes that the key to maintaining a competitive edge is providing superior customer experience, something Cart.com has helped them achieve by minimizing customer service issues and streamlining the checkout process.
"A customer service call is not always negative. It’s an opportunity to impress your customer with how you manage the situation," Tim says. "But at the same time, how many of those people get frustrated and never call you and never place an order?" By addressing potential issues before they arise, Cart.com has helped Meadow Farms create a smoother, more satisfying customer journey.
"The best experience is when someone just understands what they’re getting, understands what they’re paying for, understands how to do it themselves, and just checks out and feels happy about the experience," Tim explains.
Significant Growth in the Digital Channel
While Tim doesn't have concrete analytics from their previous platform to compare, he has observed a notable increase in the digital channel's performance since switching to Cart.com. "We’ve seen definitely a 20% increase in just our digital channel relative to our paper sales growth," Tim notes. This growth has been particularly evident in the online-only fundraising accounts, which have become the single largest grower in their business while he expects growth to grow even more.
A Platform That Supports Large-Scale Operations
With over 50,000 micro-stores now running on Cart.com and thousands being added every year, Meadow Farms needed a platform that could handle large-scale operations without missing a beat. "I think we're over 50,000 now," Tim says. “The ability to manage such a vast number of micro-stores efficiently was another crucial factor in choosing Cart.com.”
Advice for Others Considering Cart.com
For those just starting in ecommerce, Tim emphasizes the importance of choosing a platform that can adapt to your needs as your business grows. "Getting into the ecommerce game has to be holistic," Tim advises. "Someone has to understand intrinsically what their buyer wants and then how to present that information through their ecommerce platform."
Tim also highlights the importance of flexibility, especially when offering complex products. "Having the ability to have the flexibility of the product displays, especially for someone who might be offering a more complex product of sizes or colors, would be critical," he says.
Conclusion
Meadow Farms chose Cart.com for its depth of features, flexibility, and fair pricing. But beyond the technical capabilities, it was the personal support and commitment from the Cart.com services team that solidified their decision. "Your involvement in our account is really what's kept us," Tim says. "At this stage in my career and game, I want to work with people I want to work with, and I want to have someone I know is dependable".
For Meadow Farms, Cart.com wasn't just a platform; it’s a partner in their growth and success.