ERHA Boosts Fulfillment Rate from 300 to 1000 Daily Orders with Anchanto

ERHA Pharmacy Indonesia, founded in 1999, is one of the top dermatology clinics in the country. The company’s focus evolved when it expanded as a health and beauty brand and retailer, specializing in hair and skin care products. With a strong offline retail presence, ERHA decided to expand its reach through various online marketplaces, including Tokopedia, Shopee, Zalora, and TikTok.

Given the brand’s prominence in the local market, ERHA quickly grew online. As the volumes exceeded 22,000 orders per month, the company realized that their fulfillment rate and inventory management processes needed a revamp. ERHA also experienced challenges with its order processing and catalog management, signaling a need for changes in backend operations and technology.

Let’s dive into the challenges ERHA experienced to understand their core pain points.

Challenges

As ERHA navigated the intricate terrain of business operations, a series of hurdles emerged, each demanding a unique approach to overcome. Here are the top struggles ERHA wanted to overcome:

1. Low fulfillment rate

Depending solely on manual processes limited ERHA to fulfill only 300 orders in a day, curtailing their fulfillment rate. Every time an order came in, the team manually reviewed it, processed it, checked inventory for the item, updated inventory, picked and packed the item, generated shipping labels, and initiated the pick-up process. Performing these steps manually prevented ERHA from fulfilling more orders within their existing workforce.

2. Inaccurate stock measure

ERHA’s previous inventory management system lacked an effective stock-take feature, leading to inaccurate inventory syncing. This had several impacts on the business, such as stockouts during demand periods. Overstocking was another issue that tied up capital in inventory that was not selling quickly. Inaccurate stock measures also impacted customer satisfaction, order management, and costs.

3. Inefficient batch and expiry management

Their old Order Management System (OMS) did not offer batch and expiry management capabilities, making it difficult for ERHA to manage product shelf life. Without automated batch and expiry tracking, they relied on manual methods, such as spreadsheets, which were prone to errors and time-consuming. Moreover, the inability to track the shelf life of products accurately resulted in products expiring on the shelves before being sold.

4. Erroneous and time-consuming processes

With only a basic OMS to control their monthly orders and vast inventory, ERHA was forced to employ manual processes. Manual picking, packing, and quality control processes in the warehouse were time-consuming and prone to errors. High dependency on manual processes also allowed them to only fulfill 300 orders a day within the standard working time from 9 am to 6 pm, with a total staff of 8.

5. Insufficient kit and bundle management

While most marketplaces allow the listing of product kits and bundles, creating these combinations is painstaking when done manually. Most sales channels also do not offer the means to create these options on their backend, so all kits and bundles must be listed as new products. The manual processes involved made it inconvenient for ERHA to manage this form of promotion on marketplaces.

Implementation

The main cause behind ERHA’s challenges was the lack of efficient technology to automate internal processes. After much research, the pharmaceutical company came across Anchanto’s solutions to reduce dependence on manual efforts.

ERHA implemented Anchanto Order Management and Warehouse Management which helped them centralize their orders and inventory. They also use these systems to manage their inventory and catalogs across online sales channels.

The implemented systems seamlessly integrated with ERHA’s existing ecosystem preventing disruptions and enhancing operations. With a steady flow of real time information, they were able to manage their operations better, scale with demand, and reduce the pressure of errors.

Solutions and Outcomes

Introducing new technology to their digital arm not only streamlined ERHA’s operations but also set new benchmarks for efficiency and customer satisfaction. Each achievement obtained with Anchanto is a testament to the power of scalable technology and automation. Here are the solutions implemented by ERHA and the outcomes brought to their operations:

1. Reduced manual processes for a high fulfillment rate

Before Anchanto, ERHA could only fulfill 300 orders within standard working time. But after using Anchanto, the company was able to fulfill over 1000 orders within their 8-hour workday, without the need for additional staff. This higher fulfillment rate was possible by automating their order processing and warehouse management.

2. Improved stock take accuracy

While assessing the amount of stock at their warehouse, ERHA noticed that the percentage of stock take accuracy was roughly 50%. However, after implementing Anchanto Warehouse Management, they increased the stock take accuracy to approximately 85%. The elimination of slow, manual processes enabled this progress. As ERHA continues to use Anchanto’s solutions, the company expects to see more progress in their inventory management.

“Anchanto Order Management and Warehouse Management have helped us significantly reduce challenges that we faced due to manual operations. Their SaaS technology has helped us generate much more from our existing assets & resources, and improved our stock take accuracy by up to 85%.”

– Ria Yunita, Unit Head of Warehouse, ERHA Clinic

3. Automated batch and expiry control

As a pharmaceutical company, ERHA depends on the FIFO (first in first out) inventory movement to ensure products are sold before expiry. To ensure its inventory is managed in this way, they had to automate this function. With the batch and expiry management option from Anchanto, the business was able to track all inventory based on manufacturing dates and expiry dates. This improved the flow of stock for new orders of ERHA’s products.

4. Error-free processes and faster order processing

When it comes to their operations ERHA aims to be impeccable with their retail functions. As a result, the company worked hard to keep their e-commerce error rate below 5%. These errors were related to wrongly picked products or quantities. But, before Anchanto, ERHA’s error rate was above the set percentage. With Anchanto, they were able to maintain the error between 1% – 1.5%.

Similarly, when it came to order processing, ERHA wanted to make sure that all orders were processed correctly and quickly. Before Anchanto, every order that came in for the day was processed only the next day due to the pressure caused by manual operations. But through Anchanto’s systems, daily orders received before 3.00 PM were processed on the same day. This ensured faster fulfillment and improved customer experiences.

5. Better promotion management

Anchanto Order Management offered ERHA centralized catalog management capabilities. With this advantage, the brand was able to quickly create product kits and bundles for sale. It was a very convenient feature for their business as most marketplaces don’t offer the capability to do this.

Conclusion

With better technology, ERHA has changed their backend operations to enhance their digital presence. They use Anchanto’s SaaS solutions to centralize their e-commerce and inventory, manage their online sales channels, identify delays and problems to take quick action, gain visibility into every process, conduct stock quality checks, put-aways, and performance reviews.

ERHA has also cut down its manual processes, reduced operation errors, increased stock take accuracy, improved order processing and fulfillment speed, and gained control over its online promotions.

Given the refined progress the company’s e-commerce has achieved, ERHA is keen on implementing Anchanto’s technology across its warehousing network. As they develop their offline presence, ERHA aims to activate an online-to-offline module with the support of Anchanto’s SaaS solutions.