The Chesterfield Brand is a Dutch bag brand that designs its own collection and distributes it from Assen to retailers throughout Europe. The company has traditionally been a family business, and as a family they do everything possible to ensure that the processes and systems in the company are as compatible as possible. In addition to wholesaling, the company also sells directly to consumers through its own webshop and, more recently, through Bol.com. The combination of B2B and D2C on the same stock makes the IT landscape a lot more complex than it seems at first glance.
Martijn Hoving has a broad role within The Chesterfield Brand: from sales to jointly managing the digital infrastructure with his sister Avelon Hoving. He was closely involved in setting up the webshop and the search for the right links. And that search was not the first.
Unlike most online stores, The Chesterfield Brand's online shop does not have its own stock. Every order draws directly from the central wholesale warehouse, the same warehouse that also supplies retailers. That means an online order must be converted directly into a sales order in Exact Online, stock must be updated in real time, and the logistics process must start automatically. If that doesn't run seamlessly, problems arise: customers ordering products just picked by wholesalers, orders that don't come through or are processed twice.
The Chesterfield Brand had previously engaged another party for the linkage. But after only a few months, it became apparent that it wasn't running smoothly enough for their particular situation. The conclusion was quickly drawn: they needed a partner who really understands the complexity of a combined wholesale and web shop environment. That's how they ended up at iWebDevelopment.
Together with iWebDevelopment, a link was created that connects three systems: Shopify as the webshop, Exact Online as the main administrative system and the logistics system for warehouse processing. Not a standard connection, but tailored to the specific situation of a wholesaler that also sells directly to consumers.
In concrete terms this means:
After a short start-up period in which the triangular link was fine-tuned, everything is running stably. So stable that there are virtually no more support tickets coming in. For a company that processes orders daily through multiple channels, that's exactly what you want: a link you don't have to think about.
"The moment it's in place, then it works. Then you can just run your business worry-free, without having to switch too much support."
Martijn Hoving, The Chesterfield Brand
The difference with the previous linking party can therefore be summed up most clearly in what no longer happens: no more malfunctions that have to be solved manually, no more inventory problems and no more lost orders. Just peace of mind.
In 2024, The Chesterfield Brand migrated from Lightspeed to Shopify. Thanks to the flexibility of the link, that transition went smoothly. And with the recent launch on Bol.com, the number of sales channels continues to grow, while the foundation remains solid. All orders come together in Exact Online, regardless of the channel they come from. For the future, The Chesterfield Brand is looking at the possibility of connecting retailers to the same stock via a drop ship model. The infrastructure for that is already in place.
At iWebDevelopment, we help companies like The Chesterfield Brand smartly connect their sales channels, accounting and logistics. Whether you work with Shopify, Exact Online, marketplaces or a combination thereof, we ensure that the data is correct and the processes run smoothly, without you having to constantly look at them.
Wondering what we can do for your processes? Please contact us for an informal talk. We are happy to think along with you.