Case Studies
The digital transformation gave retailer Kookpunt a fully integrated POS system for B2B and B2C, enabling efficient inventory management and logistics.
Kookpunt Streamlines Inventory Management and Logistics with Novulo
Situation
The physical store alone, spanning over 3,000 square meters in Rotterdam, makes Kookpunt one of the largest retailers of cooking products in the Benelux. Over the past few years, online activities have grown significantly. The webshop Kookpunt.nl, the in-house import/wholesale division KP Import, and CookSpoint are strategic operations that could expand successfully with the right foundation.
Ambition
Selling from the store’s inventory created logistical challenges. With the substantial growth in online sales, Kookpunt needed much better visibility into stock levels. Because inventory status was not up to date, the company lost revenue and experienced delivery issues. The back-office automation was in need of a major upgrade.
Result
Novulo provided Kookpunt with a flexible and adaptable ERP system that combines inventory management for both store and webshop, automates purchasing processes, and streamlines the financial handling of orders. Inventory status is continuously updated thanks to a fully integrated point-of-sale solution across both B2B and B2C environments. Various steps have been taken to further advance Kookpunt’s e-commerce capabilities, with integrations to marketplaces like Bol.com being the latest example.
Consumer and B2B buying habits have changed, pushing retailers to expand their digital presence. Kookpunt experienced this firsthand. With an extensive range including kitchen appliances, knives, stoves, espresso machines, and tableware, this Rotterdam retailer offers nearly everything a hobbyist or professional chef could want.
There was a need for an integrated system for POS, inventory, and purchasing, including a connection to the existing webshop, to significantly improve inventory management and take the next step in e-commerce. Knowledge about product margins, previously held in the minds of only a few employees, is now embedded in the back office. This allows more people to act on it, adjust sales, and contribute to overall results. The collaboration between Kookpunt and Novulo began with improving margin visibility, inventory management, and purchasing.
Using minimum and maximum stock levels, the application automatically generates reorder requests for fast-moving items, reducing out-of-stock situations. Quick order entry also adds value. The POS systems are fully integrated with the back office, providing a solid foundation for sales in the physical store as well as B2B and B2C webshops, with unified financial administration and inventory tracking.
Fraud with price stickers in-store is now a thing of the past. Administration for picking up online orders in-store has been improved and made auditable. Overall, visibility into stock loss has greatly improved.
Kookpunt has been able to expand into new initiatives supported and enabled by the flexible Novulo software. Every time Kookpunt took new steps to strengthen its commercial success, Novulo software was gradually extended to facilitate new activities while making operations more efficient.
Two years ago, the B2B initiative CookSpoint was launched. The central warehouse and office for e-commerce activities were expanded with a showroom focused on the small business market. This brand later merged into the webshop for KP Import’s import/wholesale activities, also built in Novulo. Regular B2B customers can now place online orders with customer-specific pricing and terms on account.
“When you learn to work with the ongoing updates in the Novulo application, you sometimes think: what a world of difference this makes. Why didn’t we do this a year earlier?” - Sjoerd Muijser, e-commerce at Kookpunt
The Novulo software provides a solid and flexible foundation for Kookpunt’s back office, making both retail and administrative processes much more efficient. Sjoerd Muijser, e-commerce manager at Kookpunt, now has software that lays the right foundation to keep up in the ever-changing e-commerce world and to allow new strategic activities to flourish.
“Kookpunt’s webshop grew out of the physical cooking store in Rotterdam-Noord. Like many other retailers, online purchases at Kookpunt were fulfilled from the stock of this store. Over the years, four different warehouses evolved, all intertwined, with much uncertainty about how many items were in stock.
As shopping behavior changed, some Saturdays were very quiet during the day, while Sunday evenings could see a huge peak of 200 to 300 orders.
The little corner at the back where the webshop was run needed expansion. We started small with the Novulo application. Tea and coffee products were made inventory-managed first. This allowed us to test the software on a small scale and see if it worked well for us.
After this successful trial, we implemented the Novulo application for the majority of our stock, so we know which products are on the shelves and can fulfill as much as possible from inventory. The Novulo application ensured consistent inventory management for both the store and the webshop. There is a continuous, up-to-date view of warehouse stock and webshop orders, which saves a lot of hassle.”
“Like in many companies, e-commerce at Kookpunt started as a side hobby project, but grew out of that status due to significant online growth. The presentation of Novulo’s implementation at Kamera Express at the Webwinkel Vakdagen years ago prompted Kookpunt to deploy Novulo to improve inventory management.
At that time, products were sold without clarity on whether they were in store stock. Employees had to go to the store and hope the purchased item was there. If it was, the customer received it in two days, but often delivery took longer and handling late deliveries took much time. Sometimes compensation was needed or the customer canceled the order.”
“There is a link between the webshop and Novulo, which synchronizes all orders between the webshop and back office. The ERP-integrated checkout system automatically registers items leaving the store. This keeps inventory information up to date and allows us to act on fast-selling products.
If stock is running low, items are immediately reordered using minimum and maximum stock levels to reduce the chance of ‘out-of-stock’ situations. Now, if ten items of a product are in the webshop, we know they truly exist and where they are located.
Other improvements have also been made. With the newly acquired space serving as both warehouse and B2B showroom, efficient inventory management has significantly increased capacity.
In eight years, online activities have grown into a strategic part of the organization, crucial for future growth. This is reflected in revenue, now split roughly 50-50 between online and physical stores.”
“Novulo is a complete software platform with many possibilities. Customer wishes can always be incorporated into extensions of the web application. Novulo’s approach to implementing these changes is very well organized. Agreements on implementing extensions work well, and upcoming changes are clearly explained.
The many options can make the system seem complex at first, especially the checkout. About sixty people work here. Younger colleagues pick up Novulo software quickly, while older colleagues less familiar with computers sometimes struggle when processing an item. Over time, these small hurdles disappear.”
“This year, we are focusing on a new webshop. The current webshop is eight years old with limited plugin options, which are crucial given how fast e-commerce evolves. When the new website launches, the Novulo link will be expanded. Orders from marketplaces like Bol.com, Amazon, and Fonq will also automatically flow into Novulo.
Additionally, we aim to make all store items inventory-managed and explore seasonal inventory. The software must allow the freedom to experiment. Ultimately, the goal is to increase webshop conversion rates and revenue. Kookpunt invests in internal knowledge to reduce dependency on external parties.”
“Behind the scenes, the Novulo platform handles countless tasks for the webshop. Without this foundation, the growth of online activities would create huge pressure. Novulo makes inventory visible and automates ordering. Price agreements are fully automated.
Pick lists for the warehouse are arranged logically by location. These features have made Kookpunt’s e-commerce much more efficient. The complete Novulo platform allows continuous improvements. Once you learn to work with these innovations, you realize the huge difference. You wonder why we didn’t do it a year earlier.”
This example shows that organizations wanting to better integrate their webshop with physical store operations can widely deploy Novulo software. The platform includes a broad set of ready-made components, allowing companies to fully integrate inventory management, logistics, administration, and e-commerce with traditional store sales.
The pre-built components can be fully tailored to customer processes through modeling, ensuring optimal speed, agility, and return on software investment.
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