Trail Store, a company renowned for its commitment to quality and innovation in the sports market, has decided to take a step forward in its inventory management strategy by implementing Invas WMS. This system has allowed the company to efficiently control material entries, exits, movements, and placement within its warehouse.

This Chilean distributor was founded in 2018 with the goal of expanding in the two-wheeled sports market. Today, it distributes a range of products including apparel, safety gear, clothing, among others, and is the exclusive representative of brands like FOX, Norco, Beta, Fantic, and Peatys in Chile.

Its logistical operation relies on a distribution center located in Quilicura, serving 4 sales channels: distributors, own stores, E-commerce, and departmental channels (large stores). This ensures nationwide presence with 97% of their products being imported. Additionally, they currently operate more than 10 own stores and +120,000 SKUs.

Maintaining optimized inventory was a constant challenge.

The absence of structured processes and heavy manual workload were key areas for improvement. From goods receipt to placement and picking, operations relied heavily on operator memory, slowing down work rhythms within the Distribution Center (CeDi) and affecting customer response.

Considering this, the supply chain was impacted from the start, and although they were using an inventory management module within their ERP, its functionalities did not meet all operational needs. This led them to determine that the solution they needed was a WMS to support the new market dynamics.

Exponential and sustained growth are key points behind the WMS implementation strategy.

The company experienced exponential growth, and manual management worked while the company was small. However, with accelerated growth, the need for a tool that matched the new logistical goals became indispensable.

To support this growth, Trail Store focused on finding a solution that offered complete inventory visibility in real-time; improved inventory accuracy; properly managed deliveries for their e-commerce model; implemented inventory allocation strategies based on business rules; optimized space within the CeDi, among other requirements.

After a selection process evaluating both local and regional solutions, Invas WMS was chosen as it met the operation’s new requirements and even offered value compared to other aspects like creating customized dashboards for KPI tracking.

«We are thrilled with the results achieved with Trail Store in this project. Our goal is to help improve their operational efficiency while providing exceptional service to their customers,» Ivan Lara, Commercial Leader at Cerca Technology. «We believe our Invas WMS solution will be a valuable asset for their company.»

Immediate implementation and support are essential for a WMS project.

Another essential aspect for Trail Store was the proper implementation of WMS. One of Cerca Technology’s challenges was integrating Invas WMS with the company’s other business systems. Mario Garcia, Finance and Administration Manager, highlighted Cerca Technology’s continuous support, achieving a successful implementation with controlled go-live and meeting all project milestones.

«We are very grateful to the consultant because from day one, he has been dedicated to our project, which was essential for its success and meeting all milestones. We were looking for a more dynamic tool, not just a module that limited us in some processes, and Invas WMS definitely met those expectations,» Mario Garcia – Trail Store.

The results were immediate, and the team perceived the changes after using Invas WMS.

«Building a team willing to adopt best practices, as Trail Store did, was a significant part of the project’s success. The readiness from top management to direct WMS users allowed us to implement processes that showed excellent results from day one: a 33% decrease in inventory counting times, improvements in preparation times for different types of orders, and meeting demand on key business dates,» Mary Romero, Project Manager at Cerca Technology.

Efficiency improvements were also visible when the team had to prepare 1500 orders, previously taking a week, but with Invas WMS, it only took a day. The operators understood that this tool would help them in their daily work, the learning curve was short, and the team accepted it well.

• 45% increase in picking process productivity
• 26% improvement in customer satisfaction by reducing delivery times
• 2% increase in service level by delivering on time
• 20% increase in packing and dispatch flow productivity by replacing manual processes with electronic and automated ones
• 30% improvement in finished product inventory visibility with better tracking and quality of cyclical counts
• Enhanced operational intelligence with various data visualization types such as the work viewer, aiding in identifying patterns more easily
• Improved personnel management as we can measure performance based on individual tasks, by area, by hour, by shift, etc.

The challenge now is to continue growing as a company with the best tools.

Currently, the company is parallelly implementing an OMS and expects both platforms to be fully connected in the future. For now, their interest is in improving their indicators through the correct use of Invas WMS and the application of best practices.

«Implementations like Trail Store’s confirm that Invas WMS enhances processes, improves productivity, and supports companies in achieving their goals in implementation projects that span weeks,» Mary Romero, Project Manager at Cerca Technology.