Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Contents

3 Hello...

4 Our solution: Descartes Peoplevox WMS

7 Why you need a specialist WMS?

10 Reference Clients

11 This is how our buying process works

12 How does Descartes Peoplevox’s WMS integrate with existing systems?

14 How is the WMS implemented?

15 Five tips for implementation

Truly scalable warehouse management for the most ambitious brands.

33Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Hello...

For over a decade now, the Peoplevox Warehouse Management System (lovingly known as PVX to most who use it) has been operating at the core of some of the world’s most exciting, fastest growing online retailers and e-commerce brands.

From the very earliest days, Peoplevox was built to inspire confidence in companies running their own warehouse, that no matter how much they grew, they would have the fulfillment capability to back it up. And that no matter how many customers they gained, they would be able to provide a truly remarkable customer experience.

Fast forward to the present day: order volumes are booming exponentially, consumer demands are more exacting, and the competitive landscape for retail is stacked with brands trying to stand out. Those values the platform was built on are now more critical than ever.

We are still committed to creating unbeatable workflows for e-commerce warehouses and giving our customers full control over the fulfillment process. As part of Descartes’ E-Commerce Division, Peoplevox customers are supported by a global team and have access to a broad range of logistics expertise, capability and solutions.

After reading this guide, you’ll understand our approach and know whether we’ll be able to help your business as it grows.

Dirk Haschke

General Manager, Descartes E-Commerce

“As a high-velocity e-commerce retailer, the new solution has totally met our requirements by enabling the flexibility to quickly scale our warehouse operations to cope with accelerating order volumes, and always be sure of shipping on time. This has supported our growth strategy and improved overall customer experience. The ease of use of the Peoplevox WMS has also played an important part, especially in allowing temporary staff to come up to speed in a matter of hours, with the minimum of training.”

Chris Perrins, Chief Operating Officer, Gymshark

44Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Our solution: Descartes Peoplevox WMS

Our WMS has been purpose-built to help e-commerce warehouses to perform at their highest level. Its powerful workflows eliminate warehouse chaos, increase speed and efficiency across all warehouse functions, give warehouse managers the control they need over their fulfillment, remove the capacity for human error and deliver lifetime ROI.

Configurable

100+ configuration options, process flows you can change on the screen and granular user permissions.

Partner network

Leverage our extensive network of vendors, web agencies and consultants to build a technology stack that works.

Scalable

From 100 orders a day to 100,000. Your platform for scaling up your fulfillment.

Software-as-a-Service

A single code base upgraded regularly with everything managed for you.

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The Android WMS

90% of warehouse activity is carried out on the move. Therefore, Peoplevox is fi rst and foremost an Android app where everything from receiving goods to dispatching orders can be done on a mobile device.

App offl ine mode

Affordable hardware

Paperless processes

Easy to learn

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66Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Reporting and Dashboards

Use our reporting tools to get the data you need from your warehouse operation. Stay ahead of the customer demand curve and track productivity order by order.

Peoplevox Web Platform

Our web app is the control hub for everything. Confi gure it to suit your business requirements.

77Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

It’s important to have a clear idea about why you need a WMS and what you’re looking to get out of your new WMS provider. Focus on the top 2-3 critical issues that are most affecting your warehouse. Then qualify the potential impact that removing these issues will have on your business.

y Is the warehouse team able to keep up on our busiest days?

y How many mistakes are we making on a monthly basis? (i.e oversells, mispicks…)

y How does this effect our brand, reputation and customer experience?

y Is our growth being held back by fulfillment?

Why you need a specialist WMS

“In just 18 months, we’ve scaled to three fulfillment centers shipping 8,000+ orders a day using Peoplevox’s WMS.”

Ben Harrison, Operations, Grove Collaborative

88Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Trusting in technology, not people

When you first start out you determine your own manual ways of working; you don’t need a lot of software, so you develop tribal knowledge. This tribal knowledge has major flaws. It’s difficult to scale, takes a long time to teach new starters, and provides the perfect breeding ground for chaos - particularly during peak periods.

Inevitably, this results in inaccurate inventories, overselling, mispicking, sending out the wrong orders, unhappy customers...all of which can have a snowball effect on your bottom line.

We will work with you to establish the best way for your warehouse to run. The solution that we implement will build on our 10+ years in the game to determine the features and workflows you need to become a truly scalable fulfillment operation.

Supporting growth

All-in-one systems might make a lot of sense when you first start. But when your business grows, you risk falling on your face. Entry-level systems often fall short on the crucial ability to scale up for high volumes, whilst more advanced ERP offerings have every feature under the sun for finance, accounting, reporting but are not e-commerce specific nor agile.

Every brand has its own unique stress points. The bigger your business gets, and the faster it grows, the more obvious these stress points become and the more obvious it becomes that you’ll need a specialist WMS.

Our WMS has been built specifically for e-commerce and direct to consumer, and a crucial part of our buying process is working out the perfect technology stack for your business. This means Peoplevox working alongside other platforms for e-commerce, shipping, analytics, finance and more.

99Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

Customer experience

Finding (and paying for) new customers all the time in today’s hyper competitive market is seriously challenging. Getting lifetime value out of existing customers is the most effective way to grow.

We truly believe the best online retailers are the ones who provide the best customer experience. Their customers develop long term relationships with them, spend more, more often, tell their friends and leave great reviews.

This customer experience is driven predominately by the performance of your warehouse. Did I order something and get immediate confirmation? Is my order being processed fast, and shipped on schedule? Did I actually receive all the items I ordered, nothing wrong or damaged? Taking your customer on a smooth, stress-free journey along the fulfillment process is a sure-fire way to earn their trust and loyalty.

Enabling the warehouse team to deliver remarkable customer experiences every time is the core competency of Peoplevox WMS.

Configurable

Everything within the Peoplevox WMS platform can be configured without the need for code. From adding locations and changing user permission to moving warehouse altogether, we’ll train you up to be self-sufficient as your requirements develop. But always on-hand, just in case you need us.

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Reference Clients

Supporting the scale of truly ambitious brands

Whether it’s working with Gymshark as they scaled from £10mn in revenue to £100mn, or enabling Lounge Underwear to hire in 50+ ‘Peak Week’ staff to handle their flash sale demand, Peoplevox supports merchants on a mission. Brands that are gaining traction, growing followings and delighting customers with the right combination of passion, ambition and consistency.

Onboarded PVX at a critical time, going through a huge growth period. Now have complete visibility of their warehouse and optimised processes.

“With Peoplevox powering our warehouse, we’re confident our infrastructure will be able to support our strong growth trajectory for years to come”

Scaled team up to 100 warehouse operators for Peak and shipped 150k orders over a 7 day period.

“Peoplevox guided us through the process of changing the way we did our fulfillment. We were grateful to have their expertise on side”

Opened up their own distribution centre with Peoplevox, which allowed them to offer same-day delivery across key states in Australia.

“We’ve had such a great experience since we have come on board with Peoplevox. It has made our jobs, and serving our customers, so much quicker and easier.”

1111Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.peoplevox.com | Descartes Peoplevox WMS Buyers’ Guide

This is how our buying process works

1

2

3

4

5

6

Video consultation and understanding your requirements During this conversation, we’ll get to grips with your biggest warehousing problems and determine whether we’re the right solution for you.

Evaluating your ‘tech stack’ We will discuss Peoplevox in relation to the other pieces of software you currently use, or are planning to use, to manage your back-end operations. This might include your e-commerce, order management or shipping platforms. We will outline which platform will be the master of what data, and how information will be passed between them.

Tailored solution walkthrough We take you through a product tour that gives you a transparent view of the features that you would be using if you chose to work with us.

Delivering a solution proposal We provide you with a quote that will account for implementing the WMS. We will never oversell you on the number of concurrent licenses you may use and there are no hidden charges.

Determining implementation timeline We complete implementation within 10-12 weeks. If you’re ready to hit the ground running with implementing your WMS, then we’ll build a timeline to get you live as soon as possible.

Signing the agreement By the time you get to sign your name on the dotted line, you’ll have a

crystal-clear view of what’s going to happen and the results that you can expect from your new WMS. When you sign with Peoplevox, you’re inheriting a strong team that will support you and your business as it continues to grow.

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How does Peoplevox’s WMS integrate with existing systems?

How Peoplevox’s integration process works

When we talk to you, we quickly establish which pieces of technology you’re currently using. We’re keen to hear how they’re working to support your business, and whether you think they could be doing a better job.

If you come into the buying process knowing the answers to the following questions, we’ll be able to speed up the process.

Questions that you need to answer about your tech stack

y Which piece of software is the product master?

y Which is the inventory master?

y Which is the sales order master?

y And which is the purchase order master?

In order to gain seamless end-to-end fulfillment, every business-critical workflow should have a well defined integration that is understood across your business. You need to have complete clarity about what you’re currently working with, to identify which software, or ring binder, is responsible for being your system of record.

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Three methods for perfect integrations

We work with a lot of technology vendors and have a very fl exible and open approach as they integrate into Peoplevox.

The method that we use to connect our system into your stack depends on the technology that you’re currently using or are planning to use. Here is how each of the methods works:

Ready-made solutions

Although it’s rare to come across two identical tech stacks, there are individual pieces of technology that are favoured by fast-growth e-commerce companies. Over the last decade, we’ve gained a clear view of who these vendors are and how we can best work with them to support our clients.

All of these plugins are currently live with at least one of our clients and we can prove that they’re working successfully.

Integration partners

We have strong relationships with our integration partners. If you’re working with a known vendor, it’s likely that the integration partner will have a proven means of connecting it with Peoplevox.

There are benefi ts to working with an integration partner:

y Future-proofed: They’ll give you an even wider view of how your entire tech stack could be working better to support your business.

y Mission-critical data fl ows: They’ll look at all data fl ows and give you their expert opinion on how they should be improved.

y Less hassle: If you need multiple systems to integrate with each other, partners will save you some stress by taking care of all your integrations in one place.

Developing a bespoke solution

We always try our best to work with the systems that you currently have, however rare and unique they may be. If you’re able to give us a clear spec of how that piece of software works, we’ll be able to let you know whether you’ll be able to integrate it.

If you’ve built your own custom application or need complete control of your system connections, this is your best option. Our Application Program Interface (API) gives you access to the data you need, and peace of mind that the WMS can be integrated with any new system that you may need in the future.

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How is the WMS implemented?

Getting the implementation right, completing the project to deadline and ensuring that you have the training and support that you need prior to go-live are all imperative for us when taking on any implementation project.

A modern approach to implementation

y We complete implementation projects remotely, wherever you are in the world.

y We don’t need to come to your warehouse, we don’t need major support from your IT team and we won’t need large chunks of your time to get the job done.

y We charge a fixed implementation fee, so you know exactly how much you’re going to pay before the project starts. No surprises.

y Because the implementation is 100% remote, you only pay for time that’s productive.

y We make sure that there’s no dead time and no time wastage.

y We offer an accessible training plan, with sessions recorded for easy knowledge-sharing.

y We offer skills training so that you know how to reconfigure the WMS.

“Through the implementation, Peoplevox were great to work with. If I ever had any questions, everyone was quick to help us out. If I go on the helpdesk, there’s a team ready to answer my questions 24/7. It’s very very helpful to have people that actually want to see you succeed.”

Matt Herding Warehouse Manager, Sigma Beauty

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Five tips for implementation

1. Develop a project team. While we’re perfectly happy to work with just one point of contact, we find that projects that involve more than one person tend to go smoother.

2. Having some technical understanding helps. You don’t need to have any technical know-how to make the implementation a success. But having somebody on board with some technical understanding helps us find quicker answers to some of the trickier questions that might arise.

3. Know how you store your web data. If you already know how you store your website data (particularly item data like SKUs), it’ll save some of the time that would be taken by trying to unpick how relevant data points can be transferred onto your new WMS.

4. Prepare for real-time inventories. Peoplevox’s WMS manages real-time inventories. Once everything’s set-up, this means that you won’t need to perform any major stocktakes because the inventory will be updated whenever any item is scanned in your warehouse.

5. Get ready for a stocktake. In order for the system to work perfectly, the inventory counts in the initial upload need to be 100% accurate. This means that you will have to allocate time to conduct a thorough stocktake during implementation.

About Descartes Systems Group

Descartes (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG) is the global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, performance and security of logistics-intensive businesses. Customers use our modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, schedule, track and measure delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world’s largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community. Our headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and we have offices and partners around the world.

Learn more at www.descartes.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Contact us

International: +1 (519) 746-8110

North America: +1 (800) 419-8495

info@descartes.com

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