Garrets offers a digital purchasing portal without the Internet
The digital wave is causing a stir at sea too. Garrets, the world leader in the budget management of ‘food and non-food’, and which services almost 1,900 ships, has made it possible for shipping companies’ vessels worldwide to make purchases through a digital purchasing portal. Even when they are several thousand nautical miles out at sea. Kraftvaerk developed the solution, which Garrets calls ‘Stores Shopper’.
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By grasping technology and intelligent web-based tools, we simplify everyday life while ensuring better quality data.
In figures
It has now become much easier for shipping companies’ vessels to order goods at sea. Together with Garrets, Kraftvaerk has developed a digital purchasing portal that stores such large amounts of data in the browser that the purchasing portal works without daily access to the Internet. This means that goods can be ordered at sea so they are ready for delivery in port. At the same time, the offline product catalogue can be updated at sea via optimised satellite data transfer and in port via Wi-Fi.
One market leader
Garrets is world-leading within the supply of provisions and technical management for the global shipping industry, supplying almost 1,900 ships around the world.
One smart solution
Order-handling is streamlined both at Garrets and on board the ships, and the risk of manual errors has been significantly reduced. This is because all data has been organised in one digital online portal.
One digital front-runner
In six months, Kraftvaerk and Garrets developed a digital purchasing portal which functions without daily access to the Internet. The fast and intuitive order flow has already given Garrets and its customers fresh momentum.
71% of the Earth is covered by water – but not by the Internet
Is it possible to shop digitally without being able to access the Internet? The short answer is ‘yes’ if you ask Kraftvaerk, as Garrets did. Which is quite useful, since 71% of the Earth is covered by water. The ‘Stores Shopper’ solution makes Garrets the digital front-runner in the market for stores management – for the benefit of its customers, who have embraced the digital purchasing portal after order processing was organised and optimised.
The technological stroke of genius is that the purchasing portal stores all the data in the browser until the order manager completes the order. All the data is compressed to a minimum, which ensures that costs relating to satellite data exchange are kept to a minimum for shipping companies.
From Excel to e-commerce
Easier ordering. Simplified information flow. Better planning. Better overview. Greater transparency. This is the result of transforming Excel for e-commerce. Previously, all orders were submitted via Excel sheets with large amounts of data and resource-intensive administration. Now, it’s all much smarter. A digital purchasing portal compiles the all products in an offline product catalogue, so the order managers at sea far from Wi-Fi can easily search, browse and order from a product selection tailored to the specific ship.
Our ambition is ‘to make our customers’ lives at sea better’. With the new intuitive solution, we have taken a decisive step towards realising this ambition. By grasping technology and intelligent web-based tools, we are simplifying everyday life while ensuring a better quality of data. It strengthens us as a business that we can now also interact with our customers when they are at sea.
Purchasing portal also assists with budget management
Like other business units, shipping companies’ vessels at sea also have to adhere to budgets. Through the new purchasing portal, ships can now better track purchases on an ongoing basis and ensure that each ship is staying within its budget. For example, Garrets is now able to transfer data about estimated port-specific prices, providing the ships’ purchasing officers at sea with a price estimate even before a request is sent. It creates an overview of the ship’s budget as well as the various procurement possibilities in the specific port.
The new intuitive solution enables data compression, so we can increase the amount of shared data, improving conditions for our customers on the ships: easier ordering, simplified information flow, better planning and better overview. It’s great to be able to enter the market with a digital purchasing solution that actually makes a difference. Optimising time usage and minimising manual errors are two important competitive parameters for our customers.
It’s all about intelligent integration
Kraftvaerk has developed the digital shopping portal as a PWA (progressive web app) and with Episerver e-commerce. PWA is a technology which is perfect for situations where users need to work offline, and where large amounts of content can be stored in the browser. Kraftvaerk has also developed integrations from the procurement portal into Garrets’ ERP system, Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Putting customers first
