Tech for a Fabric Business
After almost a century in operation, the Zarin Fabrics warehouse was still using a mostly manual ordering and inventory management system. We devised a smart, simple system of hardware and software that could power their business both online and off.
1936
Start Date
22,000+
Fabric Variants
200,000+
Yards Stocked
How do you bring an 85-year-old New York institution into the digital age (without breaking it)? After almost a century in operation, the Zarin Fabrics warehouse was still using a mostly manual ordering and inventory management system. To compete in the digital era with budding massive e-retailers, they needed the ability to sell their inventory across channels and accurately track buying and inventory trends.
We began the roadmap process by immersing ourselves in their existing processes and technology. We learned that Zarin's digital sales weren't connected to actual in-stock inventory, and physical sales weren't tracked strategically or methodically. By examining the entire purchase and inventory flows, we identified the steps that needed small improvements and the ones that needed complete overhauls.
We developed a system that would unify their inventory while still being extremely simple to learn and easy to implement. We decided to pair a best-in-class enterprise resource management tool with simple and effective software like Shopify and Stitch Labs, and hardware like bluetooth scanners and new receipt printers.
This tailored ERM allowed Zarin to effectively track multi-channel sales inventory and only sell items they currently had in stock—all while moving their existing paper records to digital ones (saving countless trees, yippee).
The roll-out plan was tailored to the needs and challenges of their team and designed to cause minimal disruption to ongoing operations. Our team was on site for comprehensive training and troubleshooting throughout the entire set-up, integration, and launch process, and offered continual ongoing training on demand.
This custom lightweight system transformed Zarin's inventory tracking system as they knew it. They moved from almost zero inventory management to full inventory and documentation for more than half of their warehouse in a matter of weeks.
With more products being added to the system every day, Zarin will have its full warehouse inventoried by end of year 2018.
By digitizing their inventory process across touch points, Zarin Fabrics is opening new doors to sales and e-commerce more than 80 years after they opened their own.