Cicli Pinarello is an Italian company that sells performance road bikes, frames, and accessories globally, selling to retailers in the UK under the Pinarello brand.
They have flagship stores in the UK, with an extensive network of retail partners, and are continuing to grow rapidly after being established domestically in 2018. The group parent company operates from Northern Italy, with other subsidiaries located in the US. Despite the Covid 19 pandemic, their flagship stores remained operational and experienced a peak in demand due to an increase in cycling activity.
Challenges
The sudden increase in demand during the pandemic resulted in a significant strain on the supply chain, leading to a backlog of orders that could not be immediately fulfilled. Inefficiencies in warehouse and inventory management, coupled with the supply-side issues, meant that customer experience was below the standard that Pinarello wanted to provide; as such a project was established to focus on and improve this aspect of the business’ operating process.
Why Mysoft was chosen as a business partner
Pinarello first worked with Mysoft on an integration project to bring together a new front-end web store and their existing Sage X3 system (supported out of Italy). This project was business-critical and involved multiple parties to ensure success. As a result of this close working relationship Mysoft then started to provide some additional ad hoc training and consultancy to Pinarello as the UK operation expanded.
When it came to selecting a partner to undertake the inventory and warehouse project, Pinarello saw Mysoft as the obvious choice. They already had a strong working relationship and were impressed with Mysoft’s expertise in the area and the ability to offer solutions to their problems; having worked with other partners internationally before Mysoft stood out as the best candidate for this project.
How Mysoft helped Pinarello maximise their use of X3
Since starting to work together in June 2020 Mysoft and Pinarello have engaged in a number of business process improvement and technical projects; with a strong working relationship and a shared pragmatic approach to problem-solving, Mysoft and Pinarello have developed the use of the Sage X3 system in the UK to meet the needs of a B2B operation – facilitating online and physical store sales and the requisite stock management processes to support an efficient supply chain. Mysoft continues to support Pinarello’s kaizen approach to enhance and develop the solution, to not only meet their current needs but, to support their continued growth and work towards future goals, such as a B2C site.
The focus of the working relationship has often been converting Pinarello’s business know-how into system functionality; this is where Mysoft’s extensive Sage X3 experience and understanding of real work best practice adds significant value. By workshopping, requirements and collaborating on specifications for functionality Pinarello and Mysoft have adopted standard system functionality to maximum advantage.
“We know what we want to do, but we don’t know how to do it, which is where you guys come in and it’s never a ‘well, you can’t do it’, it’s a ‘we can do it this way’ or ‘this is how we can do it’, or maybe ‘we can’t do exactly what you want, but we could do this instead’. It never feels like anything’s impossible, which is great because in the climate we’re in, we need it to be that way.” – Sophie Quy, Commercial Manager
Some example projects that Pinarello and Mysoft have undertaken together include:
- eCommerce integration
- Handheld barcoding functionality
- General warehouse and inventory improvements
- System training
- Operational reporting
- Product “configurator” set-up
Pinarello have also recently engaged in a Document Management project, to implement Mysoft’s X3CloudDocs Outbound product; with both companies looking to drive process efficiencies in the back office in the same way they have been successfully achieved in the operational elements of the business.
How the projects helped Pinarello address their challenges and problems
The projects implemented by Mysoft helped Pinarello address their challenges and problems by providing them with an efficient warehouse management system and the ability to consolidate inventory. This enabled them to manage their inventory and warehouse operations more effectively, reducing inefficiencies and delays in delivering products to their customers.
“We always feel listened to which is great. When we come to you with something that we would like to do, it’s never impossible, it’s always how we’re going to do it. Mysoft always says, let’s look at it and see what we can do.
We 100% would recommend Mysoft to anyone. Mysoft has helped us enormously with everything we’ve tried to do and have been able to do. The Mysoft team have been a part of everything that we have managed to achieve and we couldn’t do what we do without them. They’re always there to support us.”
– Sophie Quy, Commercial Manager
