H. H. Brown - Improving Sales Efficiency with eCommerce

H. H. Brown's roots go back to 1883, when Henry H. Brown began handcrafting comfortable, durable footwear in Natick, Massachusetts. H. H. Brown distributes and manufactures comfort casual shoes for men and women, rugged recreational footwear, and premier work shoes and boots.

The result of H. H. Brown’s growth is many diverse brands of shoes sold through its multiple divisions. Each division operates independently, using systems and processes unique to them. “One of the major challenges that we were facing was how to put a single face on all of these divisions in a way that did not disrupt our operations,” said Peter Hurvitz, vice president and CTO of H. H. Brown. “We were looking for a solution to unify our presentation to our customers and make us more efficient while offering simpler, more effective customer service.”

Achieving a Unified Store Front

H. H. Brown turned to Expertek Systems to help them overcome this challenge. Expertek implemented CommerceLink, a business-to-business electronic commerce software product for the supply chain customer that is designed to interface securely with your business systems. CommerceLink offers distributors a solution that is convenient, flexible and secure.

CommerceLink enables H. H. Brown to offer a web interface to their customers that uniquely presents all brands for that customer on one page. “Customers are able to browse through the selections, order products and have them sent directly to them,” explained Peter. “Customers can easily order from different divisions and track them directly on the web, not having to deal with multiple customer service organizations. The system knows how to split the order across the different divisions. Plus, customers can order 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Most eCommerce packages are geared for consumer buying, which assumes a person will order one color in one size. CommerceLink is built specifically for wholesale distributors and provides a product matrix capability that simplifies ordering. For example, when a retail outlet is buying shoes that come in three colors and many different sizes and widths, they can make their selections for all variations on one complete Web form. “The product matrix feature of CommerceLink makes it convenient for customers to order their inventory on the Web,” adds Peter. “ When you need to order a dozen pair of shoes in various sizes and colors, most online packages make you order one size and one color at a time, repeating the process for each item. CommerceLink presents all the options on one form and allows you to get the complete order in a few short keystrokes.”

Open for Business, but Secure

“One of our biggest concerns of putting an order entry application on the Web was security. While we realize that having this capability was essential to helping us achieve our revenue goals, the risk of having someone hack into our business system was a concern,” shared Peter. “CommerceLink guarantees a secure environment by acting as a buffer between the Web and the business system.” CommerceLink accesses the business system through a secure login, retrieves the necessary information to update the Web application, and provides an EDI transaction of orders back to the business system. The business system is not exposed on the Web, which prevents hackers from compromising their mission-critical data.

Web as a Successful Sales Person

H. H. Brown’s sales people find that this tool helps them be successful as well. They use the Web application to work more effectively with their customers. They have up-to-date information on their customer orders eliminating the phone calls to customer service. They can service their smaller customers more efficiently and can spend time on selling product, not just taking orders.

“Given today’s economic environment, our retail customers demand a lot more from their suppliers,” said Peter. “They want to place orders when they need to, track when their shipment is arriving, and more effectively service their customers to remain competitive. Our online system has helped them achieve those goals.”

H. H. Brown describes their core values as innovation, diversification and customer satisfaction. Their e-services capability described on their Web site (www.hhbrown.com) supports these core values. Through these e-services, customers can easily and conveniently make purchasing, marketing and account management decisions wherever they have computer access to the Internet. Customers can order inventory, check order histories, payables, invoices and stock inquiries. They can also order posters and download promotional materials to help with their merchandising. H. H. Brown is certainly demonstrating a commitment to these values, and CommerceLink is central to their eCommerce success.

About H. H. Brown

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., H. H. Brown distributes and manufactures comfort casual shoes for men and women, rugged recreational footwear, and premier work shoes and boots. H. H. Brown is headquartered in Greenwich, CT.