Introduction

For more than five decades, Labelmaster has helped companies of every size navigate the complex, ever-changing regulations that govern dangerous goods and hazardous materials. From hazmat labels and UN-certified packaging to compliance software and regulatory training, the company gives customers the tools to ship safely, stay compliant, and keep their supply chains moving.

Many of Labelmaster’s customers operate with decentralized purchasing across multiple locations, which makes how they buy just as important as what they buy.

As those customers leaned more heavily on eProcurement to manage cost, compliance, and visibility across their organizations, Labelmaster needed a platform that could keep up and work together with buyers’ preferred purchasing processes. 

Challenge

Labelmaster’s previous eProcurement setup was, “a very simple bolt-on” to its existing web platform. It couldn’t flex to each buyer’s specific requirements, so every new customer integration became a one-off build. With no standardized approach, one person spent their time customizing every integration and keeping them from breaking, rather than growing the channel.

“We said no to customers because it didn’t have the capabilities and the functionality that they were seeking. It created friction and slowed down our ability to sell.”

-Robert Finn, VP at Labelmaster

That gap showed up in more than lost deals. It meant the eProcurement event was treated as a maintenance activity instead of a revenue opportunity. Additionally, the sales team didn’t have confidence in the delivery and, as a result, were mired in non-selling activities.

“It was just too difficult to get people onto our old system. The opportunity to discuss with our customers about improving their ability to search, select and buy our products was a missed revenue opportunity. I felt that needed to change immediately.”

The timing added urgency. Labelmaster was already building a new eCommerce site, set to launch at the start of next year. Rather than migrate customers to a new eProcurement integration set up after the relaunch, Labelmaster saw an opportunity to be proactive and get the connections in place for customers to be able to purchase seamlessly now, not later.

Solution

Labelmaster partnered with TradeCentric to modernize its eProcurement integration infrastructure. PunchOut, PO Automation, Invoice Automation, and Analytics Plus handle the complex, decentralized purchasing structures common among its customers.

For Labelmaster, the value of eProcurement integration goes beyond convenience. It’s a strategic lever for the kind of customers Labelmaster works with most, large organizations who need to achieve two objectives: 

• Operating a compliant supply chain 
• Cost savings 

“We find that customers using integration are just better customers. They’re stickier and their order velocity is greater.”

Analytics Plus, in particular, stood out to Labelmaster as a way to deepen customer relationships rather than simply monitor data. With visibility into metrics like return carts and speed to PO and invoice, the team can spot friction before it becomes a problem, a meaningful difference for customers whose dangerous goods shipments are time-sensitive by nature.

“It brings better conversations with our customers. We can say, here’s the velocity of orders going through, your return cart is only 50%, what’s happening on your end so we can speed these items back to you? These products are going out onto the roads, into the air, and keeping that supply chain moving is important.”

Results and what’s ahead

Labelmaster connected their first buyer to the platform in just 16 days, well under the roughly 50-day average it typically takes to bring a new buyer online. That speed is already showing up in how the team thinks about the partnership: Labelmaster is seeing how partnering with an integration expert can help increase efficiencies, grow revenue, and attract new customers.

“It’s about understanding your customers’ needs. We understand what their dangerous goods supply chains need, that’s why they come to us. But there is also an opportunity to help our customers improve how they buy across their organization – which oftentimes improves safety and compliance as well as cost. If we can get greater insight into that spend and throughput, we can help them elevate their DG operations so they can deliver more revenue and operating profit for their business.”

The company is currently in the process of adding more buyers to the integration program, with TradeCentric right alongside them. 

“It’s fulfilling to work with a partner that behaves the way you’d want a partner to behave, that has your best interests at heart and is working as hard as we are to get these customers onto the platform. I couldn’t be more pleased with the decision we made to use TradeCentric.”

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