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A Digital Transformation Journey: Empowering Local Businesses

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Bakery Van Laer,a well respected SME in Zandhoven, Belgium, faced holiday chaos as their Christmas orders soared. The bakery's traditional paper ordering system struggled to cope with the demand. Today, we'll unveil the story of how digital innovation rescued the festive season for 'Van Laer' and transformed their holiday operations.

200

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Products

500

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Orders

350

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Customers

A delightful dilemma

In the joyful chaos of the holiday season, Bakery 'Van Laer' found itself facing a unique challenge; a soaring demand for their delectable treats. With each passing year, the popularity of their holiday offerings grew, bringing with it a delightful surge in orders. However, this increasing demand brought about its fair share of complexities.

The use of paper order sheets, while steeped in tradition, presented operational hurdles. Managing and processing these sheets became increasingly labor-intensive and error-prone. With the holiday season's growing popularity, the workload escalated, involving hundreds of orders to sift through.

Furthermore, as the queue inside and outside the store continued to lengthen, it brought both excitement and stress to the holiday season. Customers endured longer wait times, and the bakery's staff faced the daunting task of keeping up with the growing demand. These challenges underscored the need for a transformative solution that would streamline their processes and enhance the overall experience.

Transforming from the paper workflow to an online digital experience

‘Van Laer’ recognized the need to transition from their traditional paper-based system to a modern online experience. So the first step in improving the workflow was to build an intuitive webshop.

With hundreds of products to offer ...

we knew we needed to meticulously categorize their offerings, making it easy for customers to find their favorites. It was very important we created a flexible content management system. To provide the cleanest and most intuitive UI for the bakery, we used Statamic.

The heart of this transformation was a seamless checkout process, enhanced by secure digital payments through Mollie. 'Van Laer' prioritized customer convenience, allowing them to effortlessly browse, select, and review their orders.

Eliminating the queue

In a groundbreaking move, we successfully eliminated wait queues at their establishment, by introducing a process of home delivery.

By implementing a fully digital ordering system, customers could place and prepay for their orders online, eliminating the need for in-store payment processing. This streamlined the ordering experience, ensuring that customers received their orders through convenient delivery.

Since all orders were home delivered the bakery could close its doors on Christmas holidays. To efficiently manage the surge in orders and ensure timely deliveries, custom admin views were created. These views provided precise tracking of product preparation and delivery schedules.

An intuitive system for managing deliveries

The decision to exclusively offer delivery during the holiday season presented a new challenge for 'Van Laer' Bakery. With the shop closed on Christmas holidays and a surge in digital orders, a streamlined delivery management system became essential.

We integrated route optimization tools that calculated efficient delivery routes, using real-time traffic data from Google Maps and the option to start their route in Waze. This ensured not only timely deliveries but also minimized potential delays.

To maintain control over the entire delivery process, we developed custom admin views and exports, including product and order preparation per time slot, per day, and optimal delivery routes.

This intuitive system for managing deliveries allowed 'Van Laer' to efficiently track and handle orders, enhancing their precision and customer service. It transformed their operations from traditional queues to a seamless digital and delivery-based system, elevating customer satisfaction while simplifying processes. In the following sections, we'll explore the profound impact of these innovations on the bakery's success.

It sold like hot cakes

In the end, 'Van Laer' Bakery's transformation was a resounding success. They processed over 500 holiday orders, all delivered to satisfied customers. Our tailored solutions ensured products were prepared just in time, arriving fresh.

What's remarkable is that the bakery's owner and staff wrapped up operations earlier than usual. For the first time in over two decades, he enjoyed the holidays with his family, feeling less exhausted.

This success story illustrates the power of embracing digital innovation. 'Van Laer' Bakery's journey showcases how a well-executed digital strategy can turn a traditional business into a thriving enterprise.

In conclusion, 'Van Laer' didn't just sell like hot cakes; they sold with unprecedented success, contented customers, and the well-deserved joy of a less strenuous holiday season for the bakery and its dedicated team.

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