STREAMLINED B2B ORDERING APP DELIVERS QUICK RESULTS
Making it easy for chefs to keep their kitchens stocked with the finest specialty foods
2018: MOBILE APP SALES TAKE OFF
In the initial rollout, Chefs’ Warehouse introduced their mobile app via a limited trial to 10% of their top customers. Users quickly adopted the app and started producing results right away. In the very first month after launch, the app generated higher sales than the mobile version of the website, which had long been available to all customers (see graph).
2019: SUCCESSFUL TRIAL LEADS TO FULL APP BUILD AND ROLLOUT
Despite being limited to just 10 percent of Chefs’ Warehouse’s largest customers, results were dramatic. The app contributed 18% of total e-commerce sales.
With the app having a 3X higher conversion rate than the mobile site, Chefs’ Warehouse decided they’d like ALL their wholesale buyers to start using the app.
Having seen it in action, the internal sales team wanted their own version. We rolled this out in Version 2.0.
2022: CHEFS’ WAREHOUSE MOVES TO EPISERVER/OPTIMIZELY
In 2021, Chef’s Warehouse re-platformed from Magento to Optimizely for e-commerce. We redesigned and reconfigured both apps to integrate with the new e-commerce platform and the results have been excellent.
The new iOS and Android apps were re-published in August 2022. They continue to delight Chef’s Warehouse wholesale buyers with easy re-ordering, blazing speed, and far-higher conversions than the mobile browser-based website.
2023: CHEFS’ WAREHOUSE INVENTORY AND RE-ORDER SCANNER APP LAUNCHED
Custom built in 2023, this new, complementary app is used by store employees to scan items that need to be inventoried and then re-ordered from Chef’s Warehouse. The scanners are Bluetooth-linked to the new app and wholesale re-orders are placed directly into CW B2B eCommerce operations. Inventory data can also be managed and sent.
We created by working with CW and gathering input from grocery store employees, who wanted a faster, better way to check store shelves and re-order items, without having to manually tabulate them. CW is providing this new app/tool to select wholesale customers.
“We wanted this new tool for key strategic customers”, said Katie Tomechko, Digital Product Managers at The Chef’s Warehouse. “We heard that employees were seeking a more-efficient way to inventory and re-order our products, so we engaged our mobile app partner Unbound Commerce to build a bespoke solution, just for this purpose”, she added.
ABOUT THE CHEFS’ WAREHOUSE
The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (http://www.chefswarehouse.com) is a premier distributor of specialty food products in the United States and Canada focused on serving the specific needs of chefs who own and/or operate some of the nation’s leading menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. carries and distributes more than 48,000 products to more than 30,000 customer locations throughout the United States and Canada and uses Optimizely for B2B e-commerce.
ABOUT UNBOUND COMMERCE
Unbound Commerce is a top provider of mobile commerce solutions for retailers, brands, and distributors. Unbound’s unique, low-IT platform approach allows current e-commerce operations to be leveraged and extended into custom mobile apps. Unbound has built and deployed mobile solutions for companies such as Ashley Furniture, Finish Line, Rockport, Equippers.com, Calenders.com, Shoe Carnival, FLOR, MillerCoors, The New England Patriots, Binny’s, Chef’s Warehouse, Cavender’s, and hundreds of other online businesses. For additional information, please visit https://unboundcommerce.com
