Texas based retailer Powersport Superstore faced growing challenges in managing their expanding inventory of motorcycle and power sports accessories. They needed a solution that would integrate with their existing infrastructure, and would put a stop to stock piling up and sales being missed. 

Brian Orrick, President, and Matt Dejohn, General Manager, spoke to us about how implementing Linnworks helped them make “invisible” stock become visible, and boost orders across multiple channels.

Lack of inventory visibility and fulfillment capabilities

Without an inventory system, products in the warehouse were essentially invisible to the Powersport Superstore team, creating major inefficiencies and lost sales opportunities. The company primarily relied on Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), but items stored in the warehouse were not being tracked, listed, or available for sale.

“We had a warehouse, but we had no way of keeping track of what we had. Everything we had in the warehouse wasn’t inventory at all,” Orrick explains. “It was just kind of lingering around.” 

The lack of visibility into warehouse inventory meant that the business was losing out on potential sales and faced issues with stock piling up. Powersport Superstore mainly sold through Amazon, eBay, and their own website, but without a unified inventory system, the team struggled to manage stock levels across these channels.

Linnworks brought the power of sight — organized, real-time inventory tracking

The Powersport Superstore leadership knew this had to stop, and they chose to implement Linnworks to centralize their inventory management and establish a streamlined fulfillment process. “We needed a solution that worked with ChannelAdvisor,” Orrick explains. “Linnworks was the only option that could fully integrate with it and meet our needs.”

The first step in their transformation was organizing the warehouse by setting up a structured naming and location scheme. 

“[We first had] to get everything inventoried and create our locations,” says Orrick. He continues, “But now everything is properly labeled and organized in Linnworks, with specific locations for each product.”

“[We got] everything inventoried and created our locations,” says Orrick. He continues, “And now everything is properly labeled and organized in Linnworks, with specific locations for each product.”

This implementation allowed the team to set up over 250 locations for everything from the smallest to the largest stock items, minimizing confusion and wasted time when it comes to picking stock.

With Linnworks, the Powersport Superstore team also introduced real-time inventory tracking, which was crucial in preventing overselling issues that had previously plagued them. “Now, if an item is picked, Linnworks automatically deducts it from the warehouse inventory,” Dejohn explains. 

Turning chaos into control with streamlined warehouse management

With Linnworks in place, Powersport Superstore has successfully transformed its operations from a chaotic storage area into a fully functional warehouse. The improved inventory visibility and automated updates across channels have been game-changers for the company. “It’s made it unbelievably organized,” says Dejohn. “If we didn’t have Linnworks, it would be absolute chaos trying to locate products.”

The Linnworks’ express pick and quality control features have further streamlined the fulfillment process. “We use QC on pick, which helps us maintain control and reduces waiting times between tasks,” Dejohn adds. “It’s very easy to train our team on, and the express pick feature allows us to directly pick items from their flagged location, speeding up the process significantly.”

Growth and efficiency unleashed because of Linnworks

Linnworks has also helped the company reduce errors and overselling by automatically updating inventory levels and sending notifications to ChannelAdvisor ensuring their ecommerce sales channels are always up to date. “It sends a notification that we’ve pulled the inventory, so our sales channels are always aware of what’s in stock,” Dejohn explains.

Powersport Superstore now has the capability to fulfill orders directly from their warehouse, in addition to their FBA operations. This flexibility has expanded their fulfillment options and ensured that all available inventory is actively listed for sale.

“If we didn’t get this all inventoried and organized, we wouldn’t be here today,” Orrick confirms. “Now we’re like a real company.”