iNET, The Road so Far

Our iNET platform for eCommerce has been underway for months and we will be rolling out passwords to all sales folks for beta testing this first week of February. I want to briefly share a little about the team that’s been diligently putting in the work to bring this vision to reality, and the journey to get here.

When Brad first showed me an example of the type of online store he wanted created for Leaf, I was excited about the possibilities it brings for us to better serve clients on all fronts. I knew I wanted to be involved, and everyone knew we needed a team of our talented folks to get this done. Cindy, Cory, and Terry from Store 1 readily volunteered, as well as me and Maren at Store 2.

While the team was being assembled, Mehdi and Brad were working with Epicor and iNET to understand exactly what info we would need and how it would be input into our sales system. iNET pulls from several pieces of information that can be found in IMU, Mainly SKU, Description, Price, and Note Types 3 and 8. This allows the customer access to our most current price and availability.

Jeff, Merle, Headquarters, and the iNET team have put in the time working out what tweaks need to be made to the ways in which items are listed in our system in order for the online store to be as well organized and easily shopped as possible. This has involved creating many new SKUs, renaming others, and even shifting items among departments in the system.

Since August, the iNET team has been entering descriptions for our 1500 top selling plant and hardgoods SKUS following a template we created. Our goal with the template was to provide essential plant data that would allow clients to make informed decisions, but keep it accurate, brief, and accessible. It includes things like light needs, evergreen vs deciduous, zone hardiness, seasonal interest, and wildlife info.

At times, the customer needs pulled various team members into a whirlwind of sales activity, so the outline of tasks morphed a lot over the last 6 months, but every contribution that has been made has been essential. As we begin to benefit from the use of this new sales tool, please take a moment to express gratitude for the efforts put in by these folks.

There will likely be some tweaks and adjustments needed once this goes live to our customers, and we look forward to taking that feedback and creating a platform that sets an industry standard. In the meantime, we are excited to see how this will allow us to better serve customers and create new sales opportunities.