Jenson USA: At the Crossroads

Jenson USA, a cataloger of premium mountain biking accessories, reached a critical juncture in 2001.

Founded a decade ago by President and CEO Mike Cachat, a competitive racer who spent his off hours tuning his bikes and those of his friends, the company grew quickly.

Recalls Cachat, “We soon realized our slow catalog software couldn’t handle the large volume of data we were generating.”

The cataloger was rapidly adding customers via a media mix of magazine ads, catalog prospecting and, most significantly, the Internet — where it now transacts 65 percent of its orders. Complicating things further, it plans to open its first retail store this year.

So Jenson USA had two issues to deal with: capacity and integration.

Software Selection

In early 2001, Jenson USA officials started looking for a more sophisticated system. “We wanted a solid server-based technology that would be here for the long term, one that could handle our volume and then some,” explains Cachat.

During the hunt for solutions, Cachat and his staff spent a lot of time researching products. They attended trade shows, searched on the Internet and read Ernie Schell’s text “Guide to Catalog Management Software.”

After selecting several potential vendors, Jenson USA conducted high-level demos and on-site visits. CommercialWare’s system was selected for its range of both operational and analytical catalog management functions. It also offered a specialized integration application that made it easier for Jenson USA to continue building its Web business.

Another important element: CommercialWare’s software was on an IBM iSeries platform, not the HP3000 that a competing vendor’s system used for its NT/SQL-based solutions. (The HP3000 was scheduled to be discontinued.)

Getting Up and Running

Jenson USA is beginning the data conversion to the new system now. Each department head is responsible for his or her own area’s data.

But even at these early stages, Cachat says he sees ROI potential. “The marketing side is definitely going to benefit,” he notes. “We were really limited in what we could do from an analytical viewpoint before,” he says.

The cataloger looks forward to using the CommercialWare system to do things such as tracking marketing and item pricing, square-inch analysis — “the finetuning you need to achieve better results,” says Cachat. “We’ll finally be able to analyze results on a product-by-product basis.”

Even the basic catalog functions will see improvements, he adds. “We’ll be able to give superior customer service, because we can give customers information on ship dates, order tracking and back orders” — tasks the cataloger could not do previously.

“Add them all up, and we’re seeing immediate improvements,” Cachat says. “And a year after we go online with it, we’ll really see the payoff.”