Raising Sales for DSD

Multiple ordering workflows leave customers ordering the same thing, every time

As a multi-regional distributor of leading national and regional ice cream and frozen food brands, Glacier Point faced a fragmented ordering process. Many customers still relied on phone calls or faxes, spending 30–40 minutes trying to place orders—if they could even find the product. As CMO Olivia Mayo puts it: “Our ordering workflow wasn’t a revenue driver for us. They’re faxing, they’re calling into a customer support center, and they’re ordering the same thing every week.”

Even worse, customers only ordered what they already knew—typically the same 20 items—because they had no visibility into new or seasonal products: 

“With 20,000 customers, it’s impossible to talk to all of them. We had no way of showing them what was new or popular. Not only that, our catalog can be impossible to decipher for newer customers. For example, in the sell sheets that sales rep take around manually, Philadelphia Water Ice is PHL. If you’re a shop… what the hell does that even mean? How could you ever find that?

On top of missing out on expanded sales, Glacier Point’s outdated and manual tech was costing them new business:

“We were losing customers because we didn’t have online ordering. People don’t like to talk to people anymore! They don’t want to talk every 3 days. They don’t want to wait on hold. They don’t want to fax… I don’t even want them to fax! 

It’s been a win in terms of organization and sending orders to the warehouse. Everything has been streamlined. We would lose a customer or not be able to sign them up entirely. They’d say ‘do you have online ordering?’ and then walk away when the answers is no.They might go right to Sysco. Like everything else -  If they have it, we’re up against it.”

Modern eCommerce for DSD Distribution

Glacier Point turned to Pepper to build a modern digital storefront designed specifically for foodservice distributors. While they considered many platforms, they gravitated towards Pepper’s solution because, as Olivia puts it: “[Pepper was] specifically made for distributors. You understand our lingo, you understand our issues, and that’s why we moved forward in the end.”

With Pepper, they launched a branded ordering platform available on any computer or mobile device that integrated into every step of the customer journey. And the fact that the solution was mobile-first was a giant selling point for Glacier Point: “The app is great. Our customers don’t have laptops in the store, they literally only have their phone. The fact that the app is mobile-first is HUGE for us.”

But Glacier Point realized that having the best platform in the world didn’t matter if no one knew about it, so they took a concerted approach to getting as many people onto the app as they could. Marketing organized awareness campaigns, Customer Success teams added it to onboarding scripts and signatures, and new customers began being automatically enrolled in online ordering. In the end though, the main driver was just getting the word out: “I created a button on our website that says ‘sign up for web ordering’ and that’s been the biggest driver of adoption. People want to see what we have.”

Dramatic improvements in sales from customers discovering new items

Glacier Point customers can now order anytime, not just during business hours. They’re exploring new products, especially those not on their regular Order Guide.

“For the first time ever, we’re able to show customers the products we’ve never been able to show them before.”

That visibility turned into real dollars: Glacier Point is realizing profit most notably from items that customers had never heard of or seen before. As Olivia says,

“In one of our acquisitions, we acquired a toppings and soft serve business. So customers in one of our divisions have been ordering 3 gallon ice cream and novelties. So they have no idea what we’re carrying, and in the world of Amazon shopping it doesn’t matter how many price sheets I send them, they’re accustomed to catalog and picture ordering.

So for the first time they’re seeing pictures when ordering. They’re able to search - and we’ve never had a search function before. They didn’t know that we had novelties, they didn’t know that we had things outside ice cream. I’m hearing “I had no clue that you even offered this”. It was on every sell sheet, and no one knew.”

With only 1,200 users onboarded so far, Glacier Point is just getting started, but they’re already eyeing the 10,000–15,000 mark. And as Olivia says, it isn’t only about the technology - it’s about the people:

“Kudos again to your team. The people that understand our business are few and far between. James and your crew understand it. I honestly believe it sometimes that they understand it more than our other technology partners.”