S4 SOLUTION How a single source storefront solution saves Toppers Pizza thousands of dollars.
INTRODUCTION Suttle-Straus is a comprehensive marketing and graphics communication service provider. First established to serve the telephone industry in 1910, it opened its first printing division during the 1930s and continued to expand its services to meet the demands of the modern consumer. Today, Suttle-Straus offers award-winning printing, creative, mailing, fulfillment, distribution, wide format, digital imaging and technology services throughout a variety of industries. Suttle-Straus has built a strong reputation for quality and service, providing its clients with premiere single-source communication products and service. The Suttle-Straus team studied strategic client-partners to identify which services customers were most frequently using to execute their business initiatives. Branded as the S4 Marketing Resource Center, the company re-engineered their online storefront solution and developed new, integrated features to deliver services faster and more accurately all within one easy-to-use platform. This has saved us thousands of dollars. Suttle-Straus provides top-notch service and is a valued business partner of Toppers. ABBEY WATSON Marketing Guru, Toppers Pizza One strategic client-partner is Toppers Pizza, a brand-focused company committed to assisting franchise and franchisee growth. One initiative supporting this focus is the distribution of a Quarterly Marketing Kit (QMK) to franchisees. These kits are planned and designed by corporate marketing teams and historically, the marketing team had managed requests for local versioning and all orders placed by franchisees. Suttle-Straus delivered a single source storefront solution, the S4 Marketing Resource Center, providing self-service document editing/customizing and new ordering processes for hundreds of thousands of print on-demand pieces including menus, direct mail, promotional items and store signage for in-store delivery in five to ten days.
PROBLEM As franchisee orders became larger and more customized, the manual QMK ordering process which had been in use for years was failing. Errors became a common occurrence and deadlines were being missed repeatedly. The process utilized PDF order forms, email, manual editing/customization and invoicing. In addition, Toppers marketing team was required to manage the manual editing/customization and approval processes of up to 12 separate pieces for each of the 53 franchise locations around the country. Adding to this administrative burden, Toppers was also managing multiple vendors to fulfill different components of each marketing kit. Over time, the process added an entire week to the QMK timeline, eventually preventing the marketing team from concentrating on higher priority projects. Toppers was in need of a self-service solution for franchisees while still allowing for corporate marketing to control brand guidelines. Toppers had been using Suttle-Straus previous digital storefront solution, which allowed franchisees to order personalized business cards, stationary and promotional signage. After researching possible solutions capable of accommodating all components of the QMK with greater accuracy and efficiency, Toppers approached Suttle-Straus with their predicament. The S4 Marketing Resource Center was a sensible solution, prompting the Suttle-Straus team to propose integrated features including a media builder, list acquisition tools, fulfillment and a location manager. These tools allowed Toppers to move all manufacturing and fulfillment to a single platform while giving individual franchisees the ability to place orders as needed.
SOLUTION MARKETING RESOURCE CENTER The case for implementing the S4 Marketing Resource Center was based on five key benefits to Toppers. First, almost a full week of marketing and accounting administration would be eliminated, allowing the team to focus on new projects rather than everyday operations. Second, the consolidation of vendors to a single-source provider would improve control of the Toppers brand. Third, the self-service editing/customization would eliminate the need to add graphic designers to the team. Fourth, more accurate and timely delivery of orders to franchisees would allow them to easily market their locations in a timely manner, increasing location productivity. Lastly, the solution would scale to the rapid growth trajectory Toppers is committed to without compromising a consistent customer experience. Franchisees order their products through the S4 Marketing Resource Center s self-service storefront. From there, the user can access the media builder module to customize certain products with store-specific location information, hours, promotion dates, and more without altering the locked-down components of the piece. The Toppers marketing team optimizes communication features such as user email notifications to promote order timeframes, promotion details, and more to support the franchisee s local marketing initiatives. The Location Manager module leverages the end-user s profile or store number data to populate location-specific information including pricing data and specific menu items, which may differ from store-to-store. This has decreased document creation and approval times while improving the accuracy of each piece ordered. With the new system, each franchisee can request direct mail campaigns using the List Acquisition feature. The end user creates a mailing list by mapping out the areas their location serves, selecting demographic details, and ordering the corresponding mailing list. They can then link the list to a specific mailer and set a drop date before finalizing the order. Suttle-Straus prints the order, processes the list, certifies the mailing and meets the in-home delivery date specified on the order. The franchisee can easily view their order and track delivery dates to help stores better manage staff while supporting promotions simultaneously. The ability to copy previous orders let franchisees quickly execute direct mail campaigns to boost traffic and/or leverage local market events. The QMK also incorporates some evergreen pieces, which are warehoused at the Suttle-Straus facility and managed through the S4 Marketing Resource Center s Fulfillment feature. Toppers marketing team can manage this inventory in real-time while re-order triggers notify them when a specified minimum is reached. In addition, usage, cost of goods and aging reports help the team understand trends and opportunities to take advantage of in the future. These fulfillment pieces integrate seamlessly with the print-on-demand pieces and most QMK orders are completed within five days.
RESULTS As a result of implementing the S4 Marketing Resource Center, Toppers recovered one week of administrative and marketing time. Linking the online ordering tool to Suttle-Straus suite of services has simplified Toppers accounting role while eliminating the need for mailing schedules and approving customized print proofs. These were replaced with streamlined, electronic processes using automated email notifications. The new workflow has saved Toppers thousands of dollars, and with franchisees now placing their orders and completing payment directly, the model is scalable to support the growth Toppers projects into the future. With S4 I am able to manage all the materials that are available for franchisees and they can customize their own pricing, store hours and coupons. Now the franchisees can sit down and order print materials, schedule a mailing, complete payment, and go back to running their store. And I can get back to working on larger marketing projects! ABBEY WATSON Marketing Guru, Toppers Pizza