Poo-Pourri achieves soaring growth seamlessly with Celigo

About Poo-Pourri

Poo-Pourri was started in 2006 and is a leader in home air care and deodorizers. Known mostly for its toilet bowl spray, the company offers clever products that tackle unpleasant odors before they even start. With a mission to be the solution to any stinky problem, Poo-Pourri combines natural essential oils with a fun, approachable vibe.

The challenge

In 2013, Poo-Pouri took a chance on a unique marketing campaign to gain traction and set itself apart. Released on YouTube, the campaign quickly went viral, generating over 10 million views and $4 million in back orders within just two weeks.

With that new exposure came new problems. Nearly overnight, Poo-Pourri experienced understaffing issues due to increased order volume, challenges in inventory management, and space constraints in their small warehouse. The operations team had five managers working around the clock, overwhelmed by orders and manual processes, quickly realizing they had outgrown their physical and digital confines. Additionally, the finance department struggled with reconciliation in a timely manner as order processing times consumed valuable time well beyond the end of the month.

Daniel Barros, Director of ERP at Poo-Pourri, explained, “Some of our errors were pretty challenging. Handling a small error is no big deal, but an error on 500 orders is a huge problem. Not only do I deal with system errors, but then the fulfillment team would have to notify us of oversold products. Customer service then spends hours addressing these issues with customers. All because we couldn’t update our inventory fast enough.”

This sudden growth posed a serious challenge for the team and prompted a transition to a cloud-based ERP, and an overhaul of its web properties. With an expanding team and sales operations needing to maintain agility, Poo-Pourri required a robust integration solution that could seamlessly integrate their new systems while reducing manual workload.

The solution

Soon after Poo-Pourri’s overnight success, the company selected NetSuite for accounting, Shopify as its storefront, and partnered with Celigo to integrate these systems and accelerate their digital transformation.

Celigo’s iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solution empowered the Poo-Pourri team to efficiently automate processes across applications, tackling the root issues that previously hindered their systems and slowed down their teams. This also addressed the team’s inventory challenges, ensuring accurate product availability for customers, especially important during peak sales periods and holidays.

“That’s probably the most important thing of it all. It doesn’t matter if you can get orders processed in three minutes if you don’t have the inventory to support them. So that’s where feeding that data instantly into a central repository makes the difference so our D2C (direct to consumer) team can make informed decisions on inventory management,” said Barros.

With the success of the storefront integration, the team expanded its integration use cases, automating processes in new markets such as Walmart, Faire, and Brandwise, and also leveraging 3PL Central for fulfillment, all centered around the ERP.

The Poo-Pourri team also utilized Celigo’s onboarding program, Liftoff (previously known as Masterclass), to efficiently kickstart their integrations. “Celigo has an intuitive UI so everything was pretty smooth sailing as far as learning it. The idea that we might have seven flows that could be combined into one if we did things the right way, that was very eye opening,” said Barros.

The bottom line

The partnership with Celigo made immediate impacts on Poo-Pourri’s operational effectiveness and allowed them to transition from a reactive stance to a proactive one. The team quickly reduced hours a day in managing orders, and the finance department also benefited from a smoother reconciliation process, enabling quicker monthly book closures and improved financial oversight.

Poo-Pourri has experienced significant scalability advantages due to the agility provided by Celigo. As they ventured into new markets and leveraged wholesale platforms like Faire and Brandwise, the simplicity of executing integrations kept operational hiccups to a minimum, fostering continued growth. The team now feels empowered and capable of tackling challenges, and actively seeks opportunities to automate processes across the company.

“If our team can dream it, we can do it. From an operational side of things, that’s where we love to live,” said Barros. “We can say to them, ‘Go out, get whatever you want. We will figure out how to connect it.’”

The team has also benefited tremendously from Celigo’s AI features, such as the AI error handling, which automatically identifies and resolves errors without human interaction.

“The AI stuff in particular has been awesome. I tell the team about an error I see, and I come back two hours later and the error is gone. It’s Celigo. It tried it again, and it magically worked. That to me right there is the dream,” said Barros.

By leveraging Celigo as its central integration hub, Poo-Pourri achieved significant benefits during its history of rapid growth and expansion:

• Ecommerce integrations: Saved the equivalent of at least one full-time employee by automating manual tasks associated with order management.
• Auto-resolve error management: Redirected team efforts toward strategic initiatives, such as enhancing cost efficiency in chargebacks and further optimizing business practices.
• Streamlined operations: Enabled tremendous growth on D2C site by gaining control over integrations.
• Business stability and outlook: The team can now focus on strategic projects, mentorship and growth opportunities for employees, and enhancing the customer experience.

Overall, Celigo emerged as a vital partner for Poo-Pourri, helping them leverage the Celigo platform to transform their operations. The ease of use, alongside a rapid response to the company’s evolving needs, solidified their relationship and set the groundwork for ongoing success. Today, Poo-Pourri operates with an efficient framework supporting their ambitious growth trajectory, fostering employee development, and granting the team the flexibility to concentrate on strategic initiatives rather than daily operational chaos.

“Celigo is a platform that we could not live without. It’s something that we truly, truly depend on — and a great product to use. It just provides our team with so much flexibility,” said Barros.