It’s news that no one wants to hear. A major vendor and supplier for your company, without warning, going out of business overnight.
It was unfortunately that exact scenario we were faced with when we received word Colorado Timberline, one of the big print vendors in the on-demand industry was unexpectedly ceasing operations, catching many print on demand providers and store owners off guard.
Immediately our team went into action and we began the work to ensure that the store owners using our service felt minimal impact from this situation. Here’s how the Gooten team and our network of 37 print vendors in 40 locations were able to quickly respond.
Communication and transparency
We work closely with our store owners on a day-to-day basis, and understand fully the importance of every customer order. Every delivery can make the difference between a happy review or a customer who decides to go elsewhere next time. The biggest priority when we heard the news was re-routing orders that were already sent or in production with Colorado Timberline elsewhere.
An email soon went out from our CEO, Brian Rainey, sharing all the information that we had at the time regarding their closure. After that, our Partner Support team began working directly with affected store owners so that they were fully informed on the status of their particular orders.
Our Print Vendor team in action
Having an experienced team throughout the year that already were actively sourcing new products, new print vendors, and building product redundancies within our network proved to be invaluable. Our Print Vendor team got to work on a product by product review and began contacting replacement print vendors who offered comparable products to those previously offered by Colorado Timberline.
Next came the huge technical task of quickly connecting those SKUs into our system with the right information. We had to be sure to update our product pages, on amongst other things, differences in material, thickness, color, feel, and of course pricing.
As our tech and vendor team worked together to transfer SKUs, our Support team continued their work on getting the details and information needed and requested from our store owners. It was certainly a challenge, but in the end, it was a test we were able to stand up to, and meet successfully.
Orders out, new products in
Over the course of the week it was all hands on deck. Our team continued to work tirelessly to make the transition as seamless and transparent as possible. Soon, our CEO was able to send another message out, however this time we had good news to share.
We were able to say with confidence that we had successfully resolved all outstanding issues and it was back to business as normal. Without any down time, orders continued to flow freely through our system, and our print on demand product catalog was updated with all the new pricing and product details. In some instances, such as with blankets, scarves, and aprons, we were able to replace old Colorado Timberline products with vastly superior quality items. Although it took a lot work, in some ways, their closure turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
This is not to mitigate the stress and anxiety many of our store owners went through at the time. However, although this was an isolated incident, to us it was confirmation regarding the strength and agility of our team and print vendor network, should an event like this happen again in the future.
Effort pays off
Throughout the year, we have been putting in the work to ensure that you are protected against issues with any single vendor and can maintain ongoing operations regardless of any incidents such as unexpected closures. The Gooten network provides production redundancy and a highly-trained team working on your behalf to keep your business up, running, and fulfilling.
We cannot thank our store owners enough for their patience and understanding as we updated orders, worked with other vendors in our network, found product substitutes, and coordinated other small but crucial pieces. As always, our Partner Support team is available should you have any questions. We thank you for your trust and for continuing to choose Gooten.
