THE CHALLENGE
Rapid business growth led to Channie’s quickly falling behind
on data entry
Channie's resources use a color-coded block system so kids learn letter size consistency.
Chan Stimart didn’t have starting a business in mind when she came up with a novel way to help her son improve his handwriting. She was simply looking for a different solution than the traditional practice worksheets—which weren’t working. Unfortunately, there were no other options on the market; schools were still using lined paper to train kids to maintain handwriting consistency.
"That's why a lot of kids have a huge difficulty keeping their letters consistent," Stimart says. "They don't know where to start, where to stop, and there's nothing there to guide their consistency and letter size."
In response, she developed a visual, color-coded lettering guide, and her son's teachers immediately took notice of his improved handwriting. They suggested other kids would find her guides helpful, and Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Resources was established in 2015.
But Stimart hadn't anticipated such rapid growth when she launched her "accidental business". Order volume doubled seemingly overnight, and there was immense demand for a bigger product line.
We continued to grow not only our handwriting [resources], but also expanded to math, dry erase cards, and puzzles. All this yielded more sales. The more channels we have, the more sales we have, the more data we have.
CHAN STIMART
President
CHANNIE’S VISUAL HANDWRITING & MATH RESOURCES
An influx of transactions from multiple channels resulted in manual data entry taking hours every single day. But the Channie’s team craved continual access to their business performance analytics. After all, Stimart had spent 16 years working as a global supply chain expert for multiple companies and understood the power of data.
So, she started looking for software solutions that could help the online retailer seamlessly sync orders from all of its ecommerce channels with QuickBooks Online. That’s when they found Webgility.
THE SOLUTION
Finally, best-in-class accounting automation Channie’s can trust with its data
Channie’s was growing exponentially, selling products on Amazon and eBay, as well as in big box stores like Walmart and Target. With so many sales channels and products flying off the shelves, the burden of manual data entry was simply too much for the team to bear. Stimart needed an ecommerce accounting automation system—and fast. She was determined to stick to her budget, but solution after solution was priced at thousands of dollars per month.
I’m looking for effective software, and for automation that I can afford. I compared many different softwares, and I found Webgility to be the best because it’s so easy to implement.
CHAN STIMART
President
CHANNIE’S VISUAL HANDWRITING & MATH RESOURCES
In 2017, the Channie’s team took advantage of white glove onboarding with Webgility’s Implementation and Customer Success specialists. They made some tweaks to their QuickBooks Online setup to better leverage the automation, which helped them tap into more granular data. Suddenly, they could see the performance of each sales channel and had a singular source of ecommerce truth.
Channie's products are available both online and in-store at Target and Walmart.
While Channie’s uses a proprietary software ecosystem for inventory, shipping, and accounting, Webgility’s data is the standard against which they compare data from their other solutions. “I actually use Webgility to verify our sales data in our inventory system and compare our operation data,” Stimart says. “By the time we find an error, we are able to fix it.”
Stimart trusts Webgility’s accounting automation to provide the numbers she needs to strategize for the future. From order processing to seamless uploading of new products, Webgility consistently handles the busywork so she can return her focus to the people who keep her business in motion: the customers.
You can’t run a good growing business without knowing where your operation data lies. We have confidence in Webgility taking care of that portion so we’re able to free more time to help our customers.
CHAN STIMART
President
CHANNIE’S VISUAL HANDWRITING & MATH RESOURCES
THE RESULTS
Automation fuels a focus on customers and exponential growth
Webgility’s reporting functionality was a game-changer for Channie’s back-end operations, but the automation also revitalized the online retailer’s customer experience. Prior to adopting Webgility, Channie’s was wasting at least two hours a day manually entering data into QuickBooks Online—time that could be better spent on relationship management and customer acquisition. And let’s face it: All that busywork is not exactly cost-friendly to outsource.
“Without Webgility, we would probably have had to hire a full-time accountant to [reconcile] all the sales data, shipping costs, and everything else,” Stimart says. “That’s quite expensive.”
By automating their ecommerce accounting, Channie’s regained valuable time while also minimizing costs and maximizing their performance insights.
The brand now proudly sells to hundreds of thousands of parents with elementary aged children, saves 60+ hours per month on data entry, and grew 250% over the course of 2020.
"[Webgility] saves us a lot more time," Stimart says, "so we have more time freed up to better answer our customers' questions, focus on customer experience, and in return really help our reputation in the marketplace [and] our sales."
The lesson here? Webgility handles the building blocks of your business so you can thrive in ecommerce.
