Fulhaus CDAP

Fulhaus’ digital adoption plan recommends two paths toward more successful order management.

Client

Fulhaus is a premium furniture and decor designer marketplace for the hospitality sector, multi-property and unit owners, real estate agents, offices, homeowners and short-term property owners, selling everything from fully designed rooms and multi-unit packages to single-unit dwellings decor and furniture.

Brief

Fulhaus applied to the Boost Your Business Technology stream of the Canada Digital Adoption program (CDAP) for an opportunity to receive the following:

1. A grant of up to $15,000 covering 90% of the costs for a digital adoption plan developed by a registered digital advisor (me);

2. Up to $100,000 in interest-free loans from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to help implement their digital adoption plan;

3. And up to $7,300 to fund work placements for students or recent graduates to help grow through digital adoption.

Challenge

Fulhaus' primary service, called a Haus-in-a-box, targets hospitality and multi-property owners and can take three to four weeks (or as much as eight to ten weeks with COVID delays) to deliver, including project coordination, interior design, furnishing sourcing and procurement, logistics, installation, staging and photography.

The Fulhaus team sources furniture worldwide from hundreds of manufacturers and arranges deliveries across North America. Fulhaus' expertise in dropshipping reduces costs by eliminating most warehousing requirements.

Fulhaus managed accelerated growth, nearly doubling its revenue between 2019 and 2022, on the backbone of a strong tech team and lean technology infrastructure; however, projects grew in size and complexity.

Fulhaus wanted to invest the BDC loan in an order management system (OMS) to help with its sales-to-installation workflow. Fulhaus had already invested significantly in its technology team and digital ecosystem, so the recommended OMS had to fit its unique (and highly customized) technical infrastructure.

Strategy

Fulhaus' digital adoption plan recommended two alternative paths: 1) a standalone OMS and 2) a headless eCommerce integration with built-in OMS features.

The standalone options (Salesforce OMS and Orderhive) offer fewer challenges because they present a predominantly decoupled solution. Whereas the headless eCommerce option (Shopify Plus) requires more complex integration while providing Fulhaus' eCommerce solution with future-ready enhancements.

The Salesforce OMS integrates seamlessly with Fulhaus' Salesforce CRM, Marketing Cloud, and Sales Cloud, already in its technology stack, and includes features to allow Fulhaus to scale its operations. In addition, members of the Fulhaus technology team had begun training and receiving Salesforce certifications.

Orderhive includes flexible workflow automation, extending beyond the OMS, and integrates with Salesforce CRM.

Shopify Plus offers an innovative solution with attractive built-in features and integrates with Salesforce CRM. However, customizing it to meet internal processes requires in-depth knowledge of Shopify's unique coding language.

Results

The Fulhaus digital adoption plan recommended OMS options to meet its detailed requirements. Its implementation plan presents the essential elements to execute each solution, including dependencies, estimated timelines, technology and implementation costs. Lastly, a Gantt chart shows a six-month timeline incorporating expected project delays, including communication pauses, review and feedback cycles, rework and corrections, and interruptions from ongoing operations and other active projects.