Levtex offers quality home bedding products—quilt sets, sheet sets, duvets and comforters, pillows and shams—to a roster of trading partners that includes Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, and Walmart. Founded by three industry colleagues, Levtex has a history of meeting shifting consumer tastes, finding new retail opportunities, and establishing itself as a reliable supplier to major retailers. The company has products across multiple price points, and has expanded its line to include offerings for the bedrooms of teens, children, and babies. Levtex has been on the EzCom Lingo platform for EDI since 2012, and runs the WarehouseExpert Warehouse Management System (WMS) from Made4net. Charles Ginn, Principal at Levtex, oversees finance and operations at the company.
When the company launched, its focus was on wholesale orders from established brick-and-mortar retailers. In the past decade, however, it has seen the business shift to online sales, a trend that was only accelerated by the COVID pandemic.
The shift to online channels translated into a difference in the type and the quantity of orders that Levtex fulfilled. In the wholesale model, the company had a smaller number of shipments, but each one included a large number of cartons. With eCommerce and direct-to-consumer drop shipping, the company now has a much larger number of shipments, but many are a single carton. The number of wholesale shipments was small enough that it could be managed through a manual process. As the volume of sales from online channels increased, however, automation was required.
The Challenge:
With wholesale transactions, Levtex processes a limited number of orders, but each shipment has a very large number of cartons. Typically, the orders are shipped to a distribution center or a select group of brick-and-mortar store locations.
With online sales, there are far more orders and most are a single carton. Direct-to-consumer shipping also means that each one has a unique address. Today, the company is processing more than ten times the number of orders than it was just a few years ago.
“We were already moving towards a different business model, but working remotely during the early days of the pandemic actually provided a moment to prioritize and really focus on the internet side of the business,” Ginn said.
Previously, the Levtex team could rely on a largely manual approach to managing orders. But as online sales increased the complexity of shipping—more labels, retailer-branded packing slips, the necessity of timely fulfillment— the increased volume of orders could overwhelm the system that was in place.
The Solution:
As Levtex moved to a new warehouse facility, it also conducted a search for a new WMS and eventually chose a solution from Made4net.
“Charles and the Levtex team saw the need for a new business model and created a new warehouse operation to position itself for success,” noted Lonny Avital, Executive Vice President for Professional Services at Made4net. “We focused on delivering a solution that replaced manual processes with automation, while also providing the flexibility that would allow the company to pivot and adapt as their business evolved.”
Sales from online channels were exploding, and it was essential to create connectivity that would replace manual processes with automated solutions. Made4net used the clear documentation of the eZCom API, and the two companies worked together to deliver a seamless solution for Levtex that became fully operational in 2019.
It was built to leverage the best of both platforms— Made4net has a wide range of features including WMS and pick-and-pack, while eZCom and Lingo deliver the data, provide seamless shipping connections, and make it easy to generate retailer-branded packing slips.
Here’s how it works. Orders move from Lingo to the Made4net WMS as they come in, and the Made4net wave-driven pick-and-pack technology launches into action.
Once the product is packed, the eZCom API provides the necessary shipping connections—Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and others. The information required for shipping labels is generated and fed back to Made4net. With the connection to the API, the data for retailer-specific packing slips and shipping labels is sent to the printers at the Levtex warehouse. Everything that is required for packing is created automatically. When the shipments leave the warehouse, action is triggered in Lingo and ASNs are sent to retailers.
The Outcome/Results:
Manual order processing has been replaced by automation. Many more orders are shipped in far less time. Drop shipping for retailers and sales from online marketplaces have grown substantially.
“Providing solutions that offer flexibility is a guiding principle for our development team,” remarked Carol Weidner, CEO at eZCom Software. “Every business is different and constantly changing— working with Made4net gave us an opportunity to leverage our integration capabilities and deliver a product with real value for our client.”
Levtex has been able to move seamlessly from a wholesale to a multi-channel model. Since 2018, the total number of orders and trading partners has increased substantially, and the company has been able to manage the growth with more automation.
“Having this technology solution in place, with the automation and connectivity it provides, allowed us to be more strategic,” added Ginn. “Without it, moving as quickly as we did would have been very difficult.”
