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How Sequinart ramped up their production workflow and slashed time spent on avoidable admin 'faff' with Cin7, Xero and Shipstation
Arts & Crafts
B2B - D2C
UK - EU - US
Xero Implementation
Xero and Cin7 Integration
Ship Station Implementation
Cin7 Training & Support
Looking for an integrated CIN7 Solution like Sequin Art?
Project Summary
After spending £100’s on IT engineers and wasting hours on spreadsheets every month using on-premise software, Kounteq helped them:
🔍 Identify the most suitable connected software solution for their unique workflows and processes
🎯 Integrate Cin7 Core, Xero, Hubdocs, Clay-o, Amazon and Shipstation
✨ Gain real-time insights into their production, shipping and inventory workflows
Who are Sequin Art?
In 1962, in a modest room in East London, businessman Stuart Marcus founded his company, Kitflix, specializing in the wholesale and manufacturing of games and toys. By 1987, Stuart expanded his business by acquiring Sequin Art. By 1987, Stuart expanded his business, acquiring Sequin Art, using his know-how and ambition to establish the company as a global leader. With unique craft products exported to more than 20 countries, including the USA, Russia, Australasia, and various EU nations, Sequin Art flourished.
Today, situated on a 4-acre site in Swaffham, Norfolk, Sequin Art’s factory in England produces over 1 million kits annually.
However after venturing into new product lines and markets, SequinArt was experiencing unforeseen challenges and was needed help in optimising their business
The Inventory Challenges
In 2019, Jonathon Marcus, Stuart's son, took charge of SequinArt. He struggled to understand the company's numbers because of how the business was set up. He also found it hard to choose the right inventory app due to the many options available. The main challenges he faced were:
❌ No visibility of cost of goods sold:
With 1,000+ SKUs, each with a wide variation of compenents, the team found it difficult to track the profitability of each individual art & craft set they were selling, impacting their decision-making.
❌ Current systems required constant maintenance:
Sequin had on-premise systems that were costing them £100s every month to maintain. When Jonathon went abroad for business, he had no way to access sales data remotely.
❌ 100's of Hours wasted on avoidable manual work:
His team had no access to scanners , live data or collaborative tools. They relied heavily on manually processes, printing out forms/lists and managing spreadsheets. This damaged their customer fulfilment speed.
“Kounteq came onboard done this amazing checkbox comparison looking at the functionality we require, comparing CIN7, Katana, MRPeasy. They looked at our business, processes, it was clear who we needed to chose.”
Do these challenges look familiar?
💡 The Solution
In his first conversation, Jonathan immediately found a connection with Kounteq's COO, Manzer. Kounteq investigated Sequin Art's operation in great detail and visited them on-site in order to fully grasp their specific demands. This differentiated Kounteq and gave him the confidence that he was selecting the right solution for his business. This was Kounteq's recommendation:
✔️ Identified inefficiencies in the workflow:
Kounteq mapped out his workflows to understand exactly where the Sequin Art could make efficiency gains in their production & fulfillment process
✔️ Ensuring software was always in sync:
✔️ Empowering the team with the right training:
With 1,000+ SKUs, each with a wide variation of components, the team found it difficult to track the profitability of each individual art & craft set they were selling, impacting their decision-making.
Would you like a demo of Sequin Art's Solution?
“And that was cooperation. With the services that Kounteq provided, we’ve already saved ourselves 6 months to a year by having someone on board who knows what we need.”
Secrets of a successful workflow
Creating the right workflow is key to any successful implementation. Watch our Inventory Expert, Manzer, share the automations and integrations he identified for Louelle Belle to streamline their process.
Looking to optimise your businesses workflow?
The process behind the solution...
The process focused on planning meticulously, analyze thoroughly, design strategically, execute diligently, test rigorously, deploy effectively, monitor continuously, and document comprehensively. These steps ensure successful project execution and facilitate future improvements.
Through a comprehensive analysis, Kounteq pinpointed Louella Belle’s inventory, warehouse, and accounting system issues, defining the project scope, objectives, deliverables, and timelines.
After understanding their business needs, we documented their workflows by role and department to identify their business’s various data touch points. This ensured we had a clear understanding of processes and responsibilities.
Considering their existing Magento and Amazon setup, we provided various integration options for CIN7 Core and Xero. This included exploring add-on apps like Hubdocs or developing custom integrations using Zapier. This collaborative approach ensured all parties agreed on the optimal solution for their needs.
We began first by implementing CIN7 Core and Xero individually. Once that was successfully completed, we configured reports and integrations between Magento, Hubdocs and Shipstation. Our focus was on seamless connectivity between CIN7 Core and Xero.
Throughout this process, a comprehensive data migration was conducted. This included securely extracting data from existing systems, reformatting it for compatibility with the new platforms, and importing it thoroughly into CIN7 Core and Xero. This meticulous approach ensured data accuracy and integrity throughout the integration process. We phased out our approach to minimise disruption to Louella Belle’s operations.
To ensure the new inventory and accounting system was completely error-free, we reviewed and optimised core workflows and integrations between CIN7 Core and Xero for seamless data flow and efficient operations.
Defined business scenarios were simulated to validate functionality and user experience specific to the CIN7 Core and Xero integration. User testing was conducted to assess system usability, identify potential integration-related issues, and gather feedback for further improvements. This ensured a smooth transition for Louella Belle’s staff and their readiness for real-world operations.
Comprehensive training on the functionalities and workflows of the integrated CIN7 Core, Xero and Shipstation system was provided to empower users and minimise any learning curve. This training was tailored to each user’s role and responsibilities and included a mix of personalised video tutorials, messaging support, and in-person sessions. This ensured users could confidently utilise the system and maximise its benefits.
A plan was executed to guarantee a smooth go-live for the integrated CIN7 Core and Xero system. This included a phased approach (optional), real-time performance monitoring, and dedicated support with expertise in both platforms. This minimises disruption, ensures system stability, and provides confidence in adopting these systems.
Post-go-live, we provided ongoing support (email/phone), training, and the ability to raise any concerns directly with our partners. This ensured that our client’s queries were solved quicker than if they approached the partners independently.
It took 4 months to complete the project.
We remain working with Louella Belle on new integrations and continued post-live support.
⏱️ It took 3 months to complete the project
- from Go Live to Hand-off!
Manzer Rubbani
Cin7 Expert & Project Lead
Mohamedali Walji
Xero Expert
Colin Janssens
Data Expert
🥁 The Results...
Sequin Art now have a set of interconnected systems that allow them to automate 30% of their processes to all their team to focus on product development!
30%
of their processes automated, allowing the team to focus on product development (not admin)
70%
more confidence in business decisions with clear visibility of data from any location
25%
reduction in operational costs
Kounteq isn’t just an IT company. Because of Manzer’s in-depth experience, he’s able to consult and give extremely valuable advice based on his past business about what we should be doing, and how to make things more efficient.
"Save 6 to 12 months in your implementation journey with Manzer..."
These are our customers words, not ours... we'll help you:
- Confidently select the right system. Leverage our years of unbiased experience working with 30+ competing software apps.
- Avoid data errors with rigorous validation and testing phases throughout the process. No shortcuts, ever.
- Design, implement and integrate a connected workflow that works for your businesses unique processes (we specialise in complexity)
- Upskill and support you and your staff throughout the process until they are confident with the new systems.
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