How Specialized Is Riding into the Digital Age

We've all been changing our habits over the last year or so. Ever since the COVID-19 crisis entered the equation at the top of 2020, almost everyone on the planet has had to rethink how they live their lives in one way or another.

One way in which many people have decided to embrace the opportunity for change presented by the coronavirus pandemic is to start taking better care of their bodies and general health. Statistics from 2020 - when the pandemic was at its highest and lockdown restrictions at their most serious - suggest that exercise equipment sales in the US, including kettlebells, weights, running shoes, and more, rocketed by 600% as American citizens looked for ways to stay healthy at home.

Another type of exercise equipment which saw a massive uptick in popularity was bicycles. As one of the world's most well-known and highly regarded suppliers of premium bike parts, Specialized noticed this boost more than most.

Specialized

In response to the boom in bike buying during the pandemic, Specialized knew it needed a better way of maintaining communication with all stakeholders in its value chain - retailers, customers, and its own staff. The double-edged sword of the pandemic regarding bike sales was that, even though demand shot up, many supply chain routes were closed or experiencing significant delays.

Specialized knew it needed a new ERP system - one which was capable of operating in the cloud to meet the needs of a digital ecosystem and remote working due to pandemic related restrictions.

"It just came time to sunset our on-premises super clusters," said Senior Manager, Database Cloud Platform of Specialized Bicycle Components, Tommy Pham. "Yet, with millions of customers, partners, and staff spread across 40 countries, moving to a new ERP system, and having to reconfigure more than 200 integrations built around that application, was unthinkable"

Nevertheless, Specialized moved to an Oracle cloud-based ERP solution and has already seen positive effects on its ability to meet demand and keep customers happy.

"We've set up both public and private subnets, giving us a persistent connection between our point-of-sales system, databases, and business applications - and our customers, retailers, cloud vendors, and other third-parties," said Pham. "There's no more waiting, no scheduled downtime. We just flip a switch to instantly scale up for more capacity, and then scale back down when our traffic levels off."

Drop Shipping

Not content with streamlining its ERP system with a cloud-based solution, Specialized also wanted to find new ways of making sure its products got into the waiting hands (and feet) of eager riders.

Thanks to its partnership with specialist bike shop website and marketing providers SmartEtailing, Specialized can now offer drop shipping to customers who make their purchases direct through its own webstore. With drop shipping, new bikes and other Specialized products can be sent directly to the customer's own home, instead of having to be dropped at the store. This means bike shops don't need to be responsible for additional stock and the customer doesn't need to make a special journey to collect their new bike from the store - a win-win situation.

This option will also be ideal for those customers who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, or for those who are simply not comfortable with venturing out into high streets and shopping centers just yet.

"There is tremendous demand for Specialized products and our data clearly shows that customers are buying online from their local shop," said SmartEtailing President, Ryan Atkinson. "This integration helps consumers get Specialized products delivered to their homes faster while shops can reduce inventory and payroll costs for ecommerce orders. [Specialized's] choice to prioritize this retailer-facing feature ahead of other technology projects speaks volumes about their commitment to the IBD channel."

Not every product is available for drop shipping - Turbo Batteries and frames are one example - but all Specialized, S-Works, and Roval equipment SKUs, and Riprock Coaster bikes, Hotwalks, and the Jett line of bikes are included in the offer.

Final Thoughts

We saw massive shortages of exercise equipment in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it wasn't clear whether anything was being done to address the situation.

However, with the news of Specialized upgrading its ERP to the cloud and offering drop shipping on a wide range of its products, it seems brands are working hard to make sure people can access these health and wellness boosting items.

For more insights, don't forget to join us at eTail Palm Springs 2022, taking place February 28 to March 02 in Palm Springs, CA.

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