Food service distributor VOVA implements the LEAFIO Inventory Optimization solution

VOVA is a European food service supplier specializing in food and non-food products distribution. Currently, they serve more than 2,000 food establishments (restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and supermarkets) and have expanded their service to home delivery to end consumers.

The distributor has ambitious and long-term development plans. As of now, VОVА is confidently entering the domain of specialized distributors (according to Forbes classification), but it is rapidly heading towards broad-line type companies. For example, the distributor already has several unique European suppliers, which it intends to actively promote in the retail market.

At the heart of the company's business model is a B2B portal, which is the main communication channel with customers. This makes it possible to place orders at current prices for available items promptly.

With the expansion of its sales channels and the constant growth of the number of SKUs, the company faced the need to automate their inventory management process.

"Our main task is to provide all customers with the volume of products they need without accumulating excess stocks. All "frozen" funds in excess inventory or lost sales are lost business opportunities and revenue. And in terms of scaling, high-quality and efficient inventory management becomes crucial," says Serg Boyuka, commercial director of VOVA.

As Serg notes, due to the peculiarities of food service distribution in HoReCa, with the absence of any product, the company lost not just the sale of one or two SKUs but entire bulk orders. With the accumulation of surplus goods, their sales process was delayed. As a result, products were kept longer in the warehouse, which often led to spoilage and deterioration of their appearance. This also had a negative impact on sales.

"We are so pleased that after comparing several competitive solutions, we found a true long-term partner. LEAFIO's cloud-based SaaS solution will allow us not only to automate demand forecasting, replenishment, and distribution processes but also to improve our financial performance in the long run," says VOVA's commercial director. “Already at the implementation stage, we’ve noticed positive changes in balances, turnover, and work with slow-movers. It should also be noted that labor costs for inventory management have decreased quarterly, making it possible to focus resources on business development,” he adds.

LEAFIO Inventory Optimization opens up a range of new opportunities for the distributor:

• optimize inventory management and make the process transparent;
• improve customer service by providing them with the goods they need;
• monitor the reliability and efficiency of suppliers.

The LEAFIO and VOVA teams have ambitious goals:

• make inventory management more efficient;
• ensure turnover at a lower level than deferral of payments;
• minimize lost sales;
• monitor the service level of suppliers.

The project successfully moved into the third stage of implementation. 

In the first stage, the LEAFIO team conducted a study of the client's business processes and set up data exchange between the company's accounting system and the LEAFIO Inventory Optimization system. During the second stage, 90% of the assortment was connected and functional training was conducted for VOVA employees. Each manager consolidated working with the solution in practice – settings, working with indicators, forming and sending orders using the LEAFIO Inventory Optimization solution.

Currently, work is underway to configure LEAFIO Inventory BI analytics to meet the client's specific needs.

After successfully setting up business processes and adapting the system to VOVA's needs, the client will be transferred to the Customer Success Department for support, where LEAFIO specialists will monitor performance indicators, inform users of updates, and help resolve issues related to inventory management.

We are looking forward to the first results of the implementation because each success story of our clients is a valuable contribution to the accumulated experience for future projects.

More details and post-implementation results will be shared later, so stay tuned.