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    CASE STUDY

    Redwood Helps Step2 Master its E-Commerce Growing Pains

    MARKET: CONSUMER GOODS

    Headquartered in Streetsboro, Ohio, The Step2 Company, LLC is the largest American manufacturer of preschool and toddler toys. Since it was founded in 1991, Step2 has grown to more than 700 full-time employees, serving retailers in more than 40 countries. In 1999, the company added Step2 Direct, an e-commerce website that serves the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Washington DC. Step2 operates two large manufacturing plants and a central distribution center in Ohio.

    THE CHALLENGES

    • Rapid growth in e-commerce order volumes impacting drop shipping
    • Post–Black Friday shipment spikes
    • Need to efficiently process and label tens of thousands of daily orders
    • Compliance with Tier 1 retailer drop shipping and labeling requirements
    • Requirement to customize labels and print retailer-branded packing slips

    THE SOLUTION

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    Based on Redwood’s successful implementation of its WMS, Step2 turned to Redwood for help with this additional challenge. The company’s WMS needed a third-party application to print inventory, product and shipping labels—so Redwood implemented Redwood Label to add this capability. To fulfill parcel shipments for Tier 1 retailers, Redwood implemented Redwood Parcel, a high-volume, WMS-integrated parcel shipping solution that streamlines the complex process of e-commerce drop shipping.

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    THE RESULTS

    Improved compliance with retailer labeling requirements
    Easy scalability for peak shipping periods
    Reduction in shipping cycle times

    KEY TOOLS

    Redwood Label
    Redwood Parcel
    WMS implementation

    Step2 has enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Redwood. From our WMS to Redwood Label and Redwood Parcel, our Redwood solutions have grown with us and enabled us to scale our volumes. Redwood delivers a unique combination of technology expertise and hands-on logistics experience. Wherever the future takes us, we can count on Redwood to help evolve our systems and processes—and support our continued success.

    —Erich Lachman, Chief Information Officer