Leijtens Import: from distributor to beauty wholesaler

A portfolio with one or two brands is easy to manage. But what if you grow as a wholesaler and expand your purchasing with ten other brands? In this process, it’s important not to lose the overview and to ensure a constant flow of incoming goods. Leijtens Import tells how they have optimised their purchasing process and stock management with data.

‍

Leijtens Import: from small perfumery distributor to a wholesaler in cosmetics

What started as a small distributor in perfumery, Leijtens Import has now grown into a big name in the cosmetics industry. While Peter Leijtens is still director, his son Willem and daughter Elise have taken steps to keep the company on the right track. Over the years, Leijtens Import has built up a good portfolio of customers. They supply European retailers such as Douglas, ICI Paris, DA, Etos, Kruidvat and other major online players. In addition, the beauty wholesaler also runs a webshop: Beautytasting.com. In the coming years, growth will be the strategic focus of Leijtens Import, where the distribution will be expanded to the rest of Europe.

More manpower and time commitment

When Tamara Knulst started as a buyer at Leijtens Import, she first served as a brand manager for several cosmetic brands. While everyone was responsible for their own purchasing at first, as a result of professionalisation, Tamara has become ultimately responsible for purchasing over the past two years.

In a showroom full of cosmetic products, Tamara talks about the purchasing situation. “The challenge lay in the former purchasing process being very time-consuming.” To be able to purchase, certain data was extracted from Exact Online, where Tamara made additional analyses in Excel. “With so many products and brands, it takes a lot of time. Plus, you don’t have insight into everything, which means that purchasing based on gut feeling often occurs.”

This was an important sign for management to look for a solution to automate the purchasing process. If the cosmetics wholesaler had continued to use Exact Online in combination with Excel, Leijtens Import would have had to hire an extra purchaser. In addition, the wholesaler wouldn’t have been able to add new brands to its portfolio. “I think a second purchaser should have been added anyway. And I don’t think we could have added many brands to our portfolio.”

Automation and data provide a larger product portfolio

By automating the purchasing process, Leijtens Import could grow. It was important to order products on time. “Purchasing was done on time, so that people no longer misses out. For example, if you ordered a week later, this was immediately noticeable in the number of missing products to deliver.”

The automation has enabled Leijtens Import to change a few things. “You notice that customers enjoy working with Leijtens Import.” Since then, data has become integrated into the Leijtens Import purchasing process. The portfolio of the beauty wholesaler has now increased considerably so that you can no longer work without data.

‍

More available data with Exact

An important condition for working with Optiply was the connection with Exact Online. “Optiply was one of the few players with an integration available for our ERP system.” The link between Optiply and Exact provided Leijtens with data-driven purchasing advice. “We are now really getting a real-time, minimum and maximum stock position.”

Tamara indicates that she could quickly rely on the system because the source system passes correct information. The purchasing process becomes more transparent by working with an ABC categorisation. This makes it easy to work at the product level. “I find it very useful that we have ABC categories. Sometimes you have the feeling that a product is doing well. In the end, this product doesn’t do as well because it is in the C category.”

‍

Easy to use and transferable

As a tool, Optiply is a user-friendly system, and Optiply 2.0 has made this experience even better. “Everything is now clearer for each item and supplier.” In addition, the system makes things easily transferable. Another employee temporarily took over the purchasing department: “The person who had just been hired here has learned to work in Optiply very quickly. She also indicated that it was a nice tool to work in.” The more user-friendly a system is, the less time it takes to learn. This is especially important for Tamara, especially when you work alone in a department. If there are any absences, tasks can be taken over quickly.

‍

Minimal lost sales due to correct data use

Leijtens Import also notices the necessary changes on the customer side. “The calls we receive about why a product has not been delivered have become minimal.” Complete delivery is an important point of attention for wholesalers. For example, the automation process has also had a major impact on warehouse management. By properly planning purchasing and stock, new products are delivered consistently. “The people in the warehouse are the ones who physically see the holes in the shelves. Now I coordinate my purchasing planning so that the products regularly arrive properly.” With this, the warehouse of Leijtens Import indicates that the shelves are well stocked in a balanced way. In this way, the wholesaler ensures that incoming goods are better distributed.

‍

An automatic purchasing process in an easy and reliable way

More overview, a less time-consuming purchasing process, an extended product portfolio and data-driven purchasing decisions yields Leijtens Import 40% stock savings, 49% turnover growth, high service levels, and fewer no sales. These are excellent results for Tamara. “With Optiply, I hoped that I would spend a lot less time on purchasing and this has certainly been achieved.” Leijtens Import has managed to achieve a healthy stock position. This is the most important thing for the beauty wholesaler. “Optiply allows you to automate the purchasing process easily and reliably, resulting in more turnover and a healthy stock level.”