Cherry Time

Streamlining Time-Sensitive Sales

Cherry Time, a leading South African cherry producer and a division of Dutoit, faced the dual challenge of managing a highly seasonal business while maintaining premium quality in a competitive market. We partnered with them to streamline processes, elevate customer experience, and expand market reach through innovative digital solutions. The results were as sweet as the cherries themselves.

eCommerce development
Process optimisation & automation
Customer engagement
User experience design

Data-driven efficiency

Cherries have a very short harvest season. In South Africa, it’s about ten weeks maximum, and it can range from five to eight weeks for Cherry Time. Ensuring the quality and freshness of the produce from farm to table is a complex task, involving coordination across various farms and regions. Cherry Time needed a sophisticated e-commerce solution integrated with a comprehensive backend system to achieve efficient, real-time communication and process management.

All-digital
User experience

A user-friendly online store, integrating with PayGate, helps ensure seamless ordering, processing, communication, and delivery. An app-based customer dashboard, automated email and WhatsApp communications of real-time order and delivery information, as well as suggested reordering times, and careful attention to brand and voice have all contributed to a 50% boost in customer engagement. It doesn’t hurt that purchasing volumes are also now used to identify business buyers automatically and target them with relevant communications in the run-up to and during the season.

50% BOOST
in customer engagement

Seamless connection
from farm to table

Our CRM integration and real-time analytics constitute a cohesive platform for streamlined operations, enabling our client to make informed business decisions and optimise operations on the fly. The system is so well designed that it takes just one employee to manage all operations for hundreds of individual sales daily. We’ve calculated a 300% increase in operational efficiency, based on the average time spent managing a single sale in a purely digital process.

1 EMPLOYEE INSTEAD OF 5
to manage all operations

Tons of cherries
sold in days

The system’s ease of use and customer-relevant communications have contributed to a sharp increase in total sales volumes, with a 17.6% increase in 2023 alone. Taking into account widely fluctuating season lengths in the last couple of years, there’s been a 93% increase in average daily sales since implementation.

93% INCREASE
in average daily sales

What our client said

Speed and expertise

The support we received from Milos and Amy during this high-pressure period was exceptional. Their expertise and quick solutions were highly valued. We are excited about the continued collaboration!

Runei Kotze, Brand and Media Coordinator, Dutoit

Cherry Time’s experience demonstrates the enormous potential of a well-designed digital solution to streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and, best of all, boost sales when the pressure is on to move a highly desirable but perishable product quickly and without hitch. We continue to support Cherry Time and Dutoit in their digital transformation. Our ongoing collaboration promises further innovation – and more cherries for everyone, nation-wide!

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