First Glance

Goorin Bros is a distinguished American hat company that blends craftsmanship and fashion to create an exceptional line of headwear. With a commitment to quality, Goorin Bros has thrived for over a century, becoming a staple in the world of premium hats. Today, the company continues to uphold its legacy, crafting timeless designs that are cherished by hat enthusiasts and fashion connoisseurs alike.

Goorin Bros boasts a strong retail presence across the United States with over 30 boutique stores located in prime shopping districts and urban centers. Each store showcases a thoughtfully curated selection of headwear, reflecting the brand's diverse range of styles and attention to detail. Looking to keep up with modern trends, Goorin Bros features a user-friendly online store, making their products accessible to customers worldwide. This retail and online expansion has allowed Goorin Bros to establish itself as a globally recognized brand, however, the need for data and technology unification had become an issue that the company needed to tackle.

The Challenge

In 2019, Goorin Bros approached the team at Sunrise Integration to discuss custom API and integration services to handle POS and online store data. With an expanding retail presence and a thriving online store, Goorin Bros needed a capable system to manage the growing wealth of customer and order data. Bridging POS (Point of Sale) data with online customer information presents several challenges that the Sunrise Integration team needed to consider.

Data Integration

Consolidating data from different sources, such as in-store POS systems, ERP and online e-commerce platforms, is complicated due to disparate data formats and structures. The Goorin Bros data was a mixture of flat CSV files and JSON data from online sources. To combine and unify this information, our team needed to focus on a robust data integration solution to merge and organize the data. The information would then be optimized for their ERP system for final analysis.

Data Accuracy and Consistency

Ensuring the accuracy and consistency of data across both physical retail and digital channels was an important challenge we had to overcome. The main issues involved addressing duplicate records, gift card entries, data discrepancies, product pricing and inventory information. All of this needed to happen with near real-time synchronization, which can be technically challenging and resource-intensive.

Scalability

As Goorin Bros retail operations expand and the volume of data grows, the solution must prove to be scalable and effectively handle increasing data complexity and storage requirements without compromising performance.

The data team at Sunrise Integration took up these challenges and provided a modern solution to bridge Goorin Bros' data, security and scalability needs.

The Solution

Goorin Bros needed a custom solution for their omnichannel synchronization needs. The solution would handle returns data, order data from Shopify and external FTP flat-files from their ERP system. The business-critical data included:

• Gift Card sync updates

• Inventory location data

• Fulfillment location data

• Variant/product updates

• Order risk assessment feed

• POS data

• Manage returns with Returnly

We developed a custom solution that provided a powerful recurring data synchronization service, hosted by our Databurst service. Our data team provided managed hosting and 24-hour service to ensure the information was flowing accurately. The SaaS (software as a service) implementation provides a data service to create and parse data between the ERP, Returnly, Shopify and the POS.

The custom synchronization system incorporated custom logic required by Goorin Bros to support their data workflow. This included customized data mapping and logic to handle their critical information like:

Gift Card Sync

The sync platform would receive gift card data from the Goorin ERP and first ensure it was an active (and legitimate) gift card. Custom actions were taken depending on the gift card values. The gift cards were then synchronized with Shopify ensuring that customers had the proper credit within their online and "physical" cards.

Inventory and Fulfillment Updates

Since Goorin Bros supported many different retail POS locations, it was important for the system to properly track inventory and fulfillment across each location. The solution would update inventory and import data based on the location id. The fulfillment system in Shopify would also use this location information to ensure proper tracking details for the customer.

Product and Variant Updates

As Goorin Bros was expanding into international sales, it was important for them to track the COO and HS code for each product. The COO (Country of Origin) and HS (Harmonized System) codes are important elements in international shipment, as they help facilitate the movement of goods across borders and ensure compliance with international trade regulations. The custom SaaS deployment would scan products and update each item with the proper COO and HS tariff code.

Order Risk Assessment

Security is an important part of online orders and Goorin Bros wanted to ensure orders were meeting their risk assessment. The custom-developed platform integrates the Shopify Order Risk assessment into the system for all orders synchronized via the API. There were acceptance rules and actionable output rules generated based on risk levels. This custom assessment workflow was integrated into the solution providing assurance that only legitimate orders made it into their ERP platform.

Returns With Returnly

Returnly is a returns management solution that supported the Goorin Bros Shopify returns process. We integrated Returnly into their Shopify store to handle product returns and accelerate refunds, exchanges, and store credits. Using the public Returnly API, our team was able to send all returns data to the Goorin Bros ERP keeping all data up-to-date for timely customer service.

The Outcome

The team at Goorin Bros needed an enterprise solution for their omnichannel platform services and our digital commerce team was excited to work with Goorin Bros. The successful implementation of ERP and POS synchronization services for Goorin Bros has enhanced their retail operations by creating an efficient omnichannel experience for customers. The Sunrise Integration team addressed the challenges of data integration, real-time synchronization, customer data and tailored the solution to meet Goorin's needs.

In the end, this development enabled Goorin Bros to maintain its tradition of craftsmanship and quality, while embracing modern technology to adapt and thrive in an increasingly competitive market. This case study showcases the transformative impact of strategic digital integration, setting a benchmark for other retail businesses seeking to elevate their customer experience and operational efficiency.