Portland, Oregon – (July 26, 2023) – Pacific Coast Fruit Company, BB #:100777 one of the Northwest’s largest independent produce distributors, launched an innovative new ecommerce experience for their customers as part of the company’s groundbreaking commitment to digital transformation within the wholesale produce industry. This new digital shopping system has intelligence that makes it more powerful, and is a natural extension of the exceptional, hands-on service the company is known for, providing an unbeatable level of control and personalization for customers in the food service, retail grocery, and wholesale industries. In addition to creating an elevated user experience, the company also implemented other new technology as part of their digital transformation to improve upon the already established processes of a wholesale distributor such as picking productivity, warehouse storage capacity, and making routing more efficient thus reducing the company’s overall carbon emission.
“It has been said in the past that produce distribution is a few years behind the rest of the food industry in technology.” Says Tom Brugato, President of Pacific Coast Fruit Company, “Rather than continue to develop a solution within our current network, we went to the outside and found someone who could help us build a rocket to mars, rather than shooting for the moon. Our customer-facing technology, partnered with constant improvements in our internal controls, will help keep costs in check while providing the cutting-edge services that our customers expect and deserve.”
The creation of the ecommerce website was anything but an overnight process. While making the investment to restructure their ordering process, Pacific Coast Fruit Company wanted to not only evaluate the effectiveness of the processes currently in place, but also look to other industries to gain insight and inspiration for how they can bring new ideas to the wholesale distribution industry. The company understood the magnitude this shift would have not only for its own company, but also in the industry as a whole. In 2021, they hired Bonnie Fuson to be VP of Customer Experience and spearhead the digital transformation. Fuson brought over 15 years of experience leading a Global Fortune 500 company through multiple ecommerce channel deployments and establishing enterprise digital solutions that integrated CMS and ecommerce to deliver exceptional customer experience.
The company also hired a lead developer as a commitment to building a self-managed roadmap to release future enhancements and ongoing innovation to online ordering. This team combined with the Pacific Coast Fruit Company industry experts have innovated a solution that manages a bi-directional data sharing from the ERP directly to an ecommerce platform. This removes much of the dependency on a third party system allowing for improved ownership and stability for their online ordering platform. By managing the data and serving it to a desired display and configuration Pacific Coast Fruit Company has gained more control over their ability to achieve their vision for online shopping specifically tailored for B2B customers purchasing fresh food from a distributor. These hires were unique for a wholesale distributor, but critical for Pacific Coast Fruit Company to ensure that the ordering platform and website was built both for an exceptional user experience and in line with the already established processes of a wholesale distributor, such as picking, transportation, and billing.
Customers can expect the design to reduce the time it takes to plan, revise, and call in their orders by putting greater control of their ordering at their fingertips. The easy-to-use interface offers familiar features like shopping based on past orders and “Shop My Menu”, which displays a curated list of their preferred products displayed in an order that aligns with how they like to organize their inventory. Enhancing the shopping experience are “Shopping Lists” which allows a customer to create their own shopping list on the fly to expedite ordering and can design lists by product category, department, or even specific delivery days. “Popular Picks” and shopping by local farms are two other ways products are being highlighted for seasonal availability and to support purchasing by farm or brand. In the future, customers will be able to get suggestions based on their specific type of business, restaurant or past purchases. Product views provide detailed information including local and organic tags, farm links, recipe links, similar products, and nutrition facts when available.
“We believe that it’s important to constantly innovate, improve, and anticipate the evolving needs of our customers.” Says David Nemarnik, CEO of Pacific Coast Fruit Company, “I believe in addition to being user-friendly and easier, it has intelligence that makes it more powerful as well. Being of service to each other, building trust with our growers, and honoring our commitment to provide quality products and thoughtful service is why we are here!”
The launch of the new e-commerce website is just the start of Pacific Coast Fruit’s digital transformation strategy. The company recognizes the lack of technological innovation and adaptation in the wholesale and produce industries and is committed to changing that by always evaluating other industries and optimistically thinking of ways to better serve their customer.
About Pacific Coast Fruit Company:
Founded in 1977 in Portland, Oregon, Pacific Coast Fruit Company (PCF) is a privately held, multigenerational family-owned and operated business and one of the largest independent produce distributors in the Pacific Northwest. They have distribution centers and culinary kitchens in Portland, OR and Kent, WA. PCF is dedicated to the success of the produce supply chain from growers to food service, retail grocery, and wholesale customers. Their partnerships with growers ensure the freshest, safest produce sourced from farm to table, whether delivered whole, cut, or prepared, across multiple certifications, such as organic. For more information, visit https://www.pcfruit.com. Follow @pcfruit on Instagram and @pacificcoastfruit on Facebook.
