BASS PRO SHOPS

HOW BASS PRO ACCOMPLISHED EASY AWARDS

OPTIMIZATION WITH A BEST IN BREED SOLUTION

ABOUT BASS PRO

Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972, the company provides premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations and more. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitats and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.”

THE SITUATION

HOW “SUITE” IT...ISN’T

A Simfoni client for more than two years, Bass Pro made the decision to switch to a full-suite provider in an attempt to create efficiencies in other areas of their procurement process. Like Simfoni, the alternate solution had the capability to optimize award decisioning, which brought value to the Bass Pro procurement team, addressing their needs in evaluating and awarding logistics bids. However, the team quickly learned that bigger is not always better. Having successfully leveraged the Simfoni eSourcing solution for the past 24+ months, the team was surprised by the extreme complexity of the new provider’s solution. The problems were two-fold: the solution was overly complicated for end-users; and the support was lacking. Where Simfoni’s eSourcing support team was always readily available, they found that with the new solution, inquiries would go unanswered for days. The result was extended timelines, a constricted supply chain, and exorbitant costs. Projects came to a halt and the complexity of the solution and lack of support led to employee frustration and demoralization.

As one employee stated when asked about their experience running sourcing events in the new suite solution, “I feel like I’m in the cockpit of a 747 with no instructions.”

SIMFONI’S APPROACH

Bass Pro knew they could count on Simfoni to provide a user-friendly experience and the white-glove service and support that was so critical to their previous success. Simfoni got to work reinstating the Simfoni eSourcing platform, but also implementing the newly released eSourcing Optimization solution to further extend their capabilities and meet their needs for complex logistics bid events in a simple, yet efficient way.

The Optimization solution proved to be successful, providing the Logistic department what they needed for complex freight bids - a category deemed critical with so much spend allocated to it annually. Simfoni was able to address the client’s constraints and various bidding scenarios up-front through a demo applied to one of their actual projects.

In sharp contrast to their experience with the alternative provider, Simfoni supplied a dedicated account manager to support implementation and training. Simfoni continues to provide the exemplary support the Bass Pro team has come to know and trust, interacting as a part of their team and “on call” to help address any future needs that may arise.

RESULTS

Immediate

Uptick in RFP activity
and all departmental
timelines met

30 Events

Successfully run over
the past 12 months

CONCLUSION

“We had switched to a suite provider, which proved to be overly complex and frustrating. The simplicity of Simfoni’s solution, combined with their exemplary support, led us back—with quick and accurate results.”

With Simfoni, award results are quick and accurate. Bass Pro has been able to increase efficiencies with a rapid response to bid events, elevating the department in the eyes of the executive team. Because the Optimization solution was easy-to-use and effective during logistics bids, it has allowed Bass Pro to identify other projects and categories well-suited for the solution, expanding usage to unexpected categories, such as facility management.

Simfoni's customer success team conducts periodic check-ins to discuss day-to-day use and upcoming events. The ongoing support and immediate response to questions has left employees feeling comfortable and confident, enabling them to be more productive and increasing job satisfaction-a drastic turnaround from the alternate provider.