Cartridge World

The Company: About Cartridge World

Cartridge World refills empty ink cartridges and remanufactures empty toner cartridges for inkjet printers, laser printers, fax machines, and photocopiers with top-quality, brand-specific ink and toners. The company has more than 500 locations in the United States, with another 300 locations expected soon. 

The Situation: Data Entry Errors

Before NetSuite, Cartridge World used QuickBooks for accounting and managed sales to franchise locations through a non-integrated third-party product. This, coupled with a non-integrated Web store and manual processes in fulfillment, created the potential for costly data entry errors. Most departments used internal and external databases with no clear links between them. The situation was unsustainable for a fast-growing global company trying to stay ahead of business challenges.

Cartridge World deployed its initial inventory system to avert keyboard-heavy processes in order fulfillment, which were a constant source of annoyance and costly errors. But the company came to understand that it had other problems that could not be solved with in-house, on-premise technology, such as the need for business continuity across the widely dispersed organization. ​“Being global, we have to operate 24 hours a day and keep communicating information as different roles grow and encompass more tasks,” Yeffa says.

The Solution: NetSuite ERP

Cartridge World integrated NetSuite into its worldwide operations to oversee the hundreds of franchise locations and provide real-time information and key metrics for the global organization. Initially, Cartridge World implemented NetSuite primarily as an inventory control tool, without leveraging its integrated accounting and customer tracking capabilities. ​“We had experience with NetSuite in the past, so although personally I wasn’t involved in the decision to bring NetSuite into Cartridge World, I understood the power of the tools within the program and collectively we decided to re-launch NetSuite internally,” Yeffa says. ​“We wanted to expand the reach of NetSuite into the full workflow process to all of the operations of our business, not just financial records and inventory.”

NetSuite has given the organization a chance to stay on top of its rapidly growing business opportunities and has helped Cartridge World avoid major up-front capital commitments or expensive re-engineering fees every time a new region or store comes online. To that end, Cartridge World has rolled up its disparate databases into the internal NetSuite B2B e‑commerce system and now operates replenishment for franchise locations through the integrated Web store. The Australian operations have converted to NetSuite for region control, with Europe slated to go live on NetSuite as well. Among its future initiatives, Cartridge World is looking to fully integrate its in-store point-of-sale systems with NetSuite, reducing the need for franchisees to place manual replenishment orders.

The Results: NetSuite ERP Implementation Benefits

Cartridge World, the $425 million leader in printer cartridge refilling and recycling and the fastest-growing franchise in the $80 billion printer cartridge industry, has successfully integrated NetSuite into its operations to oversee hundreds of its 1,650 worldwide franchise locations and manage a rapidly growing business. After almost 20 years in the business, Cartridge World began growing at an even faster pace in the early 2000s, and consequently chose NetSuite for its integrated CRM, ERP and e‑commerce.

The business-to-business (B2B) e‑commerce capabilities of NetSuite enable the company’s network of more than 700 North American franchise stores to quickly purchase products from Cartridge World via a NetSuite Web store. ​“NetSuite has become our conduit to our franchisees,” says Steven L. Yeffa, President, Cartridge World Americas.

Cartridge World’s corporate headquarters uses NetSuite extensively to market and communicate with the widespread franchisees as well as to track support issues they have — their questions on everything from invoices to how to refill cartridges. ​“The first thing I noticed was the global visibility — NetSuite is certainly enabling the senior management team to have a consistent view of everything going on in our worldwide network,” says Yeffa. ​“It allows us to think, act, and work as a single company worldwide.” In the process, the company has cut an estimated $200,000 in annual IT and administrative costs as part of its requirements to run an accurate, sustainable business. And NetSuite has supported Cartridge World’s 200 percent collective increase in sales to over 500 storefronts in the United States and more than 1,650 worldwide in 63 countries. 

Much of that is thanks to NetSuite’s B2B e‑commerce capabilities. ​“The most important thing is that NetSuite has made it more seamless for the franchisee to come on board, all without a significant amount of customization on NetSuite,” Yeffa says. ​“That allows us to provide better information and more customer service than anyone else in our industry. We offer a complete package and NetSuite is our backbone to offering that package.” 

“ The most important thing is that NetSuite has made it more seamless for the franchisee to come on board. That allows us to provide better information and more customer service than anyone else in our industry.” Steven L. Yeffa, President, Cartridge World Americas