If you’ve munched on a bag of popcorn while taking in a flick at the movie theatre over the last 20 years, it’s likely that delightful snack came from Preferred Popcorn. The 100 percent farmer-owned, Nebraska-based company sells more than half of the seed popped at US-based movie theatres, with its own story being something worthy of the big screen.
Preferred Popcorn
Chapman, Neb.
Manufacturing, Wholesale Distribution
65
QuickBooks, Excel
Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, ProcessPro
NetSuite
NetSuite
CRM
NetSuite Professional Services
“There were so many points of visibility that were available almost instantly. NetSuite allowed us to ask better questions and make more strategic contact with our customers.” Andrea Plucker, Director of Marketing/West Coast Sales, Preferred Popcorn
“There were so many points of visibility that were available almost instantly. NetSuite allowed us to ask better questions and make more strategic contact with our customers.” Andrea Plucker, Director of Marketing/New Products, Sales, Preferred Popcorn
Entering a saturated US market, Preferred Popcorn started by selling its seeds overseas. Exceptional service and strategic acquisitions that enabled the company to sell new varietals and organic seeds soon gained traction in the US market that today comprises more than half of Preferred Popcorn’s total sales, as it boasts 500 customers across 65 countries.
Without a CRM system or a single inventory view of more than a dozen varietals grown and stored at 50 farms across seven states, it was challenging to match and optimise inventory needs with demand, especially when all purchasing for the year needed to be completed in bulk in the spring.
The company worked with the NetSuite Professional Services team, which offered on-site consultant support and a fixed rate that couldn’t be matched, enabling go live in only 90 days, a crucial deadline to meet with the upcoming harvest. Preferred Popcorn gained a single view of item, order and customer data to replace QuickBooks and hundreds of Excel spreadsheets, and can now easily identify buying trends, surpluses and optimise product promotion.
With streamlined operations and analysis capabilities, Preferred Popcorn maintains the industry’s highest customer retention rate. It can devote attention to industry leadership in both agronomy and advancing farming techniques, as well as expanding direct to consumer sales as it aims to convey popcorn’s value as an allergen-free, non-GMO snack.