Sealskinz boosts sales & VAT automation with BPA Platform

Sealskinz, a manufacturer and retailer of waterproof endurance accessories, has enhanced its sales order management and logistics operations by implementing BPA Platform to integrate Shopify, SYSPRO, and a third-party logistics (3PL) company. Through this, Sealskinz has automated 90% of its order management processes and enabled the automatic extraction of VAT data on bonded goods for IRS returns.

Prior to this, Sealskinz had received multiple orders from various European countries through its Shopify-based website. These orders required downloading into their existing SYSPRO-operated business operation software. However, the existing middleware solution could not meet the processing needs under the new customs regulations. The discovery of the BPA platform allowed the quick integration of their Shopify website and SYSPRO, making BPA Platform a full member of the company's IT ecosystem.

Tim Petts, IT Manager at Sealskinz, elucidated, "The circumstances that initiated the first project was Brexit and the sudden requirement to pay the relevant VAT to the Internal Revenue Office (IRS). Of course, like many businesses in our position, we suddenly needed to separate out VAT for specific European countries to be able to submit IRS returns."

He went on to share that, "The integration between Shopify and SYSPRO was very successful and BPA Platform subsequently became our main middleware. That system has now been running for almost four years and it's running very well."

Post-Brexit, Sealskinz successfully opened a bonded warehouse at its headquarters in King's Lynn, needing to address VAT implications created by Brexit. Petts stated, "We utilised BPA Platform and our IT partner again to achieve that. We set up the two APIs between SYSPRO and BPA Platform to a system called Descartes – a logistics technology platform."

After rapid growth and product diversification, Sealskinz welcomed a 3PL company to aid in the distribution of its products. Petts elaborated, "We moved our dot.com business from our warehouse in King's Lynn to a third-party logistics (3PL) company in Milton Keynes. We now send all of our dispatch data down to the 3PL and they distribute it for us."

Petts further explained that, "An order comes down from the website into SYSPRO, passes through the system, and then goes through BPA Platform to their system. When the order is dispatched, all of the data is returned and automatically posted into SYSPRO by BPA Platform and the SYSPRO connector. We've probably automated in the region of 80-90% of the system, from order entry through to the customer getting it."

Concluding his explanation, Petts praised the BPA Platform stating, "It's a fantastic platform. I highly recommend it. There are so many options with BPA Platform – the variety of connectors and what it can do. It is quite easy to write and see the code, as well as drag and drop things around. I can also look in it and troubleshoot things myself, as well as work on the steps and tasks. Some of it is quite self-explanatory."