Established in 1905, M&P O’Sullivan Ltd. has a rich history of serving the Irish community. Beginning as a modest wholesale and delivery service in Cork City, founded by the entrepreneurial Paddy O’Sullivan, the company has grown over four generations to become a leading name in the wholesale and foodservice industry.
Today, M&P O’Sullivan continues its legacy of dedication to customer service, providing a comprehensive range of products and expert advice to a wide range of customers, including those in the food service industry, such as restaurants and fast food outlets, as well as organizations like schools, universities, and hospitals. Their commitment to excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Gold Standard award at the annual Stonehouse Awards ceremony every year since 2010.
In an ever-evolving retail environment, M&P O’Sullivan recognized the need to embrace innovation and streamline its operations. This led them to seek solutions for automating price list production and enhancing online engagement, ultimately improving efficiency and customer experience.
The challenge: automating price list production and optimizing online product promotion
M&P O’Sullivan faced two key challenges:
- Streamlining price list production: M&P O’Sullivan needed to automate the creation of their retail promotional price lists, which were previously created manually using PDF and Excel files. This manual process was time-consuming, resource-intensive, and prone to errors, especially given the tight timeframe for publishing weekly ads. They needed a price list maker that could automate these tasks and improve efficiency
- Enhancing online product promotion: M&P O’Sullivan wanted to optimize their online product promotion by linking product SKUs in their price lists directly to the corresponding product pages on their website. However, manually creating these hyperlinks for each product was a tedious and error-prone task, further adding complexity to their workflow.
Pagination’s solution: A two-pronged approach to automation
Pagination addressed M&P O’Sullivan’s challenges with a comprehensive solution that combined automated price list production and automated web page linking.
Automated price list creation
Pagination’s system for automated price list production streamlined the process by integrating data files containing product information into a customized InDesign template. This allowed for efficient and accurate creation of price lists within tight deadlines.
Key features of the solution included:
- Grid-based layouts: Pagination’s solution leveraged grid-based layouts, common in weekly ads and flyers, to provide structure and flexibility. This allowed for various product layouts to fit seamlessly within the grid, accommodating different product categories and promotional needs.
- Multiple product layouts: Within the grid system, Pagination’s solution offered a range of modular product layouts to accommodate M&P O’Sullivan’s diverse product range and presentation needs, such as the 1×1 layout for showcasing individual products with detailed descriptions and prices, and the 1×2 layout for presenting product pairs or variations side-by-side. While M&P O’Sullivan primarily uses these two layouts, the system also supports larger modules like 2×2 or 3×2 layouts, which offer more space for images and descriptions, and even full-row layouts for showcasing a wide range of product variants, providing flexibility for future design needs.
- Dynamic image resizing: Images are automatically resized based on the amount of text present. This feature was particularly valuable for managing space efficiently within the grid-based layout, ensuring that product images are prominent while maintaining readability. This dynamic resizing capability allows M&P O’Sullivan to easily accommodate products with varying descriptions and specifications without manual adjustments.
- Automatic color change: To enhance visual appeal and organization, the solution enabled automatic color changes when the product category changed. M&P O’Sullivan also has control over the section colors.
- Special layout features: M&P O’Sullivan also uses unique layout features like “new” badges and highlighted pricing in yellow to draw attention to specific products and offers.
- Text priority algorithm: To ensure readability, Pagination’s algorithm intelligently resizes images to accommodate varying amounts of text, maintaining a balanced and organized layout. This ensures that product descriptions are always clear and easy to read, even when space is limited. This is particularly useful for M&P O’Sullivan, as they often need to include detailed product information in their price lists.
- Multiple image management: For products with multiple images (e.g., different sizes or colors), Pagination’s algorithm optimizes image placement and sizing within the grid, maximizing visual impact while maintaining balance.
Automated web page linking
In 2024, M&P O’Sullivan expressed the need to streamline the process of linking product SKUs in their price lists to the corresponding web pages. Pagination responded by offering a solution to automate this process. By providing Pagination with the URLs of their product pages, M&P O’Sullivan could leverage Pagination’s system to automatically generate a PDF with embedded hyperlinks.
The links can direct customers either to specific product pages (for SKUs, item numbers, or part numbers) or to relevant category pages.
Results and benefits
Partnering with Pagination brought about a significant transformation in M&P O’Sullivan’s price list production workflow. The automation capabilities provided by Pagination’s price list software addressed M&P O’Sullivan’s need for efficiency and accuracy, particularly crucial in the fast-paced retail environment where timely updates and promotions are essential.
- Responding to market dynamics with speed and precision: By automating their price list production with Pagination’s grid-based layout system and flexible product modules, M&P O’Sullivan significantly reduced the time it took to create and update these essential documents. This newfound agility allowed them to respond quickly to market fluctuations, incorporate last-minute deals, and ensure their price lists always reflected the most current information. This is particularly crucial in the fast-paced retail environment, where promotions and offers are often finalized mere days before publication.
- Empowering the team – Simplifying price list management for everyone: the user-friendly interface and streamlined workflow simplified the process, making it easy for staff to learn and use the software effectively. This reduced the reliance on specialized design skills and allowed a wider range of employees to contribute to the creation and management of price lists. This streamlined process not only enhanced customer satisfaction and contributed to a more positive brand perception, but it also freed up valuable time and resources for M&P O’Sullivan’s team. As Patrick O’Sullivan, Director of M&P O’Sullivan, explains:
“Partnering with Pagination has streamlined our workflow, transforming a once tedious task into a straightforward process. The intuitive system allows easy training for staff and enables us to focus more on our core business of buying and selling.”
- Eliminating errors and enhancing customer trust: With Pagination’s automated system, the risk of human error in price list creation was minimized. The software ensured data consistency and accuracy by directly pulling information from M&P O’Sullivan’s product database, eliminating the potential for manual errors that could occur during data entry and transfer. This improved accuracy not only enhanced the professionalism of their price lists but also built trust with customers by providing reliable product and pricing information.
- Elevating the customer journey: The automated web page linking feature significantly improved the customer experience. By seamlessly connecting product SKUs in the price list to the corresponding online product pages, M&P O’Sullivan provided customers with easy access to detailed product information, facilitating informed purchasing decisions and encouraging online engagement. This streamlined process enhanced customer satisfaction and contributed to a more positive brand perception.
Key takeaways: The power of automation in wholesale and foodservice
M&P O’Sullivan’s success with Pagination highlights the transformative potential of automation in the wholesale and foodservice industry. By automating key processes like price list production and web page linking, retailers can increase efficiency, improve accuracy, and enhance the customer experience.
This case study demonstrates the value of partnering with a technology provider like Pagination to streamline operations, optimize online presence, and drive business growth.
For retailers looking to improve their price list automation process, Pagination offers a comprehensive solution. Our price list software provides the tools and features necessary to create professional and engaging price lists efficiently. Whether you need a price list maker to automate the entire process or are simply looking for guidance on how to make a price list more effectively, Pagination can help.
Ready to unlock the power of automation for your retail business? Contact Pagination today for a free consultation or visit our website to learn more.
By Chiara Marigliano
