John Sumsion and his brother-in-law, Mitch Giles, started their picture-frame building business in 2008. By combining John’s online marketing skills and Mitch’s carpentry expertise, they created My Barnwood Frames, a business that provides hand-made, custom picture frames made from 100% authentic reclaimed barn wood.
Based in Provo, Utah, My Barnwood Frames has achieved long-term success by using beautiful, natural wood that tells a story and by being an eco-friendly business that offers customized orders and superb craftsmanship.
"Our products are built to order, so every piece we make is custom. Sometimes the pieces have nail holes, knots, and other imperfections in them, which contributes to the unique, weathered nature of the item,” he says.
As the business grew, John and his team extended their product offerings to include rustic mirrors, furniture, and home décor, which they offer exclusively online through their website, Amazon, Wayfair, Etsy, Houzz, and BigCommerce. My Barnwood Frames averaged between 30,000 and 50,000 orders a month, but when the pandemic hit, orders skyrocketed to almost 100,000 a month.
The explosive growth was a boon for the business, requiring the team to hire additional employees. It also required a competent business management solution that could handle the surge in orders, but the one they had wasn’t cutting it.
“Initially, we started off with a Microsoft Access database called Stone Edge Order Manager. It didn’t really integrate too well with any channels, so we found one out of the UK called Volvo. And that,” John declares, “was a nightmare.”
They struggled to find the right solution, and right when they thought they had found it in Stitch Labs, it was sunsetted.
That’s when Cin7 entered the picture.
The search for yet another solution had the My Barnwood Frames team looking at almost a dozen options. They spent three to four months trying out each solution, eager to find the best solution for their unique needs. The one that beat out the competition? Cin7.
One of those reasons was Cin7’s bulk printing feature, which Jodi Peterson, My Barnwood Frames’ Office Manager and shipping expert, praises. “The bulk printing option is amazing. With our previous solution, I would take hours a day to print orders, but with Cin7, I can print them in less than 10 minutes. It was amazing, and it’s still amazing.”
John couldn’t agree more. “I can’t emphasize enough how great the bulk printing shipping feature has been. Before Cin7, some of the details of the orders (we have a lot of variables, like choosing glass or plexiglass or sawtooth hanger vs. D rings or cardboard or easel back) would get forgotten. Now, we can build the orders out so that all the details are included.”
It took approximately three months to implement Cin7 with the help of the Cin7 onboarding team.
“The team was really good. They helped us bring over and integrate all of our data,” John says. “There were a few workarounds, but the Cin7 team was creative in helping us figure it all out, which was super helpful.”
A workaround example revolves around the fact that My Barnwood Frames doesn’t use Cin7 for inventory. “We don’t track inventory. Everything is built to order, so we had to figure out how to handle that, and Cin7 helped us brainstorm solutions. It ended up being a non-issue once we got going, but at the time, we were wondering how it was going to work.”
Turns out, it’s worked very well. In addition to the bulk printing option, Jodi can’t say enough about the time savings they’ve received by centralizing their shipping and ordering processes
John says the integration with ShipStation has been helpful for letting them choose which shipping solution they want to use based on the size of their order, and that information syncs with Cin7 seamlessly. “We’ve been able to save money there.”
My Barnwood Frames also dropships special items for select vendors. Because businesses across the board are dealing with price and shipping increases, Cin7 has helped John and Jodi review the selling history of these vendors and to adjust their own pricing to ensure strong margins.
“At one point, we had quite a few dropship vendors, and it was a big project every time someone would send us a notification,” John says. “If we had a thousand of their products, it was a chore to update it all, but Cin7 simplified that process quite a bit for us.”
Improving the margins for their shipping costs was another Cin7 win.
For the My Barnwood Frames team, Cin7 is the solution that’s helping them build their business into the future, solving problems along the way. Jodi has discovered that when she has a question or an issue arises, Cin7’s ticket system works very well. She’s also found that Cin7’s help button lets her see if someone else has the same or similar problem, which means she knows it’s being addressed.
As they look ahead, the team is excited that Cin7 will continue to help them protect their margins by keeping on top of rising shipping, advertising, and product costs and will support their burgeoning efforts to wholesale their products to local artists and resorts.
“In my experience in e-commerce, it’s a thousand little things that make the difference, not just one big thing. You add a little better description, you take a better picture, or you integrate with a specific channel to move the needle. And it takes a team effort.”
It truly does take a team effort, and as My Barnwood Frames continues to deliver unique, quality-built products, Cin7 is the glue that holds it all together.