World Market – Bringing the Joy of In-Store Shopping to Life via a Virtual Store
Building a Unified Digital Commerce Solution for a Multi-Brand Franchisor
Winmark Corporation
Winmark Corporation is a leader in the resale retail industry, specializing in sustainable, brand-name retail concepts. Operating over 1,300 franchise locations across North America, their brands, including Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child, and Play It Again Sports, offer high-quality, gently used products at affordable prices. Winmark is committed to driving profitability and growth for its franchisees while providing customers with sustainable shopping options.
Services
Starting with a Strategy
For decades, Winmark focused on empowering franchisees and perfecting their unique resale retail business model. However, rapid growth and the increasing complexity of managing 1,300+ franchisee locations revealed critical operational gaps. The company realized they could no longer rely on fragmented systems and inconsistent processes if they wanted to sustain growth and stay competitive.
To modernize their business and position themselves for the future, Winmark needed a complete overhaul of their digital commerce and content management systems. Their challenges were complex and far-reaching:
1. Disconnected Customer Experience
Each brand in Winmark’s portfolio operated its own website with little cohesion across the digital ecosystem. Customers navigating between brands faced a fragmented experience, with inconsistent branding and limited cross-site functionality.
2. Overwhelmed Franchisees
Managing content, inventory, and orders across multiple platforms was cumbersome for franchisees. Many lacked the tools or expertise to efficiently handle these tasks, leading to inefficiencies and frustration.
3. Decentralized Content Management
Winmark lacked a centralized system for managing content and product information. Franchisees relied on disparate sources, leading to inconsistencies in marketing materials, inventory data, and promotional efforts.
4. Outdated Technology Infrastructure
Their legacy systems were expensive to maintain, difficult to update, and ill-equipped to meet modern demands. Simple content updates required significant IT support and weeks of effort, creating bottlenecks that slowed the business.
As Winmark envisioned their future, they knew they needed a digital transformation to:
Create a seamless and unified shopping experience across their brands.
Equip franchisees with tools to independently manage their operations.
Centralize and modernize content management for greater efficiency.
Establish a scalable infrastructure capable of supporting growth and innovation.
Rightpoint partnered with Winmark to strip their digital ecosystem down to the studs and rebuild it with a future-proof foundation. The result was a unified commerce solution that not only solved their immediate challenges but also set them on a path for sustainable growth and success.
Work
After an in-depth assessment of Winmark's operations, goals, and challenges, the Rightpoint team proposed a comprehensive re-platforming initiative. The goal was to modernize their commerce infrastructure, streamline franchisee operations, and enhance the customer experience across their multi-brand network.
This long-term, multi-phase effort required close collaboration with stakeholders from Winmark's corporate and franchisee teams. Rightpoint's strategic approach focused on addressing key pain points while delivering a future-proof solution that could scale with the business.
The primary deliverables included:
Consolidating and Streamlining the Digital Platform: Rightpoint recommended re-platforming to BigCommerce. This unified platform supports all five Winmark brands under a single, flexible theme. By eliminating fragmented systems and centralizing management, Rightpoint reduced operational complexity and lowered maintenance costs.
Simplifying Franchisee Operations: A custom-built Seller App was introduced to empower franchisees with tools to manage their storefronts independently. This included:
Custom checkout workflows tailored to individual franchisee needs.
Real-time analytics dashboards for better business insights.
Streamlined inventory and order management features to reduce manual processes.
Enhancing the Customer Experience: The team focused on delivering a seamless, end-to-end shopping journey:
Redesigned checkout experiences that unified purchasing across brands.
Real-time inventory updates to ensure availability and accuracy.
Integration of POS systems for multi-location order fulfillment.
Introducing Scalable Tools for Content and Product Management: A robust infrastructure was developed to support Winmark's diverse operational needs:
Centralized Content Management: Rightpoint implemented tools to enable Winmark to manage content for all franchisees from one location.
Product Information Management (PIM): This system streamlined the management of product data across channels, ensuring consistency in marketing content and technical specs.
Standardizing Design and Governance Across Brands: To maintain brand integrity while allowing for franchisee customization, we:
Created a unified design system with clear guidelines for accessibility and consistency.
Provided franchisees with governance tools to balance autonomy with corporate branding requirements.
Implementing Modern Infrastructure: The project included key technical upgrades:
Migration to Azure for a scalable and reliable infrastructure.
Integration of Logicbroker for seamless POS connectivity.
Advanced features like multi-location order splitting and automated payment distribution.
By starting with a strong, collaborative strategy, Rightpoint ensured that the solution not only addressed Winmark's immediate needs but also laid the foundation for long-term success.
Outcomes
The new digital commerce platform transformed Winmark’s operations and customer experience. Key outcomes included:
Increased Efficiency: Franchisees reported significant time savings in managing their storefronts, inventory, and promotions.
Enhanced Customer Experience: Customers enjoyed a seamless shopping journey with integrated checkout, real-time inventory updates, and consistent brand experiences.
Cost Savings: Transitioning to BigCommerce reduced maintenance costs by 30% and distributed capital investments across franchisees.
Scalability: The platform supports future growth, enabling Winmark to onboard new brands and locations with ease.
By reimagining their digital commerce strategy, Winmark Corporation achieved a scalable, efficient, and franchisee-friendly solution. Rightpoint’s expertise in commerce and technology innovation played a critical role in delivering a solution that met Winmark’s goals for growth, cost management, and customer satisfaction.
Our Contributions
Technology
BigCommerce for unified multi-brand commerce
Logicbroker for multi-location POS integration
React & NodeJS for a robust frontend and backend
Stripe & Avalara for secure and compliant payment processing
