USA Lab reports ‘night and day’ difference between Brightpearl and Cin7

When fast-growing brands realize they need the support of a retail operating system, it can be tempting to opt for a ‘cheap fix.’ 

However, it rarely pays off — something Michigan-based lab equipment brand USA Lab learned the hard way. 

After quadrupling in size in a matter of months, the multi-channel business, which specializes in B2B equipment for labs and universities alongside DTC equipment for hemp and CBD production, began experiencing issues with overselling and struggling with inventory management. 

“We had spreadsheets for everything and staying on top of everything was becoming more and more difficult,” said Matt Wisniewski, the company’s COO. 

“Accurately forecasting demand was a problem and, at one point, a third of our products were out of stock.

“We decided to look for a backend solution that could help us manage our workflows.”

A failed experiment

After some quick research, Matt discovered Cin7. The platform promised the world – and Matt was sold. 

Matt added: “I’d heard about Brightpearl’s great reputation but Cin7 seemed like it would do everything I needed – and it was cheap.

“Despite investing $5,000 upfront, I was asked to more-or-less manage the implementation of Cin7, with just some documentation for support.

“I needed an integration with QuickBooks; it’s the accounting software we like and are used to. However, Cin7’s integration with QuickBooks was really disappointing – it failed to integrate key bits of info, such as the payment method or transaction ID. This meant I had to manually upload the missing info on a daily basis – it quickly got tedious.

“I started to get this gut feeling, like ‘man, I should have gone with Brightpearl.’ I realized I didn’t want to spend any more time or money trying to make things work, so I called Brightpearl just before we went live and made the switch.”

“Disappointingly, Cin7 point blank refused any kind of refund – even though the system didn’t do what they promised and I’d done the majority of the implementation work myself. It was annoying, but I decided to draw a line under it as a bad experience and move forward with Brightpearl.” 

The Brightpearl difference

These types of experiences, sadly, aren’t surprising. 

Research shows implementation of ERPs and other platforms fails 50% – 75% of the time. Meanwhile, Brightpearl has developed a unique, managed-by-experts approach which has a 97% success rate. 

“The implementation of Brightpearl compared to Cin7 was like night and day. Brightpearl managed the implementation for me in just three months and provided 1-2-1 training from a friendly expert, who walked me through everything I needed to know. 

“It really helped me get the best out of Brightpearl from the word go. By the time we went live, I felt like a Brightpearl master!”

Unlike other platforms, Brightpearl has a huge range of instant, out-of-the-box integrations including BigCommerce, Shopify, Amazon, eBay and — especially important for USA Lab — QuickBooks.

It also has an open API and a trusted partner network that builds custom integrations in a matter of weeks (something which usually takes ERPs and other solutions months or even years).

Game-changing functionality

There’s a powerful Automation Engine, which saves the average customer two months every year, a highly accurate Inventory Planner and second-to-none WMS (warehouse management system) — all of which play a key role in helping Brightpearl customers Grow Fearlessly. 

“Brightpearl has features which I previously didn’t know I needed, but now can’t live without, such as Inventory Planner,” said Matt. 

“We have a 30,000 sqft warehouse and it takes the guesswork out of managing stock. I really love the daily email reports so I can stay on top of everything. 

“Automation with Brightpearl has been fantastic, too. I barely touch the system for standard orders. We have standard rules in place to automate things like creating invoices and allocating stock, and then we have custom rules for things like automatically arranging dropshipping or automatically checking stock to then allocate back orders. 

“It saves us around 15 hours a week which we can now spend on more important tasks.”

“Brightpearl stands out from the crowd because the functionality is excellent – and the system looks good and responds intuitively, too. When you use it all day, every day, it makes a real difference when it’s not.”

Brightpearl vs. Cin7 — a recap

USA Lab’s experience highlights how things can — and often do — go horribly wrong when fast-growing, multi-channel merchants choose, or are forced, into self-managed implementation. Here’s a quick recap on some important differences between Brightpearl and Cin7…

Brightpearl:

✅ Professional implementation, managed by experts + 24/7 support

✅ Plug & Play integrations with BigCommerce, QuickBooks and more

✅ Cutting edge functionality, including Brightpearl’s Inventory Planner, Automation Engine and WMS

Cin7:

❌ Risky self-guided implementation with ‘clear-as-mud documentation’

❌ ‘Disappointing, unfit-for-purpose’ integrations

❌ Minimal functionality

Book a demo with Brightpearl today.