How Sherper’s Boosted Sales by 28% on Target Plus with Zentail

Sherper’s is a fourth-generation, family-owned and operated sporting goods store with military surplus roots, based in southeastern Wisconsin. The company has been around for 89 years with three physical locations, and entered the ecommerce space roughly nine years ago. 

We spoke to two members of the Sherper’s team:‍

— Kayla Schneider, Marketing & Ecommerce Manager

— Jeremy Schneider, Ecommerce Marketplace Manager

Jeremy and Kayla manage the ecommerce side of the business, handling the website and various sales platforms. “It often feels like a startup within an 89-year-old company,” said Kayla. Sherper’s is an approved seller on the Target Plus marketplace. Initially, they onboarded through one of Target’s integration partners, Channel Advisor (now called Rithum).

Keep reading to learn more about their experience on Target Plus, why they switched integration partners, and how Zentail is saving them time and boosting their sales on Target Plus.

Why Target Plus? 

“Target is such a known name,” said Kayla. “Everyone knows and seems to love Target.” Kayla and the Sherper’s team saw immense value in selling on Target Plus. “We wanted to expand our sales and our footprint on the ecommerce side,” said Kayla. “Having SKU exclusivity was a big plus for us.”

Being a seller on Target Plus means you can build a competitive moat around your business, preventing competitors from encroaching on your territory.“Once you have a SKU on there, you’re the only one able to sell it, and that’s incredibly important,” she continued. “Being able to get on Target Plus with products we knew we could win in e-commerce, and knowing nobody else could sell those on Target, was huge for us.”

A Rocky Start: Challenges with Channel Advisor (Rithum)

Your success on Target Plus is strongly influenced by the integration partner you choose. Target has five approved integration partners who have been rigorously vetted to ensure high-quality sellers are supported by high-quality partners. Sellers choose a partner to guide them through onboarding and continue to support their success on the marketplace.

Even though these are Target approved partners, not every partner is made equal. 

Delayed Onboarding to Target Plus

Sherper’s initially onboarded to Target Plus with ChannelAdvisor. “The onboarding process was long and there wasn’t much hand-holding,” said Kayla.

A slow onboarding process has ripple effects. “A slower onboarding is just lost sales and lost revenue,” said Kayla. “You’re losing out on time to get products live, especially on Target where you can claim those SKUs and no one else can sell them. You’re missing that opportunity to make sure you’re getting that data over to them and getting that product listed before someone else takes it.” 

Lack of Visibility and Listing Errors

After onboarding, Sherper’s faced ongoing issues. “We went through periods with Channel Advisor (Rithum) where items would error out on Target Plus,” said Jeremy. “We’d go in and seemingly fix them, only to see the same errors or new ones pop up.”

Target’s strict listing requirements further complicated things. “There are so many attributes, and even the smallest detail, like how you phrase a warranty, could get something rejected from the platform,” he continued. This put pressure on sellers to stay up-to-date not only with Target’s listing requirements but also with SKUs that weren’t meeting the mark — something that was becoming increasingly difficult with Channel Advisor (Rithum). “It was frustrating,” said Jeremy.

A Lack of Support 

A good integration partner should offer transparency into product listings and help sellers stay up-to-date with listing requirements. “With Channel Advisor (Rithum), it was on us to figure it out on our own,” said Kayla. 

One of the biggest challenges they faced was items being rejected due to errors with attributes. “You might log in one day, see that an item is listed and selling, and the next day, it’s gone,” she explained. With Channel Advisor (Rithum), the Sherper’s team had to manually track these issues, which slowed down their ability to resolve errors and make data-driven decisions.

“It was on us to figure out on our own,” said Kayla. Without that insight and support, Kayla and the Sherper’s team couldn’t quickly resolve issues, optimize listings, or make data-driven decisions. All things that put their Target Plus performance – and sales goals – at risk.

Enter: Zentail 

The difference between Sherper’s experience with ChannelAdvisor and Zentail was night and day. “Zentail really stood out to me,” said Kayla. Here are a few key ways Zentail transformed their experience:

Fast and Efficient Onboarding

When onboarding to Target Plus, Sherper’s had the support of multiple Zentail experts. “Everyone was very hands-on, guiding us through the whole process,” said Kayla. “They were looking out for our data, sending us things we could fix to help speed up the process.”

Moving from one platform to another can be daunting. “When we first onboarded with Channel Advisor (Rithum), it was a big learning curve,” said Kayla. It required months of data prep. “Switching to Zentail was nerve-wracking,” she continued. “But surprisingly, it was much faster and smoother than we anticipated. Zentail definitely made it worth the while to switch.” 

Lightning-Fast Product Listings

“One of the main differences with Zentail versus Channel Advisor (Rithum) is the speed at which products get listed live,” said Jeremy. In the past, they would fix errors only to see the same or new ones reappear, which slowed down the process and made it harder for Sherper’s to stay competitive. But with Zentail, the time to list products has been drastically reduced.

“With Zentail you can see changes in real-time, you can see the progress, and it’s a lot smoother, a lot quicker,” he said. “We’ve had a lot more of our items listed successfully and consistently.”

The speed at which Zentail gets products live has enabled Sherper’s to quickly sell new product categories and claim exclusive SKUs. “In the past, it could take a week from when we got a new product line in, applied to list it, and had it approved to when it actually went live,” said Kayla. “Recently, we had a product go live in a day or two.” 

Since SKUs on Target are exclusive, getting products live as fast as possible ensures Sherper’s can claim them first, giving them a critical advantage over competitors. By listing products faster, Sherper’s can maintain their competitive edge and capitalize on new opportunities more effectively.

Proactive Listing Management and Accuracy

Not only does Zentail get your products listed quickly and efficiently, but they also ensure your listings are optimized, accurate, and compliant with Target’s strict requirements. “​​Zentail does a really good job of listing those requirements through drop-downs for some attributes, and it’s been so much smoother for us,” said Jeremy.

It’s vital to stay on top of Target’s listing updates. “Zentail has been more proactive,” said Kayla. Zentail does the heavy lifting, so all the Sherper’s team has to do is fill out a few details. “With ChannelAdvisor, we would have been doing all that research ourselves to figure out what was required,” she said. “Having someone in our corner doing that for us was really nice.”

Previously, Kayla and her team had to manually track changes from Target and update each listing themselves. “Zentail has made addressing changes and issues much quicker and smoother,” Kayla added.

High-quality Support

“With Zentail, I know who to reach out to directly,” said Jeremy. The Sherper’s team is on a first-name basis with their Zentail partners. “We can email them directly if we run into any issues,” said Kayla. “That’s made a huge difference for us.” With quality and timely support, Jeremy said he and the team have improved their efficiency. 

Enabling a Future of Growth on Target Plus

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen about a 28% increase in sales on Target,” said Kayla. “It’s huge for us.” 

For Sherper’s, the ability to quickly list products and grow into new categories has been key to their success. “With ChannelAdvisor, we might have hesitated to onboard new item types due to the time and effort involved,” Kayla said. “But with Zentail, it’s been much quicker and easier.”