Cost-U-Less
Part of The North West Company · 2018 to 2020Emergency ecommerce after a hurricane, built into a permanent platform.
Cost-U-Less operates warehouse-style stores serving island communities across the South Pacific and Caribbean. When a hurricane destroyed one of those stores, the community lost its primary source for groceries and essentials overnight. I led the response: an online store that could take orders while the store was rebuilt, stood up fast without compromising the customer experience.
- Role
- Business Development Manager, Ecommerce
- Year
- 2020
- Industry
- Grocery & Essentials Retail
- Site
- Visit →
Highlights
- 01Launched under emergency timelines
- 02Real arrival dates at checkout, built on ferry schedules
- 03Weekly circulars turned into shoppable carts
- 04Store teams equipped to fulfill online orders
- 05Inventory kept accurate through ERP and POS integration
- 06Grew from emergency response into a permanent channel
The Challenge
Stand up commerce while the store is rebuilt.
A hurricane destroyed the physical store. The community that depended on it for food and household goods needed access immediately, not after months of development, and there was a narrow window before customers turned to other options that were often more expensive and farther away.
The island setting compounded the challenge. Delivery depended on ferry schedules, regional weather, and the realities of inter-island logistics rather than standard ground shipping.
The Approach
Buy what we can, build what we must.
Rather than commission a custom build that would have taken months, I brought in Freshop, a grocery-specific commerce platform, for catalog, cart, and checkout out of the box. We layered in what was specific to Cost-U-Less: ferry shipping schedules so customers could see real arrival dates at checkout, local circular integration so weekly promos translated directly into shoppable carts, and ERP and POS integration so the online store reflected real inventory.
A mobile picking app gave in-store associates the workflow to fulfill online orders alongside walk-in shopping without doubling their workload.
The Outcome
Emergency response that outlived the emergency.
The platform shipped fast enough to serve the community while the store was rebuilt. When the physical store reopened, the online store remained. It became part of how Cost-U-Less serves island customers, expanded to additional locations, and grew into a lasting channel for the business.
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