Asset Tracking for E-commerce Sites
For those who are not familiar, zulily is an online retail site that brings special finds at incredible prices, every day. We feature an ever-changing collection of clothing, shoes, home décor, toys, gifts and more — for the whole family. Unique products from up-and-coming brands are featured alongside favorites from top brands, giving customers something new to discover each morning.
At zulily, we run a large in-house photography studio with hundreds of pieces of expensive equipment. Tracking our cameras, lenses, and lighting gear was a nightmare as the company transitioned from a small start up to a publicly traded company. We had three or four different management changes, and with each change, they passed a deformed version of an excel doc that served as our “inventory”. Transitioning to Asset Panda insured that we would have an accessible asset management system that would outlive any one person's tenure. It also provided impressive tools to track spending on repairs as well as equipment lifespan.
With the nature of our business and the large quantity of equipment needed, the data available on the repair history has been especially valuable. With Asset Panda we can see the full maintenance history on each piece of equipment and we are able to ensure that everything is up to date and in working order for use at any time. Also helpful is the ability to sort things between our different studios. There is no guessing where equipment is anymore and we can search for specific pieces much more easily than ever before rather than scrolling down an excel document. Thanks to Asset Panda we are able to barcode and track all of our equipment with ease!
As previously mentioned, the equipment we use is quite expensive. So we have to be cognizant of our budgets and how we are spending our dollars and on what. With Asset Panda, we have been able to determine much more effectively what we are spending on repairing equipment. That makes it easier to decide when it’s time to retire a camera based on its maintenance history. There’s no need to spend money on equipment that is outdated or frequently needing to be repaired, and now we can more easily manage and monitor those processes.
Asset Panda has been nothing short of wonderful to use in our business. The customer service has been super helpful and they have guided us through the process of setting up and even still regularly reach out to check in on us and any needs we might have. I definitely would recommend Asset Panda!
– Sam Hunt, Lead Photographer
