Outdated Tools and Processes Causing Customer Frustration 

Across the Countrywide network, members faced the same challenge: eCommerce platforms that were slow and hard to navigate. 

• Sales representatives spent valuable time taking phone orders instead of building relationships and providing consultative selling. 
• Customer service teams were overwhelmed with manual order entry. 
• Customers had limited visibility into the full product catalog, repeatedly ordering the same items without discovering the broader range of products available. 

The old platforms simply didn’t deliver the digital experience that customers expect today, leading to frequent complaints. 

Evan Geale, Director at HBW Foodservice, recalled the frustration, “Life before Pepper was a sh*thouse, and not user friendly at all. Customers had issues, and the system was just clunky. 

Distributors reported feeling technologically behind the market, creating friction and leading to missed sales opportunities.

Nathan Narayanan, General Manager at Galipo Food Company, explained the gap, “We were behind where the market was in terms of technology. We needed a system that gave customers better visibility and made ordering faster and smarter.”

Creating a Centralized Digital Platform for Countrywide 

Recognising the need for innovation to thrive against national competitors, Countrywide partnered with Pepper to modernise sales and ordering experiences for their distributors. Pepper’s eCommerce platform brought everything into one place, integrating ordering, pricing, promotions and data-driven insights designed specifically for foodservice.

Making Ordering Simple for Customers and Teams

Members described immediate improvements once customers began ordering through Pepper. The platform puts each distributor’s full catalogue, pricing and promotions in one place. Customers can order anytime without needing to phone or email their rep, while sales and telesales teams spend less time entering data and chasing details. 

For Greg Robertson, Managing Director at Aliant Foodservices, Pepper’s automation has been a game changer. He shared, “The app’s made life easier because it’s taken pressure off our telesales team. Customers are placing their own orders, and reps can see when they’re ordering new products. It’s fantastic.”

At Galipo Food Company, online ordering adoption more than doubled in three months, with digital orders jumping from 22% to 56% of total transactions as customers rapidly shifted to the platform.

Creating Promotions as a Strategic Tool

The promotions feature gave distributors a powerful marketing capability they previously lacked. Members use it to highlight new or overstocked items, support supplier campaigns and keep customers engaged. 

Evan Geale explained, “Promotions is an amazing tool. I can push a product and it just explodes. Customers jump on it straight away.” 

A Data-Driven Sales Advantage

With Pepper, Countrywide members now have a clear view of their full product range and how customers are buying. The platform’s order guides, lost-item alerts and reporting tools give sales reps the information they need to stay proactive and support customers, before sales are lost. It’s made conversations more valuable and less reactive. Customers are discovering products they didn’t realise were available, creating new sales opportunities and helping businesses strengthen their relationships with existing clients.

Seamless Implementation Built for Success

Despite the drastic change in technology, distributors found the implementation process surprisingly straightforward. The typical implementation took just six to eight weeks from start to finish, with minimal demands on distributor resources.

Evan Geale recalled, "The onboarding of Pepper was amazing for me. The guys helped fix all my issues straight away. If I found any new issues, they'd jump straight on that. The demand on myself was very minimal."

Greg Robertson, who had struggled with a previous platform implementation, found Pepper refreshingly different: "I had had an experience with a previous product which I found very difficult to the point where we never actually used it. I thought Pepper was fantastic. It happened pretty quickly and the initial rollout worked great."

A more modern and connected Countrywide network

Countrywide’s partnership with Pepper has given independent distributors access to a modern ordering experience while preserving their local relationships. Members across all major capitals and regional centres are now using the same seamless platform to serve their customers, creating a consistent, user-friendly experience nationwide.

Since implementing Pepper, Countrywide members have achieved remarkable improvements:

• 70% digital adoption within three months, up from 22%
• 10% sales uplift from non-order-guide purchases through product discovery
• Reduced manual workload and fewer inbound telesales calls
• Higher customer satisfaction and stronger retention rates
• Targeted promotions with improved product movement

Evan Geale shared, "Having Pepper as our online platform is by far the best advantage for our customers. They love the ease and functionality of it compared to our opposition's platforms. They think it's just number one."

Looking Ahead

By adopting Pepper early, Countrywide Members have positioned themselves as innovators in a sector long resistant to change. 

With Pepper, Countrywide members aren’t just catching up to digital transformation, they’re leading it.