Crystal Farms boosts retailer traffic & operational efficiency

Challenge

Crystal Farms is a trusted Midwestern dairy brand with roots in the 1920s. Known for supporting local farms, they offer quality cheese and other dairy products. Since joining Post Holdings in 2014, the brand has expanded their reach and introduced innovative cheese products.However, Crystal Farms encountered significant challenges with their previous provider. The platform’s inefficiencies in updating their where-to-buy retail listings made it difficult to drive consumer traffic. Here were their challenges:

• Manual updates: The team spent hours each month pulling and updating retailer lists manually. 
• Limited capabilities: Their old where-to-buy solution struggled with basic functionality and load times. 
• Ineffective traffic support: With their former provider, Crystal Farms missed opportunities to drive shopper traffic to their retail partners and the brand’s website. 

These limitations led to operational inefficiencies and hindered relationships with their retail partners.
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Strategic Solution

Crystal Farms partnered with Pear Commerce to implement a full-platform solution, including Store Locator, Shoppable Product Detail Pages, Shoppable Recipes, and Pear Connect. This all-in-one system streamlined their retail operations, enhanced their digital presence, and continues to provide actionable data for their sales team.

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Results

A seamless transition 

Crystal Farms’ onboarding experience with Pear was, in the words of Brand Manager Shannon Witwicke, "the easiest transition I’ve had working with vendors." The process was quick, taking just a few weeks from kickoff to launch. Team Pear provided upfront clarity on requirements, eliminating confusion and reducing back-and-forth communication.Witwicke highlights the relief of moving away from manual updates with Pear's automated system. "It was a super smooth transition, which was a huge relief. I’m able to just set it, forget it, and trust that it’s always working." 

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Enhanced consumer engagement
& web traffic

‍The Store Locator, Shoppable PDPs, and Pear Connect campaigns gives Crystal Farms an edge. By allowing users to add items directly to their cart and click through to retailers' sites, they’re seeing a significant jump in site traffic and retailer visits.When Pear brought Shoppable Recipes to beta, Crystal Farms jumped at the chance to try it: "We were one of the first brands to test Pear’s Shoppable Recipes, and we’re very excited about that," Witwicke shares.

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Time saved through automation

‍Pear’s platform saves Crystal Farms roughly 8 hours each month by eliminating the need for manual retailer list updates. Pear also ensures retailer data accuracy on a daily basis—capturing even smaller, independent retailers critical to Crystal Farms' business model.

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Improved retail relationships

‍The "add-to-cart" feature transformed how Crystal Farms communicates with retailers. For example, it helped them secure increased buy-in from retail partners like Piggly Wiggly Alabama, whose Store Locator listings were added within an impressive two-week timeline. For the first time, they could show data tying website visitors directly to retail visits, which frames their sales story. Witwicke beams, "We’re running media campaigns with Pear Connect, and the results have been out of this world. Our team loves sharing with our retail partners how our campaigns are increasing our retail visit rate—it's been amazing! Even our website traffic is growing.”Using Pear Connect boosted their retailer visit rates from 0.05% to 99.97% by eliminating extra clicks and sending every ad directly to in-stock retailers.

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Intuitive & reliable platform

‍One standout feature of Pear's solution was how effortless it was for the team to use. "It’s so intuitive. I’ve had no complaints from our team or agency partners. Everyone finds it easy to use and pull reports from." Additionally, the Pear Commerce team provides incredible support. "Brett and Ruth were outstanding. They’re fast, knowledgeable, and quick to find solutions," Witwicke says.

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Measurable outcomes

‍Since switching to Pear Commerce, Crystal Farms reports:

• Significant traffic increases to both their website and retail partner sites.
• Positive response & alignment between sales and retail teams.
• Automated retailer & inventory updates across every shoppable tool.

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Impact on business goals

‍While Crystal Farms’ initial goal was to simply replace their where-to-buy tool, they gained so much more. Pear’s full platform’s capabilities aligned perfectly with their growth objectives, now serving as a powerful driver of sales stories, retail relationships, and consumer engagement."Our president is thrilled. Having a functional tool was our baseline, and everything we’ve gained on top of that has been a major plus! Pear helps our sales team and our retailers grow their business, too!" Witwicke emphasizes.

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