ACI Brands streamlines golf wholesale with Elastic Suite

ACI Brands is a leading Canadian distributor of clothing, apparel, and accessory brands across multiple channels. The company partnered with Elastic Suite to bring digital B2B commerce and modern merchandising tools to its golf brands, including Bridgestone Golf, Antigua Apparel, and Nancy Lopez Golf.

ACI joined Elastic in October 2021 to streamline sales processes for its six regional independent reps and retail partners across Canada. Today, the team supports hundreds of retail accounts, from green grass pro shops to specialty retailers and multinational chains. Since launching with Elastic, ACI reps have placed more than 1,090 orders representing over 57,020 units sold.

Empowering reps with a better selling experience

ACI moved to digital B2B commerce to give its sales team easier access to the information they need to serve retailers. With Elastic, reps can access product details, pricing, and inventory availability in one centralized platform.

By replacing disconnected tools and manual processes, Elastic helps ACI create a more efficient selling experience for reps while providing retailers with faster, more informed service.

“Elastic Suite is first and foremost a tool we’re using for our reps to enter orders through, but also for them to gather information and create tools to better serve their customers.”

Brooke Bauer, Director of Golf and Apparel, ACI Brands

When evaluating B2B platforms, ACI prioritized ease of use and rep adoption. Many of its independent reps were already familiar with Elastic through other brands, making the transition seamless. Antigua Apparel’s U.S. operations also joined the Elastic platform, creating a more connected commerce experience across the business.

Strengthening retailer relationships

ACI’s independent reps provide personalized service to retail partners across Canada. With Elastic, reps can quickly access product information, inventory levels, and availability while building and placing orders directly through the platform.

Features like digital merchandising and custom collections help reps create tailored order proposals based on each retailer’s needs. For large preseason bookings with many SKUs, reps can visually merchandise assortments and help buyers see how products will come together in their stores.

ACI also plans to expand Elastic access to retail partners, giving customers a self-service option for at-once and available-to-ship orders. This helps retailers quickly replenish inventory and keep products moving during key selling periods.

Improving operational efficiency

Elastic has helped ACI improve internal workflows across sales and customer service teams. Before Elastic, reps relied on Excel order forms to manage complex orders and pricing structures. Customer service teams then had to manually process those orders.

With Elastic, reps create cleaner order confirmations and reduce manual entry, helping customer service teams save time and focus on higher-value activities.

Creating more personalized selling solutions

Custom collections are one of ACI’s most valuable Elastic features. Because retailers often buy products based on how they merchandise and sell them, reps can build collections that reflect each retailer’s unique needs.

By presenting products visually, reps can help buyers better understand product combinations, assortment strategies, and how items will come together on the sales floor.

ACI also uses Elastic’s Links area to centralize important sales resources. Reps can quickly access the information and tools they need, reducing internal communication challenges and creating a more efficient sales process.

“Automating and the ability to modify and bulk upload data was a key consideration for choosing Elastic. These tools are essential to update product information from season to season.”

Michael Douglas, IT Applications Manager, ACI Brands

Elastic also gives ACI the flexibility to organize and segment data by region and sales rep. This allows teams to deliver more targeted selling strategies while ensuring reps have access to the information most relevant to their customers.