$250K/year saved — how an AI agent replaced manual order management
Ljusgårda (Supernormal Greens) went from 6 full-time sales reps to 1 coordinator + AI agent automating the order flow to 200+ ICA grocery stores.
Executive Summary
- 5-6 full-time sales reps spent their days manually taking phone orders from 200+ ICA stores
- The process was costly, time-consuming, and created bottlenecks limiting growth
- Alice Labs built an AI agent that automates the entire order flow via SMS — from order to payment
- Implementation in 6 weeks with minimal disruption to operations
- Result: 83% cost reduction, $250K/year in savings, 70-80% of order calls automated
Starting Point
Ljusgårda produces quality-grown vegetables sold to grocery stores across Sweden. Before AI implementation, the company had 5-6 full-time sales reps who spent most of their days manually calling and taking orders from over 200 ICA stores. The process was inefficient, expensive, and created significant scalability constraints.
Manual phone calls to 200+ stores every week. High personnel costs and time-consuming administration.
No automation of the order flow. Orders were documented manually and not synchronized in real-time.
The sales team's time was consumed by operational tasks instead of strategic sales and customer relationships.
Why Alice Labs
- Experience with AI implementation in the food and grocery industry
- Focus on rapid time-to-value: production in 6 weeks, not 6 months
- Solution that integrates with existing systems without disrupting operations
- Transparent process with clear KPIs and ROI calculations from day one
What We Built
We built an AI agent for SMS-based order management that automates the entire order process. The agent proactively contacts stores based on historical order patterns, handles orders via SMS, and synchronizes everything in real-time with inventory systems and invoicing. A coordinator handles exceptions and special cases while the AI agent manages the majority of the order flow.
Quality & Safety
- Human oversight for all orders above specified value
- Automatic escalation for anomalous ordering patterns
- Double-check against inventory status before order confirmation
- Fallback to manual handling during technical disruptions
- Complete logging for traceability and quality control
Results
83% cost reduction • $250K/year in savings • 70-80% of order flow fully automated
"We decided early on to leverage the new AI technology and needed a partner who could explore opportunities, propose solutions, lead the change process, and build them. With Alice we got everything in one place and have over the course of a year implemented several solutions that increased efficiency so much that an entire team could be removed. Alice Salesbot has effectively replaced an entire team — we have one coordinator who communicates with Alice, and only spend manual time on special cases."
Andreas Wilhelmsson
CEO and Co-founder, Supernormal Greens / Ljusgårda
Why This Worked
- 1.Automate the repetitive, free people for the strategic. Sales reps spent 80% of their time on operational tasks — now they can focus on customer relationships and growth.
- 2.SMS beats phone for routine orders. Stores prefer responding when it suits them, not when the rep calls.
- 3.Predictive data creates proactivity. By analyzing historical order patterns, the agent suggests orders before the store even thinks about it.
- 4.Fast implementation reduces risk. 6 weeks to production means rapid feedback and ability to iterate.
- 5.Human-in-the-loop for edge cases. AI handles the volume, humans handle the complexity.
When This Solution Is NOT Right
- ×If your customers require personal relationships for every order (e.g., high-touch enterprise sales)
- ×If order volume is too low to justify automation (under 50 orders/week)
- ×If your products require extensive configuration or customization per order
- ×If you lack historical order data to train predictive models on
Is This Right for You?
- You have repetitive order processes that take time from your team
- Your customers regularly order similar products
- You have historical data on order patterns
- You want to free your sales team for more strategic work
- You seek scalability without proportional headcount increases
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About Alice Labs: Alice Labs is a Swedish AI agency helping companies implement AI solutions that deliver measurable business results. From AI agents and automation to AI-driven SEO — we build systems that create real impact.
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