Premium cigars · E-commerce
Ongoing since December 20256 hours a week reclaimed: the complete back office of a premium brand, automated
Invoices, inventory, production planning, customer communication — all manual, all time-consuming. Arthova automated the core administrative processes and gave the owner back what matters: time for the brand, the product and growth.
Evidence classes: measured = counted or observed in operation · calculated = computed from confirmed inputs · modelled = conservative model with stated assumptions · planned = target state, not yet realised.
- Client
- Leopardo Negro — Premium Cigars (Switzerland)
- Area
- Premium cigars, e-commerce, direct sales
- Structure
- Sole proprietor — production, sales, logistics, brand in one pair of hands
- Project
- Back-office automation: invoicing, inventory, production, customer communication
- Duration
- Since December 2025 (ongoing)
- Impact
- ~6h/week saved, professionalised processesmodelled
Starting point
Leopardo Negro is a Swiss premium cigar brand with its own e-commerce and direct sales. The sole proprietor runs the business alone — from production through sales to bookkeeping. An estimated 6 hours a week went into administrative tasks that kept him away from brand building, product development and sales.
Invoicing by hand
Every invoice created manually, 10–15 minutes each. As order volume rose, it became a time-devouring ritual.
Inventory in Excel
Error-prone, no real-time view of stock levels. The result: stockouts and overstock.
Production by gut feeling
No data-driven process. Production and demand were out of sync.
Customer communication without a system
Every email, every order confirmation, every reply manual. No templates, no follow-up.
The system
Arthova implemented an integrated back-office system that automates the four core administrative areas — without interrupting day-to-day operations. Important: the cigars are still rolled by hand. Only the administration was automated — not the product.
Automated invoicing
Invoices are generated automatically from the order data: correctly formatted, tax-compliant, in seconds instead of minutes.
Intelligent inventory management
An automatic stock overview with minimum-stock alerts and forecasts based on sales data.
Data-driven production planning
Sales data and stock levels are analysed automatically — for production cycles that follow demand instead of gut feeling.
Structured customer communication
Order confirmations, shipping notifications and follow-ups run automatically: professional, consistent, with no manual effort.
Impact
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | Manual, 10–15 min. each | Automated, seconds |
| Inventory management | Excel, error-prone | Real time, automated |
| Production planning | Gut feeling | Data-driven |
| Customer communication | Every email individually | Automated, consistent |
| Stockouts | Regular | Fewer stockouts (per the owner) |
| Customer service | Reactive, slow | Proactive, structured |
Value calculation
- Invoicing
- ~2h per weekmodelled
- Inventory management
- ~1.5h per weekmodelled
- Production planning
- ~1h per weekmodelled
- Customer communication
- ~1.5h per weekmodelled
- Hours saved per year
- ~312 hours (6h × 52 weeks)modelled
- Value of time saved (CHF 60/h)
- ~CHF 18'720 per yearmodelled
The hourly rate reflects what a Swiss small-business owner's time is worth — every hour freed up is time for value-creating work instead of administration.
See the calculation — how these numbers are derived
The ~6h/week break down across four processes: invoicing ~2h, inventory management ~1.5h, production planning ~1h, customer communication ~1.5h — the owner's estimate after the first two months of operation. ~6h × 52 weeks = ~312h/year × CHF 60/h ≈ CHF 18'720/year, calculated conservatively (opportunity cost).
I ran the business alone — and lost hours every week to invoices, inventory and emails. Since the back office was automated, I have that time back. For the brand, for the product, for what counts. The system just runs; I don't have to think about it any more.
What we take from it
Four lean workflows instead of new enterprise software
Invoicing, inventory, production planning and customer communication were connected without a platform migration or months-long rollout.
Invoices, inventory and planning consume the owner's time
Together, these internal workflows took about six hours per week. Automating them creates capacity for the product and customer work.
Data beats gut feeling
From “I think we need more” to “the data says: 200 units in 3 weeks” — that fundamentally changes the quality of decisions.
Automation does not replace the craft
The cigars are still rolled by hand. AI doesn't replace the product — it frees up the time for it.
A similar starting point in your company?
In an intro call we work out whether a closer look is worthwhile — and tell you honestly if it is not.