Special Report Retail
various sorts with SAP in 2005. The
strategy was to sort out the central
systems as they were very old and
expensive and not particularly reliable.
Our store systems were creaking and this
was at the time when we were expanding
rapidly. So we sourced Microsoft Dynamics’
Navision for our POS requirements and
went live with a customised version of the
software in the early part of last year.”
Steve Johnson, Carpetright’s central
operations controller, added: “With our
old legacy ordering system in our stores,
we only had one piece of software, and
the hardware situated behind the
customer service desk – the rest of the
customer-facing operation was manual.
For example, invoices were written out
by hand on an invoice slip and someone
behind the main desk was employed to
input this data onto a computer. So, not
only was this time inefficient, there were
also occasional inaccurate data transfers
from paper to computer, which meant a
customer could end up receiving the
wrong colour, design or size of carpet.”
Johnson pointed out that, previously,
the customer-facing experience had
its problems, too. “When we were serving
customers in, say, a 10,000 sq ft unit store
and needed to take cash or debit or
credit card details, the customer had to
be escorted from the carpet showroom
area to the main customer service desk.
Once confirmed, he or she was then
taken back to the showroom desk so more expensive. We’ve largely done
the order could be finalised by the sales away with this methodology and almost
person. This whole process could everything is now done electronically –
interrupt the sales person’s interaction everything from surveys to staff time &
with the customer and take up too much attendance is relayed via our intranet.
“
With our old legacy ordering system in our stores, we only had one piece
of software, and the hardware situated behind the customer service desk –
the rest of the customer-facing operation was manual.” – Steve Johnson.
of the customer’s time. Now, by using our This has naturally proved much more
bespoke version of Microsoft Dynamics efficient in terms of time and cost
Navision POS software, we have savings.” At Purfleet, the company now
accelerated the ordering process and also enjoys fully centralised printing.
improved both our customer service “Previously, there was an array of
and order accuracy rate substantially.” different systems such as personal
printers and network printers,” said
Woosey adds that the company also Woosey. “Now, on each floor there is Ian Woosey, Carpetright’s director of IT,
has an intranet system. “Previously, we a centralised printing bay with two very
made sure everything worked at the
had posted envelopes to our 600 or so large printers. The result of this is that we
company’s distribution hub in Purfleet
from the outset – not just the PCs but
individual stores. Apart from phone calls, have cut our volume of printed material
everything from the lights and printers
just about everything was communicated by a third and our printing costs have
to the kettles and toilets.
by paper, or even fax; which can be even been reduced by 50 per cent.” >>
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MANUFACTURING
December 2009 &LOGISTICSIT
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