Case Study
“It’s a big yes from us” L
ake District local Richard, purchased the Stitch & Print business back in 2004. With his former industry on the decline and child number two on the way, Richard returned to Cumbria in the late 90s in search of a new industry to get stuck into.
After working for a garment decorator for a number of years he was offered the opportunity to buy the business and equipment, becoming self-employed for the first time.
Fast-forward to today and Stitch & Print does what it says on the tin. The small dream team of three specialise in embroidering and vinyl printing on to workwear and staff uniforms for small businesses and this is where DecoNetwork comes into its own.
Not only does Richard use the customer facing, e-commerce enabled website, but also the back-end business hub system to control the non-e-commerce side of the business too, as DecoNework is described as a complete software solution.
Professional looking
Richard explains what part of the software he uses to manage his orders. He says: “The quotation function in the system allows us to produce professional looking presentations of quotes and orders to email directly to our customers, complete with pricing, sizing, colours and design/ artwork proofing. The artwork proof feature reduces any errors or confusion over the logo requirements too as all of the information is there for the client to approve.” Once an order has been approved, the team can then proceed to order the required garments, check the garments into the production queue along with confirmation of dispatch. “With a clear history of the order in the system, we can confirm what happened, where and when with every single order,” adds Richard. What Richard enjoys most about the DecoNetwork system, is that when the customer returns and wants to reorder, it’s a super simple process to use the existing information to provide quick and accurate information. “The time saving for our
| 38 | June 2021
Richard Mattinson of Stitch& Print outside his premises in Wigton
administration is phenomenal,” he says. Another of Richard’s favourite aspects of DecoNetwork is the company’s in-house brochure team. He explains: “They’ve got a tough gig trying to keep online brochures from suppliers around the world up-to-date with new products, sizes and colour changes as well as pre-defined decoration areas and supplier prices.”
The in-house brochure team also clean up the redundant and discontinued products so everything is kept up-to-date so users don’t have to, something which Richard says is another great time saving feature.
Streamlined
Over the years DecoNetwork has helped the team to speed up processes, streamline their workflow, eliminate mistakes and keep control on unnecessary overheads, something which became particularly prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Richard is quick to point out however, that the DecoNetwork system is not the answer to all of your problems. “You still need to do the initial legwork. Whether it’s setting up your
customer base, selecting and streamlining your products with the top UK catalogues or changing the pre-set decoration areas and setting up pricing. Putting the legwork in early pays dividends in the long term.” He continues: “The important thing is going into it with realistic expectations on what the system is going to do for you. It’s not going to take you to a multi-million- pound internet-based business on day one. It’s not going to do everything you want straight out of the box. You get out what you put in.”
“DecoNetwork is definitely worth the investment. It’s a big yes from us,” concludes Richard.
Richard Mattinson’s top hints for making DecoNetwork work for you
1) Plan your site out. How do you want it to look? How are people going to navigate it?
2) Get one of the DecoPros to build the site for you. It’s worth the cost!
3) Take your time, it’s not going to happen overnight, plan your staged development out over the next 12 months.
4) Keep it tidy. If you can’t remember where you hid something, how is a customer ever going to find the product you want to put in front of them?
Good luck with your DecoNetwork journey!
Stitch & Print of Wigton in Cumbria has been a loyal customer of DecoNetwork for the past 10 years. Richard Mattinson explains why he won’t use any other web to print business platform.
Richard Mattinson of Stitch & Print shows off his DecoNetwork website
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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