Dike & Son

Dike & Son independent growth: Family-run business uses Torex technology to upgrade to new ten lane superstore.

Who is Dike & Son?

Dike & Son is an independent family owned grocery business which has been operating in Stalbridge, Dorset since 1851. It is committed to bringing customers locally sourced produce at sensible prices. The company does a lot of work with local charities, supporting one each year.

Dike & Son is a member of NISA-Today's buying group, which enables the store to offer its customers very competitive pricing and hundreds of special offers and discounts that easily match those of the bigger chain stores.

The challenge
Dike & Son's well-established and successful retail operation had outgrown its premises in Stalbridge. The company wanted to upgrade from its row of three converted cottages to a purpose-built superstore up the road. In order for the move to be a success, owner Andy Dike and his team had to ensure that its technology was able to cope with growing from a small operation to a ten lane store. The increase in space also meant the company had significantly more stock to manage.

The solution
To meet this new challenge and take advantage of the opportunities presented, Dike & Son decided to upgrade its existing Torex system to Torex Iridium and Torex Prism.
Torex Iridium is a point of sale solution specifically designed for convenience retailers. It's intuitive touch screen technology makes it very easy to use, ensuring fast and reliable customer service, while keeping total control of sales prices and stock levels.

Torex Prism allows for easy management of the stock elements of business, and it also integrates fully with EPOS allowing businesses to monitor price fluctuation, stock performance and track sales. The Prism solution helps Dike & Son to make informed decisions, leading to an increase in profits, customer loyalty and reduced wastage.

Torex Iridium and Prism offered Dike & Son the end-to-end solution it needed to run the new store efficiently.

Benefits

Bigger can be better
By upgrading its technology, Dike & Son has been able to see the benefits of successfully running a larger operation.

More detailed data
The new system provides more detailed EPOS data, allowing Adam Vincent, Company Director, and his management team to track overall and promotional sales more successfully. Consequently, they can work and plan more efficiently with suppliers. The team is able to print off seasonal reports and see exactly what they sold over the last few years, ensuring that they stock enough of a particular product at a given time of year. For example, Adam and his team used EPOS data to make sure they stocked enough pumpkins to meet demand for Halloween.

Adam explains that, "Since implementing Torex across our business we have really seen a huge difference. Being able to export data into Excel at the drop of a button is a real bonus as it gives us greater insight into how our sales are doing and where we can make further improvements. The system is so intuitive and straightforward that you can't really get it wrong. By running a good EPOS system, you can gain a half a per cent increase on your bottom line, which definitely counts for something."

More time to spend with customers
Ordering was previously done manually, which proved to be a time consuming exercise. Now staff use handheld guns to scan and automatically order stock, making the process much faster. The time saved means that staff are able to spend more time with customers, giving them the personal touch that Dike & Son prides itself on.

The increase from four to ten tills, with the help of the new technology, means that the store can serve more customers, reducing waiting times during busy periods and increasing the amount of foot-fall in the store.

Looking to the future
The new store has been so successful that Dike & Son has ordered a new handheld scanning terminal from Torex to cope with the increase in demand and ensure the shelves stay stocked with what customers are looking for.

Adam says, "I'm eagerly awaiting the latest technology update from Torex so we can roll it out as soon as it's available and continue to take our operation to the next level."