Dorrington Village Stores

Knowing the company
Stephen Morris has been running Dorrington Village Stores in Shropshire since April 2007, when he purchased the store. Previously, Stephen found that the store was restricted by its legacy EPoS system's inability to carry out in-depth data analysis on sales and identify key buying patterns. As it diversified its range of stock, this type of insight into sales uptake was important for the business in identifying potential growth areas and ensuring it continued to attract new customers while retaining existing ones.

Stephen also wanted to replace the store's EPoS system as it did not integrate with the accounting system. This meant that invoices had to be entered manually rather than being automatically transmitted to the EPoS system through the accountancy software.

Choosing the Solution
In June 2009, Dorrington Village Stores selected Torex as its new EPoS system to fulfil the store's evolving needs. The powerful Torex back office package offers store managers control over many aspects of their retail operations, from supply ordering, to auditing to loyalty schemes.

Transferral to the new system was a simple process because most of the stock information could be copied across directly from the old one. Stephen and his staff also benefited from the two day intensive training course.

The benefits were immediate

Increased efficiency
The new system is used to generate orders; detecting when the stock is running low and reminding the manager to place an order where necessary. New orders are transmitted instantly to suppliers, and, where appropriate, will receive electronic delivery notes. This level of automation greatly enhances the efficiency of the stock ordering process, reducing the administrative burden. The store now saves 12 hours a week on order processing, which based on minimum wage equates to £72.96 per week, that's £3793.92 per year.

These extra 12 hours have freed up a considerable amount of Stephen's time. He explains, "I can now spend less time ordering stock manually, updating the account system and entering invoice information, and more time talking to my customers."

Improved insight into buying patterns
The Torex system is capable of producing thousands of reports on different sales patterns using the data it collates. For instance, the profits margin checker sorts everything by product heading and so it is possible to see the best selling brands and their percentage sales in comparison with other similar products. Results can be presented in different chart formats to provide a visual representation of sales data.

Stephen checks these reports on a weekly basis but he also recognises the value of analysing the data within a longer timeframe, explaining, "As the amount of data on the system increases, we'll be able to compare longer sales periods side by side to detect seasonal and annual trends, which we can then anticipate."

By using this information effectively, he has already been able to reduce stock wastage by 1.42% per annum as well increase margins by 2% per annum.

Reduced theft
The Torex system includes an integrated CCTV function which helps him control stock by preventing theft. A live feed from the camera is streamed directly to the EPoS screen to allow staff to monitor what is happening in-store without turning their backs to the shop floor, which has already led to a reduction in theft.

More promotional offers
As well as improving efficiency and offering greater transparency of data, the Torex solution helps Dorrington Village Stores to run more promotions and special offers. The store now runs many special deals such as "Mix and Match" and "Buy One Get One Free" for shoppers. Stephen adds, "We've found the promotions easy to manage and very popular with our customers."

The Future
Stephen is so impressed with the system that he has already ordered a second EPoS unit, which he hopes will further improve customer service. He concludes, "I am so pleased I selected Torex to modernise my EPoS system. The number of ways it is useful to my business continues to grow as I familiarise myself with all its many functions."

http://www.dorringtonvillagestores.co.uk/