Eighteen months ago Paul Jamieson and his family moved into a store of approximately 800 square feet with a post office counter in the heart of a picturesque village near Manningtree, Essex.

 New to the business and to retailing Paul soon realised he needed to do something about the levels of stock that he had acquired with the shop. "Almost every room in the house had boxes of stock in them. The bedrooms were full, there were boxes in the kitchen and dining room, we were literally falling over the stuff" he recalls.

 After only a few months in the business Paul invested in a one lane Sprint EPoS system and has been delighted with what it has done for him. "I knew I needed something to make life easier. It used to take me hours to go through the store and then the stock room (and some of the other rooms in the house) to see what needed to be ordered, now its much easier – its all done for me. I just check through the order and look through the order forms to see if there are any other promotions I'm interested in!"

 "When we first took over the business there was far too much stock. There was in the region of £2100 worth of cigarettes. This is now down to about £1600. In addition we've managed to grow the business by about 18% and the overall stock holding is still less than what it was when we took over."

 When Paul bought the store he inherited a few staff and didn't want to lose them. "They'd been here for years, they knew the customers and their orders - they were part of the fixtures and fitting really. When we told them that we were putting a new system in some of them were concerned. We have one lady who works for us who is in her 60's and she was petrified at the thought of a computer but she's taken to it brilliantly. She wouldn't be without it now - it's made her life so much easier."

 With all the money Paul had spent on the purchase of the store and moving, etc. the cost of the system was a concern of his. "It was something I knew I needed and I was convinced that it would pay for itself. What I didn't know was how quickly it would pay for itself! One of the things that it has done for me is make my VAT returns much easier and more accurate. This alone has made significant savings and I can rest in the knowledge that I am paying the correct amount of VAT to the Inland Revenue."

 The past 18 months have been both hectic and hard work for Paul and his family but he took a day out of the business to go to the User Group meeting at Brandon in October last year and "found it extremely worthwhile," he said. "I was new to EPoS and to retailing and picked up loads of great tips and advice from both YP and the other retailers who attended. I never really understood the importance of the Health-Check reports but now I wouldn't be without them. If I don't have time to look at any of the other reports, I find time to go through the Health-Check – it's like a lifeline to us," he said.

 "The support and training that I have received has been great and the series of four manuals provide a good structure for progression with the system. They have also been a very useful first point of reference if ever I've got stuck," said Paul.

 So after nine months with EPoS, what advice would Paul offer to anyone thinking about investing in Sprint? "Do it! - If there's one thing I would do differently, it would be to put EPoS in now, at this time of the year when you are not as busy as you are during the summer. 3 weeks after I installed SiNQUA I went on holiday and although nothing went wrong it was in the back of my mind, while I was away. If you invest now by the time the busy summer comes, you‘ll wonder how you ever managed without it!"

From the YP Electronics Newsletter Issue 41

Case Studies Menu