Bosley’s Pet Food Plus
Bosley’s Pet Food Plus automates operations with Microsoft Dynamics™
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Company Overview
Bosley’s business goals were becoming difficult to sustain without a significant investment in technology because the company lacked technological capabilities in almost every facet of its business.
Business Challenge
One problem was that none of its 22 retail locations were equipped with even basic desktop computers. Day-to-day communication between the stores was dependent on telephones and fax machines. E-mail capabilities were nonexistent and transmitting electronic data between retail and inventory systems was simply not possible. Because of this communications handicap, Bosley’s head office had no idea what was happening at the store level on a daily basis.
Inventory and product ordering were managed via a complex, manual system that involved employees counting items on the shelf by hand, scanning a corresponding code in a hardcopy order book and then inputting the number of items desired. Inventory was tracked by an independent company that would audit each Bosley’s location every six months. The process took approximately one day to complete and the results were quickly outdated.
Sales reports were written by hand and faxed to the central office where the data from each of the 22 locations was inputted manually into Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet software to create a company-wide sales report. The process was complicated and very time consuming.
“Our retail locations were small, independent and had virtually no communication with our main office other than the occasional phone call and a report that was faxed on a weekly basis,” says Ken Almond, president, Bosley’s Pet Food Plus. “As far as sales information goes, we were essentially operating in the Dark Ages.”
Bosley’s was also operating a popular customer rewards program for frequent buyers using a paper-based system. Customers who bought 10 bags of specific pet foods received one bag free. Problems occurred at the end of the month when all 22 locations sent hundreds of completed frequent buyer contracts to the head office. These contracts were all processed one at a time and shipped to the product manufacturer for credit. It would take one person an entire week to process the paperwork, which was a tremendous drain on the company’s resources, but an essential part of its marketing and sales success.
The final component to Bosley’s outdated system was its Accpac DOS environment. Located at the head office, the Accpac system managed all accounting and payroll operations along with warehouse purchasing, invoicing and inventory. The problem was that the system at the heart of Bosley’s inventory and sales network completely lacked integration.
Bosley’s needed a solution that would automate its rewards program for frequent buyers, modernize its inventory, sales, and accounting infrastructure, while providing its retail locations with a feasible means of reporting essential sales data quickly and accurately.
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Solution
In 2002, Ken Almond joined Bosley’s and took over as the company’s president. Almost immediately, he identified the need for a technology solution to address the company’s workflow and communication challenges.
“Information is a powerful tool and one of the things I identified right away when I took over the helm at Bosley’s was the sheer lack of it,” says Almond. “I knew that we needed to adopt technology in order survive. We were taking a big hit by not having the right intelligence at our fingertips.”
Due to his background as a chartered accountant, Almond was familiar with ERP solutions and knew how they could help a business. He hired an independent consultant to evaluate the different ERP software offerings available at the time. Bosley’s considered more than 10 offerings from a variety of providers including Profitek, Retail Pro, KingCorp and CounterPoint. In the end, Bosley’s decided on a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics RMS.
“I discovered at the time that a Québec-based chain of pet specialty stores had implemented a highly effective system combining Microsoft Dynamics GP with Microsoft Dynamics RMS,” says Almond. “Other companies we evaluated simply couldn’t offer the long-term stability that Microsoft could. There was no way to gauge whether some of these companies were going to be around in a few years and we certainly didn’t want to end up in a situation where we had a product with no support.”
Bosley’s began its deployment of Microsoft Dynamics RMS in the fall of 2004 and rolled out Microsoft Dynamics GP in February, 2005. After almost a year, Bosley’s began looking for more advanced customization. In November 2005, the company turned to Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Retail Hero. Retail Hero custom built an inter-store customer reward program designed to support the company’s frequent buyer program (a product now known as “Q-Rewards for Dynamics RMS”) and created an enhanced reporting system that has since become integrated into Bosley’s ERP systems.
With the new POS system in place, Bosley’s launched the current version of its system in February 2006. The company had effectively gone from having virtually no computerization to an advanced ERP system in just over a year.
Business Benefits
Since deploying the new solutions, Bosley’s Pet Food Plus has greatly improved its daily operations.
Automated inventory process
With the solution based on Microsoft Dynamics in place, Bosley’s inventory system is now completely automated. Orders are transferred directly from the retail locations to the warehouse via an ADSL line. Minimum and maximum limits are set for each item and when the system detects that a product amount is low, a sales order is created in Microsoft Dynamics GP. Manual counting and scanning has been completely eliminated from Bosley’s system and product orders can now be created in minutes. In addition, Bosley’s can evaluate sales performance for different brands and immediately identify when products are under or overstocked, allowing the company to manage products more efficiently and ensuring customers have a steady supply of the items they want.
“The inventory management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics RMS help us see which products are selling and which aren’t,” says Almond. “This knowledge is fundamental and critical in the retail business.”
Daily reporting capabilities
In the past, Bosley’s head office received a weekly sales report that featured limited information. Now, the head office receives a comprehensive daily sales report combining results from all 22 retail locations. As well, the capabilities available to the store managers allow them to create detailed reports and sales graphs while also tracking their progress toward annual sales goals. The Microsoft Dynamics environment provides everyone from head office executives to retail managers with the power to understand the status of their business and identify any shortcomings that might hinder success.
“I compile daily sales report every morning when I first come into the office. It takes me less than five minutes to know exactly what each store sold the day before and how they’re performing,” says Almond. “Before Microsoft Dynamics, I had to sift through 22 reports that came in at varying times and then manually enter the results into an Excel spreadsheet. The whole process would take hours and the better part of a day to understand what was happening in the company, whereas now it’s almost instantaneous.”
Diverse, real-time snapshots
Bosley’s now has the ability to access real-time snapshots of its organization’s performance. Because the company can accurately track data it helps staff make better, more informed business decisions.
“Microsoft Dynamics helps us identify our top-selling brands and our best sales people, as well as, better manage our inventory. The information available to us is limitless,” says Almond. “In the days before implementing Microsoft Dynamics we had no clue what our stores had. We couldn’t even accurately gauge our best-selling products. The software has helped us eliminate this problem and gives us an accurate picture of our business.”
Enhanced customer service
Prior to adopting this solution, Bosley’s was operating a popular customer rewards program for frequent buyers using a paper-based system for tracking customer loyalty. Retail hero built a system called Q-rewards which works transparently with RMS that improved the efficiency of this frequent buyer program by automating the entire process from the cashier level to the back office level, where managers now had all the reporting they needed right at their fingertips.
“The frequent buyer program was so successful that we were overwhelmed with paperwork. It was a complete nightmare to process,” says Almond. “Retail Hero was able to enhance our use of Microsoft Dynamics RMS with a customized program automating our frequent buyer program and allowing us to look after the entire system very easily and efficiently. The stacks of paperwork we were processing have been eliminated and store managers can now spend more time managing our business instead of concentrating on maintaining our database.”
Increased communication
With the introduction of Windows®-based PCs in Bosley’s retail locations, the company has taken advantage of e-mail capabilities through Microsoft Outlook®, as well as, instant messaging through Microsoft Windows Live Messenger™. This has provided the company with instant communications capabilities, contributing to the daily operations of the stores and, in many cases, helping better serve Bosley’s customers.
“We’re now able to send our retail stores daily updates on products, information on our suppliers, signage and training materials,” says Almond. “During a recent pet food recall, we were able to communicate with our stores instantly and were able to give them complete, comprehensive lists of the items affected, so they could remove those products from the shelves immediately.” Bosley’s was also in a better position to inform its customers as to which products they recently bought and whether or not those products were effected, thanks to the tracking features of their newly implemented Q-Rewards program.
Bosley’s Pet Food Plus will continue to reap the benefits of the Microsoft Dynamics platform for years to come. The company is planning to integrate new tools with Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics RMS and is investigating additional ways of streamlining its operations.
“A financial return on investment isn’t what Microsoft Dynamics is all about for Bosley’s. It’s about effectively managing a business and staying on top of today’s competitive market. Things change so quickly in retail and you have to be on your toes. Microsoft solutions allow us to do that.”
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:www.microsoft.ca/dynamics
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Retail Hero products and services, call 1-888-785-4376 or visit the Web site at: www.retailhero.com
For more information about Bosley’s Pet Food Plus, call (604) 270-4177 or visit the Web site at: www.bosleys.com
