Carlisle-based homeware, lighting, handles and ironmongery supplier, More Handles, has expanded its business by implementing new technology to simplify online sales, while improving and automating stock management and purchasing.
The family-run business – with more than 23 of the 43 staff related to someone else in the business – was set up in 2007 and grew quickly, opening its first trade counter and showroom in 2012, and a second branch in 2017. As it expanded, More Handles was looking for a business and stock management system that could handle the company’s sales across a number of different channels.
With a catalogue of over 80,000 products, More Handles recognised that e-commerce was essential to continuing the company’s expansion and enabling it to remain competitive. So, it turned to its technology partner of eight years, OGL Computer, who implemented an integrated CRM, accounts and purchasing ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.
OGL Software enables More Handles to run the three core aspects of its business – trade counter, retail showroom and e-commerce website – through one system, so removing the manual processes of order management and stock handling that were slowing down growth.
The integration between More Handles’ website and OGL Computer’s ERP system has provided the supplier with seamless management of all sales channels across the entire business.
Mike Hunt, Commercial Manager at More Handles, explained: “OGL Software and the integration with our Magento website has meant that all orders are automatically imported directly, removing any extra staff involvement and the subsequent costs and potential errors. The time-cost saving of this system is crucial to our business model. It enables us to use staff time to manage the reactive and proactive sales calls and provide staffing to our customer service department, rather than as order input agents.”
Giving customers a modern, easy to use website was important to More Handles, but so was usability. OGL Software has transformed More Handles management of its extensive online product catalogue, and simplified the addition of new customers’ data. The company has praised the integrated system for processing orders more efficiently and enabling it to keep track of, and immediately update, product pricing.
Mike Hunt continued “The integration between our website and OGL Software allows us to manage price changes from our suppliers in a timely and organised manner. We also need to be able to use individual pricing matrices for each customer account and with OGL Software it means our customers can view their own specific pricing when they log in.
“The automatic import of customer orders from the website into OGL Software and the ability to immediately update pricing on the website is easily our favourite feature of the system.”
OGL Software also transformed warehouse management at More Handles by enabling the business to automate business processes to make stock, purchasing and order management more efficient.
Previously all orders were part picked by More Handles’ warehouse team and then manually assessed for any missing stock, which was a time-consuming process, with the potential for human error. Now, with the new technology system in place, the warehouse team has access to a shortages feature for reliable, automatic purchase order information, so they can prioritise picking products in limited supply to complete orders more efficiently.
Mike Hunt added: “With OGL Software, we can rely on the system to effectively manage sales orders and purchasing. The efficiency savings this has provided has directly enabled us to grow to a £multi-million turnover business while retaining a small warehouse team that manages the sales order processing, purchasing and stock.”
Nick Davies, Head of Software Development at OGL Computer, concluded: “We’ve never been busier. Suppliers and stockists of a range of products are looking to improve their online presence to ensure that sales are maximised. We’re proud to work with companies like More Handles that are continually increasing their product portfolio and are looking for technology to integrate their business, warehouse and online sales channels.”
About OGL Computer
OGL Computer is the technology partner to over 1,200 UK businesses, including small, growing businesses as well as multi-site enterprise businesses. We are accredited by the world’s leading IT and cyber security vendors, to deliver best-in-class IT, business software and cyber security solutions. We are incredibly proud of our 40-year heritage and our unique proposition whereby our three specialist divisions work closely together to deliver the complete technology package to our customers.
OGL Computer is the author and developer of a suite of ERP solutions for stockists, distributors and wholesalers across the UK. OGL Software offers a wide range of modules including: CRM, Sales Order Processing, Warehouse & Stock Management, Accounts & Invoicing, Sales Analysis and eCommerce integration, which takes care of all common business processes to deliver greater efficiency and profitability. OGL Software is the premier choice for organisations looking to drive their business forward.
Find out more at: www.ogl.co.uk or call 01299 873 873 or email [email protected]