ideas-and-tool: System audits and optimization

Advance Global

For businesses, making the jump from small to medium-sized is an exciting milestone! For Advance Global, evolving into a larger business meant a significant opportunity, but the company needed reliable software in place in order to take advantage of the growth.

Advance Global found the right technology in Cin7, who recommended SMB Consultants as a preferred implementation partner.

With the help of both Cin7 Core and SMB’s guidance and expertise, Advance Global completely streamlined their operations, removing several of the multi-stage, manual processes in the business and freeing up resources for other areas of the company.

Advance Global began as an exhaust-fitting business and has since expanded into a wholesale provider of safety and compliance products. The company provides Australia’s massive agricultural and mining industries with road signs and other safety solutions.

The company experienced significant growth in the past five years, in which the staff grew from a crew of three people to a team of 15. During that time, the growth put pressure on their operating systems.

“We’ve had quite a substantial amount of growth, and we’re looking at increasing that again by another 50% in the next three years,” says Advance Global’s Sherilyn Mansley, who looks after the system and finance side of the business.

At a crossroads

Advance Global’s team saw further growth coming and knew they needed to be ready for it — but their existing systems were getting in the way.

“We weren’t keeping up with the growth, and that was preventing us from growing as much as we could,” says Sherilyn.

“Plus, we didn’t have any forecasting tools, and we wanted to understand how things would look when we did grow our sales. What stock levels would we need? What were we wasting money on? That was a big thing for us — we seemed to have everything we didn’t need.”

At the time, Advance Global’s team was recovering from a bad implementation experience with a previous inventory provider. That resulted in them managing stock through their accounting software, Xero.

Advance Global knew that Xero alone wouldn’t be what they needed to manage their inventory – it’s simply not what the software was designed for. “We knew it was a bit of a band-aid over a broken arm,” Sherilyn says.

Eventually, Sherilyn decided to use Cin7 Core as the foundation of Advance Global’s new tech stack because it offered multi-channel sales features, the ability to handle a complex bill of materials, and a user-friendly interface.

She also knew that she wanted an implementation partner who could ensure that the system was optimized for future growth.

“We contacted Cin7, and they sent us some preferred partners; of the ones they sent, SMB Consultants looked like the best fit.”

The power of a connected tech stack

SMB Consultants worked closely with Advance Global each step of the way to get their new tech stack perfectly tuned to the brand’s needs.

“We wanted to have a proactive process in place, leaving us able to go back to the business and say, these are things that we talked about initially, have we completed them?” says Jeff Atizado, Founder and CEO of SMB Consultants.

After relying on a disconnected mixture of Xero and spreadsheets, things are now very different.

Ordering, receiving, and invoicing all go through Cin7 Core, and then orders flow through to Starshipit to be sent to customers, and Pinch Payments are used to manage overdue accounts. All the finances flow through to Xero, where they’re easily accessible for reporting and compliance.

“It’s removed the fog from our eyes — that technological things aren’t as hard as they seem,” Sherilyn says. “When you’re stuck in a system, you’ve got no potential to grow. Whereas now we know ‘Cin7 Core will do that,’ or ‘We can add this on Cin7 Core.’ It actually has helped a lot.”

“Xero is there working in the background,“ adds Jeff, “but the fact that you can have a front end like Cin7 Core is what gives Advance Global front-end functionality. Cin7 Core can be customized to manage this workflow from start to finish, but still integrate seamlessly into Xero and just be in the background.”

Earlier in their journey, Advance Global bought and sold finished products, but their new tech stack helped them manufacture some of their own items.

Here, too, Cin7 Core has made itself particularly useful. Its Bill of Materials functionality means that anything that comes in as a raw product and is manufactured into a finished product is properly accounted for.

Once assembled, Starshipit’s integration with Cin7 Core allows Advance Global to do freight quoting and other vital shipping tasks.

“We are using the system Jeff and SMB have implemented from start to finish.”

Advance Global, SMB Consultants, and Cin7 make a winning team

With their successful business relationship with SMB and Cin7 Core as part of their tech stack, Sherilyn and Advance Global are confident they have made the right choices for the future of their business.

“Before we’d engaged SMB, we didn’t know where to go or how to make certain things happen. SMB has become a support partner. If we want to build a website or move forward in any way, we know we can reach out and have those talks with SMB.”

Having seen the remarkable results from the Cin7 Core implementation, Jeff agrees. “It’s a credit to Sherilyn and her team,” he says, “for embracing change and going on this journey with us so that we could identify these areas where integration and automation could streamline and save time and make data more up to date.”

The journey hasn’t been without its twists and turns, but Advance Global sees an open road ahead of them.

“We’ve got a lot more control over what stock we do and don’t have. We’ve reduced the amount of stock that we’re running out of and we’ve reduced the time spent on manual processes,” Sherilyn says.“Before, if we ran out of something, they’d have to write out and order it and then it’d go to our purchasing department, and now it’s an automatic process.”

By transitioning operations from manual to automatic, Advance Global was able to take advantage of the growth opportunities in front of them and remain profitable. With the previous setup, sales growth would have meant hiring more individuals to keep the system running.

Now Sherilyn says, “Even if we doubled our sales, we still wouldn’t need to put anyone else on because the process is so simple.”,

Management and staff alike are enjoying the much smoother ride. “Cin7 Core has taken out a lot of the manual processes that were involved in our business,” Sherilyn says.

Looking forward

Working with SMB and Cin7 has also helped Advance Global reimagine what future growth looks like. Sherilyn is particularly looking forward to implementing forecasting tools, “That’s going to be a huge saving as well because at the moment we are carrying a lot of stock, but we don’t know what we’re carrying too much of.”

Using real-time inventory levels and having the ability to look back at sales trends will help Advance Global take a more data-driven approach to managing their stock and optimizing costs.

Finding the right tech stack and implementation partner has also created new growth opportunities. Sherilyn explains:

“It’s opened up a lot of channels that we would’ve never gone into. We’re now thinking about things like eBay and Amazon, things that we never thought of before because we simply didn’t have the resources because everything was done manually.”

Compared to her first disappointing implementation experience, working with Cin7 and SMB has been rewarding for Sherilyn and her business. Not only has the partnership enabled seamless sales and inventory management, but it’s also changed the way Advance Global looks at opportunities.

“We thought putting a new inventory system would be huge, but it was a lot simpler than we thought. So, I suppose it’s given us more confidence going forward in other projects we look at implementing in our business. We have a bit of a, we can do it attitude now.”

If your business is ready for the next level, explore Cin7 Core today.

warehouse layout design hero

Warehouse layout design best practices

Posted on | by Cin7 team | Leave a Comment on Warehouse layout design best practices

There’s more to running a warehouse than just piling inventory on shelves. The design of your warehouse can make or break your overall operational efficiency.

Warehouse layouts need to be optimized for clear visibility, smooth transfer of goods, and easy equipment accessibility. And no one design will work for everyone.

Most companies use one of three main warehouse layout styles. These layouts address items like the needs of different industries, the warehouse building size and shape, shipping and receiving volume, and budget.

So, what’s the best way to arrange your warehouse? Let’s dive into the options to help streamline your workflow and make the most of your warehousing space.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What does warehouse layout mean?

Warehouse layout design factors

3 types of warehouse layouts for workflow

Best practices of warehouse layout design

Final step: Choosing a warehouse management system

Frequently Asked Questions

What does warehouse layout mean?

Warehouse layout refers to both the physical structure of your warehouse and the many components within it. A proper warehouse layout also ensures workers have enough space to operate at maximum capacity, leading to a smoother inventory flow with less wasted time.

Warehouse layout design factors

There are several considerations for optimal warehouse design and workflow. You’ll want to consider all of them before deciding on the best space for your team.

Budget

Building a warehouse from scratch to custom specifications is expensive and time-consuming. While hiring a warehouse design expert to create a layout based on your requirements would be ideal, most companies need to work within a more limited budget.

Make sure to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and see which structures and equipment best fit your budget. You’ll also want to take existing warehouses into account. There might be an available warehouse space already on the market that’s a pretty good fit for your business needs. In many cases, warehouses for lease might already include some warehouse equipment like shelving.

Warehouse space needed

When planning your warehouse layout, how you divide the space determines your warehouse’s capacity and ability to store goods. For example, if you need to include office areas and break rooms, you’ll have less space to store and prepare inventory.

To maximize your warehouse’s storage capacity, make use of vertical space by stacking products. You can form clusters of products by grouping and stacking them together — which leads to quicker sorting later.

Equipment needed

To operate at full capacity, warehouse equipment such as shelving, conveyors, forklifts, lifting and packing tools, pallet racks, and safety equipment are required. Forklifts, in particular, are one of the most important pieces of equipment for warehousing operations, and you need to consider this tool’s cost and the space it needs to operate as you design your warehouse.

In addition to the equipment moving around, you’ll need barriers to protect your inventory and workers. Barrier rails work great when combined with mirrors and bollards. After analyzing your equipment needs, you can evaluate the best-suited warehouse layout and go from there.

Staffing requirements

Understanding staffing requirements can help you estimate how many people you’ll need and shift timings.

It’s important to make sure your warehouse’s layout does not impede the movement and productivity of your employees. The layout should also be designed while keeping the future in mind — you should have enough space so new employees, products, and materials can be added comfortably down the line.

Safety regulations

The safety of your employees is a prime concern. While designing your warehouse layout, ensure compliance with safety guidelines according to your local authorities and government.

This helps prevent both employee injuries and legal actions.

3 types of warehouse layouts for workflow

The three most commonly used warehouse workflow layouts are U-shaped, I-shaped, and L-shaped. Each style has benefits and drawbacks; let’s look at them in detail so you can determine the best possible structure for your needs.

The U-shaped warehouse flow

U-shaped warehouse flows are the most popular due to their simplicity and ease of replication. All the inventory is arranged in a “U” shaped semicircle, the middle portion (the bend of the “U”) is used for storage, and then shipping and receiving are performed at the ends of the “U.”

After receiving orders, products are placed in the staging or reception area to be sorted and then placed at appropriate storage locations. Storage locations are split into two categories:

  • Static Storage is for slow-selling products that are more likely to sit on the shelves for a longer period of time.
  • Dynamic Storage is for products with higher demand and turnover.

The “U” shape helps streamline inventory flow and keeps everything separate. By keeping incoming and outgoing shipments apart, the U shape also helps avoid bottlenecks.

Plus, because shipping and receiving are on the same end of the building, employees can swiftly move products between these two stages, and you may need less loading and unloading gear.

However, some people consider this a downside because the proximity of the entrance and exit can lead to congestion.

The I-shaped warehouse flow

The I-shaped warehouse flow is most often chosen by enterprise businesses that have larger warehouses. The I-shaped design offers a clear “in and out” view of product workflow for these bigger companies producing higher volumes.

In this layout, receiving and unloading are on one end of the warehouse, storage is in the middle, and the shipping area is at the opposite end of the building. The I-shaped design allows for a linear flow from receipt to shipment.

From a bird’s eye view, the flow is similar to an assembly line, which both helps minimize bottlenecks and reduces back-and-forth movement.

The most significant drawbacks of an I-shaped warehouse design are that two sets of loading and unloading equipment are needed, and products must travel the complete length of the warehouse. With products being accessed on both sides of the “I,” you may also need a larger operational space for equipment like forklifts.

The L-shaped warehouse flow

For “L” layouts, the receiving and unloading areas are on one side of the warehouse, and the shipping and picking areas are on an adjacent side, creating a 90-degree angle. The remaining space is then designated for storage purposes.

While “L” shaped warehouse layouts are often used to fit an “L” shaped building, that’s not the only benefit. Like the I-shaped flow, the L-shaped flow also reduces back-and-forth movement. It also separates the receiving and shipping areas on different sides of the warehouse to help prevent traffic congestion.

However, the downside of the L-shape is that it requires considerable space to run your operation smoothly, and you’ll still need two sets of loading and unloading equipment.

Best practices of warehouse layout design

Regardless of your chosen warehouse layout, you’ll need to optimize it to ensure efficient operations. Here are some tips you can implement to make the most of your warehousing strategy.

Warehouse mapping

While finalizing the schematics of your warehouse’s design, you should make sure to get the most accurate measurements possible. You’ll also need to label each area of the facility according to its function. Keep in mind that a 2022 survey found the typical company only used 85.6% of its warehouse space.

Each workflow should be established from entry to exit. Once the workflow is designed, you’ll be able to understand how each function connects. After that, you can define the best work processes and train your employees correctly.

Optimizing picking processes

When you adequately plan your picking and packing workflows, you’ll be able to ship the right products to the right customers. There are several picking methods that you can implement to improve your processes.

  • Batch picking consists of picking similar orders in batches, all at once. This method is faster than picking one order at a time, and it allows you to fulfill similar orders that include the same SKUs.
  • Zone picking is when pickers are assigned specific zones and only pick orders from that area. Zone picking is commonly performed one at a time. If an order needs products that are outside a specific zone, a conveyor belt is often used.
  • Wave picking is helpful for warehouses with more significant volumes of products with many SKUs, and combines batch and zone picking. In this method, the picker has to stay within the zone assigned to them, and they are able to pick multiple orders simultaneously.
  • Discrete picking is often used in small businesses with fewer SKUs. Whenever an order is received, the picker retrieves all items for the order from different zones of the warehouse. This is time-consuming because pickers are only able to process one order at a time.

As always, you should select the picking strategy that best suits your business and your warehouse. Whatever method you choose, you should focus on maintaining high picking accuracy to reduce the risk of returns.

Ideally, it’s best to have picking areas close to storage areas — which can dramatically reduce the time spent to select ordered items. To increase the efficiency of the picking process, you can also install conveyors.

Improving warehouse accessibility

It’s crucial to place all necessary tools and equipment in spots that are easily accessible to your warehouse workers. There also needs to be enough space for equipment and staff to move freely along designated paths. This speeds up the order fulfillment process to deliver more quickly to customers.

Streamlining the shipping process

The shipping area is where final packing and preparation for shipping take place. Ideally, you want to keep this area separate from other spaces to avoid mixups. It should also be laid out so that staff doesn’t backtrack to complete steps in the process.

Keep best-selling products near shipping areas and products that don’t sell as well farther away. This helps minimize travel picking time and can be accomplished most easily with L- and U-shaped layouts.

Testing and collecting feedback

After finalizing your layout and warehouse flow, you should make sure to run tests and confirm that everything flows smoothly. Equipment like forklifts and conveyors should also be tested.

Allow the employees who will be handling the equipment to test it out and take their feedback into account. Since your picking team will constantly move around the warehouse, you should also work with them to optimize routes for faster fulfillment and less confusion.

You can optimize your strategy and determine the best possible configuration and processes based on feedback and test results.

Final step: Choosing a warehouse management system

Once you decide on your warehouse’s layout and flow, it’s time to choose your warehouse management system. You’d be surprised how much smoother your day-to-day operations and order fulfillment can become with the right management system.

A warehouse management system gives you a real-time view of your inventory’s performance and helps you significantly optimize your warehouse. In fact, 77% of organizations consider warehouse automation systems a crucial part of maximizing performance.

If you’re interested in implementing a warehouse automation system for your business, contact the Cin7 experts to learn more about how we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common warehouse layout?

The most common warehouse layout is the U-shaped warehouse. This shape is popular because it is easy to replicate and has a simple setup.

The U-shape also helps avoid bottlenecks by keeping shipping and receiving on opposite sides of the same end of the building while storage is in the middle.

What is the best warehouse shape?

The best warehouse design for your business really depends on a number of factors. Budget, inventory size and type, number of orders, safety requirements, and your warehouse space can all affect which is best for you.

U-shaped warehouses are good general designs that work for a large number of situations. I-shapes are great for large order volumes or the use of conveyor belts. L-shapes help reduce back-and-forth movement, which is helpful for large products and controlling traffic flow.

A quick and easy guide to good retail management

Posted on | by Cin7 team | Leave a Comment on A quick and easy guide to good retail management

When shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for in a store, they leave happy. And when they leave happy, the store management is happy because the chances are those customers will come back again, or better yet, give a good recommendation to one of their friends.

It takes a lot of work and planning to get to this point, of course. The store has to have the right look and be open and inviting, and merchandise has to be displayed appealingly. The inventory also has to be managed well. This means having enough of an item in stock to be able to replace it quickly in the store when it’s sold – because it looks better if everything is well-stocked – and having enough of it in storage to be able to do this. This means ordering more, knowing when to do this, and doing it early enough to cover lead times – the length of time it’ll take a supplier to turn purchase orders around. The umbrella term for all these activities is retail management. In this blog, we’re going to break down the areas that make up retail management and look at them in detail.

Understanding the importance of retail management

The word retailer comes from the Old French retaillour or retailleor, and it translates as someone who sells items in small quantities. This interpretation pretty much stands today: store owners stock goods in limited amounts, and their customers usually buy items in ones and twos.

You may be wondering why we’re going into etymology. Well, it’s to give an understanding of the scope of the businesses we’re talking about. And when you get your mind around that, we can delve into the challenges and decisions that are specific to retail stores.

The central challenge of a retailer is to give their customers a good experience, to let them know they’re welcome, understood, and appreciated. It’s how you get them to come back. This experience runs from creating a look that reflects the interests of the shoppers to streamlining the checkout. For instance, a book store will have subtle color tones, be crammed with books, have quiet areas to check out reading material, and could be playing easy-listening classical music in the background. A shop selling clothing to young people, on the other hand, mayl use bright colors to decorate their interior, should have the right mood lighting, and may be playing Top-Ten music hits very loudly.

Differences aside, there are aspects that all retail establishments have in common. First among these is internal organization. When a customer walks into a store, they should very quickly be able to work out where everything is. In our bookstore example, the works will be categorized by genre, each one having its own section; and within that each book will be placed on a shelf alphabetically. In the clothing store, it’s garment type – jeans will be on one rack, coats on another – and to make everything even easier to find, each rack will have its clothing grouped by size.

The second thing all stores have in common is salespeople. There’s an art in choosing the right sales people, but more on that later.

The third characteristic shared by retail is the checkout. paying. Nowadays, there are several options for this: cash, card, or online via an app on a cell. It should be a smooth, simple process.

Taken together, all these facets add up to what’s called retail management, and when it’s done well, it’s good retail management.

The process of retail management

If you own or manage a retail store, you’re responsible for everything that goes into the running of it, from getting the right inventory to giving customers a good experience to handling employees. We’re going to break your job description down into its component areas and take a close look at each one.

#1 Planning

Like any endeavor, the first step in any retail enterprise is to plan it out. This covers everything from interior design and layout to choosing what goods to get from suppliers.

We’ve already covered design, so let’s get down to layout. As described in our examples, depending on the kind of items you’re selling, a potential customer has to feel comfortable in your space. If you’re selling tech, that means spacing out your devices and lighting them brightly to invite those entering your store to “play” with each one; if you have a thrift shop, you’ll want your items to be thrown together in batches to appeal to your customers’ bargain-hunting instincts. It’s all part of driving foot traffic to your establishment.

Irrespective of the kind of items you’re selling, you have to give careful consideration to where you place your checkout. You’ll want your shoppers to be able to see it easily, but you won’t want it to block the free flow of customers. For these reasons, it’s probably not a good idea to place it near the entrance. Similarly, if you run a clothing store, you shouldn’t put it near the changing rooms – that would not only block access, it could look like a brazen grab for a sale and put customers off.

Keeping the interior of the store clean and tidy is also important. It’s part of making your walk-ins feel they’re welcome.

Another major consideration when working out layout is shoplifting. Arranging items so that your employees can see as many of the areas as possible is a good way of preventing this. If shoplifting becomes a serious problem, however, surveillance cameras should be installed.

#2  Choosing suppliers

When you’ve worked out your layout, you need to get your products in. You’ll probably know what kind of store you’re opening when you sign a lease for the space, so buying comes down to finding suppliers and setting up accounts with them. Then it’s a matter of working out your markups, guesstimating returns, and researching your competition. Purchasing inventory is such a crucial part of store management.

When you’re looking around for suppliers, you should be checking out the following:

  • Their selling price – best to go with someone who offers the lowest price,
  • Whether they can deliver to your store,
  • Length of time it will take them to deliver items to you – their lead time – this has to be taken into account when reordering,
  • Their after-sales service,
  • Their return policy,
  • Terms of their invoices – specifically length of time they give you to pay, and
  • How much credit they’ll give you.

It’s a good idea to find several suppliers to work with. This way, if one doesn’t have what you want or can’t deliver, you have a fallback.

Then it’s a matter of working out your markups, guesstimating returns, and researching your competition.

#3 Receiving, storing, and displaying

First thing when a shipment comes in from a supplier is to check the goods against your purchase order and their invoice to make sure you’ve received everything you’re being charged for, and you should inspect each item for quality. If anything is damaged or incorrect, you send it back.

Next comes storage. If you have a small shop, this could be a back room; but if your business is larger, say something like a box store, you’re going to need a bigger space, a much bigger space, something that’s more like a warehouse.

When it comes to displaying items in your store, several matters should be taken into account. Things that are more likely to catch a customer’s eye should be right up front, near the entrance.If some of the things you sell are heavy, they should be on shelves that are near the floor, not on high levels; items that are similar should be grouped together; and small items that could be last-minute purchases, like socks or small packets of candy, should be next to the checkout.

The placement of any discounts you’re running is also important when trying to encourage sales.  These should always be clearly labeled, preferable on their area of the shelving as well as individually on the product. Essentially, you’re building goodwill with your customers, and if an item they pick up—thinking it’s discounted—turns out not to be, they’re going to be upset. For some types of things, like clothing, however, it’s a good idea to have a dedicated area for all discounted items.

Of course, as a retailer selling in ones and twos, you’re probably going to be stocking a lot of different items in different colors and sizes. This makes keeping track of everything  a challenge. Technology can come to the rescue here, technology like Cin7’s inventory management software. Cin7 tracks inventory in real-time, letting you know exactly what you have and how much of it you hold. It can also automate your purchase orders, registering when your stock is low enough to warrant reorder and taking care of it. 

#4 Hiring and managing employees

This is important because a salesperson can make or break your retail business. Number one when checking out prospective hires is that they should like people. They have to have bright personalities and show a degree of patience. In short, they should enjoy interacting with customers, be happy to help them find what they want and be willing and able to answer any questions. Plus, they should be able to calmly listen to complaints and be willing to resolve issues. It also helps if they have knowledge of your business category. Thus, if you have a hardware store, you’ll want salespeople who know a lot about home improvement; if you have a beauty store, you’ll want salespeople who love and are up-to-date on things like make-up trends.

Your sales staff should also be adept at using your checkout, otherwise known as your point of sale system. Depending on the size of your store, you may have an employee dedicated to taking customer payments, so it’s important they be well-versed in whatever system you use.

And for you as a retail manager, once you’ve selected the right people to work for you, it’s your responsibility to keep a subtle eye on them to make sure they’re not taking advantage, and to resolve conflicts and grievances they may have. If your staff is content in the workplace, it’s reflected in the way your business performs.

#5 Service and sales

As indicated in the section directly above, your sales staff should be able to give your customers a gentle nudge when they’re undecided about whether to buy or not. That, essentially, is what a good sales person is defined by.

To make your customer experience complete, a smooth checkout is the cherry on the cake. While a point of sale (POS) can be defined as an old-time cash register, today much more sophisticated, online-based systems are the norm. In addition to adding up the cost of items, if several are purchased, these modern-day systems can scan barcodes and process different payment types, from cash to credit cards and cell-phone apps. They can also store your customer’s information – useful if there are returns or you want to send them marketing materials – and keep track of your inventory.

Cin7’s POS can do all this and more.

 

Optimize your retail operations with Cin7

To sum up, when a retail store is run well, customers have a good experience and walk out happy with the item they want, and your staff are content and put in that extra effort for you.

Then there’s control of your inventory, getting the right stock in and ensuring you have enough of it at all times to satisfy demand. That’s where Cin7 can be helpful. Cin7’s cloud-based software gives you a bird’s eye view of all your inventory, and can produce data to keep you on top of what items are selling best. Cin7 can also create loyalty programs and, as discussed, streamline your checkout.

If you want to learn more about Cin7 and how it can bring improvements to your retail business,  call one of our experts today and book a demo.

Helping LOCATE customers find a new home

Posted on | by Cin7 team | Leave a Comment on Helping LOCATE customers find a new home

The choices for inventory and order management software are narrowing by the month. In July 2020, Square sunsetted Stitch Labs. In June 2021, Intuit/QuickBooks announced it was sunsetting its TradeGecko platform. In November of 2021, Xero announced October 10, 2022 as the date it will be sunsetting its LOCATE software.

The field of inventory software providers is undergoing a trend of consolidation because the few top full-featured players are becoming established as the solutions of choice.

If you’ve started an ecommerce business, are in the planning stages for one, or are expanding your brick-and-mortar to include online, implementing a flexible, cloud-based, all-in-one inventory and order management system should be top of mind.

The sunsetting of LOCATE may leave you in need of another software solution for managing  your inventory. If that’s the case, how would you feel about getting an online system that could do more than LOCATE? Is your business sufficiently prepared for robust growth, for instance? Cin7 is an inventory and order management solution built to position your business for growth for years to come.

There are still several options out there, even without LOCATE. How can you know which solution to choose? How do the leading providers that are left compare to each other? Which solution is best for you?

 

Choosing the right alternative to LOCATE

Here are some important considerations to keep in mind as you begin to research inventory control providers.

A solution that will grow with you

The software you choose should be able to keep up with the growth of your business. A good way to estimate the future growth of your business is to take the quantity of goods you’re currently selling and increase it by a reasonable growth factor each year for the next five years.

Higher complexity online sellers are adopting Cin7, which supports multichannel sales operations and boasts over 700 built-in integrations that connect to popular accounting, shipping, and 3PL providers to handle warehousing and fulfillment.

When selecting an inventory management system, you should make sure it’s  completely SaaS-based. SaaS stands for Software as a Service, which essentially means it operates totally in the cloud. Some providers are not completely SaaS based, and require physical servers to be installed in each of your locations. Of course, these servers have to be maintained.

Highly configurable multichannel D2C options

We recently conducted a survey of 4,000 online sellers. We wanted to find out what strategies the most successful sellers were applying. Of the 4,000 businesses we polled, 47% rated multichannel selling as their #1 priority.

Building a variety of sales channels allows for a more agile business strategy, one that’s less vulnerable to market disruptions. Cin7’s integrated ecosystem enables multichannel selling from all of your online and physical store locations.

We even published the survey as a fact-filled eBook. It’s available for free right here.

Strengthen your supply chain

We’ve all heard about the current state of the global supply chain. Experts tell us the disruption may not be resolved until 2024 or beyond. This underscores the importance of choosing a software provider with the richest feature set for the price to mitigate the impact of supply chain disruption wherever possible.

Compared to competitors, Cin7 comes out way ahead when it comes to feature depth. As your business grows, the ability to connect directly to major retailers via built-in EDI simplifies bulk orders and payment processing. Cin7 seamlessly connects inventory and order management to point of sale, online marketplaces, accounting software, shipping, and 3PL providers. It also includes a warehouse management system.

When it comes to integrations, no other solution can beat Cin7. With over 700 built-in connections, Cin7 creates a centralized network of real-time 360° visibility across your business and builds efficiencies in finance, order fulfillment, EDI, and 3PL.

Cin7 immediately syncs all sales and purchasing transactions with popular accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero.

When it comes to financial analysis and reporting, Cin7 boasts extensively configurable reporting analytics including pivot table-based reports to help with sales analysis and inventory forecasting.

B2B and Wholesale

Cin7 ensures you can handle inventory control, sales, purchasing, order fulfillment and payment processing for B2B orders. Cin7 includes a configurable payment portal that allows you to set payment terms, take wholesale order deposits of any amount, and process all payments.

Cost

Cin7 is priced in the mid hundreds, includes multiple users, and connections to third parties in the monthly subscription fee. Most other solutions require middleware providers to create connections and charge a recurring monthly fee per connection.

With the number of connections required to run your business, it’s financially wise to go with a provider that has already built direct connections to the leading third parties you’re going to need to work with and includes them in your monthly fees.

 

Don’t delay researching

October 10, 2022 is just around the corner. If you’re a growing product seller and multiple sales channels is your goal, book a demo here. One of our Cin7 sales specialists will help you find out if Cin7 is a fit for your growing business.

7 Common mistakes wholesalers and distributors make

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Business models such as ecommerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) are giving a tough time to wholesalers as well as retailers. You may already be struggling with razor-thin margins, and during such situations committing mistakes can cost you dearly. You need to be on top of your game.

This article will share some common mistakes that wholesalers and distributors make while running the business. Understanding these mistakes is a stepping stone to avoiding them.

 

Some common mistakes that wholesalers and distributors make

1. Using outdated methods

It’s surprising to think about how many businesses still rely on manual approaches, like using pen and paper to manage their businesses. Although pen and paper do have their own merit, for starters, they don’t need any electricity to run. However, papers can be easily misplaced or stolen, which you don’t want. Storing them can be a headache too as it will take significant space in your office premises. Plus, it’s not convenient to share them with your business partners.

While some people have migrated to digital forms like spreadsheets, it’s not enough to be successful today. Spreadsheets can get really messy, and you’ll have to spend a considerable amount of time updating them regularly. Plus, it’ll take digital storage space, which is risky if your storage drive gets corrupt.

The best solution is to use a cloud-based inventory management solution. The data gets updated in real-time, so you get accurate visibility over your inventory. As the data is securely stored in the cloud, there’s no risk of losing it.

 

2. Sales representatives lacking information and resources

Sales is the primary revenue generating activity for your wholesaling business. Your sales representatives are entrusted with the responsibility to drive sales, and thus, they must be equipped with all the right tools and knowledge. They need to have full visibility over your inventory and should be well versed with your product and promotional information.

It’s best to also acquaint them with your business process so that they can confidently answer queries about delivery time and product returns. Failing to do this will affect your customer service, and you’ll lose out on loyal customers.

You can leverage Cin7’s inventory management solution to empower your sales team. They can easily get data about your customers, suppliers, and all necessary product-related information. The features of Cin7 aren’t just limited to inventory management. You can also use it to streamline your sales quoting process. Cin7 allows you to offer accurate quotes/prices to your B2B customers and also set the payment terms. On top of that, you can receive payments and generate invoices.

Cin7 is your one-stop solution for managing your sales and inventory.

 

3. Inadequate customer management

Customers can make or break your wholesaling business. You need to ensure that you manage them well and satisfy their expectations so that they continue doing business with you. It is necessary to take their feedback about their experiences with your service, and you should improve accordingly.

You should be fair in your treatment of your business customers irrespective of the revenue that they generate. On top of that, you should also regularly communicate with your customers. Thanks to digitalization, this process is easier than it has ever been. You can use email sequences to broadcast information to your customers so that they feel informed and valued. You can also segment your customer base and then target them effectively with specific messaging in emails.

 

4. Monitoring stock levels

Being a wholesaler, you deal in large volumes of stock. It can be challenging to monitor your stock levels when you’re dealing with multiple buyers and deliveries being made daily. But you can’t afford to lose track of inventory as poor inventory management can lead to situations such as understocking and overstocking (both being undesirable).

You need clear visibility about when the items enter and exit your warehouse. This way, you’ll be able to track and share inventory updates with your customers. Cin7 can help you with inventory control as you get real-time visibility over your inventory in the warehouse. This would help in optimizing your processes to ensure a smooth workflow.

 

5. Ignoring business relationships

In the race to raise your profits, you shouldn’t overlook business relationships. Relationships are necessary, especially in the B2B arrangement that you deal with. Positive experience with customers can lead to more business opportunities as they can endorse you to their business partners. This is the key to long-term success.

Better relationships will ensure that your customers stick even through market fluctuations. Do your best to build these relationships by offering great customer service, making transactions convenient, and fulfilling orders quickly. Good relationships can also help in better negotiation with the suppliers so that you can lower your costs.

 

6. Not monitoring the cash flow

Healthy cash flow is the fuel for your business. Offering credit to your customers can help with increasing your sales. However, overextending the credit is risky for your business as it can lead to defaults.

You should thrive to proactively remind your customers about their payables and you should make it easier and more convenient for them to pay their invoices.

Cin7 can generate sales reports using which you can not only gauge the financial health of your business but can also ascertain your inventory’s performance. To sweeten the pot, we have integration with several accounting softwares such as Xero and Quickbooks.

 

7. Not following up with your customers

The relationship between you and the customers shouldn’t end after finalizing the sale. You need to nurture them so that you make repeat purchases.

You should follow up with your customers after they receive their offerings to check whether everything happened as per their expectations or not. You can send a follow-up email after the product is delivered.

 

Conclusion

Avoiding these common mistakes will help you improve your business practices. As you look for solutions to some common mistakes, consider new software, like Cin7’s inventory management, as part of your solution.

Book a demo now.

How to execute a year-end inventory count

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Whether you’re running an auto body shop, a law firm, or a retail store, doing a year-end inventory count helps your business close the books on the past 12 months and organize yourself for the year ahead. In fact, the year-end inventory count is necessary for successful inventory management throughout the year. It allows you to clean up records and gives your business verified data to analyze.

Since retailers have a lot of inventory to manage, counting inventory correctly is crucial and allows you to make informed buying decisions later. Learn how to execute a year-end inventory count and how your annual count can help forecast demand for the year ahead in this article.

 

What is a year-end inventory count?

A year-end inventory count is a physical count of all the inventory on hand at the end of the year. The count is performed to verify that the physical inventory matches the numbers in your inventory management system.

A year-end inventory count is different from an inventory cycle count, which audits a smaller portion of inventory. While a cycle count allows you to monitor your inventory by sampling your inventory throughout the year, a year-end inventory is a physical count of everything you have on hand at one given point in time.

 

How do you conduct a year-end inventory count?

These are the steps that you need to follow for inventory counting:

  • First and foremost, you need to plan the day for conducting inventory count. It’s crucial to pause your warehousing operations while you do perform the counting so that you get an accurate snapshot of your inventory. You should plan a day that causes minimal impact on pausing the operations.
  • Once you finalize the date, you should form the team who will perform the stock counting. It is important to train them about your counting process and acquaint them with the warehouse’s premises. Dry runs can be organized a few days before the actual counting day.
  • You should also prepare your warehouse for the stock counting process. It should be thoroughly cleaned, and steps should be taken to ensure that there’s no scattered inventory. If there are boxes lying around the warehouse, it will slow down the workers who are counting.
  • The warehouse should be organized, and the areas (count zones) should be divided amongst the counting team so that everyone knows their responsibilities.
  • It’s crucial to equip your team with the right tools for counting. For manual counting, you can use counting tags. If you are using tags, then it’s best to let your team work in pairs so that one person can count the inventory while the other can note the values in the counting tag and stick it near the inventory. It’s best to get the counting tags signed by the respective team as it gives you clarity about the person associated with counting for a specific section.
  • To cross-check the accuracy of the counting, you can personally examine the areas to cross-verify the values mentioned in the counting tags. Otherwise, you can allocate members from other teams to cross-check the tag values. Cross-checking is crucial to get an accurate representation of your inventory. In case your inventory is also stored at other locations, you should coordinate to get the accurate values from those locations as well.
  • Performing inventory counts using manual sheets and counting tags can be time-consuming and prone to human errors. Using an inventory management software like Cin7 can be of great help. Instead of using tags and sheets, you can use barcode scanners to scan the inventories on the shelves. The software reconciles the inventory values with the ones already present in the system. This way, you can easily gauge the discrepancies in the inventory that’s physically present with you.

 

Why do year-end inventory count?

The year-end inventory count is essential because it ensures the stock you have on your shelves matches your records. By getting an exact look at your inventory, you can comply with tax requirements, manage corporate audits, and offer accurate data to your accounting team.

Once you complete your inventory count, you’ll have the data you need to complete an annual financial analysis. You also get the data you need to detect inventory shrinkage and forecast how much inventory you’ll need in the year ahead. On top of that, you get the chance to get inventory organized for the new year.

Knowing your year-end inventory allows you to

  • Get a better understanding of what products you have.
  • Hold accurate inventory records for accounting purposes.
  • Gain insight into products that don’t sell well that you shouldn’t order in the future.
  • Understand which products require a new selling strategy.
  • Know the demand and profitability for expansion consideration.
  • Consider adjusting periodic automatic replenishment (PAR) levels for top-selling products.
  • Determine the cost of goods sold and total net income.
  • Make business decisions based on data instead of intuition.
  • Analyze pricing strategy and identify room for improvement.

 

Does your business have inventory shrinkage?

Inventory shrinkage occurs when there’s less physical inventory than what’s listed in your inventory records. Shrinkage occurs due to human error, damaged stock, vendor shortages, lost inventory, or stolen inventory. It can drastically affect profits and is a problem that always needs to be investigated further. Businesses usually uncover inventory shrinkage as they do their year-end inventory counts.

How to handle inventory shrinkage

If you uncover inventory shrinkage during your year-end inventory count, your team should look for more information about what happened. If you are using inventory management software, you can examine past inventory records to determine if there are any trends that need investigation. Significant, widespread shrinkage can indicate theft or fraud, while one-off mistakes tend to reveal clerical errors. Damaged goods are self-explanatory.

Once you uncover and investigate the cause of inventory shrinkage, you can put guardrails on processes to prevent further loss. Some common preventive measures include:

  • Tightening security where inventory is stored.
  • Installing cameras or locking up high-value items.
  • Training employees about proper inventory counting.
  • Allowing only trained employees to accept and inspect new inventory.
  • Reviewing daily transactions on inventory apps.
  • Verifying purchase orders, invoices, and delivery slips when new inventory arrives.
  • Checking inventory shrinkage via cycle counts.

Discovering inventory shrinkage isn’t fun — but it’s a wake-up call for many businesses.

 

What if you have too much inventory?

Once you complete your year-end inventory, you might realize that you have more physical inventory than expected. If you have a lot more inventory than you need or want, you may have to figure out how to deal with the surplus. The first step is to determine if the excess inventory is still good to sell. Then you can adjust plans, orders, and budgets accordingly.

Once you figure out what your business needs for the year ahead, it’s time to get creative. What kind of promotions or sales can you have? What items should be sold at a discount? There may also be items in your inventory that can be repurposed or donated. If you donate excess inventory, talk to your accountant about writing them off for tax purposes.

Finally, you should talk with a liquidator about buying excess inventory. It may not be very profitable, but you can cut losses, clear up space, and move on.

 

Using year-end inventory to predict next year’s demand

One of the best reasons for conducting year-end inventory counts is to understand how your business used (or didn’t use) items over the past 12 months. A detailed snapshot of available inventory helps your business forecast demand for the year ahead.

By reviewing what hasn’t sold, you can plan sales, promotions, and marketing campaigns. These strategies can help you move old inventory and lets you focus on restocking only what your customers want.

 

Cin7’s inventory management software simplifies inventory counts

Cin7 inventory management software allows your business to track inventory using modern technology and powerful automation features. Cin7 is the best choice for inventory management software because it helps save you time, money, and stress. When you switch to Cin7, you’ll be able to:

  • Access your data at any time and place.
  • Set it up quickly, easily, and to your liking.
  • Use ready-to-scan barcodes with your phone’s camera.
  • Customize and allow access to teams, vendors, and suppliers.
  • Generate custom barcodes for unlabeled stock.
  • Create data-rich, shareable reports to help you understand inventory.
  • Get alerts when you’re running low on a product, if it’s expiring, or approaching warranty.
  • Create product histories to answer who, what, and when details.

Ready to see how our inventory software makes your year-end inventory count easier? Book your Demo now.

5 tasks your ecommerce business can outsource

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Online entrepreneurs have a lot on their plates, including supply chain management, product sourcing, inventory, shipping, customer service, and marketing.

How can business owners do everything that has to be done? Outsourcing.

Outsourcing frees up time for business owners to do what needs to be done while saving costs associated with hiring full-time staff.

Let’s dive into outsourcing to see how it can benefit your business and what tasks can be easily outsourced.

 

What is ecommerce outsourcing?

Outsourcing is obtaining goods or services from a source outside of your business. In terms of service, outsourcing is hiring someone to complete tasks such as writing product descriptions, developing a website, handling support tickets, providing technical support, and marketing. Some companies outsource the entire ecommerce business to a third party.

Outsourcing is a vital component of an ecommerce business.

Ecommerce businesses outsource to cut costs or save resources. Most businesses outsource to improve workflows when they can’t afford or don’t want to hire employees. Outsourced laborers can be hired domestically or internationally.

 

Advantages of outsourcing ecommerce services

There are some distinctive advantages to outsourcing.

1. Gives you time to focus on your business

Many day-to-day operations can be incredibly time consuming for new and existing business owners. For owners with just a few people on their team, it can be a lot to manage. Outsourcing gives you time to focus on your business goals while the wheels of your business keep spinning.

2. Gives you freedom to innovate

Outsourcing gives you time and freedom to innovate. By outsourcing mundane tasks, you and your creative team can spend time developing your next great product or trying out different things in new business sectors.

3. Enhances productivity

To compete in the ecommerce market, you need people who know what they are doing and who do it well. Outsourcing allows you to draw on experts who specialize in particular services, enhancing productivity because you are hiring people with the right skills for the job.

4. Improves analysis and strategies

The savviest organizations employ the systems necessary to improve their business. Using innovative tools like predictive analytics helps your ecommerce business expand. Analyzing past and current performance metrics can improve customer retention. Outsourcing analytics saves time and ensures reliable data are collected to make strategic decisions.

5. Increases cost efficiency

Outsourcing improves cost efficiency. By outsourcing, you can save the costs that you would have spent on managing customer support, inventory management, fulfillment, handling returns, and setting up the business infrastructure.

 

5 tasks that your ecommerce business can outsource

Here’s what your ecommerce business can outsource:

1. Content creation

With an online business, you need great content that promotes your business. It’s important to have a quality website or blog that puts a positive spin on what your business can deliver. That’s why hiring an outside content marketer is so important. A content writer has specialized skills to develop engaging content for your ecommerce business.

2. Website design

If your website takes too much time to load or its navigation is complex, visitors will leave immediately. Hiring a professional designer can help you better engage visitors by developing a user-friendly site. Ecommerce sites that are fast, visually appealing, responsive and trustworthy will more easily convert potential customers into loyal ones. Fortunately, you can find great website developers on platforms such as Freelancer and Upwork.

3. Customer service

Stellar customer service begins with product inquiries and carries through the entire transaction, including ordering, delivering, and returns or exchanges. You will need to develop customer service skills within your team, but during the learning curve and while scaling your business, outsourcing can help you keep up with business demands. Outsourcing this aspect of the business ensures that you have the resources and service expertise to expand and support scalable growth cost-effectively.

4. Social media marketing

Social media can transform your business – if it’s done correctly. A poor online presence costs you money. A professional social media marketer can help determine which platforms you should be on (e.g., Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn) and how to design a social media strategy that makes sense for your business and budget.

5. Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is one aspect of running a company that you may already outsource. Monitoring company finances is challenging and often requires someone who is highly trained in the intricacies of accounting. Even when your company uses accounting software for day-to-day management, you may still want to outsource to a professional for items such as annual taxes.

 

Cin7 can help

While outsourcing can help your ecommerce business grow, there are still many tasks you will need to do yourself. Cin7 can help.

Cin7 offers the latest solutions for ecommerce businesses with our cloud-based hosting, store management, warehouse management, cart management and development, inventory management, security, and payment gateways.

If you’re ready to reach the maximum potential for your online business, contact us to schedule a demo.

4 Inventory accounting methods for inventory valuation

Posted on | by Cin7 team | Leave a Comment on 4 Inventory accounting methods for inventory valuation

What do manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers have in common? They all deal with inventory. Whether you’re a manufacturer or a reseller, you need to account for your inventory accurately. With proper inventory accounting, you can better understand your expenses and identify ways to cut costs and maximize your profits.

 

What is inventory accounting?

Inventory accounting determines how an organization shows inventory in its balance sheet and profit and loss statements. Your inventory is treated as an asset because it can be used to generate revenue. The valuation of your inventory assets depends on how you assign costs to your inventory. It’s extremely important to correctly value your inventory because its value affects your business’s overall profitability.

 

Understanding cost of goods sold (COGS)

The cost of goods sold is the cost that a business incurs to make or acquire the products that it sells. COGS includes everything from materials used to labor cost. However, it only includes costs that are directly related to the production process. Thus, shipping and marketing costs aren’t included in COGS. Knowing your COGS helps you understand how much you are spending to produce your product, and it directly impacts your profitability.

The formula you use for COGS depends on whether you are a manufacturer or reseller. For a reseller, the formula is

Beginning inventory + Purchases – Ending Inventory = Cost of Goods Sold

For example, at the beginning of the financial year, your inventory is valued at $4,000. Throughout the year, you purchase inventory valued at $3,500, and at the end of the year, your inventory value is $2000.

The cost of goods sold is $4,000 + $3,500 – $2,000 = $5,500.

COGS can be calculated weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. The value of COGS is partially determined by how you determine your ending inventory.

 

Understanding ending inventory valuation

It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to sell all your inventory by the end of the accounting period. However, unsold inventory isn’t a liability because it can be sold next year. Therefore, remaining inventory, or “ending inventory” is treated as an asset in your financial statements. In fact, ending inventory becomes “beginning inventory” for the next accounting period.

There are four commonly used inventory valuation methods:

  1. First in, first out (FIFO),
  2. Last in, first out (LIFO),
  3. Weighted average cost method, and
  4. Specific identification method.

Method #1: First in, first out (FIFO)

The premise of the FIFO method is you value your inventory as if the stock you acquired first were sold first. For example, imagine you purchase 100 bottles of product in January for $10 per bottle. Then in February, you purchase 200 bottles of product for $20 per bottle. You would have 300 bottles of product in your inventory, and the value would be $1,000 + $4,000 = $5,000.

Then imagine you sold 50 bottles of product in March. What would the value of your inventory be? Using FIFO, you would say that the 50 bottles you sold were part of the 100 bottles you purchased in January. Thus, you would value the inventory sold at $500, meaning the value of your ending inventory would be $4,500.

Method #2: Last in, first out (LIFO)

In contrast to the FIFO method, the LIFO method means you assume the most recently acquired products are sold first.

Using the same example of the bottles, let’s say that in March, you still sold 50 bottles. However, with LIFO, you assume that those 50 bottles were part of the 200 bottles you purchased in February for $20 each. Thus, the 50 bottles you sold would be valued at $1,000, and your ending inventory would be $4,000.

Method #3: Weighted average cost

The weighted average cost method is best to use when your product units are indistinguishable from each other or challenging to track individually – for example, gasoline. Using the weighted average cost method, businesses assign a value to inventory based on the average cost of production of the product.

Here’s the way to calculate it:

Weighted Average Cost = Total Cost of Inventory / Total Inventory Units.

For example, you purchase 10 bottles at $20 each, and an additional 10 bottles at $30 each.

  • Ten bottles at $20 each = $200.
  • Ten bottles at $30 each = $300.
  • Total bottle units = 20 bottles (10 + 10).
  • Total cost of bottles = $500 ($200 + $300).

The weighted average cost is $500 / 20 = $25. When you sell 10 bottles you will value the sale at $250 ($10 x $25). Your ending inventory of 10 bottles will also be valued  at $250 (10 bottles x $25).

Method #4: Specific identification

The specific identification method is primarily used for large items that can be easily identified because they are unique. In this method, each unit and its cost is tracked individually. Each item is assigned a specific identifier, such as can be done using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The advantage of this system is that you have a highly accurate accounting of your inventory. The disadvantage is that the method has limited uses because few businesses sell highly unique products that can be easily tracked.

Inventory accounting is crucial for businesses

Inventory accounting is vital for both manufacturers and retailers. Businesses should carefully consider their inventory valuation method and identify the best option up front, as it can be challenging to change in the future.

Inventory management software makes a huge difference and helps track and value your inventory. With real-time insights about inventory movement, orders received, and revenue generated, your business will be able to make smarter, more data-driven decisions. You’ll also be able to generate inventory performance reports and analyze your business in real time.

If you’re looking for software to track and manage your inventory, book a call with Cin7 today. We’ll assess your inventory needs and partner with you to find a perfect solution.

Heritage Building Centre

Heritage and SMB Consultants unlock incredible growth — thanks to Cin7

After a long trial with other, less able inventory management apps, Bill Rendell and Heritage Building found a happy home in Cin7

Heritage Building has a long, storied history. When former accountant Bill Rendell first bought the business, it was simply a supplier of recycled timber, and it was doing pretty well on that basis. 

But Bill had the foresight to start selling other building materials, like doors, windows, light fittings, bathroomware — “You name it,” says Bill. “We set ourselves up to be the one-stop-shop for the heritage building industry, and started selling equivalent-new reproductions as well.”

This transformation happened fairly early in the business’s story, and at first Bill used MYOB and spreadsheets to manage the complex inventory requirements of a second-hand goods business, where nearly every item sold was in some way unique. Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well. “With MYOB, there was no accountability for stock. It was just like a big box that you chucked all the information in — but I didn’t think there was anything better around at the time.” 

After struggling with MYOB for almost nine years, Bill turned to what was then a new business in the very new industry of cloud software implementation and coaching — SMB Consultants. 

SMB founder Jeff Atizado and his team helped set Heritage Building up with his first inventory management solution: Lightspeed. At the time, it was best-of-breed software, and the new fully-digital way of operating was revelatory for Bill’s business. But times change. The second-hand market was becoming less and less viable, and growth was stymied by the need to keep on top of manual tasks and fixing errors. “We were doing nothing but fixing stuff-ups,” Bill says. 

The problem, Bill says, was that Lightspeed hadn’t moved fast enough to keep up with the rest of the rapidly-changing world of online business. 

“It’s very difficult to get Lightspeed to work with Shopify,” says Bill. “We couldn’t get the shipping set up the way we wanted it. It just wasn’t possible with that program.

He turned to his trusted advisors to help turn things around.  “I started speaking with Jeff about using Cin7. The more I heard about it, the more I was impressed with what it could do.” 

SMB lends a hand for the second time

“It was interesting for us, because even though Bill had been a customer for eight years, the second time around is an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate their requirements and build a solution that incorporates what is important to them today. It simply isn’t just a process of replacing old with new. Businesses grow and change and you need to take the time to understand what are the new objectives,” says Jeff Atizado. 

Since their first engagement with Heritage Buildings, SMB Consultants have developed a process to deeply understand the business they’re working with. How is the business changing? How has it evolved? And where does it want to go? 

Together, Bill and the SMB team found that a new software solution could help him exit the secondhand goods market altogether, while growing his business in entirely new directions. 

“That process at the beginning of the project, to understand how we were working, was critical,” Bill says. “Back when we first started with SMB and Lightspeed, that process didn’t exist! Doing the scoping showed me an entirely different SMB, and following the process all the way through to implement Cin7 has proved it out. They understood what we needed, and made sure it happened.” 

After the initial consultation, SMB Consultants used Cin7 to create a working proof-of-concept, to introduce Heritage Buildings to new workflows and opportunities offered by the software. Once the proof-of-concept was finalized, SMB worked with Bill and his team to implement the full project. 

Building back better on a strong foundation

Today, Bill has transformed his business from one that physically stored and moved a lot of second-hand goods to a modern, just-in-time purchasing model that doesn’t require carrying a lot of stock. This shift, SMB says, simply wouldn’t have been possible without Cin7. 

“Some big wins from Cin7 have been being able to give Bill a tool that allows him to track which items need to be ordered, and that allows him to keep track of online sales, to order quickly, and get them shipped in time,” Jeff says. “One one side, the purchasing, on the other, fulfillment.” 

Under the old system, it took up to two or three weeks for Heritage Building to get goods to their customers. But now they can get goods into customer hands in less than a week. Cin7’s ability to support a dropshipping model has enabled Heritage Building to reduce its total stock holding by a factor of more than four, with a huge accompanying reduction in administration requirements while improving shipping times.  

“Our stock holding at present is about 200,000. Our stock holding was 1.5 million with half the turnover we’re doing now , and we’re doing it better. We’ve basically reinvented ourselves from the ground up, and we’re now a very viable online shop as well,” Bill says. 

“With shipping, what we’ve achieved now was beyond anything we could conceive. We’ve reduced our turnaround time for orders from about two weeks per item, down to three to five days.”

Soon, with new shipping workflows they’re looking to create with SMB in Cin7, he reckons they’ll be able to use Cin7 to make shipping even faster. 

“One of the things we’re doing now is looking to integrate with his dropship fulfillment provider, so we can streamline how quickly we can get orders from them, which will again cut down the amount of time it takes to get the product into a customer’s hands,”  Jeff says. 

As well as pivoting from second-hand goods to a thriving multichannel business selling new materials, Cin7 has allowed Bill to branch out with a hot new sideline — selling fireplaces. 

“It’s going gangbusters,” Bill says. “Again, that’s because of the website, and the website is because of Cin7.” Having a modern inventory app like Cin7 as their foundation means that it’s easy to sync with best-of-breed ecommerce apps like Shopify. 

“We’ve basically got a direct connection between Cin7 and Shopify,” Bill says. “We can move the products back and forwards, we can adjust counts. No drama. No chance of an error. That’s brilliant.” 

“We can plug a lot of apps into Cin7. Lightspeed couldn’t do that.” 

“A winning combination” 

Heritage Building, SMB Consultants, and Cin7 have been a winning combination. Anytime he’s needed help, SMB has been there for support. Bill has his own specialist implementation partner at SMB, Jess, who’s helped all through the scoping and setup, and can now lend a hand whenever Bill needs it. “I’ve still got Jessica there, when I need her, whether it’s a big or a little thing. You can’t hire for that — well, I don’t think you can,” Bill says. 

Likewise, Jeff says that their work with Heritage Buildings is a great showcase of how beneficial it can be for businesses to have a long-time software and coaching partner – for both parties. 

“It’s been a pleasure working with Bill,” Jeff says. “It’s great being able to look back and see the changes that we’ve made. I think Bill is being a bit humble, knowing how much change he’s actually made, but when you look at how much inventory and overhead he’s reduced, while increasing sales — that’s a winning recipe. It’s been great to be able to grow together.” 

Heritage Buildings had great results the first time they worked with SMB, but the second time around, with the transformation powered by Cin7, things are better by an order of magnitude. 

“The difference between two years ago and now — it’s almost unrecognizable,” Bill says. “I can work anywhere I need to be. For me, that’s a lot of help.” 

The new efficiencies offered by an inventory solution that connects seamlessly with other business-critical apps have paid enormous dividends for the business. After 17 years in business, growth has been unlocked. 

“In the past two years, we’ve doubled our business,” Bill says. “We’ve gone from an average of about 250,000 per month to about half a million per month. And about half of that growth is our online shop. We’ve been increasing turnover every month for the last two years, and we’re now the number three distributor in our category in Australia.” 

None of it would have been possible without Cin7 — and the help they’ve received from SMB Consultants. 

“Without Cin7, it would have been impossible to do what we’ve achieved,” Bill says. “It’s that simple. We are who we are today because of Cin7 and SMB Consultants. Our website is going exceptionally well, and I don’t think it would have been possible before Cin7. It’s worked very well for us.”