Independent Slate Supplies
From flying blind to in control across three branches
Independent Slate Supplies (ISS) is a specialist slate distributor supplying builders' merchants across the UK.
Operating from three depots with six stock locations, ISS has trebled its turnover in nine years - and needed a system that could keep pace.
"Merchanter lets us see exactly what's happening in the business. It's fantastic - it helps us focus on the areas that really need focus and keeps us in control at all times. It's absolutely integral to our business already."
Patrick Phipps, Co-Managing Director, Independent Slate Supplies
The challenge
ISS had grown rapidly, but its visibility into the business hadn't kept pace. Margin calculations were done retrospectively from monthly accounts, stock errors only surfaced after the fact, and a team of remote Business Development Managers had no reliable way to access live information on the road.
With three depots, six stock locations and a national customer base, the business needed real-time control - not a monthly summary of what had already gone wrong.
"We didn't have much visibility into the business. We were really flying blind, waiting for the monthly accounts to come through. We couldn't accurately work out gross margin or spot where stock errors had occurred. We needed more insight, and more control day to day." - Patrick Phipps
How Merchanter helped
Real-time stock visibility across every location
With stock spread across three depots and six separate locations, ISS needed a single, accurate picture of what was available - not a patchwork of separate records.
Merchanter gave the whole business a live view of stock levels across every site, updated in real time. Stockholding, capacity and logistics became visible at a glance, whether accessed from the office or on the road.
"Having three depots with six separate stock locations, it's vital we can have an overview of the stockholding and capacity across the whole business. Having a cloud system means the information from all sites can be uploaded and integrated instantly, so we always have a real time view of our stockholding, orders and logistics." - Patrick Phipps
Issues flagged before they become losses
Within five months of going live, Merchanter identified a stockholding discrepancy that saved ISS £4,500 in misplaced materials - caught in real time rather than discovered weeks later.
Pricing errors - purchase prices or selling prices set incorrectly - are now flagged immediately, giving the team the chance to correct them before they affect margin. Previously, the same errors would only surface when the monthly accounts came through.
"From a control point of view it's fantastic. Even when I'm out of the business I can access information so easily, and see exactly what's happening. It's flagging the glaring issues, like purchase prices or selling prices being wrong, instantly, so we can correct the problems in real time rather than retrospectively a month or two after the event." - Patrick Phipps
Margin visibility down to individual level
ISS can now track profitability at a granular level - including margin by individual Business Development Manager. Understanding which customers and which sales relationships are generating margin, and which are costing money, was previously impossible without manual analysis.
With that visibility now built into day-to-day operations, commercial decisions are made from current data rather than historical estimates.
Accessible from anywhere, by anyone who needs it
Remote access was a specific requirement for ISS, with BDMs regularly out of the office visiting customers and prospects. Merchanter's cloud-based platform means the same live information - stock levels, orders, customer data - is accessible from any device, wherever the team is working.
"We are totally dependent on it. We use it every day and it's making a big difference." - Patrick Phipps
Merchanter features used
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