Stocktaking is a pain in the backside. You know it, we know it, everyone knows it. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right planning and preparation – and the right software, of course – it can actually be pretty straightforward. We’ll be following this up with a much more in-depth guide to stocktaking at a later date (try to contain your excitement!), but first we wanted to whet your collective appetites with a reminder of why it’s so very important to get your stock management habits right in the first place. Reduced waste. Sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how much money waste, well, wastes, in your business. By wasting less, you’re spending less, so it makes sense that it should be a priority Increased profits. Waste less – sell more. But good stock management , combined with analysis of stock sales, means you know margins you’re making on what products, helping you to get the stock levels right of more profitable items and scale back (or reprice) the things that don’t make much money. It’s a massive priority throughout the whole industry, and what you stock plays a huge part, from where you’re getting your supplies from to how much is wasted and how it’s stored and transported. Keeping on top of your stock is key to the whole process. Better service. Great reputations are hard won and easily lost, so having your finger on the pulse of what stock you have available where lies at the heart of providing a top notch service for your customers. Streamlined logistics. Everything from regionally grouped deliveries to faster interbranch sharing of stock is all part of great stock management. Having an overall view of what stock is held where throughout your business or business group allows for efficiencies in the supply chain without increased risk or compromised service. Save time. So much time is wasted on arduous, manual stocktakes each year – but if you’re set up with an ongoing, integrated stock management system, you always know what’s where, and you avoid those awful weekends of dawn-til-dusk yard checking. Keeping stock management front of mind all the time means it’s never a terrifying prospect. Keeps your finger on the pulse of your business. If you’re relying on quarterly stocktakes then you won’t have an accurate picture of how your business is performing in real time. Using an ongoing, accurate, instantly-accessible stock management system means you know exactly what stock you have, what your overheads are, and where the potential opportunities and gaps lie. Never miss a trading opportunity. How much could your business grow each year if you could take every opportunity that comes along? Every business misses out from time to time, but great stock management will give your business the edge, in terms of service, availability, negotiation power and so much more. So there you have it. Eight reasons why stock management should always be top of your to do list – or at least near it! To find out more about how Merchanter can help you achieve great stock management habits throughout your business, just call us on 01202 861606 or email sales@ten-25.co.uk Try the Merchanter Demo Pricing Features

Sell more. Waste less. Be more efficient. Get your staff more engaged. Stock the right materials, work with the right suppliers, give the right discounts, make the most money. Grow. Diversify. Move forward. There are so many ways you might want to make improvements in your business – but chances are there will be things in your way, stopping you from taking that crucial next step. Social media is full of inspirational quotes about following dreams and anything being possible, which is all very well - but wishes don't come true just by making them. What are the obstacles in your business? What is preventing your people from being their most engaged and productive selves? What is standing between you and the next step forward? What is holding you back? It could be many things. Time. Fear. Lack of clarity or visibility. Lack of information. Indecision. Disagreements in the senior team. Clutter, both literal and figurative, stopping you from accessing the critical facts and trends you need to see. Cost. It’s almost always a factor somewhere. And if this is a factor for you, make sure you’re always assessing both sides of the cost equation – yes, a solution might cost you a lot. But what’s the cost of not addressing the issues? Get to know your business – even better Understanding the real obstacles is the only way to overcome them. But that can be tricky to do without outside help. Some businesses invest thousands in external auditing consultants to assess their processes and practices, and suggest improvements. Other choose to attempt the process themselves, but can often end up missing the wood for the trees, or tinkering with small changes when bigger, systemic issues need addressing more fully. Conducting an audit of business processes is an incredibly useful thing to do, and will also help you to choose a system which will fit your needs best. After all, how can you choose the best solution if you don’t know what you’re trying to fix? Why are we talking about this? We’re talking about it because when you choose to invest in a new ERP system, it’s a perfect opportunity to spring clean your business and choose what you want to keep. It’s a great chance to cleanse data, to re-order admin and to introduce new processes that will help your business to flourish. But often those changes come AFTER you've committed, and if you didn't know exactly what tools you needed, who's to say you've chosen the right one? So we decided to change things. Now, at the very beginning of a purchase, before you’ve fully committed to the whole system, we conduct a full Business Process Review, which assesses what you’ve already got in place, identifies where improvements could be made, and critically, outlines exactly what customisations might be possible within the system to ensure it is totally fit for what YOU need it for. No two businesses are ever the same, so no two ERP systems should be either. Make sure you have the tools YOUR business needs, and which work around you – not the other way around. Taking positive action However you choose to go about addressing it, you need to get to a point where you know exactly what your current situation and tools are, and a clear view of where you need to be. The gap between the two forms the basis of your action plan. And chances are, your ERP system can help to deliver it. An external perspective can be invaluable in assessing the efficacy of your existing processes and systems. That’s why we include the BPR as standard. So what’s stopping you? Book a free 30 day demo of Merchanter today and discover the way forward for yourself.

We all make hundreds of business decisions every day. They range from small, operational, administrative or financial things like where to put a delivery or what margin to allow on a new order, to the big, strategic things like what products to stock, whether to invest in a new depot or when to launch an eCommerce platform. Does decision-making leave you feeling stressed? Making decisions without the right information available can be stressful. The consequences may be severe, and bad decisions could cost a business money, time and reputation damage. Well-informed decisions, made with all the relevant information available to assess risk and potential gain, are faster, less stressful and will more commonly have a positive outcome. Having that information at your fingertips speeds up every micro- and macro-decision, across the board, and leads to greater efficiency, happier and more productive staff, satisfied customers and ultimately, greater business growth. Every decision matters (not just the big stuff) What many people forget is the full extent of decision-making that goes on every day within a business. We’re all making decisions all the time, so the potential impact of those decisions – commercially, operationally, socially, psychologically – really adds up over time. Of course, some decisions will be bigger than others, but all decisions require our input. Even small decisions require information. Whether that information is just based on “that’s how it’s always done,” or whether you’re actually weighing up data to make an informed choice, every decision we make requires a certain about of knowledge and understanding. Filing, quotes, stocking shelves, speaking with customers, resolving queries or complaints, selecting suppliers, presenting reports, negotiating deals or terms, deciding your strategy for expansion – even when to take a day off, how flexible to be regarding remote working, how to reward employees, and whether to spend half your holiday logged in to the work system – they’re all decisions, and they all have an impact. But when the information, knowledge or understanding feels out of reach or entirely unavailable, that’s when risk, doubt and anxiety creep in. Over time, that can lead to stressed employees, eroded profitability and lost opportunities, or worse. How much of your decision-making is actually just habit? There are many types of decision and we’re not here to walk you through every iteration. But we would urge you to be conscious of the decisions you’re making every day – yes, you, reading this blog. How do you make those decisions? What information do you use? Many business “decisions” are barely decisions at all – they are simply a continuation of the way things area already done. Which can work well (the expression “don’t rock the boat” exists for a reason after all). But it’s important to ensure that, if you are doing something because that’s how it’s always been done, it really is – and continues to be – the best way to do it. Habit can be extremely damaging in business, as can the fear of change (which is very similar when you think about it.) It's important to recognise all the opportunities for decision-making each day and make sure you're consciously making them, not just following a pattern. Making decisions more conscious is a great way to mitigate risk - once you start getting into the habit of looking at the numbers, the information and the trends in your business, the easier it becomes to make decisions that will take you in the right direction, for the right reasons. Hold your decisions to account and check your reasoning. Ask yourself, if you were the first person doing this particular job – would this be the way you’d choose to do it? And if not – how might it be done better? Is there a potential risk attached to this decision? Does the potential benefit outweigh that risk? Accessibility of information is crucial When it takes a long time to track down the information you need, or you simply can’t find it at all, it’s stressful. It means decisions are at best delayed, and at worst, get made without the back-up of up to date, critical information. Again, that’s where the risk lies. When things are time consuming and hard work, they don’t get done as often, or as well. So if reliable, up to date information is easily accessible within a couple of clicks, it’s much more likely that people will go through that process before making the call. When decisions are backed up by information, they are less risky, less stressful, and less likely to be wrong. Obviously no-one can see the future, but being able to instantly check your thought process against previous examples, being able to instantly check a customer’s credit history or a supplier’s delivery reliability, often takes the pain out of a decision and alerts to you the realistic level of risk. Basing a decision on data can also reduce choice paralysis (aka that rabbit in headlights feeling) when there are just too many options available. The better the information is in the first place, the better the decision-making process will be. When every member of your workforce from yard worker to delivery driver to sales rep to MD is plugged into the same system, using the same up to date information and integrating that information across the business, that decision-making framework becomes ever more reliable. So – what’s it worth? While it would be impossible to put an exact figure on the potential value of smarter decision-making throughout your business, it’s easier to see the potential. Imagine you are a timber merchant with a turnover of £2M per year, with an average of 25% profit. That’s £500,000 profit per year. Naturally there are overheads to take into account here which eat into that profit as well. Stock, premises, staff, hardware, services... the bills really take a bite out of it. To get to that turnover figure, you are averaging around £167K per month. For an easy example, let’s say that is based on 400 orders per month at £417.50 per order. There are many factors which influence how many orders a business is able to process in any given month. Stock levels, demand, staff productivity, process efficiency, logistics capacity and many other areas all play a part. If every one of those areas can be enhanced, whether in terms of enhanced stock management to ensure better availability of more product lines, better margins maintained across more products, more efficient logistics planning, higher productivity enabling a higher number of orders to be processed daily, it’s easy to see how the little differences add up to big changes. In your £2m turnover business, if you were to increase the value of every order by just 1%, you’d have another £20K per year. Increasing your average margin by just 1%, that’s another £4K. Add to this reduced overheads and the opportunity to increase your customer base, order value and order frequency, and you start to see the potential for improvement. It's worth nothing that we tend to use deliberately conservative examples. The potential could be far greater, and we know based on our existing customer base that the increases we are proposing are entirely achievable, as a minimum. What is the cost of a bad decision? The reason decision-making can be stressful is because it has an impact on your business. The greater the potential risk, the more stressful it becomes. So when decisions are made daily without the right information to back them up, the cost - both literal and figurative - can be very high. As we said before, no-one can see the future. But using the intelligent tools at our disposal to weigh up options using accurate, up to date information is a good second place, and can help alleviate stress, reduce risk and optimise opportunity at every step. Would you like to feel more confident making smart business decisions? Choosing a system that enables your whole workforce to input, access and retrieve information instantly is vital for confident decision-making. And as we have shown, smarter decision-making adds up not only to happier, more empowered employees and more efficient processes – it also directly translates to productivity, profitability and growth. If you, and every member of your team, could find a way to feel more confident in every decision at every level of the business - imagine the positive impact that would have. Want to give it a go for yourself? If you would like to try the free online demo of Merchanter, our digital ERP system for merchants, please register here for login details. It could be the smartest decision you’ll make this week.

If information is power, then knowing more about how your business runs and makes profit can only be a good thing. Analysis is a word that can strike fear into the hearts of many, but here at Ten-25 we work our socks off to make it as simple, intuitive and useful as possible. Merchanter offers straightforward but powerful analysis options, featuring drag and drop menu options so you can search exactly what you want, easily and quickly. Export results to Excel or other software for easy presentation, automate reports, and keep notes against customers – it’s all easy, and how you’d want it to be laid out. If you want to take it a step further, we also offer the Afinitis Analysis add-on, which is an incredibly useful, intelligent business system to help your profitability grow. Whichever analytics option you choose, we’re here to walk you through it step by step to help you get the most out of your system. And the benefits are pretty impressive: Understand where your profit comes from . Sounds obvious, right? But it isn’t always easy to see where you’re actually making profit. Having it reported clearly and accurately helps you to focus your efforts on the areas where you stand to gain the most, and prevents wasted time on narrow margins, late payments or supplier price-hikes. Know your customers . See who’s increasing orders, placing them more often or paying late, so you know who to chase, who to target and who to incentivise. Work more efficiently . Stop chasing the tiny orders, automate the arduous jobs, and focus your efforts where the benefits are the best. Save time . No more working until midnight to churn out the monthly reports – these analysis packages automatically extract the correct information from the system and present it in clear, intuitive formats to help you know exactly what’s going on. Reduce waste . Whether that’s products, margin, headcount, time or anything else, having accurate, reliable, regular reporting will make it easy for you to spot where the leaks in your budget are, so you can fix them. Increase your exposure . Knowing your success rates, your profit margins, your wins and your achievements in detail gives you plenty to shout about in your marketing and PR, as well as to stakeholders and staff. Make better decisions every day . Having the data to back up your decisions will make you faster and more confident in making those business-critical – as well as the tiny, everyday – decisions, from the best prices on office stationery to growing your customer base and profit margins. Take control. Ultimately, the information from this analysis allows you to proactively manage the direction of your business in every department, from HR to operations. With the in-depth information at your fingertips to make informed decisions, you can optimise the day to day running of the business, and make it grow in the longer term. If you’d like to talk to us about our trading analysis packages and training, please give us a call, email us or check out the system benefits for more info.

Well who doesn’t like a challenge? Yes, I’m taking on one of the dullest subjects in the world, because it is actually REALLY INTERESTING, and has huge benefits and vital importance – as well as a few possible pitfalls, just to spice things up a bit. So bear with me for a couple of paragraphs, and if you’re still not convinced, then at least you’ll have an alternative to counting sheep when insomnia strikes. What is integrated data? I bet you can write out an order on an order pad quicker than you can enter the same order on a computer system. OK, that’s pretty much a given, but most of you would be forced to admit that it’s quicker on a computer to convert that order into a despatch, and then an invoice, than to write it all out three times. Plus, while processing that order, you want to check stock levels , see current prices and make sure the customer isn’t blowing past his credit limit. That’s integrated data – the system is pulling information from all the different corners of the database to give an instant view. That data has been built from everyone in the business putting information in – you can’t get accurate stock levels if someone isn’t recording receipts and despatches, pricing won’t be up to date if someone isn’t updating supplier costs or recording a customer’s special agreements. If there’s a missing link in the chain, something is going to show up wrong. Knowledge is a powerful thing. Instantly knowing stock levels might help secure a deal, or more importantly, it might even bring a customer back for another order . Also, integrated data is shared data – whoever a customer speaks to in your team, they can all access the same information, so the customer gets seamless, consistent service no matter who’s off sick or in a meeting. Quotes, customer history, stock levels, repeat orders – all that information is at everyone’s fingertips. And finally, what is the cost of a mistake? We can all misread 6s and 8s, 1s and 7s, let alone names and addresses. (My surname is Oldrey, which I automatically launch into spelling for people “Oldrey… O..L..D..” and I am on hundreds of official forms as Aud Oldry. OK, not quite as cool as “Bond, James Bond”, but maybe that all started because he too had troubles booking a car from Avis…) The point is, once I have a customer account with my name in it properly, all my contact with that business will be more positive and shows they care that bit more. People may not notice you getting the basics right, but they’re sure to notice if you get them wrong. Hopefully, if you already use Merchanter (or, begrudgingly, a similar system), you have already brought into the benefits of integrating data within your business – but what about integrating data from outside it? Admittedly this has its challenges, but the payback can be even greater. We are getting a lot of requests now to bring in orders from Web Shops, and importing and exporting documents via EDI and XML have been available for a while now. In the future, what might the value be on predicting stock demand by bringing in data about weather forecasts or approved planning applications? Being part of a supply chain integrating data with customers and suppliers is a powerful move forward. Achieving that integration has a big challenge – does what your system says, match what my system understands? As people we are skilled at interpreting what others mean, because we have context, experience and (in most cases anyway) common sense. A computer, which relies on pure logic, can therefore be confused by simple differences. A customer will call asking for ‘a dozen sheets of 18 mil marine ply’ and you will know they want 12 x P18MARINE 18mm Marine Plywood 1220 x 2440. A computer, however, needs a code that is common to both systems to know what product they are talking about. And even with that in place there can be other challenges: quantity can be expressed in different ways, some systems calculate VAT on a line, whilst others on the order total. But don’t let these challenges stand in the way of the speed, accuracy and depth of knowledge that comes from Integrated Data. Try the Merchanter Demo Pricing Features

The news is full of worrying, dystopian tales of technology and automation taking over the world – AI is coming for your job, humans being replaced by machines. And while yes, it’s true, technology does have the ability to do much of what humans can do, we’re here to remind you that, when it’s used well, that can actually be a Very Good Thing. Think for a moment about how you spend your days. Which are the really good days, and which ones just plain suck? Chances are, the ones where you feel you’ve done good things are not the days where you’re stuck to your desk churning out reports, chasing up invoice payments or manually entering stock numbers onto the system. The beauty of being human is that we have the power of choice. We can choose which bits of business we allow technology to help us with, and we can continue doing the bits we’re best at – building relationships, using our experience and judgement to make decisions, strategizing about where to go next and how to get there – that sort of thing. So by using technology as a tool, we can be more efficient in our workflow and more productive as a business, freeing up staff time to add real, human value. People, as they say, do business with people. Tech doesn’t have to replace us – it should be helping us instead. Where technology can add enormous amounts of value, and save enormous amounts of time, is in the laborious, repetitive tasks that typically consume much of our working day. It can also be hugely beneficial in processing data, identifying trends, flagging up issues and preventing mistakes thanks to pre-set functions like credit limits and margin protection. With a fully integrated trading system that keeps track of every quote, purchase order, dispatch and delivery note, automated invoicing by email becomes pretty straightforward, and saves your finance team a great deal of time and effort. Invoices not paid by the due date can be chased up automatically too, leaving your team free to work on the trickier stuff instead. Trading teams want the freedom to be able to make decisions, and business managers want to make sure the business remains profitable. Built-in credit control lets every account manager know the exact level of each customer’s credit so they’re safe to make a call on orders, while margin protection means your sales team can adjust the numbers to take advantage of an opportunity without ever compromising the profitability of the business. Reports and analysis. Being able to run the numbers easily and intuitively can save loads of time. Whether you’re looking at trading figures or customer trends, having automated reports ready to go, and having a system that can help you sort through the numbers simply, will be worth its digital weight in gold. Stock management. This is a huge one for merchant businesses and is an area that tech can really add a lot of value. No more duplicating manual stock sheets to add them to the system, no more need to adjust stock levels every time an order is dispatched or received. A fully integrated digital system allows instant access to the most up to date stock figures meaning your whole team can see at a glance exactly what’s where, meaning you can offer better availability and service to your own customers. Customer notes and order history. With a fully integrated trading system, every quote, estimate and adjustment is tracked, so no matter who is off on holiday or on the road seeing customers, anyone in the business can log-in (from anywhere, at any time) to see exactly what’s been agreed, and the status of orders past, current and proposed. You can also set up reminders via email for repeat orders, send status updates for dispatches and deliveries and as mentioned, send invoices. It allows you to take the time-consuming work out of a personalised customer experience, so everyone wins – better service for your customers, without weighing your own staff down in repetitive admin. Coming up to holiday season (whether Christmas, Easter or summer) it can be a difficult juggling act keeping business running smoothly with staff being off. But when you have the ability to schedule emails, automate reminders and cover other people’s work more easily, that stress becomes just a little bit easier to handle. It might not replace people in the longer term, but technology can be a big help in plugging the gaps while they’re out of the office! Used well, technology can be an immensely powerful tool that can help us do our jobs better. Rather than seeing it as a threat, we want to encourage our customers to see the huge opportunities it offers, in terms of time saving, service delivery and profitability. Freeing your staff from arduous admin to enable them to work on the areas they can really add value – now that’s something worth talking about. For an informal chat about your business needs, and how our trading software systems for merchant business could help, just give us a call on 01202 861606. We also offer a no obligation, totally free opportunity to access a system demo if you’d like to have a play with it yourself – just let us know if you’re interested and we can send you the details.

Less really can mean more.  It might sound daft, but the figures don’t lie; sometimes the key to selling more is actually by trying to sell less, to take the bold step of reducing your stockholding in some areas, to make way for the things that make you higher profits and reduce waste. Ticking long nicely, thank you  So, you’re part of a merchant business. Your sales are holding up, year on year, but you’re not experiencing a great deal of growth; things are ticking over nicely, but nothing is really changing. Not a bad position to be in – but there’s always room for improvement. This is where great analysis and reporting really comes into its own. Firstly, you can easily run a report which shows what you’re selling most of, what’s not really selling well, what has a good margin, and what you’re making very little on. Sounds obvious, but actually not everyone thinks to check off the basics regularly. To take things a step further, you could look at your quote conversion ratios – are you always quoting to a certain customer but they never buy? Or on a certain product, but the sales don’t match up? These reports are readily available and can even be automated so that changes are flagged. (And if you need a hand, remember that we’re always here to help you set up, automate and interpret your reports.) Of course, the basic data is all well and good – but it’s what you do with it that counts. Turning the information into business insight and, importantly, actions; that’s where the value really lies. So when you get these reports, and the statistics, you need to start asking yourself…. So what? It’s time to start asking questions. Why is one particular format of a product selling so much better than another? Why have you got so much of one particular type of wood still in the yard? Why is over-the-counter trade slowing down month on month? And why are you still ordering stock from that same supplier who has put their prices up exponentially? It’s not all just about cost either. If your sales team is regularly re-quoting materials that simply don’t sell, or they’re tied up in complex deals for stock with low profitability, your business is taking a double hit, in time as well as money. There are many factors which can have an impact on the profitability of your business when it comes to stock management. Here are just a few: Availability Sometimes, the way products are selling through is a simple matter of availability. Do you have enough in stock to satisfy demand? Are your suppliers letting you down consistently? Could you sell more if more were available? Price Keep an eye on prices in the market, as well as your own. Are your prices in line with other suppliers? Shortages or surfeits in the wider market can have a big impact on both the cost of the raw materials for you, and on what you can, or should, be charging your customers. It’s not about profiteering, but it’s important to know the real cost of certain products, and make sure your prices keep up with the costs. Demand If a certain product is simply not selling, and there is no apparent demand even after you’ve checked off availability and price, then perhaps it’s time to take a stand and stop selling it, or at least reduce your stockholding. Storing product that doesn’t sell through is an expensive business, and your analysis reports can tell you what you’re likely to need in the short, mid and long term. Quality Obviously no-one wants to buy – or sell – poor quality products or materials. Sometimes a sharp drop-off in sales can signal an issue with quality control. Was the last consignment from a particular supplier not up to the usual standard? Your customers will always want to buy the best product for their budget, so read between the lines of the reports and make sure you’re not missing a trick. Wastage Simply put, storing products that don’t sell through is a complete waste of money. Your reporting software is there to help you. Ordering on-demand may be an option to reduce stockholding, or perhaps there are some bold decisions called for on the range that you stock. No business can afford to waste space, time, money or products, so make sure you’re running your stock as efficiently as possible. Business guidance you can count on There are so many different ways to interpret information from data analysis, it can be quite bewildering. But we’re here to help, and can guide you in how to apply the findings yours reports turn up, as well as asking the right questions and suggesting ways to implement changes. We want to get you to the point where you’re selling more of the things that are profitable, and less of the things that are a drain on your resources. So yes, less really can mean more with the right statistics to help your decision-making, so be bold, and see where the numbers lead. Information is power – so let’s work together to build better business by making that information work harder for you. Give us a call to get business guidance you can count on to make a real difference to your profitability.

We often say every business is unique – and it’s true. We work with a lot of merchants, and in almost every case, they say to us, “Our business is really simple.” And yet, no two are identical. Every client uses slightly different methods and processes, so the way they use their order and stock management system always differs slightly. And it’s those little differences that make every merchant - and their software requirements - unique. However, there will always be shared functions and experiences. The bulk of functions required in any retail or merchant business will always be similar to most others, and there will always be functions within each industry sector that share similarities. But with every merchant we’ve ever worked with, there’s that little bit of top that sets them apart from the competition, and it’s that section that needs to be allowed to shine. The golden ratio We estimate the approximate ratio for this split of functionality to be around 70:20:10. That is, roughly 70% of any merchant’s business will need the same core functionality as any other merchant business. Around 20% will vary depending on industry sector, whether you specialise in hardwood or aggregates, plumbing supplies or industrial scale seed supply, and so on. And the 10% on the top is what makes your business different. The majority of businesses which trade construction materials will require the basic functionality of stock management, quotation, PO raising, sales orders and so on. But the specifics will vary depending on the type of business; if you’re a timber merchant, you might need more flexibility on lengths or volume metrics, while a stone or steel merchant might require more sophisticated weight options. So there’s a need for industry sector specific functionality on top of the basics of trading and stock management. The final part is where a software system can really add value, with particular processes and features to allow your business to operate and flourish in the best ways it can. That customisation really sets the system apart from off the shelf solutions, but because it’s built on a proven foundation of fundamental components, you’re not paying for (or waiting for!) a fully bespoke system either. Why "off-the-shelf" won't cut it for merchants When starting out, a lot of merchants opt for a simple, off the shelf solution for trading, especially if they're launching with an eCommerce option. Perhaps that's an extension of your accounts package, like Sage, Xero or Quickbooks, or perhaps it's an app-based selling tool like Shopify or similar. The problem is, when you trade measured product in a complex market, with differentiation between trade and domestic customers, and a highly tailored logistics requirement, "off the shelf" solutions that claim to be the one-stop-shop of trading can rarely offer the granular functionality that merchants need for their particular line of work. Non-industry specific order and stock management software won't give the control and visibility that the best sector-specific business systems will offer - where you can trade, stock and optmise your stock by length, weight or volume, deal with single produts, loose stock and packs, or incorporate milling and finishing instructions and complex certification standards along the way. That's where a lot of the value lies in industry-specific ERP software like Merchanter. The crucial 10% The huge value of an industry-specific system is in the detail. It’s the functions and features built specifically for the types of products you trade – whether that’s insightful reporting on products stocked by weight or length, the ability to add complex milling or finishing instructions to a PO and manage forward contracting with ease, it’s the complex functions relating to your niche area that really add the most value. So if 20% of that added value is in industry-wide materials, the 10% of features and functions needed only by your business really is what can set a system apart, and in turn, set your business apart from its competition. It’s in that customisation that you can tweak things to work the way you want them, build in the reporting and analytics capability that you want, and set up the integrations you require to link seamlessly with PIMs, eCommerce, finance packages or any other platforms and packages you want. Fully “bespoke” systems carry a prohibitively hefty price tag, and we aim to make systems which are accessible to any size and scale of merchant. We can of course incorporate more customisation for clients who require it and are happy to invest more in that unique proposition, but we aim to offer the right balance for everyone, allowing smaller independents to compete with major national chains in terms of the tools they’re using and the competitive advantages that great software can add. Benefit from the best of both By structuring our software against this same approximate ratio, we believe merchants benefit from the best of both worlds: the tried and trusted foundation of a system used day in, day out by merchants all over the country, combined with the tailoring and customisation that allows the things which set your business apart to shine. If you’d like to try the system for yourself to see how easy and intuitive it is to use, please register here for login details.

We love summer in so many ways – but it comes with its issues, like staff and supplier holidays and weather-dependent sales fluctuations. Here are some of the ways your software could be helping to alleviate the stress: Staff Cover Staff absences can cause any number of issues, from disrupted customer service to overloading other staff members to compensate. But with the right software in place, a lot of the problems that can crop up as a result of staff being away can be alleviated. With an integrated system like Merchanter , anyone with a login can instantly see up to date customer history, including what quotes have been raised, what orders have been dispatched and what invoices might be outstanding. Therefore if a customer rings up, whoever picks up that call can provide accurate, up to date information instantly, providing a seamless service for customers and a stress-free experience for your staff. Supplier Holidays It works both ways – with a complete history of transactions at your fingertips, everyone can see what’s on order, what’s being delivered when, and what will be needed in the coming weeks. Intelligent stock management and reporting enables better prediction of required materials over longer periods too, meaning you can benefit from economies of scale and longer lead times – planning ahead pays off in more ways than one! Cashflow The literal lifeblood of any company, it’s vital to keep cashflow consistent over the summer months, regardless of who’s on holiday. Automated invoicing and reminders, as well as built-in credit limits and margin protection safeguard your finances and ensure that everything is still going out when it should, to keep the cashflow running all year round. Logistics It’s not just money that needs to keep working properly – your stock, both incoming and outgoing, needs to be managed seamlessly too. An integrated Cloud inventory management system like Merchanter lets you manage, predict and even automate elements of stock control so you know what’s needed when, and can plan accordingly. Again, anyone covering staff holiday can instantly see the live status of orders both outgoing and inbound, providing up to the minute information and therefore better service all round – without the stress levels rising. Time saving One of the biggest causes of stress in the work place is time pressure, especially when trying to source information quickly. Automated functions within Merchanter save significant amounts of time and bridge over staff absences, and every function of the entire end to end system has been designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible – that means tiny time savings on every process, transaction and interaction you have, and those milliseconds really do add up. Simple, effective systems can save you meaningful amounts of time, allowing you to focus on the bigger picture. (Or just go on holiday with a totally clear conscience – whichever you prefer 😊 ) Give us a call today on 01202 862606 for honest, expert advice on the best software solution for your business. Try the Merchanter Demo Pricing Features

Ask any merchant, importer or supplier who their biggest customer is and it’s a fair bet they’ll know straight away. Even the top 3 might roll quickly off the tongue. Beyond that though, it’s often not quite as clear. In fact, we’d be prepared to bet that when presented with a list of their top 10 customers, most merchants would find at least one or two surprises in the mix. How quickly could you find out? The next question then is, how quickly can you find out? Does your current trading system allow you to pull up the statistics you need quickly and easily, or do you need a week of analytics training and a PhD to work it out? However you want to define it – turnover, profit, frequency, size of order etc – the information you need should be readily available so you know what you need to know, fast. And that applies to products too, so you can robustly and intelligently create your replenishment, pricing and merchandising strategies accordingly. Why does it matter? Firstly, understanding the value of your customers helps you to place focus where it’s most needed. It helps you to make the best decisions regarding deals, payment terms and flexibility, for a start. It might help you to realise which customers are profitable, versus those who actually cost you money, or don’t bring in enough business to warrant the amount of service or credit they require. Rather than ignoring or even letting go of a particular customer, it might help you make a few adjustments to help them do better, or ensure you give them enough attention and support. It’s all about having clear and simple visibility of what’s happening in your business. Often merchants are surprised to find out who their fourth or fifth biggest customer is – they don’t necessarily realise the extent of the business being done week in, week out, and perhaps that customer isn’t getting the recognition they deserve. Knowing your customers is key to giving them better service. Who knows – with a little extra nurturing, maybe that midtable obscurity could become top of the league. But whether we’re talking about which customers are your perennial supporters or which products are performing best, it’s all about knowing for sure what’s happening in the business, quickly and easily. Better information breeds better, data-driven decision-making, which in turn drives better business. And that’s what we’re here to help you achieve. Register for 30 days' online demo access to Merchanter completely free

As a merchant, you’ want the best value from all the tools you use to run your business. So when it comes to choosing your trading, order management and stock control software, it pays to be very careful about which option you choose. There are loads of different ERP systems, order management and stock management systems out there in the market vying for your business (ours included). But it’s really important to understand the differences between different types of software so you can be sure you’re choosing a system that will be able to do what YOU need it to. Every merchant is different, and what suits one won’t always suit another. There are loads of differences between industry-specific software and off-the-shelf options, and this blog doesn’t attempt to dive into all the details. But we wanted to highlight some of the more crucial differences if you're thinking of saving in the short term by opting for a simpler, off the shelf solution. Very expensive software? Watch out for false economy. Full scale, industry-specific software systems are not cheap. But that doesn’t mean they’re not great value. In most cases it’s the customisation, level of detail / accuracy and the tailored choice of functionality that makes it worthwhile – a great ERP system should not only pay for itself in performance, productivity and profitability, it should be able to actively make you more profitable and productive. That said, in some instances, the off-the-shelf solutions can be very appealing. Often when a merchant starts out, an out-of-the-box system can do the trick, at least for a while. Some of the financials platforms like Sage, Xero and QuickBooks offer good solutions that suit smaller businesses which have a heavy focus on unit-based sales, as opposed to measured materials. But if you want a system that can scale up with your growth, intelligently guide you through smarter decision-making and offer you the flexible functionality you need to deal with the complex nature of merchanting as a business model, the industry-specific solution is really the only viable way to go longer-term. Because when it comes down to it, there is a fundamental fact that means merchants really do need specialist software: Merchanting is complicated The fact is, merchanting is a lot more complicated than standard retailing. There are a number of crucial differences between the two business models. Firstly, merchanting usually involves an element of trading in measured materials , rather than unit stock. That means packs, split packs, weights, lengths, combined measurements, certification requirements, milling, processing and finishing detail, as well as the in-depth product type differentiation between various types of timber, steel, aggregates and so on. Measured materials are much more complex to trade it and need easy metrics conversion and a very flexible functionality for customised purchase and sales order management. Secondly, and perhaps even more crucially, merchanting does not always (or even often) involve immediate transactions. There is very often a delay between order, stock allocation, delivery and payment , factoring in delivery, forward contracting, imports, finishing or processing instructions and many more factors. Therefore the order and transaction management capability of your software needs to be able to cope with this staggered processing. Merchanting made easy (or easier) This is software that is built specifically to work the way merchants need it to work. It is designed from the ground up to be able to cope with the way that merchants trade and stock products, however complex those processes might be. Merchanter allows for that stock handling element of the process, where you allocate stock before delivery, or order it in to send on later. It allows you to order, manage, process and analyse by length, weight, or whatever other metric you choose to suit your business and stock profile. Crucially, it also allows for the evolution of an order from vague requirement to detailed, accurate order placement and fulfilment. Let’s take timber as an example. A customer comes along, knowing they want to buy some timber; but they don’t necessarily know exactly how much, or what type, or what packs that might need to be split into. They might need approximately 500m; or they might need roughly 20 cube. Either way, at the start, it’s not necessarily that specific. As the order progresses, that can become much more detailed and specific, allowing for any reconfiguration, milling or processing that’s needed to suit the customer. But it’s all on the system, all accounted for in stock figures – and what’s more, it’s easy to manage because that’s what it’s designed to do. While there is no such thing as a silver bullet for merchanting to suddenly make it incredibly easy, using software that is designed to cope with the nature of your business is a massive step in the right direction. If you’d like to see Merchanter in action, why not try the free online demo for 30 days, have a play with it and take it from there. No pressure, no hidden costs, no credit card details – just a completely free, online demo system to let you see what you COULD be achieving.

As a merchant, if you’ve been through an ERP implementation, you’ll know how complex it can be. Given that your back-office system works at the heart of your business to keep all your operational, commercial and logistical plates spinning, it’s no wonder that there’s a lot involved. Implementing a new ERP system in your merchant business can be challenging and is often very time-consuming. Even once you’ve been through the selection and purchasing process, getting the system up and running for your workforce is far from straightforward. Modern ERP systems are often hosted in the Cloud, making implementations much easier to do remotely. They can be much quicker to implement than legacy, server-based systems which required lots of time on-site and a lot of hands-on training and updating. However, just because remote installation and updates are now possible, it doesn’t make the process a walk in the park. We are always working on ways to improve the implementation system for our customers and have introduced new ways of working, such as the Business Process Review, as part of our implementation process to make things go more easily and ensure that expectations on both sides are properly met. When you fully understand up front exactly what you need your system to do, it’s much easier to make sure it’s doing it. It's worth noting that because of the complexity of a merchant ERP system, and the level of customisation required for optimised performance, we could probably fill a book or two with detailed recommendations for smoother ERP implementation. But in the interests of time, we’ll go with the headliners! So, here are our top three tips for a smoother and less frustrating implementation process. 1. Product data is king Arguably the single-most important ingredient in a smooth ERP implementation process is the quality of your product data. Having a good product file is an incredibly significant factor, both for implementation and for the ongoing quality and functionality of your whole system. The bottom line is, the better your product data files, the better your system will be. Using a good digital PIM system will speed up the implementation process when working with a cloud ERP system. Yes, an ERP system may require more product detail than a PIM would ordinarily provide but it does hold a great deal of information which can be carried across automatically, rather than having to manually migrate every data point. There may still be extra details to add in but if the majority is easy, the time taken is significantly reduced. It really is worth taking the time to get this information set up properly up front. The better the information held in the system, the more effectively your software will be able to help you organise and manage your business. The other thing to note here is that high quality product data at the core of your system will make external integrations much, much easier in the future. Increasingly, merchants are using a wide range of third party digital tools for selling, stock optimisation, financials and marketing, so having top quality data in place makes those connections an awful lot easier to create and maintain effectively. 2. Testing, testing, 1,2,3 It’s so important to rigorously test your system before it goes live. You want your staff to be completely comfortable using the day-to-day features, and understanding how to troubleshoot the exceptions and anomalies which crop up outside the norm. But it’s also vital to make sure the system is actually doing what you need it to do, so it needs testing over a period of time that lets you get a really good idea of how it handles everything – not just the front-of-mind functions. It’s hard to think about every tiny process in one go so it’s important to build in plenty of testing time to make sure everyone who will be using the system has a chance to get comfortable with it before it goes live. The bottom line is, the more testing you do before you go live, the smoother and easier things will be once you're up and running. 3. Keep an open mind Change is often difficult and uncomfortable but it’s important to embrace the differences between your new system and your old one. Going into a new system with the expectation that it will do everything the same way as your old system, but with a prettier interface, is a recipe for disappointment. After all, if your old system did everything you needed it to in the best way, you wouldn’t be looking for a new system in the first place. Moving from one system to another can be a real challenge and old habits, as they say, die hard. But a new, modern ERP system is not just a recreation of a legacy system – it is often completely different from the ground up, so you need to set your preconceptions to one side and remain open-minded about doing things differently – and ultimately better. Going through a detailed Business Process Review is a great way to audit (and challenge) the processes you already have in place, and it often uncovers previously unnoticed efficiencies. This not only gives you a much better chance of getting a system that fully meets your business’ needs, it also means you’re well aware of the need for the changes and can see the impact really quickly. And finally…. Your ERP provider will no doubt offer plenty of training to help your implementation go well. Ideally, additional training will also be available further down the line, as no-one can take in the full system capability in a few days of training. Online, self-help resources can really help you get the most from your system and learn the more advanced features as and when you need them. Modern ERP systems like Merchanter are powerful business tools with a huge range of features and functions to help you optimise your business efficiency, productivity and profitability. So make sure you’re getting the most value out of yours by regularly refreshing and augmenting your skills with the training resources provided. Keep communicating with your ERP supplier. We are here to help you every step of the way and are deeply invested in your success. These systems are the life-blood of your operations and your relationship with your provider should not be a one-off transaction, but an ongoing partnership. So, ask questions, make suggestions and give plenty of feedback. Cloud systems have the ability to be constantly evolving - but if you don't ask, you may not get, so keep the communication flowing! If you would like to test out Merchanter for yourself to see what all the fuss is about, just register here for login details and we’ll give you 30 days’ online demo system access completely free of charge.