Forward-Thinking Store Trusts Do it Best-Endorsed Partner to Enhance Productivity and Customer Experiences
Jill Pooler, Owner of Gray Village Hardware, had a big problem. She was on track to migrate from her existing ECI RockSolid ERP to Epicor Propello, but the scheduled switch-over date meant that her RockSolid point-of-sale (POS) contract would need to be renewed. She recalled, “I only needed a month of additional time on RockSolid but would be required to sign a year-long contract, which was expensive.” Pooler needed a better option.
Located in a charming New England town, Gray Village Hardware offers paint, lawn and garden, electrical, plumbing, hardware and outdoor living products, equipment rentals, and propane filling. When Pooler and her husband took over the store in 2003, they realized a major life goal: to run a business of their own.
We heard a lot about Epicor from other Do it Best retailers, in particular, that the two companies had invested in a strategic, cloud-based e-commerce partnership to help retailers innovate operations and enhance customer experiences. Those partnerships gave us a lot of confidence that Epicor had been thoroughly vetted.
Along with Gray Village Hardware, the Poolers adopted the store’s legacy membership. Over time, however, they learned more about Do it Best, the only US-based, member-owned comprehensive and fully integrated hardware, lumber, and building materials buying cooperative in the home improvement industry.
They were intrigued with the culture, vision and financial position of Do it Best. After many conversations and lots of research, the Poolers decided to join the cooperative in January 2023. “We heard a lot about Epicor from other Do it Best retailers, in particular, that the two companies had invested in a strategic, cloud-based e-commerce partnership to help retailers innovate operations and enhance customer experiences,” Pooler described. “This partnership gave us a lot of confidence that Epicor had been thoroughly vetted.”
Another major selling point was that Epicor Propello is deployed in the cloud, giving the Poolers the flexibility to access the system and seamlessly work from anywhere.
Excited at the immense potential available with Epicor Propello deployed in the cloud, Pooler knew that there would be some overlap time between RockSolid and the Propello implementation but was not prepared for the hefty price tag to extend RockSolid. She reached out to the Epicor implementation team to see what was possible. “Epicor accelerated the migration and pulled up our scheduled go-live date by over a month, saving us thousands of dollars,” Pooler highlighted. “They made it happen.”
Epicor-led training got Pooler confidently up and running on Epicor Propello, and her staff loves the new solution. “We invested in touchscreens, and our employees found it so easy to learn and use,” she said. Pooler invited one manager to attend specialized training for account receivables, purchasing, and receiving. All other staff simply started using the intuitive solution. Pooler remarked, “Younger employees pick it right up.” As a new Epicor user, Pooler also appreciates the valuable resource that is EpiCare customer support, saying, “EpiCare is responsive and resolves issues within 24 hours. They are super helpful.”
Epicor accelerated the migration and pulled up our scheduled go-live date by over a month, saving us thousands of dollars. They made it happen.
Pooler emphasized that Epicor Propello streamlined the return process, something she used to find cumbersome and not very customer-friendly. Now, if the customer has a receipt, Gray Village Hardware staff simply type in the transaction number; Propello pulls up the receipt, allows returned items to be selected and the amount is refunded directly back to the customer’s credit card. “This is particularly useful in our rental department when there are frequent changes to how long a customer needs the rental,” Pooler noted. “The automatic refund mimics the experience our customers are used to from large stores. It wasn’t a feature I had with RockSolid and I love it.”
Gray Village Hardware’s e-commerce channel is an effort Pooler is especially keen on developing. She explained, “We have basic e-commerce capabilities, but we want to expand it, and we learned that the partnership between Epicor and Do it Best would be able to facilitate that.” She also has all the pieces in place to resurrect the store’s customer loyalty and rewards program once the spring rush is behind her.
Another critical area to explore is automating workflows such as loading supplier product lists. Pooler has spoken with other Do it Best store owners who have achieved massive efficiencies with Epicor Propello. As an example, she cited, “Hillman offers hundreds of different sizes and styles of nuts, bolts and washers. Loading that information into the system was an hours-long manual process—or I could pay our previous vendor to do it. Epicor Propello automated the uploading of all the cost and pricing information within minutes, saving many hours as well as any additional fees.”
Pooler is eager to take full advantage of all the features and benefits Epicor Propello helps to offer to the business. Beyond more sophisticated e-commerce that helps offer a compelling rewards program, she expects Epicor's reporting capabilities to help deliver meaningful insights to inform Gray Village Hardware's future. She stated, "Epicor has such a rich feature set. I just need to tap into it."
