POS lookup features eliminate “miscellaneous” sales
With POS, Klem's employees look up SKUs and UPC codes, or search product descriptions for the correct item numbers and prices. Accuracy at POS leads to a complete sales history for meaningful reports, careful purchasing and long-term planning. “Epicor Eagle POS has been a wonderful tool for us,” said Bettencourt. “Even if we've made a mistake and an item doesn't scan correctly, the sales associates can use the POS features to find the right item, and not sell it under miscellaneous.”
Single-ply reduces cost and storage needs
Klem's uses single-ply register tapes and signature capture pads at their POS stations. With signature capture, Klem's files signed credit card receipts electronically, eliminating physical storage requirements while maintaining compliance with tax regulations. “I estimate that Epicor Document Management saves us at least $10,000 annually in paper and labor costs and eliminates the need to store about a pallet of register tapes per year,” said Bettencourt. “We no longer spend at least an hour a day sorting and stapling all those credit card receipts to the sales report-it's a huge timesaver.”
Training mastery in minutes
Training employees is a quick and easy process at the POS with Epicor Eagle software. “Training our employees on Epicor Eagle is easy,” said Bettencourt. “It takes a day or two of training employees and they have pretty much mastered most of the system. New hires can essentially 'pretend' to run a cash register without really entering transactions. When you can train someone faster, you'll always save money, because you don't have to dedicate a second person to stand beside them for days.”
Reports and viewers help keep inventory records accurate
Businesses with a long history like Klem's often face difficulty managing old inventory and obsolete SKUs. With Epicor Eagle Viewers, managers can explore transaction details by class, department and primary vendor. They can choose a format that allows them to search easily for products that might be priced incorrectly. By sorting columns, managers can find items, for example, with a negative quantity-on-hand and fix the problem immediately. “Because the company started so many years ago, we've faced inventory management challenges, like duplicate SKUs,” said Bettencourt. “However by running Epicor Compass reports and looking at Epicor Viewers, we can easily find and fix those problems.”
Macros automate tedious processes to save time
Epicor Eagle software lets users build macros that execute a series of commands by simply typing the macro's name. “With macros, I can export data from an Epicor Viewer into Excel, change that information, and re-import it back into the system,” said Bettencourt. “We use macros all the time and it's a huge time savings for us. For instance, I received an Excel spreadsheet from CARQUEST showing the inventory they were shipping to us. I added the department, class, fine line, primary vendor, etc., and then reimported it back into the Epicor Eagle system. I was able to load all those products automatically and save hours of time.”
Business Advisor delivers data for accurate decision making
Klem's uses Epicor Business Advisor to get a snapshot of how the business is doing. “I use Epicor Business Advisor for department analysis. Before, I would start an Excel spreadsheet and spend about three days typing in all the information,” said Bettencourt. “Now, I can get the data in 10 minutes by just entering the parameters I want-it's all right there on the screen.”
Epicor Eagle software also helps Klem's make smarter decisions. “Data from the Epicor Eagle solutions helps us decide whether to go forward with a new category and set inventory levels for the next year,” said Bettencourt. “We can find products that are selling very well, and hopefully, increase margins on those products. Every decision we make in the business is somehow tied to information from the Epicor Eagle system. It's helping us become more competitive by allowing us to get good information immediately and make better decisions.”