Reeds of Wantage

About Reeds of Wantage 

Independent decorators’ merchant Reeds of Wantage has been using K8 Trader for almost three years. During this time, the software has supported an almost doubling in turnover and helped the business trade through the coronavirus pandemic - something that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. The company is now looking forward to reaping the benefits of ecommerce as it transitions to a digital future.

Managing day-to-day operations is just one feature companies look for in an ERP solution - but it should also deliver the ability to grow and adapt to changing market conditions. 

Since adopting K8 Trader back in April 2018, independent decorators’ merchant Reeds of Wantage has seen its turnover almost double. Buyer and Operations Manager Euan Mead owes this considerable growth at least in part to the efficiency savings the business has achieved through its Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) software.

Even though we’ve expanded as a business, our core processes certainly don’t take us any longer despite the larger turnover.

Euan Mead, Buyer and Operations Manager at Reeds of Wantage

The ERP software has already proved invaluable for Reeds, and as Euan explains, will position the company for future success as it transitions towards a digital era.

Problem: Trading during challenging times

Reeds had to quickly adapt to the changing business conditions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, but thanks to the flexibility offered by K8 Trader, it was easy to continue trading, even in light of the national restrictions.

'Quite simply, if we hadn’t changed our software provider then we wouldn’t have been able to operate. During the first national lockdown, half our staff were able to work from home and we operated a call and collect service,' Euan explained.

K8 Trader allowed us to continue producing sales orders and all the documentation we needed; we could also log into the system to see stock availability and respond to customer enquiries. None of that would have been possible without K8 Trader.

Euan Mead, Buyer and Operations Manager at Reeds of Wantage

Key Benefits

• Suitable for small-to-medium sized businesses
• Quick to deploy, easy to use
• Sales order and point of sale features
• Powerful reporting and analysis

Return on investment

Reflecting on its time using K8 Trader, Euan explained that the software has provided a good return on investment for Reeds of Wantage.

'Even though we’ve expanded as a business, our core processes certainly don’t take us any longer despite the larger turnover. We’ve seen improvements in our product margins. Some of this will be down to the different ways in which we purchase, and because we are more nuanced with customer pricing,' he said. 'With our ERP software, we are able to understand more quickly and effectively what margins we need to achieve on which products. We can now target the right pricing in the right areas for all our customers to make sure we keep their business.'

Stock reporting is another feature that has proved invaluable to the business.

We are now able to identify slow-moving items much more quickly and free up some capital, allowing us to understand what we need to do with particular products to encourage sales.

The reporting side of K8 Trader is also excellent. We can slice the data that’s available to us slightly differently; before, we only had one report, which meant we were very limited in what we could do with it.

Euan Mead, Buyer and Operations Manager at Reeds of Wantage

Efficiency enhancements have also made a considerable difference, especially when it comes to invoicing. 

'We can batch invoice in less than five minutes, whereas before it used to take us around four times as long. These time savings soon add up, so it’s important for us to be more efficient wherever we can. The next step for us will be integrating our ERP system with an ecommerce solution,' Euan expressed.

Highlights

• Ability to access K8 remotely and continue trading off-site
• Improved product margins allow more informed customer pricing
• Batch invoice processing is now around four times faster
• Enhanced stock reporting to identify slow-moving items