ERP for building materials and hardware retail
– Feature-rich, integrated, efficient industry solution for building materials and hardware retail
– Handles building materials and hardware retailers' requirements for business support, flexibility and integrations
– Rapid implementation from small building suppliers to large chains
Industry solution for building materials and hardware retail
Every building materials and hardware retailer is unique and needs ERP solutions suited to its requirements, but they also have much in common. Systemstöd has therefore created a fully integrated industry solution together with other “best of breed” systems for safe, efficient implementation in building materials and hardware businesses.
The solution is based on a standardised ERP system and other standard products, providing stability, flexibility and cost efficiency. These systems have been proven over many years and are valued by many building materials and hardware customers. Our extensive experience with the solutions and ready-made integrations lets us implement a complete solution tailored to your business in very little time.
Challenges for building materials retail
Building materials retailers' challenges largely involve handling large volumes of items and customer agreements. A retailer is expected to offer a customer up to a million different items from numerous suppliers, with margins calculated and prices ready.
Item management is not just about pricing but also about using the intelligence that industry councils and others continuously develop, most recently with WILMA 2.
In short, the ERP system must receive and apply the intelligence in suppliers' item files, enabling it to handle large item volumes alongside numerous customer agreements and discount schedules.
Characteristics of the industry solution for building materials and hardware retail
Our system solution and industry adaptation are intended for building materials and hardware businesses needing integrated administrative support for one or more of the following functions:
– Large item volumes
– Numerous customer agreements and complex price calculations
– Large order volumes
– POS systems and cash handling for consumer customers
– Order-specific purchasing and advance-payment management
– Goods delivery
– Handheld support for logistics and sales
– EDI with suppliers, customers and industry organisations
Which challenges does our industry solution address?
Our industry solution is for both individual retailers needing industry functionality and wishing to connect to WILMA, and larger retailers or building materials chains wanting to diversify and change business conditions while retaining control over administrative flows.
– Automatically optimised inventory replenishment suggestions
– Integrated inventory accounting (inventory value)
– Uninterrupted POS operation
– Always the correct price/the lowest price applies
– Margin improvement through manageable pricing
– Electronic approval and matching of supplier invoices
– Integration with PRI-handel
– WILMA management (WILMA-certified)
– Filtering orders before invoicing minimises invoicing errors
Key features for efficient building materials and hardware retail
The building materials solution supports all the retailer's processes with industry-specific functionality and more. It also gives retailers room to grow and change their business as needs evolve. The solution is easy to adapt and lets retailers benefit from experience and functionality from other types of trading businesses. It combines extensive standard functionality with packaged adaptations for building materials retail, including:
– Pricing by customer and project reference (littra)
– Promotional pricing such as buy 3, pay for 2
– Bundle offers, such as decking and a drill driver
– Time-limited discounts such as “rooster and owl”
– Tiered pricing
– Pricing by alternative unit, distinguishing between buying 40 bags and a pallet containing 40 bags.
– Handling FINFO and WILMA files
– Filtering during item imports; item search keywords
– Support/supplier promotions
– Label management. Large, small. Local, distributed. Printing in advance.
– Quickly create new project references (littra) during order entry
– Automatic email and/or SMS to the end customer when specially ordered goods reach the warehouse
– Automatic credit checks via Business Check when creating new customers
– Round up to the sales unit when using alternative units on orders
– Generic items under BK04 for accurate statistics while retaining specially ordered item information
– Pre-coding customer invoices for riksbyggarna
– Links to product data sheets and safety data sheets
– Efficient, simple backorder management
– Automatic freight routine handling high vehicles (högbil), etc.
– Automatic length-surcharge routine with separate accounting for additional fees
– Automatic routine for other charges such as pallets, cutting fees, special picks and packaging, etc.
– Route-planning routine for transport planning
– PAF handling – act as a collection point for companies such as Alcro
– Barcode searching
– Hide/show discontinued items
– Automatically fax or email purchase orders, order acknowledgements, etc.
– Price enquiries by customer/project reference/alternative unit, etc.
– The entire special-order range available and priced. Ready to order
– Control of all customer-specific orders (specially ordered goods), including history
– Handhelds for receiving, dispatch, stocktaking and timber measurement that can be paid at the till or turned into orders, plus replenishment by walking through the store and checking what is missing (“skjuta spjut”)
– Automatic purchase suggestions considering customer orders, what others have ordered and replenished using handhelds, etc.
– Handling seasonal variations, such as lawnmowers versus snow shovels when calculating suggestions.
– Use EDI to send electronic purchase orders to Bygg-Trygg and invoices, orders and order confirmations to riksbyggarna, etc.
– Automatic emails to relevant salespeople when new EDI orders arrive
– Keyboard shortcuts to find common items during order entry
– Pricing special-order goods based on gross margin percentage (TG)
– Scheduled automatic invoicing at intervals such as weekly, every 14 days or monthly, etc.
– Consolidated invoicing/project reference (littra), etc.
– Well-developed advance-invoicing system linked to special-order goods. Can be configured so goods are ordered only after the advance invoice is paid. Payment can be made at the till or online, etc.
– Procedures for moving goods between stores and replenishing from a central warehouse.
– Checks for possible duplicate EANs
– Fully integrated finance/accounting
– Web-based electronic approval of supplier invoices, including EDI invoices from Bygg-Trygg
– Dedicated program for reviewing orders before invoicing, with a filter so only exceptional orders need review.
– Quotations linked to project references (littra) that can carry over to orders, with the same pricing as orders.
– Bonus management tracks each customer's accrued bonus. Full handling of many variants, hidden bonuses, amount thresholds and percentage limits, etc.
– Pagero – e-invoices to customers
– Signed delivery notes are scanned and linked to the correct order
– Document management linking emails to orders/purchase orders, images to complaints, etc.
– Change the customer number on a completed order even after delivery has started.
– Items can automatically be marked as discontinued if they have no stock and have not sold for x days.
– Integration with POS systems such as Extenda or Cash IT
– All integrations handle all pricing managed in the ERP system.
– Gift-card handling at the till
Ole Gustafsson, CEO, Bygg-Ole Servicecenter AB
– The efficiency gains paid for the entire investment in a new ERP system from Systemstöd in less than two years. We now gain benefits continuously at a low cost.