Reducing slow-movers and increasing inventory accuracy
Improving inventory management was a major goal for Snow's and the Epicor Business Accelerator program provided detailed actions that delivered a sizeable payback. "We had a large percentage of merchandise that wasn't moving," said Sharise Nunnally, IT manager for Snow's Home and Garden. "By making our popularity codes more accurate, using ranking reports, and having a dedicated inventory manager, we are now reducing our slow-movers and really cleaning up our inventory. We were also advised to expand our usage of RF guns to do cycle counting and receiving, which will improve inventory accuracy."
Strategies to improve margins
To increase profitability and get Snow's closer to industry averages compared to similar businesses, the Epicor consultant recommended that Snow's implement price rounding, add freight costs to average cost and margin calculations, and add a price matrix discount structure to encourage contractors to increase their volume in Snow's Benjamin Moore paint department. "Although our margins are acceptable, there is always room for improvement," said Snow. "By having some specific actions detailed for us, and with more aggressive margin monitoring, we increased margins between 1%-5%."
Increasing efficiency leads to increasing profitability
"Businesses need to improve efficiencies so they can increase profitability," said Nunnally. "The Epicor Business Accelerator program is tailored to do just that." Snow expanded on that idea by adding, "Many of our processes were manual, or we were doing them as we learned ten years ago, and not taking advantage of the technology that's now available in the Epicor Eagle solution. By having an expert identify timesaving steps, we're seeing efficiency gains throughout the company. Epicor Business Accelerator is a quick and affordable way to identify areas of improvement in your business. It's been very good for us."
About Epicor
Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industries. With more than 40 years of experience, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Epicor solutions enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry expertise and passion for excellence, Epicor inspires customers to build lasting competitive advantage. Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional, and global businesses demand. For more information, visit www.epicor.com.
Snows Home and Garden - Epicor Business Accelerator
Snow's Home and Garden Increases Efficiency with Epicor Business Accelerator
Snow's Home and Garden President, Sid Snow, learned about the Epicor Business Accelerator program and was eager to use it to help improve the company's efficiency. "We are committed to improving efficiency," said Snow. "We knew we weren't operating as efficiently as we could, we were performing many tasks the old way. And I knew we weren't using our Epicor Eagle system to its full potential. I believed that with some expert assistance we could make changes to the business that would provide immediate and lasting benefits."
After spending two days with the Epicor Business Accelerator consultant, Snow's had a detailed roadmap filled with recommendations. "The roadmap helped by uncovering features within the system that in some cases we didn't even realize existed," said Snow. "Then we were able to focus and prioritize our efforts. It took us approximately one year to get everything implemented, but we saw benefits immediately."
"Epicor Business Accelerator is a quick and affordable way to identify areas of improvement in your business. It's been very good for us."