What a difference software can make
Shopping preferences B2B
The shopping habits of consumers and B2B buyers have changed so radical that the retail sector is accelerating its digital presence. As was also experienced by Kookpunt, this cannot be done without an efficient backoffice. With a very wide range of kitchen appliances, knives, cookers, espresso machines and crockery, this Rotterdam retailer offers just about anything a hobby and professional cook could dream of.
An integrated system was in need for, among other things, POS, stock and purchasing, including an integration with the existing online store, in order to greatly improve stock management and to take a next step in e-commerce. The knowledge about margins on products that used to be in the heads of a few people has now been incorporated into the backoffice. As a result, many more people can take actions on the basis of product margins, adjust sales and contribute to the result.
Improve stock management
In addition to this improved insight into margins, the cooperation between Kookpunt and Novulo also improved stock management and procurement. Based on minimum and maximum stock items, the application itself takes care of repeat orders for fast moving articles to minimize the impact on sales. Streamlining ordermanagement has added value as well.
POS systems are integrated in the backoffice, so that sales in the physical store and in the B2B and B2C webshops have a solid basis, with uniform financial administration and stock registration. Fraud with price stickers on products in the store is now a thing of the past. The administration of online items picked up from the store is much improved. All in all, visibility in terms of loss of stock has greatly improved.
Flexible nature
The flexible nature of the Novulo software enabled Kookpunt to spread its wings, with new initiatives supported by the Novulo platform. Each time Kookpunt took new steps to strengthen its commercial success, the Novulo software was expanded step by step to facilitate new activities, while at the same time making operations more efficient. Two years ago, the B2B initiative CookSpoint was launched.
The central warehouse and office for e-commerce activities was expanded with a showroom aimed at small and medium businesses. The CookSpoint brand was later incorporated into the online store for the import/wholesale division KP Import, which was also built in Novulo. Established B2B customers can now order online, on account, at customer-specific prices and conditions.
Organizing efficiency for busy times
The Novulo software forms a solid and flexible basis for Kookpunt's backoffice, making retail and administrative processes much more efficient. Sjoerd Muijser, e-commerce manager at Kookpunt, now has access to software that lays the right foundation for keeping up with the ever-changing world of e-commerce and optimally allowing new strategic activities to flourish.
How did you get started with Novulo?
"The webshop Kookpunt is an extension of the physical cookware store in the north of Rotterdam. Like many other retailers, e-commerce orders at Kookpunt were delivered from the store's stock. Over the years, four different warehouses have been created, all interwoven and with a great deal of uncertainty in inventory management. Shopping behavior has changed: on some Saturdays it can be very quiet during the day. Instead on Sunday evenings a huge peak of 200 to 300 orders can be experienced.
The little corner in the back, where e-commerce started, needed expansion. The start with Novulo software was small as well. Tea and coffee items were added to stock first. This enabled us to check on a small scale how the software worked, and whether we liked it. After this successful trial, we started using the Novulo application for most of the stock. We now know which products are on the shelves, and we can deliver from stock as much as possible. The arrival of the Novulo application has resulted in balanced stock management for both the physical store and the webshop. An up-to-date status is available at all times and what is sold in the webshop as well. This information saves us a lot of running around."
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Why did you opt for Novulo?
"As in many businesses, e-commerce started at Kookpunt as a project on the side, but it has outgrown that status due to a significant increase in online activities. The presentation of the Novulo implementation at Kamera Express at the Webwinkel Vakdagen event many years ago inspired Kookpunt to deploy Novulo to improve inventory management. At that time, items were sold without stock status.
Our employees had to go to the store and hope that the pan that had been bought was actually there. If it was, the customer would receive the purchased item in two days, but often the delivery process took longer and the handling of late deliveries took a lot of time. Sometimes reimbursement was needed, or the customer decided to cancel the order all together."
What does the Novulo platform do for your organization right now?
"The Novulo platform has a connection with the webshop, which synchronizes all orders. The POS is integrated in the Novulo platform, registering all items leaving the store. This not only keeps stock information up to date, but you can also act on the status of fast movers that sell in large quantities every day. When these are almost out of stock, an overview of minimum and maximum stock levels is presented when reordering, to reduce the chance of having to say "sold out" to customers as much as possible. Now, if you have ten pieces of an article in the online store, then you know that these are actually there, and where personell can find these items.
There have also been improvements in other areas. With our newly acquired premises that serve as a warehouse and B2B showroom for Cookspoint, you can see that with efficient stock management you can increase capacity many times over. Over the past eight years, the online activities have become a strategic part of the organization and hugely important for the future. This can already be seen in the turnover. That is currently split 50-50 between online and revenue from physical stores."
Do you like working with Novulo?
"Novulo is a complete software platform in which a great deal is possible. The wishes of the customer can always be taken into account in an expansion of the web application. Novulo's working method for implementing these kinds of changes is well-structured. The various agreements concerning new implementations work well, and upcoming changes to the web application are explained extensively.
Because of the many possibilities, the system can seem complex when you start with the software. This also applies to the POS. This company employs about sixty people. The younger colleagues get to grips with the Novulo software at the POS very quickly. The older colleagues are less accustomed to working with a computer and sometimes get stuck when booking out an item. Once you've worked with the system a bit longer, those situations become a thing of the past."
What kind of next steps will your organization make?
"This year we will be spending time on the launch of a new webshop. The existing one is eight years old now, and offers few plug-in options. You need these options though, because e-commerce is developing fast. What you develop today can sometimes seem obsolete tomorrow. When this new website is up and running, the link to Novulo will be expanded. In addition to the orders from Bol.com, sales on other marketplaces such as Amazon and Fonq will be automatically transferred to Novulo. The connection to these marketplaces will take us further in the near future, but first some water will have to pass under the bridge.
We also want to keep more items in stock in the store. We will experiment with expanding the stock management to include seasonal items. It is important that the software creates the freedom to try out these kinds of new possibilities. Ultimately, you want the conversion percentages in the online store to increase, and with that the turnover. This business is therefore also investing in in-house knowledge, in order to be less dependent on external parties."
What does Novulo mean to you?
"Behind the scenes, the Novulo platform takes care of an awful lot of things in our e-commerce effort. If we didn't have that basis, things would get a lot busier as online activities continue to grow rapidly. The Novulo software makes stock visible, and enables automatically placing of orders. All the rules concerning price agreements are fully automated. In addition, the picking slips for the warehouse are arranged on the basis of logical walking routes per location.
Such functionality has made e-commerce at Kookpunt much more efficient. The complete Novulo platform makes it possible to keep on building and improving e-commerce. When you subsequently learn to work with such an innovation, you sometimes think: what a world of difference this makes. Why didn't we do this a year earlier?"
What can Novulo do for you?
This example of Kookpunt shows that organizations that want to better connect their webshop to existing store activities can deploy Novulo software on a broad basis. The platform contains a wide range of ready-to-use components that allow businesses to fully integrate inventory management, logistics, administration and e-commerce with their traditional store sales.
The ready-to-use components, which can be fully adapted to customer processes by means of modeling, guarantee optimum speed, maneuverability and return on software investment. If you would like more information about the added value of such an integrated, expandable application, please fill in this form . A product specialist will contact you to schedule a custom demo. Thank you for your attention, and for your confidence in Novulo.