The big switch

Kent Backes, inventory control manager
Pike Nurseries, www.pikenursery.com
Company headquarters: Duluth, Ga.
Locations: 18
New POS system: Activant

Why did the company decide to switch? “Our old system was a fine register system. But we didn’t have tremendous visibility into what was happening to our inventory on a SKU level. Also, we wanted more capabilities for marketing—track purchases by specific customers, loyalty programs—that kind of thing.”

When did you make the switch? “It was in November. We just closed down for the night, and the tech people came in and reset everything. The next morning, we were on the new system. There were trainers on hand from Activant. We went live at 16 store locations. There are always things that come up when you’re making a big change. We had to do a couple of updates to patch the systems. But, overall, the Christmas season went well.”

What’s your best advice for other retailers? "Know that you’re going to need a massive amount of data. The more info you have, the easier it will be once you’re on the new system. Take your time and get that right beforehand, so you’re not scrambling. We did a big data dump out of our old system, and gave the POS company time to clean it up. They would load it, test it and see how things were working. They did several trials with the data.” 

Lisa Campbell, co-owner
Danville Gardens, www.danvillegardens.com
Locations: 2 (Danville and Champaign, Ill.)
New POS system: SBI

Why did the company decide to switch? “We weren’t happy with our old system. It wasn’t a garden-center-based program. And customer service was terrible.It also wasn’t compatible with our accounting system. We wanted the new system to be easy for employees to use. It had to have a quick look-up function for plant materials. And we wanted to be able to use hand-held devices. We have a satellite location a few miles away, and only room for one computer. The hand-helds are a great line buster.”

When did you make the switch? “We did it on the 8th or 9th of June. We’re closed starting July 3rd and through the month of August, so that gave us time to get up to speed.

What’s your best advice for other retailers? “Ask as many questions as you can possibly think of—even if they sound dumb or menial. We had a loyalty program that worked one way, and theirs [SBI] worked a different way. Our salesperson thought the data could be moved over. But the tech people said, ‘Oh we can’t switch that over.’ You could transfer the customer names and basics—but not the points they already had. So they had to write a different program. We should’ve asked how it was going to work, and didn’t. We’re still asking a lot of questions.”