IBS software sheds light on Vintage Verandah’s inventoryCustomer Story System reliability and adaptability were the key factors when Vintage Verandah chose its business solution. Vintage Verandah is a family-owned lighting and home décor company, located in the south eastern American town of Marion, Arkansas – just across the river from ‘the home of blues music,’ Memphis, Tennessee. The company has been active in the lighting market since 1963, when M.L. ‘Butch’ Pike III started what was formerly known as the Elite Lamp Company.
Initially the company specialized in supplying plaster light fixtures to its clients. As new trends in lighting and interior design developed, Vintage Verandah diversified its business to include not only lamps, but home accessories such as candle holders, furniture, framed artwork, clocks, mirrors, planters, wall hangings and other decorating products.
To help it manage its ever-expanding selection of merchandise, Vintage Verandah has implemented IBS software.
Complete inventory control
From the early beginnings of supplying lighting to a handful of interested clients, more than 10,000 stores in the United States and Canada now sell Vintage Verandah merchandise to their customers. The company has a national (U.S.) sales force and works with independent retailers. Products are sourced from factories located in a number of foreign countries, and 90 employees work at Vintage Verandah headquarters in Arkansas. About 900 orders are processed every week.
Alan Williams, CFO at Vintage Verandah, says, “Our industry is very fashion-forward and trend-sensitive, so we need to be able to monitor how our product ranges suit our clients’ needs. With more than 800 different product SKUs (stock keeping units), we must be sure that we can quickly access data about how our products are doing in the marketplace.”
When Vintage Verandah decided to purchase and implement new business software in 2002, some very specific demands had to be met. “After using software that crashed almost daily, which halted productivity while the system was restarted, reliability was an important factor when choosing the new business system. Also, we wanted to be able to adapt the software easily. Finally, we wanted to have a system that would to help us handle warehouse inventory more efficiently,” Williams explains.
In order to take full control of its inventory Vintage Verandah makes extensive use of IBS INVENTORY CONTROL software. The software provides an extensive range of options and features that match the company’s operational needs and processes. IBS INVENTORY CONTROL makes the replenishment process straightforward and easy to manage, working with other IBS ENTERPRISE applications to ensure that all elements of its operations are well planned. The software helps Vintage Verandah make reliable decisions on which products, when and how much to replenish.
Efficient warehouse management
Companies like Vintage Verandah are constantly creating new ideas to leverage their business over their competitors in the same marketplace. It is therefore vital that its warehouse operates with efficient workflow routines, producing a quick time to market and utilizing automation, transparency and communication to the utmost.
IBS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT software covers all the necessary functionality for efficient warehouse operations and management. It provides tools and functions for reducing both operational and capital costs, improving space utilization and increasing customer service.
“The software helps us handle the physical flow within our warehouse and optimize the use of space,” says Williams. Fast-moving products can be assigned to prime locations and slow movers relegated to less convenient areas. Sharpened customer service is combined with money-saving logistics control.
For Williams, the choice of IBS enterprise software was a sound decision. “We haven’t had the system crash once since it was implemented. That alone brings us huge savings in time, which means added productivity,” he says.
Precisely allocated costs
In addition, with a significant number of Vintage Verandah products sourced from factories overseas, the software has been modified to provide valuable information about the company’s imports.
“One of the features of the software that works very well for us is that we are able to allocate costs in a more precise manner,” says Williams. “Our system has been set up to allow us to know exactly how much each container from overseas is actually costing us. By entering data such as costs for shipping, freight and duty, we have a better picture of the individual unit prices of the merchandise we bring from our suppliers in countries such as China, all the way to our warehouse in Arkansas. This information is very helpful, as we receive up to 1,500 containers every year.”
In the early stages of implementing the IBS solution, Vintage Verandah was in close contact with the IBS account managers. However, this has been greatly reduced with time.
“The system works very well for us, so we don’t really have any problems to contact IBS about. But we have a good line of communication with IBS when we do have questions,” Williams explains.
Proven scalability
Vintage Verandah is still using the IBS solution that was installed initially in 2002. However, the company has also implemented several modifications to the base software since going live.
“Frankly, I don’t ever see us outgrowing this system. Being able to easily adapt the software to our specifications is one of its best features. This means we can just add more memory or extra features to the system when needed. It is so easy to modify the modules to our changing requirements. We envision using IBS software for a very long time,” he says.
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