ORDER-STREAM™ CLIENT PROFILES

• ACCPAC user                                 Harrogate House, Old Port
• Business Vision user                        Catherine Karnes Munn
• Great Plains™ user                          Altitude                             
• Manufacturer                                 Old Port                                    
• Distributor                                     Altitude Publishing
• Importer                                       Torre&Tagus
• Trade Show                                   Harrogate House, Old Port, Catherine                                                    Karnes, Torre and Tagu

Industries

• Gift and Tableware                         Numerous, Please Call
• Toy and Hobby                              Eurorail
• Silk Flowers                                   Winward Silks 

CATHERINE KARNES-MUNN COLLECTION, ART and CRAFT DISTRIBUTION - BUSINESS VISION application

285 Canada St.,

Fredericton, New Brunswick

http://www.karnes-munn.com/knobhill.htm

Catherine Karnes-Munn is a Canadian artist and creator of the world famous Anne of Green Gables collection of original oil paintings.  Her wholesale business has skyrocketed in recent years as she has added trivets, Victorian figurines, coasters, dolls and other art work.  Retailers stock her products all over North America.  To keep pace with this tremendous growth, she mandated Operations Manager Roxanne to make order entry more productive, reduce the time from order entry to shipping, eliminate order entry errors during trade shows and reduce cost.

Roxanne chose SL Datakatch eSales software operating on Symbol SPT 1740 hand helds interfaced with the existing Business Vision accounting software.  Results have been overwhelmingly positive as her company has exceeded projected targets for productivity and cost reduction.  She also noticed a marked increase in the average value of orders.

TORRE & TAGUS DESIGNS, IMPORTER - ACCPAC application

130-14351 Burrows Rd.

Richmond, British Columbia

http://www.torretagus.com/

Torre & Tagus imports unique gifts and home accessories of aluminum, glass and metals.  They exhibit at over ten trade shows per year.  Inputting and processing orders during and after shows was causing major problems. Owners Tim Kroetsch and Cesar Gomes noticed that their show booth was becoming so busy that customers had to wait to place an order.  They also started to see potential business leaving their booth because buyers could not wait to talk to a sales rep. 

Other problems arose at head office during shows.  The order entry staff was sometimes entering incorrect orders.  This was sometimes due to the fact that they could not read the orders that were handwritten in haste at the show.  They were noticing escalating costs due to incorrect orders in returns, restocking and reshipping.  Finally, delays in shipping to their customers was a problem that was a byproduct of all the inefficiencies at order entry. 

After investigating several solutions, from laptops to other types of scanning systems, they implemented remote order entry with eSales™ software and Symbol SPT1700 hand held Palm/scanners.  The results have been nothing short of phenomenal.  "Since implementing eSales™, our shows have steadily increased.  Our January show in Toronto was up 50% over our last show before we automated.  My sales reps could  not  have accommodated that type of increase without eSales™", said Tim in a recent interview.

Tim has also noticed an increase in order size, which he attributes to his customers' perception that Torre and Tagus is  a quality company.  "Our customers tell me that they prefer doing business with Torre and Tagus because our reps can interact with them.  Taking orders in the past was just that, writing what the customer dictated.  Now my sales reps can actually learn about our customers and offer them advice.  When customers leave our booth, they know exactly where they stand.  They have an accurate order that is also very legible," he said.

Finally, eSales™ has solved head office problems.  Accurate orders means no stress at order entry.  No long overtime hours during shows and no temporary staff to accommodate order entry are required.  The time to ship has been reduced and returns caused by order entry errors have been eliminated.  Overall, eSales™ has had a major impact on the way Torre and Tagus does business.  "We definitely would not be where we are today without eSales™," according to partner Tim Kroetsch.

OLD PORT MARKETING LTD., MANUFACTURER - ACCPAC application

1 Easy St

Port Perry , Ontario

Old Port Marketing imports and manufactures candles, accessories and decorative home accents, including Yankee Candle and ICE candles.  In 1999, Chris Mitchell, Operations Manager, installed eShow™ remote order entry software interfaced to their ACCPAC accounting software.  They chose the Symbol SPT 1740 Palm/scanner to capture and input orders and equipped their show booth with a high volume laser printer to print copies of orders for their customers.  The order entry bottleneck became a thing of the past, productivity increased dramatically and average order value increased.  Sales reps did not have to spend hours in the evening re-writing and faxing orders to head office.

ALTITUDE PUBLISHING, DISTRIBUTOR - GREAT PLAINS™ application

Altitude Publishing is a distributor of books, magazines and postcards located in Canmore, Alberta. They have six vans that act as mini warehouses and the drivers deliver new orders and pick up outdated inventory on scheduled routes.  Owner Steven Hutchings wanted to improve order entry, reduce costs and cut the time from order to invoicing.  He implemented eSales™ software interfaced with his current Great Plains accounting software.  The system runs on  Palm SPT 1500 hand held scanners.  Because of the scanning feature, his drivers can now build orders electronically, record credits and issue invoices right on the spot using battery powered, cordless HP 340 printers mounted in the vans. 

Altitude now has a much more efficient order entry system that translates into real and measurable return on investment.  They have eliminated errors in interpreting and keyboarding hand written orders and greatly reduced the time from order to invoice.

HARROGATE HOUSE, IMPORTER - ACCPAC application

155 Colonnade Road

Nepean, Ontario

http://www.harrogate-house.com/

Harrogate House imports brass antique reproductions and other giftware from Europe.  A great percentage of their sales come from tradeshows.  In 1998, President Mike Fluckiger decided to implement eShow™ remote order entry software and Symbol SPT1740 to streamline the process.  Mike noticed a dramatic increase in productivity, reduction in order errors and a  higher per order dollar value.  "Our orders are input, downloaded, picked packed and shipped much more efficiently now.  Consequently our products are on our customers' shelves sooner and re-ordered more quickly to the point where we get an extra inventory turn," he said.