A R Aspinall & Sons Ltd

A R Aspinall & Sons Ltd is a family-run builders merchant based in Willingham, just outside Cambridge. Having been builders themselves, Andrew Aspinall and his team have over 50 years' experience in the building industry and take great pride in offering a high-level of service to local tradesmen and DIY enthusiasts. "We like to think of ourselves as a one-stop-shop" explains Andrew. "We cater for all aspects of the building trade and aim to offer a wide range of goods from stock".

With a dedicated storage yard and retail shop, Aspinalls offer a variety of both light- and heavy-side products including tools, timber, plumbing, paving, paint, aggregates and electrical goods.

Situation

Because of the diversity and number of stock items, Aspinalls have very specific and well-defined requirements for a stock and retail management system. "We have a lot of different product lines and very different customers," says Andrew, referring to their mix of trade and retail business. "It's important that we manage our stock efficiently and process sales quickly and accurately".

However, Aspinall's previous retail system, an EPOS till and back-end accounts package, wasn't up to the job. "The old system was extremely slow and severely limited the efforts of staff and management," explains Andrew. "Serving customers at the counter became almost embarrassing. Not only was the system slow, it's lack of features and functionality meant that it had trouble with some of the complexities of our business".

With system functionality failing and frustration rising, Andrew realised that it was time for a change. He turned to MAM Software for help. 

Solution

"MAM were recommended to me by a friend." Explains Andrew. "They were well known and respected in the automotive industry and were looking to break into the building trade". MAM was happy to visit Aspinalls to demonstrate their Windows-based Trader software and to answer questions. This personal visit brought home how easily the MAM solution would shave time off everyday tasks such as selling goods, checking real-time stock levels, entering new items or product descriptions and ordering.

"My first look at Trader was quite a surprise" recalls Andrew. "I was amazed to discover how well the software matched our needs. For a company that had come from an automotive background, MAM had created a product that had features we'd been longing for in our business".

Installation of the new system took place in July 2004. "MAM were extremely thorough in their implementation" says Andrew. "They took the time to understand our needs and customise the software specifically for our environment."

Benefits

Efficient customer service

As soon as the system was up and running, Aspinalls immediately began to harvest its benefits: "The system is much faster than our previous till" says Andrew. "Because we can instantly access product information at point-of-sale, we can now serve customers much more quickly".

Accurate stock control

Trader's extensive ordering options have also made life easier for management. "Suggested ordering makes life so much easier. Stock is always up to date, and we no longer run out due to poor stock control."

Extensive functionality

Even now, Andrew Aspinall is still discovering new features that save time and shorten his days. "Trader is such a complete program; we're still finding new features that make our life easier" he says. "This software is now a vital part of our business. In reality, we shouldn't have waited so long to upgrade to move to this technology."