Established in 1988, P&G Cards are located in County Roscommon in Ireland and specialise in the design, production and distribution of greeting cards. Over the past twenty years, the company has grown to become one of the largest players within the Irish greeting cards market supplying to the large symbol multiples, such as Dunnes and the Musgrave Group, along with independent retailers throughout the country.
P&G initially implemented Aspin’s AMSolve accounting and supply chain management software in 2000. Aspin spoke to Simon Osterloh, P&G’s general manager, about their AMSolve system and the recent introduction of Aspin’s MiniSell handheld sales order capture software.
As Simon Osterloh explains, ‘the primary reason for implementing AMSolve was its specialisation and suitability for the greeting cards industry, specifically its display planning and distribution modules... dealing with the large symbol multiples, EDI is also an integral part of our business and the integrated nature of Aspin’s software and its capabilities were also a determining factor.’
P&G utilise AMSolve’s financial control, stock control, display management system, sales order processing and EDI modules, along with the IQ report writer. Over the years, P&G have had numerous enhancements and modifications made to their AMSolve system, including most recently the addition of a global design amendment facility for their display management system. For Simon, this has always been one of the main benefits of the products and services provided by Aspin:
‘AMSolve and Aspin have the versatility to adapt to a customer’s processes. Larger software suppliers are very reluctant to modify their software to meet a company’s business processes because of the high costs involved....We [P&G Cards] are very particular about the way we do things and Aspin have always been open-minded about changing the way their software works. Other larger software suppliers would get you to change your business processes to fit their software, and not the other way around.’
One of the key elements of P&G’s success has been its ability to work closely with its customers providing them with a range of in-depth sales analysis and performance reports and helping them to identify opportunities for future business growth. The majority of this reporting functionality is driven by their AMSolve system:
‘AMSolve’s display management system, with its links to the sales analysis module, enables us to maximize profitability by identifying fast moving product lines, on a plan-by-plan, store-by-store basis. Using this information, we’re then able to re-plan our grids accordingly...Apart from its financials and distribution planning modules, AMSolve offers a high degree of data portability, being able to send data, not only to IQ, but also to other applications such as Crystal Reports and Access.’
At the end of 2009, P&G implemented MiniSell, equipping their sales reps with Opticon H19a Pocket PC smart phones with integrated barcode scanners. With MiniSell, the reps are currently able to scan in ticket returns and complete a number of questionnaires, all of which can be created and amended using the MiniSell DataBridge Manager.
Making full use of MiniSell’s call based system P&G are able to upload amendments to the reps’ journey/diary plans to their DataBridge on a regular basis. These are then sent out in the reps’ update packages, along with the stock and customer information provided by regular exports from P&G’s AMSolve system.
Typically, the reps work through the calls on their journey plan as presented on the MiniSell front screen. MiniSell, not only logs the time at the start and end of each call, but also the handheld’s GPS position. Whilst any tickets returns the rep has completed are sent back to the MiniSell DataBridge and exported back into AMSolve, all of the calls details, including any questionnaires that may have been completed, are available to view via the MiniSell online reporting system.
The MiniSell online reporting system provides a number of preset reports, which enable P&G to review tickets, questionnaire responses and each rep’s activity, enabling them to identify missed calls and compare the scheduled and actual start and end time of each call. The reporting system even links in to Google Maps, allowing P&G to pin-point the exact location of the rep during the course of the call.
‘We had looked at MiniSell a few years back but the technology was still very much in its infancy. However, by the time we implemented it last year, there had been a great leap forward in terms of both the software and the hardware. The fact that the Opticon included an integrated barcode reader was also a big bonus... MiniSell questionnaires have provided us with vital feedback. The reps are able to report effectively about the condition of our displays – How tidy they are, whether point of sale material has been displayed, and whether it is positioned correctly. The information gathered also means we’re able to monitor competitor activity and assess whether there is an opportunity to grow business within each store.
What’s more, being able to view the reps’ position on Google Maps gives us the peace of mind that the reps are doing what they should be doing, they’re not just phoning the customer from two hundred miles away. We know that they’re actually there on the shop-floor, face to face with the customer.
All in all, MiniSell has given us the opportunity to streamline our sales operation, optimizing the reps’ journey plans by identifying how long it takes the reps to service each customer, and adjusting their journey plans accordingly... Implementing MiniSell has enabled P&G to streamline its order taking and submission process by 75%.’
The latest addition to P&G’s MiniSell system is a ticket order processing interface which their merchandisers are able to access via the MiniSell DataBridge manager. P&G are then sent an email notification each time the reps process a ticket via DataBridge the before the tickets are exported to AMSolve. Simon explained the motivation for implementing the system and talked about what they’re looking to do with MiniSell in the near future:
‘P&G have around forty merchandisers at any time, and we did not want to purchase an Opticon for every single user, so saving on the hardware expense was a key consideration..
We’re also looking to implement wild order capture for MiniSell, which is more suited to the way we do business with our independent customers, where we often share a display with our competitors. These companies have very lengthy lead-times and their displays are often empty. This gives our reps the opportunity to supply product and this is why they need to be able to order on ‘the fly’. Part of P&G’s competitive advantage is that we’re able to turnaround orders within 48 hours as opposed to a couple of weeks with our larger competitors.’
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