Haven Distributing is an importer and wholesaler of furniture and homewares products. Roger Harris, Managing Director, has a strong retail operations, inventory management and sales background so had a lot of experience to draw on when searching for an inventory management system.
The Problem - Distribution Inventory Management
Being a relatively small operation, Roger wanted to have a distribution inventory management system that would allow him to grow the company without having too many overheads while they were starting out. In choosing an inventory system, he wanted to do it once, do it right and get on with business: “Our business is developing products, buying and selling it. We don’t want to be spending all of our time having to look for new operating systems,” he says.The Solution
Roger sought out Unleashed on the basis of an emphatic recommendation. “When I looked at Unleashed it gave us everything we wanted and needed at that time. And it looked like it had scope to have what we hopefully will need in the future, as we grow the business,” he shares. “What I liked about it was when I did some test modeling of Unleashed and Xero was experiencing the ease of use and link between the two systems,” he adds. The implementation was a simple process, Roger knew the cost of the existing inventory that came with the business when he purchased it and loaded the items in as his initial purchase order. From there on, the average costing function has worked as he’s replenished his stock. He describes the initial set up as: “A breeze, it was really simple. Between Xero and Unleashed it was all set up and ready to go in the business within two days.”The Results
Roger has been really pleased with the in-depth reporting and features within Unleashed: “Certainly since starting up Haven, and utilising Unleashed as the stock management tool, it's given me far better reporting and management of my inventory than the previous systems which I was working with in much larger companies,” he says. The seamless flow of information between Xero and Unleashed has been a big plus for Roger. “We load sales, inventory, purchase orders, or whatever in Unleashed and it's instantly there in Xero. That's very impressive. In fact, I’ve probably been a reasonable salesperson of both of those systems to other people that I know in the industry,” he shares. Unleashed and Xero have been a great fit for Haven Distributing, helping to keep overheads down as the business grows. Roger budgeted a certain amount that he would need for personnel wages. He shares that he hasn’t gone anywhere near hitting that budget because Unleashed enables the business to operate so efficiently. “I don't have to employ somebody on the admin side just to be loading sales and purchase orders and so on because we do that on the hoof as part of our daily routine. It just happens,” he enthuses. Roger is confident that as the business grows, Unleashed will continue to be able to support it.I’ve been reading on the forums and seen the positive comments from companies that are much larger than us, and reading that they are finding it beneficial bodes well for the future as Haven grows.
