FS01
Wasn't something announced for December 2006? What happened to that? This confusing PDF catalogue is just a bit of a pain, isn't it... It can't be that difficult to use some shop software and just pop your stock details in there.
uhoepfner
Hi,
Well, I wouldn’t underestimate that!
You just have to process the entire database, test it, and test it again, and so on. If you can ‘outsource’ the implementation, that’s fine, but it does cost money. If you do it yourself, you need time and manpower.
I don’t think the catalogue is that bad at all; I can flick through it and see several products at once.
It does bother me a bit that I can’t just order with a click, but luckily I can send my son round on his way to uni :rolleyes:
No offence...
FS01
Hello,
Well, I wouldn’t underestimate that!
You just have to process the entire database, test it, and test it again, and so on. If you can ‘outsource’ the implementation, that’s fine, but it does cost money. If you do it yourself, you need time and manpower.
I don’t think the catalogue is that bad at all; I can flick through it and see several products at once.
It does bother me a bit that I can’t order straight away with a click, but luckily I can send my son round on his way to uni :rolleyes:
No offence...
Well, it’s a bit of a hassle at first. But once the shop is up and running, you save a huge amount of resources. Automatic invoicing and dispatch processing, easy addition of new products (which isn’t exactly trivial with a fixed catalogue), an overview of stock management at all times, and everything else that can be automated once Impex’s chaos of paper notes has been sorted out. It would simply be the transition from a chaotic shop with no control whatsoever (it doesn’t even seem to be spelling that Impex checks...) to a customer-friendly, properly managed mail-order business. It would also bring in more revenue. I, for one, have often simply ordered elsewhere because the Impex process is just too daft for me, and I think others feel the same way.
uhoepfner
Could it be that the Bad Saarow project is tying up too many resources?
:rolleyes:
MirkoBoeddecker
Good point. Thanks, FS01. We’re basically on the same page – it’s just that my enthusiasm for the whole thing has been somewhat ‘dampened’ in the meantime.
Putting products into an online shop isn’t a problem at all.
However, this wouldn’t automate much – on the contrary, interface problems would crop up everywhere and the level of automation would actually decrease.
Sales to online customers are only one part of our business.
Such a shop wouldn’t have any significant impact on controlling either. The inventory management system behind such a shop is usually rudimentary, has hardly any optimisation functions, cannot be expanded to include seasonal components, and if you try to tell it that a coating cycle can last up to 12 months and that there are also product dependencies in raw material planning, the PHP script responds with as many error messages and question marks as it can quickly spew out before crashing.
Our current system, enhanced by the insights from my 15 years’ experience in purchasing, is simply more capable.
This online shop project has now been dragging on for over 12 months because things keep going wrong during test runs.
It is simply very technically complex to synchronise the inventory management system for in-store sales, telephone sales, email orders, postal orders and an online shop operated in parallel.
No one else has this either. The problems are well known, and everyone else in a similar situation runs multiple businesses. A pure mail-order business in location X and a shop in location Y. Both with their own warehouses and thus double the capital tied up, manpower and stock management. In that case, the inventory management and stock control work out fine, because both have their own warehouse systems and their own stock, but as a result, the online shop can’t sell what’s in the shop and vice versa.
Our current ‘chaotic system’, as you call it, manages this balancing act. And we’ll have to keep managing it like this for at least quite a while yet, judging by the way margins are developing. Additional staff and warehousing costs would significantly erode our competitive advantage.
We actually have a very good response time and a very good stock. Most orders are dispatched from our own stock within 4 hours of being approved.
The shop is also renowned for almost always having everything in stock.
Once the webshop (which has actually been ready since June 2006) is finally integrated with the other system in such a way that it no longer causes any problems and allows parallel access across all four sales channels (shop, telephone, webshop, traditional ordering), then we’ll launch it.
The new target date is 15 December, but I’d rather not say anything more specific about that :rolleyes:
Best regards,
Mirko
By the way, Uwe is right too. If I had more time to take care of everything, certain projects would certainly be realised more quickly.
FS01
Hi Mirko,
Thanks for your reply. With barcode scanners and the right software (SAP? Intershop?), it should be possible to integrate the high-street shop, mail order and online operations. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how things pan out from December onwards.
Best regards,
Frank
cfb_de
Hi Frank,
Have a look at Intershop or SAP’s pricing in relation to their hardware requirements. Key points to note are: database reliability and redundancy. Would that be a bit too much for Mirko?
And then take a look at SAP’s process design. Mirko would have to change so much in his operational procedures (have I described his ‘artist’s shop’ nicely enough?) that it would be a bit too much for him?
I like his shop as it is, and for him it’s probably the most cost-effective option he’s carefully considered: if I want something, I send an email, give him a call or pop round to Berlin. An online shop offers no customer-relevant benefits and only incurs costs and effort, which ultimately get passed on to the product price.
It would be a different story if Mirko were to give up his high-street shop. Then an online solution would be attractive.
Best regards,
Franz (who oversaw an SAP implementation and was once involved in retail/import/shipping/export himself)
Renate
Hello,
I don’t miss the online shop. Quite the opposite — I prefer flicking through a catalogue. Some online shops are so poorly designed that I’ve given up on shopping there. I’m very happy with Impex just as it is.
Best regards,
Renate
Wolf_XL
...in my opinion, we shouldn’t overestimate the importance of the ‘shop’ concept... Sure, if you look at it from every angle, it could be a tool for optimising business processes. But that’s precisely where I see the problem. At the end of the day, as a customer, I couldn’t care less about that sort of thing. As a customer, all I really want is a way to place my order as quickly as possible so I can receive the goods sooner. In principle, most customers would probably be satisfied if they were given an electronic form where they could enter their requirements and which provided feedback on what is available for immediate delivery. If I can then pay straight away via PayPal or similar and thus ensure delivery within the next few days, everything is fine as far as I’m concerned. Generally speaking, one can safely assume that most customers put together their order primarily from the printed or PDF catalogue anyway. In principle, an ideal shop would look like this to me:
I enter the order number of the item I want, see it displayed again with any additional details (e.g. delivery time), and then add it to my basket. Once I’m done, I should be able to pay straight away using a recognised method – but delivery should then also take place within the next three to four days...
piu58
Obviously, it takes some getting used to not being able to order online. But I have to say that ordering over the phone works well; you can discuss delivery times, leave out items that aren’t essential but aren’t currently in stock, and so on. I’m happy with it.
cfb_de
Exactly. And none of this is possible using the standard, stable processes offered by providers such as SAP/Lexware or similar, as it would involve increased financial costs for the shop operator.
SAP is currently experimenting with something like this, but it may still take a while. They’ll get it sorted, no question about it. But when will it become visible to customers in the mail order sector?
Best regards,
Franz
