Leading outdoor and snow sports retailer relies on Eurostop’s retail management solution to promote transparency, accelerate stock control processes and aid forward-planning
From a small store at the west end of the Fort William High Street, Nevisport has grown into one of the nation’s leading outdoor and snow sports specialty retailers with a head office in Glasgow. The company was set up by two rock climbers, lifelong friends and mountaineering partners who had become dissatisfied with the poor selection of climbing equipment they found in existing UK stores.
Today, enthusiasts the world over know they can depend on Nevisport’s expert knowledge and excellent customer service as well as the right gear and accessories they need to truly enjoy the outdoors. Customers can buy some of the best brands for camping, outdoor clothing and equipment from Nevisport’s network of sales outlets in the UK, by mail order and via the company website.
Proven retail experience
Nevisport originally installed Eurostop’s retail management system in 2009, selecting Eurostop for its proven track record in supplying technology to the clothing and footwear retail market. It deployed Eurostop’s e-rmis suite of head office management applications for the main office in Glasgow and the e-pos solution at till points across all outlet stores in the North of England and Scotland to accurately manage sales and stock. The company also uses e-cubes, Eurostop’s data mining module that enables Nevisport to interrogate and report on sales and customer data.
Continued investment in technology is critical to business success
Eurostop has served Nevisport well over the past four years by creating a highly efficient mechanism for tracking the company’s growing number of brands as well as its increasing volume of sales quickly and accurately.
According to Mike Benson, Merchandising and Stock Control Manager at Nevisport, “We always expected the Eurostop solution to bring significant benefits to our business with stock management and sales and we have not been let down.”
Today, Eurostop supports Nevisport’s twelve sales outlets in the UK, including the original flagship store in Fort William and an outlet located in the heart of Nevis Range, Scotland’s newest ski area, a flourishing mail order business and the retailer’s recently improved company website. Nevisport uses the system to manage its stock control processes and merchandising including managing contract customer accounts such as local authorities or mountain rescue teams. At all times, head office has a complete view of how well different products are selling at different stores and can quickly move stock around to where it is needed most. At the store level, retail managers can see if an item they need is in stock and can order it in an instant.
Transparency and integration are key
Transparency is one of the biggest benefits of Eurostop as Mike Benson testifies, “By far the greatest advantage of Eurostop is its transparency. At a glance, we can see clearly where our stock is and report on our sales and margins in the most granular detail, by branch, by supplier and between specific dates. This makes it easy for us to establish which brands to focus on in the future and where to invest, giving us a powerful and strategic planning tool that will benefit our business long-term.”
On a tactical level, Nevisport praises Eurostop for its ability to import details about new products and sales directly from files stored in the company’s central ordering database. Eurostop’s superior integration capabilities mean that Nevisport can quickly access and download information relating to customer orders at any time and in bulk. For example, Mike Benson’s team was recently looking to review the orders it had placed with suppliers for the coming Autumn/Winter collection and was able to import several hundred orders in a matter of minutes. Previously, before the automated Eurostop solution, staff would have had to key in every detail manually, a time-consuming and onerous process that often left information incomplete or out-of-date by the time the task was finished.
Keeping customers loyal
Phillip Moylan, Sales and Marketing Manager at Eurostop concluded, “Eurostop’s systems have been designed to streamline stock and sales management for retailers. Our experience of working with retailers, from small independents to large chains, in the specialist clothing and footwear industry, helps us understand the issues that they face on a daily basis. Keeping a tight control on stock movements, hot sellers and less popular lines is vital in these challenging times. By acting upon information that gives a clear indication of what the market wants, forward-thinking, dynamic retailers like Nevisport can demonstrably increase sales, boost customer loyalty and maintain profit margins.”
