HT & Co accelerates withSanderson wholesale IT solution

Ordering solution will provide afundamental, additional saleschannel, improving customerexperience. HT & Co’scustomers will be able to placeorders, 24 x 7, at theirconvenience, track orderprogress and view promotionaloffers – increasing HT & Co’ssales further.

Sanderson is a preferredsupplier to the Today’s Group.As a member, HT & Co is alsobenefiting from group buyingpower and improved industry links.

Jon Durrant, Head of IT, HT & Co(Drinks) Ltd, comments:“The Swords software solutionprovides the best platform in terms offunctionality and support for ourlong-term growth. The solutions willhelp to increase sales and raisecustomer service levels across thebusiness. Swords BusinessIntelligence is most useful for us – wecan review company performance atany time and utilise managementreports for effective decision making.”

valuable information for decisionmaking.

In addition, the new Mobile CRMsolution enables staff to workremotely and provides businesscontinuity away from the office. With24 hour access to the Swords systemvia mobile devices, they can createquotes, process sales orders and viewessential information whilst withcustomers to maximise salesopportunities and respond faster tocustomer enquiries. Furthermore, theintroduction of the Sanderson Web

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One of London’s leadingwholesalers and distributors ofdrinks and tobacco, HT & Co(Drinks) Ltd has selected theSanderson wholesale softwaresolution, Swords, as the bestsystem to meet its growingneeds and to integrate andsupport its many businesses.Impressed by the extensivefunctionality of Swords, thecompany will also deploy VoiceOrder Picking, BusinessIntelligence, Mobile CRM andWeb Ordering solutions togenerate efficiencies, increasesales and deliver an even betterservice to its customers.

The latest Voice Order Pickingsolution will be used in thewarehouse, allowing HT & Co tobenefit from faster order picking,increased staff productivity andsignificantly fewer picking errors –protecting cash flow by reducingcosts. Swords Business Intelligencewill enable HT & Co to continually

monitor performance using keyperformance indicators,

providing

Success with IT

Page 3Preston Beersaves £5K amonth withSanderson

Page 4More companiesgrow withSanderson

Page 2Latest solutions to help wholesalerssave timeand boostproductivity

CASH & CARRY ANDWHOLESALE NEWS

Issue 12

Our very latest solutions are helping wholesalers to maximise sales opportunities, process orders faster and reduce errorsby streamlining and automating operational processes.

New Mobile CRM solution

• Boosts staff productivity – 24hour access to real-time Swords dataenables staff to work remotely andprovides business continuity awayfrom the office

• Improves order taking efficiency– produce quotes and process salesorders during customer visits.

Swords Voice Order Picking

• Saves time and increasesnumber of orders picked. Intelligentrouting tells pickers where to go topick orders in the warehouse

• Reduces costly picking errorsand saves cash. Fewer picking errorsreduces the costs of processingreturns and credits.

Latest Sanderson solutions to maximisesales, boost productivity and save time

The Sanderson wholesale IT system,Swords is a single integrated systemwhich manages all areas of the supplychain, balancing the demands ofsales, purchasing, stock and cashflow. The system integrates allwholesale operations, includingtelesales, sales orders, web trading,mobile CRM, and stock andwarehouse management. Swordsprovides essential managementinformation to support businessdecisions, improve efficiencies, savetime and money and enhancecustomer service levels.

Swords web ordering system

• Increases sales – customers canconveniently place orders 24 hours aday

• Improves customercommunications – helps withdelivery scheduling

• Saves time by eliminating theneed to re-key orders.

Success with IT

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Sanderson is a publicly owned UK provider of software

solutions to the delivered wholesale and cash & carry

industries. Its wholesale IT solution helps companies to

streamline operations, reduce costs and increase

efficiencies to drive their businesses forward.

Top 5 benefits of Swords

1. Maximise sales and avoid missedsales opportunities by offeringalternative items with instantvisibility of stock levels

2. Enhance customer service byprocessing orders faster, pickingorders more quickly and accurately,and offering more sales channels forcustomer convenience

3. Boost staff productivity and savetime by streamlining operationalprocesses, removing manualpaperwork and duplication of tasks

4. Improve stock managementusing real-time information to makeinformed purchasing decisions andutilise warehouse space moreefficiently

5. Increase control of your businesswith key management information,enabling a quick response to anypotential issues.

Preston Beer Company is a £5 million,10-employee business, located nearPreston. Prior to the installation ofSwords, the specialist wholesale ITsystem from Sanderson, PrestonBeer’s processes were manual, timeconsuming and prone to error. “It wasdefinitely time to get a new system torun the business more efficiently,”says Managing Director and Co-founder Tony Oxley.

“Some years earlier, when I sawSwords, I could see it was the bestsystem for our business. However, atthat time, we were still a very youngbusiness and we decided to wait untilwe’d grown a bit.” In hindsight, hesays, delaying the decision was thewrong thing to do: “If I’d knownthen what I know now, I wouldn’thave hesitated. We had no idea howmuch benefit this system wouldbring us – we wish we’d installedSwords years ago.”

Once Preston Beer signed the contractfor Swords, Oxley says, “TheSanderson team steered us throughthe process with military precision.Their help was invaluable, especiallyto a small company like ours.”

The system has brought freshefficiency, order and accuracy toPreston Beer’s operations. Stockcontrol has been transformed. “Thedata is accurate and immediate –everything is there at the touch of abutton.” Monthly stock takes are nowa thing of the past: “I just do randomchecks on individual items and I’venever found an error. The waySwords manages stock is fantastic.It saves us £5,000 month, whichmakes a huge difference to a

business our size.”

Preston Beer now also has much-needed pricing controls, simplifyingcomplex pricing and eliminating theneed for manual unit cost alterations.“Prices vary by customer, whichmeant previously we had to loadinformation separately, by item.” Notonly did this take time, but it also ledto errors – in contrast, Oxley reports100% accuracy and, more importantly,customer retention since theintroduction of Swords.

Preston Beer has secured significanttime savings, thanks to the system’sability to optimise and scheduledelivery routes. “It’s a task whichused to take at least two hourseach morning. Now it takes justminutes,” says Oxley. Swordsproduces delivery routes for eachdriver and sheets are compiled andprinted for each route: at the end ofthe day, the sheets are returnedalong with money collected.

Customer PLOFs (price list and orderforms) are easy to display, enabling

Preston Beer to see regular orderpatterns and historical data. “When acustomer phones, we can see straightaway what they usually order, so wecan remind them if items are missed,making sure we don’t lose any salesopportunities,” Oxley states.

Such has been the transformation inoperational efficiency that PrestonBeer has already recouped itsinvestment more than three timesover. “We’ve been able to improveour margin by 2% sinceimplementing Swords – that’s athreefold payback resulting frombetter efficiencies within thebusiness and better-informeddecisions,” says Oxley.

He concludes: “Swords has releasedvaluable time to do more productivework, seeking out new business. Itwill undoubtedly help us to grow –and grow with us. But beyond thesoftware, Sanderson has over-performed on service: we were soimpressed by their commitment tounderstand our business and it ispaying dividends.”

Success with IT

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Beer, wine and spirits wholesaler Preston Beer Company has transformed its operations.

Robust pricing control, real-time stock visibility and unparalleled management data

are just some of the benefits now flowing through Preston Beer Company following its

recent implementation of the wholesale IT system from Sanderson. What’s more, the

investment has paid back three times over within the first nine months.

Triple measures of success

Publishing Director: Martin Lovell

Published by WinlovePublications Ltd on behalf of:

SandersonSanderson House, Manor Road,Coventry, CV1 2GF

Tel: 0333 123 1400Fax: 0333 123 1401

Email: info@sanderson.comwww.sanderson.com/swords

Nasir Awan, Managing Director ofAwan Marketing, comments:“The Sanderson solution was thenatural choice for our company tosupport our sales growth andexpansion. It integrates our newwarehouse operations with the rest ofthe business, significantly improvingstock visibility and providing essentialbusiness information.”

Also experiencing rapid growth isBristol based Chapple & Jenkinswhich supplies confectionery and softdrinks to a wide range of retail outlets.The company has a large warehouse,and stock levels are continuallyincreasing with new product lines.

As the company expanded, Chapple &Jenkins found it was duplicatingefforts in areas such as sales orderprocessing. It realised that multiplepaperwork processes across thebusiness were generatingunnecessary administration. Chapple

Birmingham household goodssupplier Awan Marketing serves acustomer base of over 7,000throughout the UK, Europe, Africaand Asia. The company has investedin a new purpose built warehouse,enabling it to service its growingcustomer base and significantlyexpand its product range.

Awan Marketing needed a system tomanage both its cash & carry anddelivered wholesale businesses. Thecompany chose Swords to support thecompany’s expansion and improvethe overall efficiency of its business.

Stock management is significantlyimproved as the company has instantaccess to real-time stock information– increasing stock control andavoiding under and over-stockingsituations with informed buyingdecisions.

More companies grow with SandersonIncreasing numbers of wholesalers are choosing the Swords IT system to increase

operational efficiencies within their warehouses, streamline operations and support

business expansion. Two fast growing wholesalers have implemented the Sanderson

solution to strengthen their operations for the future.

& Jenkins needed a wholesale ITsystem that would increase control ofthe growing business and streamlineoperational processes for maximumefficiency, with minimumadministration.

Chapple & Jenkins selected Swords asit manages the demands of telesales,purchasing, stock and warehousemanagement, together with anintegrated accounts system. Thesystem replaces manual processeswith a time saving automated system.This is essential for Chapple & Jenkinsto deliver a high quality service to itscustomers.

Martin Jenkins, Director of Chapple& Jenkins, comments:“We’re pleased to have Sanderson onboard with us at an exciting time ofcompany growth. I am confident thatSwords will streamline our businessprocesses and cut out the manualworkload for all departments acrossthe business. This will boost ourcustomer service levels as staff willhave less paperwork to administerand more time to assist customers.”

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“The Sanderson voice order pickingsolution has reduced pick timedramatically – by as much as 30% forsome products.”Andrew Allison, IT Executive, JW Filshill

“We couldn’t manage without Swords– it runs our entire business. We areconfident we have the best solutionfor our company.”Darren Labbett, Managing Director,Woods Foodservice

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s what our

customers say about Sanderson and Swords:

Success with IT

“By using Swords to its full potential throughout our business, we’ve been able todrive a three-fold expansion while still retaining the first-class service we are

renowned for.”Mark Windebank, Managing Director, Savage & Whitten Ltd