Ixchange has won a five-way shootout, securing the contract to install the Precept point-of-sale system at the first of 160 Cardies stores around the country. Installation has started and will be completed across the group over the next three years.This follows a pilot implementation of the Precept system at Cardies` Sandton City branch in December, which Cardies property and marketing executive Graham Rocher describes as "extremely successful"."From an information exchange point of view between head office and individual franchisees and their suppliers, the system gives us everything we need," says Rocher."Precept will also improve in-store inventory control, boosting profitability through better buying and reduced shrinkage," he adds.Ixchange views the contract as a major coup, having won against stiff competition from four other contenders.The account also gets the new relationship between Precept and Ixchange off to a good start: Precept was acquired by Ixchange in December to strengthen its retail thrust."Ixchange has an excellent supply chain package, Value Ixchange, but it had no cash-and-carry sales system with which to offer retail clients a comprehensive solution," says Ian St Clair, GM of Ixchange`s Precept division. "We had a strong solution that integrates very well with theirs, so it made sense to join forces."Ixchange now offers a turnkey solution that integrates full product life cycle management and inventory management, sales order fulfilment, customer support, data warehousing, forecasting and data mining.The locally designed Precept system has been developed over the past decade to offer a solution in sales and inventory control for all retailers, including groups with own and franchised stores. It has a strong installed base across South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Ghana."Precept`s reference sites helped swing the deal," says Rocher. "All the systems we looked at were similar in terms of point-of-sale functionality. What we liked about Precept was its user-friendliness, the conviction with which it was sold to us, and its existing client base."Since installing our first system, we have also been impressed with the back-up service on the product."Rocher says Cardies` decision to begin installing point-of-sale systems at its 160 outlets around the country was largely technology driven: "Electronic management is efficient and cost-effective," he says."We wanted to take the scanning route. It offers opportunities to improve information flow and cash flow because you have the information you need to buy correctly and at the right time."We also believe customer service will be improved since till check-out procedure will be streamlined, resulting in fewer and shorter queues."The Precept systems will be modem-linked over Cardies` wide-area network to its head office servers.
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