Lion Bridge standardises on ActiveRetail POS software

Lion Bridge (Lynnwood), the general dealer and animal health company, is to standardise on the ActiveRetail 4 Ulti-Sales point-of-sale (POS) software from UCS Software, part of the JSE Securities Exchange-listed UCS Group, at its franchise outlets - to be branded Lion Bridge Animal and Pet Hypermed.

The company anticipates opening up to 150 outlets, with the first five to 10 expected to go on stream during 2003.

Lion Bridge Animal and Pet Hypermed will stock animal health and veterinary products (including homoepathic medicine), feeds and seeds - including dog and cat food - pet accessories, mosquito and fly repellents, non-scheduled animal medicine and vaccines, herbicides and pesticides, pressure sprays and a few other "exciting new products".

Selwyn Kopelowitz, owner of Lion Bridge (Lynnwood), said there is significant interest from other countries, including Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique. "A large percentage of the outlets will be situated outside of SA."

He said one of the reasons which drove the company to decide on its franchising idea was the fact that its animal health department had grown by 500% for the past two years. "Thanks to the reporting features in Ulti-Sales, which allowed us to track our best-selling and worst-selling products - as well as providing us with a host of other critical information - we were able to vastly improve efficiencies and significantly improve the calibre of our stock holding. This phenomenal growth sparked our idea to expand our business concept - and we begun researching the market."

Franchise holders - who will only pay a once-off franchise fee and a small monthly management fee - will receive a pre-programmed Ulti-Sales solution. No monthly franchise fee will be charged. "All our stock items will already be loaded and besides being able to keep control of the large and diverse stockholding via the system, franchisees will also be able to run a host of additional modules, including debtors, creditors and comprehensive reporting." The franchise holder will also receive in-house training on all products, while backup from suppliers will be ongoing.

Kopelowitz said a number of African state government departments purchase veterinary products from Lion Bridge. "Local businessmen will now be able to set up a franchise and supply government departments directly in their own country."

He said the Lion Bridge franchise concept is unique. "There are, as far as our research shows, no other franchises in this particular line of business. The other differentiator is that we only charge a once-off franchise fee and do not charge a monthly franchise fee. They will be totally independent. But potential franchise holders need to have the right pedigree and retail experience."

Commenting on the roll-out of the franchise outlets, he said the company plans to open 10 to 15 a year. "We have done a lot of research and we believe there is a potential for up to 150 outlets at the end of the day. But we are planning a very measured, slow roll-out - certainly initially only five to 10 outlets during 2003."