Johannesburg, 13 Jun 2016
Specialist cycling distributor, Dragon Sports, has made it faster and easier for its dealers and sales representatives to order stock by implementing the Sage Symphony e-commerce solution. The software developed by XM Developments and designed to run on top of the Sage business management solution, is a cloud-based ecommerce platform that easily adapts to specific industry needs.
Dragon Sports has used the Sage 300 platform to run its business for a number of years. Realising that it could achieve massive efficiencies by automating the ordering process for its dealers and sales reps, it sought an online platform that would make it easy to search for products, check whether stock was available, and place an order.
This process used to be done over the phone. Dragon Sports decided to implement Symphony because the software would integrate directly and seamlessly with its Sage operational business systems, says Warwick Hinkel, accountant at Dragon Sports.
"With the Symphony platform in place, our sales reps can now show our dealers the latest bicycles and cycling accessories in our range from their mobile computers or tablets. They no longer need to carry a lot of catalogues around with them," says Hinkel. "They have access to the latest stock information and can place their orders with less possibility of errors creeping in during data capturing. The transaction is captured directly into our Sage platform. And we have freed our data capturers' time up so that they can be add value to the business in other ways."
Many dealers are also using the system, especially those in more remote parts of the country. They can browse the latest products and place their orders online, offering them a better customer experience with Dragon Sports. Around 15% of Dragon Sports' orders are now placed directly by the dealers.
Hinkel says that implementing the e-commerce platform has also benefited Dragon Sports by making it easier for the company to promote big-ticket items to its dealers. It has been able to boost the sales for many of its slower-moving product ranges, helping to improve revenues. "Thanks to Symphony, our phones are definitely quieter and our sales reps are able to perform at their best," he adds.
Says Brooke Anderson, Managing Director of XM Developments: "We've applied lessons learned from hundreds of wholesale distribution customers complemented with best practice professional services to develop our solution. It enables you to provide new services while reducing your own customer service costs."
"With our integrated business management platform, Sage connects customers to partner with real-time and intuitive information about their business. We enable our customers to focus on their business and help them to leapfrog to the future," says Jeremy Waterman, Managing Director Sage Northern Africa and Middle East. "Best-of-breed partners like XM Developments place an important role in helping us to serve enterprises. With Sage 300 our partners' solutions allow for a seamless and complete integrated solution that spans an entire business."
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