Power Buying with POS
Independents trade the paper trail for more efficient electronic options

More independent garden centers looking for ways to make the purchasing process easier are turning to their point-of-sale (POS) systems. Designed to control buying and receiving, purchase order features are becoming more productive with easy-to-use procedures offering myriad benefits. Many POS systems now offer automated purchasing and other functions to make this past retail business “art” a new “science.”

Today’s POS automated purchasing features are transforming once-inefficient, paper-based tasks, saving time, reducing errors, speeding turnaround times, earning supplier discounts and increasing overall profitability for IGCs.

Knupper’s Advance Orders
For more than 20 years, John Heaton, Owner of Knupper Nursery in Palatine, IL, has used Radiant Systems’ CounterPoint system because of its purchase order feature and what he calls the “user-friendliness” and “flexibility” of the system. The software allows garden centers to generate purchase orders for vendors, then receive or edit them. They can also receive partial orders.

Another feature, Quick Receivings, can be used to enter and receive inventory in one step. The system automatically generates an assigned number or a user’s purchase order number can be entered. Purchase orders can be referenced several ways: by number, vendor or keyword fields.
With the software, unreceived items can be back ordered or cancelled. Knupper’s buyers make up purchase orders in the system well in advance of the busy season, allowing payments to be processed in a timely manner to take advantage of vendor discounts.

Although Heaton doesn’t use CounterPoint to figure current stock levels to generate new purchase orders, this feature is available. Known as “automated purchasing,” the system will automatically calculate and create restocking orders based on prior order history and sell-through.

Because the purchase order system is integrated with the inventory system, Heaton finds the “perpetual inventory” to be an important tool for managing his garden center. His staff uses the daily in-stock reports of nursery product. In fact, many put the reports right in their pockets for handy reference.

Gertens’ Conversion
Another leading IGC, Gertens in Inver Grove Heights, MN, is experimenting with automated purchasing using its Activant Solutions POS software. “Gertens is utilizing about every available feature of the purchase order system,” says Brendon Buckley, IT Manager.

Gertens is a large retailer, ranked No. 11 in Nursery Retailer’s IGC 100 report with $32.5 million in sales. Accordingly, it has more than 45,000 SKUs, so making the purchasing process easier and more efficient is important.
The Activant system looks at the previous year’s sales, how the items are purchased from the vendor, and minimum and maximum inventory quantities. Then, it takes into account seasonal codes that are set by the buyer to calculate a proposed order. With a final look over and/or edit from the buyer, the purchase order is ready to be sent to the vendor.

Although Gertens has not completely converted to this way of ordering, it is moving in that direction. Buckley maintains that, while you must put forth the effort to input all of the criteria for each inventory item, the time-saving benefits are worth it. He says it has been especially helpful as Gertens seeks out unique, small vendors.

The IGC makes an effort to stay away from many box-type SKUs and offer unique product lines to its customers. This type of retailing has paid off, contributing to the doubling of its sales in one year at its e-commerce website, which now realizes six figures annually.

To assist with updating the e-commerce site, the garden center hired a developer who worked with the Activant system. Now, any price changes within the POS system are automatically updated on the website. This type of programming is currently helping Gertens generate its catalog, complete with descriptions and current prices, with just a few keystrokes.

Longfellow’s Price Check
Another twist on how IGCs are using their POS systems to manage business can be observed at Longfellow’s Greenhouses in Manchester, ME. Vikki Maynard, Buyer, works with distributor Arett Sales, which posts all of its orders online at Arett Direct. Maynard simply downloads the orders in an Excel format, then imports them into a database as a purchase order for receiving into her SimPOS system. The system will even notify her if the prices have changed.

While the SimPOS system updates the inventory system, it does not link the financial data to an accounts payable program. But a simple report can be printed, and within about an hour, the information can be hand-posted to any bookkeeping system.

Longfellow’s also uses its POS system for annual inventory counts. With a handheld unit and laptop, employees can scan items and save them as a purchase order, then combine them into departments. While the purchase orders aren’t received as live goods, the data is gathered to update the inventory file. After the entire store is counted, a query can be written to swap out item counts for an updated inventory report. This is especially helpful with seasonal merchandise, Maynard says.

Whether you’re ready for automated purchasing or just looking for ways to make the purchasing process easier, POS systems can be valuable tools for managing your buying and receiving. If you have POS software and haven’t investigated the benefits of the purchase order program, find out how your system could save your garden center time and money.