Storis rolling out software to streamline special orders
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, February 20, 2005
Parsippany, N.J. — Storis Management Systems has added a companion application to its retail software that eliminates some of the pain and drain the consumer experiences when special ordering upholstery.
The Product Configurator streamlines the order entry process by allowing sales personnel to "build" products for customers while working within rules and guidelines established by manufacturers. It lets the customer and salesperson view every option on a computer, at every stage of the product configuration.
The Storis application prompts salespeople through the order entry process to ensure they have captured all necessary information, guaranteeing they have offered the customer every up-sell opportunity allowed for each product.
According to the company, the Product Configurator also cuts order errors and saves time.
Until now, the application has been exclusive to Ethan Allen Home Interiors and Rowe's Storehouse chain, but Storis is making it available for all users.
Tim O'Neill, regional sales manager, said one of the main problems faced by special-order houses has been the misconfiguration of merchandise chosen by customers.
"Typically, a customer and the salesperson/designer would go through very large product books to pick a product; for example, a sofa. Then she has to consider fabrics, fringes, bolsters, pillows and other options. The process could take hours in a procedure open to errors. Meanwhile, the price may have changed, materials may be discontinued or there may be new options that haven't made their way into retail catalogs," he said.
According to O'Neill, the Product Configurator would "show the options you can select just as if you were to go to that book, but with information that's always current." Using automatic updates from manufacturers, the system provides information such as actual pricing and fabric availability.
"In our scenario, the customer never leaves with an incorrect order because we're verifying it at the time of entry," he said.
"The Product Configurator can save a sale by steering an upholstery buyer into an appropriate price range," said Lou DeMatteo, Storis vice president of sales. "For instance, a customer may not be able to afford $100 a yard fabric but, in pulling up options, the Product Configurator may come up with a similar fabric at $10 a yard. So if you are looking at something and it begins to get out of range, you can look at something less expensive."
