Small stores need technology, too

By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, September 9, 2007

High Point — Tony Lei owns a small furniture store in suburban Seattle, which he started when the IT field downsized a few years ago and he found himself out of a job.

Initially, his store — HY Furniture Gallery — was using software costing $5,000 in annual fees. That was too much, he figured, for a business doing about $1 million a year. He then tried a cheaper brand of software but dropped it because it didn't meet the store's needs.

He began searching for the right software that would help with sales and control the bottom line. He spent "hours and hours" calling vendors on a list supplied by the Western Home Furnishings Assn.

"But after many months of research, I didn't think we could afford anything on the market," he said.

The list included companies whose software ranged from $6,000 to $250,000. Programs with the features he wanted averaged about $15,000.

"Next year, we are moving to a much larger store, and I was in need of something that would work and be affordable," said Lei. The new store will more than double the current store's space.

Last month, Lei bought a Furniture Wizard system for $5,000, and installed it himself — saving what he estimates to be about $2,000. When interviewed, Lei said the system had been up and running for about two weeks and doing fine.

"It's really a lot of money for us to invest in the software, but in order to do better in the business, we don't really have a choice," he said.

Lei's problem is one faced by a number of smaller, independent retailers. How do they know where to get the most bang for their hard-earned buck? More important, how do they find what they need?

For most, it's a matter of doing lots of research and asking plenty of questions. Then it's a learn-as-you-go situation as owners and manager develop their own solutions to issues such as inventory control, customer management and managing balance sheets.

Keeping it simple

When his system crashed several years ago, Vance Braswell, president of mid-to-upper price retailer Ed Braswell Furniture in Birmingham, Ala., looked at several software companies before deciding to go with Easy Chair Software, based in Minneapolis.

For his business, which has reached about $2 million in sales, Braswell uses a combination of technologies that includes Easy Chair for inventory, point-of sale, sales and customer data, and a separate program called Real World for accounting.

"I use Real World for my P&Ls," he said. He added that his Easy Chair system includes accounting software and "more reports (than) you could possibly look at. I'm doing a simple P&L, so there's no sense in me getting into a bunch of (other) stuff."

Braswell uses a Web-based Linux system that stores information from his operations on Easy Chair servers. There has never been any difficulty with the system, except for it being down for about two hours once throughout his eight-year usage.

"I don't know how many people they have up there (at Easy Chair), but if I have a software problem, I'll call up and they'll take care of it. If I have a hardware problem, they have a different department."

Easy Chair says on its Web site that it serves 1,000 furniture retailers, most with annual revenues between $2 million and $20 million.

The right kind of retail technology is a "very important thing" for an independent without its own IT department, according to Braswell, who is 74 and has been with the store for 46 years. And for a man who jokes that he used to count on his fingers, he's satisfied with a system that works without complications.

"They (companies) all sound different and better and all that stuff if you listen to their salesmen," he said. "I've never been a high-pressure type of guy. I never wanted to have 50 stores, and I never wanted to be a zillionaire. I've enjoyed being just a regular furniture store."

Ease of use

Sally Servidio used QuickBooks accounting software to run her antiques business as part of Silverado Home Furnishings & Accessories in Napa, Calif. So it was easy for her to make a software choice when she took over the full-service store founded 20 years ago.

"I had been in business (with Silverado) for four years and had been doing payables, financial statements, purchasing and inventory," said Servidio, who assumed ownership of the 30,000 square-foot operation on Aug. 1. "I had someone enter the inventory on it, which was a big job, and now we're running our sales through the point-of-sale program."

The store is still new to the POS part of QuickBooks, but Servidio said she did purchase a cash drawer, card scanner and other sales components. "We have a scanner but we haven't attempted that yet," she said.

What helped convince her to add the POS feature was that she got an unbiased look at it in operation.

"I was on vacation and was in a furniture store buying an accessory and saw that they had this system. It was a small store, and I asked them what kind it was and they told me it was QuickBooks Point of Sale."

Two things that Sirvidio likes about the QuickBooks system is that it's simple to operate and fairly inexpensive to own. A friend purchased both the accounting and point-of-sale package for about $1,300 — half the normal retail price.

"Back in 2003, when I first opened up, I had a bookkeeper who was real good in QuickBooks that somebody referred to me," she said. "I just had her come in for two hours and set things up. She asked me questions about what charter accounts I needed and everything. I was actually trying to get someone to come in and help me with the point of sale."

She didn't find anyone, but "they have a tutorial that is like watching television, teaching you and making you practice. They have a whole learning section right on the home page. You can go there and look every time if you want."

Support a necessity

When San Juan, Puerto Rico.-based Koper Furniture opened a new store two years ago, it took the opportunity to switch to Great Plains Software. It uses the system for everything from point-of-sale functions to delivery, said Juan Coles, vice president.

"The thing I like best about our system is that it is very user-friendly. When we have new people working here it's very easy to teach them," he said.

The software was picked by the company's controller for Koper's two stores — one 25,000 square feet, the other 15,000.

"It took them a while to find a good program," Cols said. "There are lots of good programs around but we had to find one where it would be easy to get good service and have our questions answered because we're here (not on the mainland)," he said.

Ongoing training

Contemporary specialist PerLora, which has two stores in Pittsburgh, switched from paper to a system called Furniture Accounting Control System (FACS). It has been very satisfied by the results, according to Roy New, store manager.

"We did this about six years ago," he said. "We looked at other systems and all of us sat in on the demos. Our controller at the time chose this one."

With computers and other hardware, the system cost about $100,000. "We like it," New said. "We're still finding things that it will do that are beneficial."

New said FACS handles everything from sales to payables and receivables.

Once the system was purchased, FACS sent specialists to Pittsburgh to conduct training.

Trainers return when the store adds new modules, and they touch base with new employees "on things we may have missed when we were explaining it to them," New said.

FACS' support comes from another furniture software company, CDS Solutions, also based in Pennsylvania, New said. "They're like our help department.

"We call them when we're having an issue. They can log on to our system and see what's going on — and what the actual problem is."