Fast-growing online construction and joinery products supplier Tradefix Direct introduced the ProSKU cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) during 2018 to support its Manchester warehouse and dedicated trade centre. Among the main reasons for selecting the solution were its affordability and ability to integrate with the company’s bespoke website and administration systems. After ten months of using the web-enabled system within the business, Tradefix Direct is clear about the benefits.
“ProSKU has provided a lot of extra efficiency in the business and we are still finding ways to use it that give us more,” says James Kershaw, who manages Tradefix Direct’s distribution operation. “We have found that displaying stock values on our website has given our customers more confidence in making an order and has made us much more reliable, which in turn has resulted in a lot of positive service reviews. For the monthly outlay, there are many benefits which make it very easy to justify”.
Tradefix Direct supplies the construction and joinery trades with a range of products that includes fixings and fastenings, tools, sealants and adhesives, roofing products and ironmongery. The business was started in 2008 by managing director Paul Kershaw and has undergone significant growth. In 2014 after a period of successful trading and increased online sales, it moved to larger premises with a 20,000 square foot (1,860 square metres) warehouse and dedicated trade centre.
Tradefix Direct operates in a competitive marketplace, generating sales from a mix of online and wholesale account customers and direct retail sales via its own trade counter. Their aim is to stock an extensive range of essential trade products at competitive prices, backed by excellent delivery and ongoing after-sales service. Currently, it offers around 5,500 live product lines.
When the move to new premises increased the physical scale of its operation the business identified some issues affecting the ability to manage increasing volumes efficiently. As a result, the company decided to look for a software solution that would need to increase accuracy levels, help identify picking stock faster and provide key data for stock re-orders. It would also need to reduce the amount of office-based administration needed to support the warehouse.
After exploring the marketplace the business selected the ProSKU WMS solution from Chess. Among the key reasons for selecting ProSKU were its affordability, especially when compared with other software solutions, and its ability to integrate with their bespoke website and admin system. After some essential integration work and a brief implementation and training session from ProSKU, Tradefix Direct went live with the system in May 2018.
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