Computerizing Shoes Store

October 24, 2005 3:01 AM

I am asked to computerize a retail shoe store. What can I do?

I am an amature computer person. Still have hard time creating LAN network for my home. Anyways...

The store is a very large mom&pop type store with about 7 employees with absolutely NO computer skills. No warehouse. They do high volume retail business with couple of dozens of boxes coming in almost everyday from shipping companies. I was asked if I can find a reputable long lasting service company which could totally computerize the store from inventories to casher... and backup with some sort of IT support for long term.

The owner and I know it is only one store and pen and paper method was o.k. for years... but the owner is getting tired of keep tracking inventories and guessing what is in stock... beside he couldn't take a vacation more than fewdays with out worrying about inventory, cashier, etc..etc..

Top of my head I was thinking DELL, IBM or some sort of small business services.. but is it overkill?

Shoes business is extreamly complicated compare to others.. They have various styles which has various colors which as various genders which has various sizes... Very hard to keep track of inventory.

The owner worries about how he and employees are going to tag every shipment that comes in and how someone will put them in to computer.

He tried to use one of those small computer consultant people from computer store few years ago... They brought in couple of PCs and program called dBase... It never worked out. He gave up trying to put the item in and basically threw out the whole idea.

What company does this kind of thing best... He would rather spend extra money to ensure he uses reputable services. He needs some one to teach, look after software and hardware.

I tried to find custom Shoes business software in google, but I don't recognize any companies. He has been looking at those Dell small business commercials.. and asked me why he couldn't do that with them... Personally I don't know. Why is he keep asking me? The place where the store is, there are no computer store nor people with that kind of knowledge. Please help.

We need know what kind of investment is needed.. ($10000? $15000?) In the end, he wants to remotely look after the store via computer.

posted by curiousleo to computers & internet (16 comments total)

I don't mean to sound harsh, but as you ask the question yourself ("Why is [sic] he keep asking me?"), why did he task YOU with this, if it's pretty clear that you're way in over your head?
posted by slater at 3:50 AM on October 24, 2005

If you are going to try Dell/IBM/whoever I'd suggest you need one (or possibly more) zeros on the end of that estimate.

I'd try and find some local computer consultants and have them quote a fixed price for the job via some kind of tender process. That way all it will take to get a figure for the cost is some time invested to talk to the consultants.

You really need to get the business rules and workflow well documented, either by the consultant (who might then have to recalculate his quote) or by the owner (who could then present them to the consultant and have the consultant work to those rules - beware, you'd need to damned sure you got the documentation right!).

Inputting stock information is a big job, but do these shoeboxes have barcodes? Maybe the suppliers could give you their barcode database.

Give all of the above this is likely to be quite a complicated system if the owner wants to do stock ordering remotely, have complete certainty that new stock is being added correctly (new supplier? what do we enter the stock as? if there are barcodes do we know what they mean etc etc.). You will also definitely need ongoing tech help, ideally from the consultant themselves, to cover all the possible eventualities.

Short version: if the owner wants a quieter life he may be best getting in a manager and paying them, a lot less hassle.

Rich
posted by hardcode at 3:57 AM on October 24, 2005

If you're not comfortable setting up a network at your own home, the best thing that you can do for these people is hire someone that knows what they are doing. Seriously.
posted by k8t at 5:12 AM on October 24, 2005

talk to these people
posted by priorpark17 at 5:59 AM on October 24, 2005

Shoes business is extreamly complicated compare to others.. They have various styles which has various colors which as various genders which has various sizes... Very hard to keep track of inventory.

Every business thinks their business is extremely complicated. I used to work in a juice bar. We had juices and shakes, with and without dairy, different sizes, etc.. And we also had sandwiches (large, small, with cheese, without cheese, whole wheat and normal bread, etc.) and snacks. We did just fine with standard inventory software. It warned us when to buy new oranges etc. I do not think you need custom build software, there must be something that is customizable for this store. Unfortunately, I cannot help you with specific recommendations, since I am not in the US. I do not think this is an IT problem, this is a business problem. You do not necessarily need someone experienced with computers, just someone experienced in retail.
posted by davar at 6:02 AM on October 24, 2005

Sorry if I didn't make this clear...
I am not the one who is setting this up.. I am looking for who can set and run this...
He just wanted to get into computer age and hoply make things easier for his every day life.

Most of items are bar coded via manufacturer...
I guess what I am looking for is system similar to Payless Shoes or other shoe chains like those.

I just could not find all-in-one solution company that would cater to small business like this.

I did find Shoe Retail solution from QuickBooks with POP.. But this does not help due to it being limited to software.
posted by curiousleo at 6:12 AM on October 24, 2005

That Magnum people sounds promising... But it doesn't feel solid. (guessing) We would want a company that would be around long term and able to walk us through hands-on...
posted by curiousleo at 6:18 AM on October 24, 2005

You wont get fired for clicking on this and then look at apparel.
posted by priorpark17 at 6:33 AM on October 24, 2005

Payless Shoes wouldn't have what you need. They are sent shoes by a distribution facility that reflect what corporate headquarters wants to sell, not necessarily what the local store is out of.
posted by jmgorman at 6:39 AM on October 24, 2005

priorpark17... this sounds very promising. I would try to contact them... I hope they have some sort of consultant near by to set this up and train...

But I need more options..
posted by curiousleo at 6:57 AM on October 24, 2005

IBM does do this sort of thing, often via Business Partners. Here is the main page for Small & Midmarket Business / Retail Solutions.

I work for IBM, but not in this particular area of IBM, so I can do little more than direct you to the web page. It includes contact information, though, so you could chat with someone at IBM who does work in these areas.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:43 AM on October 24, 2005

Look at Point-of-Sale systems with integrated inventory. Features you may want to consider include:

1. Automatic re-order points
2. Bar code check-out and inventory
3. Different levels of access depending upon login
4. Reporting modules / ODBC connection for reporting
posted by curtm at 10:02 AM on October 24, 2005

Here's what you do:

google for small business point of sale system. I know you're a shoe store, but retail is retail. Look at some of the main results. Whether it's Microsoft, IBM, Dell, or consulting companies. They'll all have links to how to contact an actual consultant. Contact several consultants, and have them come in and explain what you need to do, how much it's going to cost for the hardware, how much to get whatever software you're going to invest in. What's the kind of time frame. Make sure the owner of the shoe store is involved in all these meetings and decisions. If you have IT friends in the consulting business, ask them if they know anyone. But everyone you contact should be willing to go to you and do a presentation on what you need.
posted by patrickje at 10:17 AM on October 24, 2005

I've been involved in various software purchases, and am currently working on a buy/build decision. Some thoughts:

* If you have someone design the system from scratch, it's going to be several times (quite possibly 10x or more) as expensive as buying a software package from someone. Plus, worse, you're committed - for the life of the system - to using that person/organization for maintenance and enhancements, unless the system is extremely well written and documented (fat chance).

* If you buy a software package, the most important things are that the seller (a) has implemented the package for similar customers, and (b) that you're reasonably comfortable that the seller is going to be around for a while (which, generally, is dependent on the number of customers, including customers of other products and services of the seller, if any).

* The best way to tell if you're going to be happy with a purchased product is to visit two or three existing customers who are very similar to you. If the seller can't/won't help you find such customers, then don't buy.

* Keep in mind, when looking at a package, (a) the things you do most often - those are the ones that really need to be automated (infrequent things can be done manually), and (b) what is (and has to be) unusual about your business. (For example, you have two warehouses, not one, or buy a lot of stuff from foreign countries, or you do consignment sales, or you offer customers the ability to buy a left shoe in one size, and a right one in a different size, or whatever.) In the best of all possible worlds, there isn't anything unique about your business, or where it is unique (for example, you have a four-tiered discount for prompt payment), it's also something that isn't that important (and, often, doing things the "standard" way is more efficient).

* While I agree that a standard small business point-of-sale systems may well meet your needs, make sure that it can handle inventory/stock in different sizes (length, width) and colors, in the way you want it to. (You probably don't want a separate SKU for every separate size and color.)

Good luck!!

P.S. Good ways to identify software vendors, other than googling, are through industry publications, trade shows, and by talking to other shoe store owners. Does your boss get any publication like "Shoe Store Age" (or whatever)? For example, take a look at the website of the National Shoe Retailers Association (NSRA).

(Doing a google search on NSRA turned up this vendor , which is member of NSRA. And this vendor list of technology/computer exhibitors.)
posted by WestCoaster at 3:12 PM on October 24, 2005

The support is almost as important as the initial purchase. Don't forget that. I would actually go through a local small business that does computer support and networking, because they'll know who to buy from and who to avoid and they can set up all of the monitoring and maintenance.

I run a small software company, and quite a bit of my business right now comes from setting up software packages for smaller businesses like the shoe store you're talking about. If it's done right, they'll see up to 400% increase in efficiency from their admin processes.
posted by SpecialK at 6:08 PM on October 24, 2005

This has been very helpful...
Thanks for all your feedbacks...

I finally have some idea where to from here...
posted by curiousleo at 9:04 PM on October 24, 2005