Browns of York improves operations through new EPoS and back office system

Browns of York has improved store operations through implementing a new EPoS and back office system.

The system, supplied by Unipower,provides an IT platform that integrates the café, store point of sale terminals, e-commerce and ERP operational management systems, across the stores in Helmsley, Beverley and York. The system was implemented from March to May this year and is controlled from the Browns of York head office in York.

The previous EPoS and back office system was built around spreadsheets, manual data input and manual reconciliation, proving very time consuming and inflexible.

The new system has improved store operations and made reporting efficiencies. Automatic promotion handling at the PoS has reduced the daily time spent by cash office staff in stores on cash counting and reconciliations by 30%.

This has freed time to allow Browns to move from financial stock based accounting to item stock based accounting. The former method means the visibility of “stock” derives from the value of sales to date and this is based on accounting for every item at original selling price, rather than the discounted price, when it’s delivered. Using item stock-based accounting, the system counts each item as it is sold and so Browns of York can identify which lines are moving and which are not. So it can optimise its stock holding.

End of year reporting using the system is quicker and more efficient and general analysis and collation of reports for third parties such as concessions has been simplified.

Browns of York finance director Shane Longhorne said: “We selected a partner who worked closely with us to enable our store staff to be more efficient, have greater control, and ultimately provide consumers with an improved level of service. This has in turn improved footfall and profitability.”