Summary

After years of an inadequate accounting and point of sale system, Sleep Cheap decided to make the switch to Smartwerks cloud-based, point of sale software. Smartwerks offered them a complete solution that organized and coordinated the activity of all three stores through:

• Real-time inventory management and sales reporting.
• A complete accounting application.
• The ability to track open orders.
• A feature to hold customer deposits.
• Ease of use.
• A customer referral program.
• Simple integration, training, and support.

Since their transition to Smartwerks, Sleep Cheap has greater control of their business. They can see the weaknesses and strengths of their operations, helping them adjust sales and inventory, which, in turn, allows them to compete against the national mattress and furniture chains.

Challenges

Prior to Smartwerks, Sleep Cheap used separate software platforms for their operations and Quickbooks for their accounting and point of sale. The lack of a centralized system to control their inventory, sales, and accounting caused major challenges that inhibited further expansion of their business. The owners were unable to pin-point their business needs and have a real-time understanding of their sales.

For mattress and furniture stores, customer deposits are common, but they require a special system to track them. Their previous system, Quickbooks, would not do the job. All of their customer deposits had to be tracked in a separate system. A lack of functionality in the software created more work and complexity for them. The same was true for other transactions found in the mattress and furniture industry, such as delivery of merchandise.

As a company begins to grow, a manual system creates more work and problems. Data entry errors are common when entering data into the software or transferring it from one source to another. Other errors occur in the updates and maintenance of a system. Everything rests upon the people maintaining the files and computers that may or may not have any backups. Loss of important data can cause a business to close its doors while addressing the problem, resulting in lost revenue.

With their simple inventory management system, communication between the three stores was slow and disorganized. Important updates to the inventory and sales database had to be performed when employees had time. Available inventory was always in question.

How Smartwerks Helped Real-Time Functionality and Reliable Service

Smartwerks’ commitment to innovation improves functionality through cloud-based features and lower operational costs for their customers, like Sleep Cheap, giving them a competitive edge. From inventory-to-sales-to-accounting, Smartwerks’ complete solution connects all of the Sleep Cheap stores. Sales and inventory reports can be done in real-time, eliminating the coordination and data gathering of a labor-intensive manual system.

Sleep Cheap’s transition to Smartwerks point of sale provides them with the automation of their inventory management and sales reporting. Now, their operations have the ease of quick transactions, real-time reporting, and reliable servers without any down-time. The threat of lost data is virtually eliminated.

While on the showroom floor, salespeople can use a tablet to answer questions about inventory and delivery, giving their customers a better buying experience. Increased employee productivity allows them to spend more time with customers and less time in the back room.

One of the best features Smartwerks provides is real-time accounting functions that accommodate complex transactions, like customer deposits and delivery. These translate into accurate and timely P & L reports to stay on top of cash flow.

Sleep Cheap’s transition to Smartwerks took hours, not days. Employees were trained in the same amount of time it took for all of the current and historical data to be integrated into the new system. And, Smartwerks continues to support Sleep Cheap and their needs through customized reporting and expert guidance.