| Middlesex Tobacco & Candy Improves Customer Satisfaction and Reduces Costs by Leveraging Pocket OrderWriter® |  |
Overview
Middlesex opened for business in 1918 as a candy and tobacco distributor. Established as a family-owned business and managed by the fourth generation, the company is built on providing “Excellent” customer service. With a sales force of 15 people, Middlesex covers the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and five boroughs of New York City and is acknowledged as a leader in providing a full line of quality merchandise. The company’s goal is to exceed the customers’ requirements with an on-going commitment to outstanding performance.
Challenge
Middlesex was facing issues with an outdated and expensive remote order entry system that did not provide visibility into all of the information the sales representative needed. The system used for order entry was a combination of paper-based documents and a Telxon unit that provided its share of challenges. “Our existing order entry process did not do everything we required,” says Scott Katz, Operations Manager. “We were frequently finding ourselves in situations where we did not have enough time to do everything we wanted to do when we were meeting with the customer.”
Middlesex was also having to double check orders because the existing order entry process was prone to errors.
“We needed a proven order entry software solution for our sales force that would help us fulfill our customers’ needs while, at the same time, reduce our overall costs by enabling us to move into more efficient and practical way to conduct business,” said Katz. Middlesex was seeking an accurate and better way to handle the order entry transactions.
Solution
Middlesex selected Access International Pocket OrderWriter® (POW) that runs on a handheld PC to provide remote order entry functionality. Middlesex was looking for a solution that would be simple to use, easy to maintain, provide order entry functionality and support its changing business conditions and growth. During the comprehensive vendor selection evaluation, it became very clear to Middlesex that POW best fit its business requirements.
The company wanted to decrease order processing costs and improve the level of customer service. POW’s ability to connect to Middlesex’s invoice, accounts receivable, inventory and customer purchase history convinced the selection team they could provide the sales force with all of the information needed to drive sales. “Access to timely data,” states Katz, “is a great benefit to Middlesex and to our customers. The difference in information availability provided by POW is huge and enables better decision making.”
“A good example is instead of losing the sale because we are out-of-stock on an item, we can proactively offer a substitute item and keep our customer’s shelf full. POW permits us to accurately show the inventory status as well as suggest alternative products the customer will like. We are also able to price orders correctly when the order is being taken, thus saving clerical time at our office.”
“We chose Access International for two reasons: their software solutions were already used by thousands of users and the solution met our specific needs,” explains Katz. “For us, it was very important the solution was being used by other distributors.”
“With POW, we have been able to increase market share, improve customer confidence, and improve profitability. The software has definitely contributed to our success,” concludes Katz.
