Retail case study - Rowan Tree Delicatessen
Husband and wife team Philip and Angela Rowlands are no strangers to running their own business, or to using MYOB software to help them. Their software development company, ValeWest Limited has been operating for eight years, and the couple have been using MYOB software ever since they first started.
More recently, Philip and Angela opened the Rowan Tree, a delicatessen specialising in additive and gluten-free organic food. The shop stands in the small town of Lochgilphead, overlooking Loch Gilp on Scotland’s west coast. “The bread is baked on the premises,” says Philip, “and we stock over twenty different farmhouse cheeses.”
“Because we were already using MYOB software for our business accounting, we naturally wanted to find out more about MYOB RetailBasics when we started the delicatessen. MYOB RetailBasics stood out against other systems that we evaluated. For example, it interfaces with weighing scales, which is a major plus point for us because a lot of our products – like olives, paté, cheese and coffee – have to be weighed for sale.”
MYOB business software has long been appreciated by busy owner managers for its good value and ease of use, and has won industry awards in these areas. MYOB RetailBasics carries on this tradition. “It was extremely easy to start using the software,” says Philip; “literally ‘plug and play’.”
“The fact that MYOB RetailBasics links to MYOB Accounts is an added bonus because it gives us a single point of contact for any enquiry. And because we’ve already been using MYOB software for eight years, we know how good their after-sales support is.”
Philip and Angela had even more reason than most business owners for choosing a system that was reliable and fuss-free. “We realised that there would be opportunities for reselling the software through ValeWest provided it offered sufficient functionality and was easy to use. MYOB RetailBasics scores highly in both these areas.”
As Philip explains, “I recently spoke to a local wholesale butcher who currently enters all transactions in a triplicate book. He wants to use MYOB RetailBasics to record sales so that he can extract data to prepare a full statement. Because the software is so functionally rich, yet so low priced, it’s easy to match it to the needs of a range of users at a price they can easily afford. It’s not just shops that it’s suitable for, either: a number of different businesses have already shown an interest, from IT firms to lingerie suppliers.”
Although it’s nice to have an impressive feature list, what’s really important with any software system is what impact it has on the business that uses it. Philip has noticed a number positive benefits. “I’d say MYOB RetailBasics saves us a good hour or two per day. I no longer have to trawl through the shelves to check stock, and it makes cashing-up significantly faster. Spending less time on basic sales admin means having more time to interact with our customers. That’s important for a small company; for example, there’s a rumour that Tesco may be building a store nearby, but by getting to know our customers we can develop and extend our niche market, so we needn’t feel threatened.”
In fact, far from feeling threatened, Philip and Angela already have plans to expand the Rowan Tree. “Our plan is to take the Rowan Tree online. Until the mid-May tourist season begins, most of the customers in the shop are locals. As well as changing our customer demographic, opening a website will give us a significantly expanded market, but I’m confident that MYOB RetailBasics will be able to grow with us.”
