Lake District
Every year over 8 million people visit the Lake District National Park for its breathtaking views and a chance to explore Cumbria´s stunning landscape. As tourism is crucially important to the area, a source of revenue for the Lake District National Park Authority is conducted at four information and visitor centres in Bowness Bay, Brockhole in Windermere, Ullswater and Keswick.
At these locations a variety of retailing operations take place such as the sale of souvenirs and gifts, ticketing for many of the Lake Districts attractions, as well as the hiring of facilities and accommodation bookings.
At the four busy sites it was apparent that the retail till system in place was no longer sufficient when trying to account for stock. The system was in need of upgrading, in order to fulfil busy customer demand.
Nicky Wood, Team Leader at the Brockhole Information Centre, was looking for a retail solution that would help the teams at the Lake District National Park over come there constraints and produce more accurate sales reports.
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A key reason Merlin® Software Ltd were chosen as their retail provider, was the practical training approach they provide and this was a huge appeal for Nicky and the team. Having struggled with previous retail management software it was imperative that Merlin® provided the L.D.N.P.A with a high quality Epos system, as the retail requirements needed for the information and visitor centres were extensive.
The process began in April, where the first system was installed at Head Office. This allowed for a stock file to be built up before the final installation in June. During June, three day training sessions took place at all operating locations. The training was taken by Merlin® Director Vickie Gleadall. The three days of extensive training by Merlin® assured that all staff were aware of how to use the newly implemented epos system and aware of its benefits.
´The installation training and support was excellent, Vickie worked extremely hard and was very supportive of all staff, and really helped us achieve so much in so little time. She worked well beyond the call of duty on occasion,´ said Nicky.
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One of the main issues at the Lake District was the lack of stock control making it difficult to increase sales. A solution by Merlin® was made, and a retail management package was incorporated into the software and a stock control module was installed. Bar Code scanning was also added to the new till systems making till transactions a lot simpler. Merlin® created a software package for their tills that enabled head office to produce a range of management reports which had been too difficult to obtain before.
´As a sales team we are much better informed about the products we have in our stores, the stock levels at each site including best sellers and the value of stock we are holding at any given time, 'explains Nicky. 'This has made us think twice before over ordering and has helped us a lot.'
The Lake District National Park Authority has seen many benefits of Merlin® Software. ´The EPOS system has been invaluable, and ultimately has helped us to save money where necessary´ says Nicky. ´The software has made everything so much easier.´
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