Nestled in the heart of Surrey (UK), Chessington Garden Centre is a beloved family-owned business with an impressive legacy of over 50 years of horticultural excellence. It provides a remarkable assortment of top-notch indoor and outdoor plants, essential gardening supplies, and an award-winning service for garden design, construction, and maintenance. In addition, the Chessington Garden Centre offers a wide array of landscape supplies, garden structures, and an extensive selection of luxurious garden furniture and barbecues. With a dedicated team of over 200 passionate employees, this garden centre proudly stands as one of the largest in the country.
Business case
Over the years Chessington Garden Centre has expanded into new business areas with the creation of an award-winning garden design, build and maintenance service; the opening of a pet, wildlife and aquatics center; and the launch of regular gardening and seasonal events. The business was expanding at a phenomenal rate and had outgrown previous systems. What the company needed, they realized, was a solution that could grow and keep up with their expansion plans.
Solution
When Chessington took the decision to modernize their ERP solution, they also decided to upgrade their Point of Sale software. They selected the LS Retail software solution because it’s a system that delivers the functionality and modern payment options the center wanted to offer their customers. Additionally, the LS Retail software solution is seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics, and can therefore provide the garden center with a complete view of their business operations. The garden center’s POS, back office and head office all use the same application and the systems update each other flawlessly. When there is a change in a line item, such as quantity, price, description or barcode, the Point of Sale system is updated automatically. Similarly, once purchases are made within LS Retail software, the system ensures the stock information is updated within the ERP.
Benefits
Chessington Garden Centre has 22 mobile POS, offering maximum flexibility when setting up in-store events and promotions. The tills are intuitive and easy to use; all shop floor personnel are trained on the system, and can be deployed to any till when needed. This enables the company to manage staff flexibly, easing bottlenecks and thus enhancing customer service standards.
Now the customer service department at Chessington has the ability to track each individual transaction from Point of Sale through to general ledger, which has proved useful when customers have occasionally changed their mind on purchases but lost their receipts. With the LS Retail software solution, the center can identify the original sale and refund or exchange the item, offering customers a better customer service.
