Powering exceptional customer experiences from a single platform
The move to LS Central has changed how Housing Units operates day to day. “Our business has saved time and become more efficient within its finance, buying and after sales care activities by having much greater visibility of information and smoother administration and related workflow processes,” says Richard Newson, Finance Director of Housing Units.
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Mobile POS technology has reduced the need for fixed POS hardware on the shop floor, giving sales staff greater flexibility and enabling them to create sales orders from anywhere in the store. “The ability to use mobile devices to provide accurate, up to date product information to customers and the ease by which they can create sales orders from any location in the store has been a game changer,” says Richard Newson, Finance Director of Housing Units
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Real-time operational information is now available across finance, purchasing, and after-sales, allowing the business to monitor and act on issues far more quickly than before. “All relevant sales and operational information are now visible in real time and is always at our fingertips,” says Newson. “This has allowed management and staff to more quickly identify and act on issues. This is improving the customer experience and making our sales and operational processes more effective and efficient.”
- One solution, every transaction – With LS Central, Housing Units can now manage both small-ticket pay-and-take transactions and large-ticket sales orders from the same POS system, extending what the business had always done well into a more connected, capable environment.
In-store and online, finally working as one
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Connected shopping experience across every channel – “The out-of-the-box integration of LS Central to our Adobe Commerce platform has allowed us to remove a lot of bespoke and unsupported data transfer processes,” says Newson. “Instead, we now have a fully supported integration with real time data transfer.”
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Always in sync – Inventory, pricing, sales, and customer information now flow seamlessly between both the online and physical stores.
Building on a strong foundation
LS Retail software and Microsoft Dynamics NAV had supported Housing Units’ growth since 2006. As the business expanded and retail requirements evolved, it became clear that moving to a modern, fully integrated platform would unlock capabilities the existing setup couldn't support – particularly around browser-based integrations, eCommerce connectivity, and long-term scalability. “We could not integrate the old solution to browser-based technologies or any other modern solutions, and there were also significant strategic business continuity risks by having an old unsupported solution in situ,” says Newson.
The Adobe Commerce platform, in place since 2015, had its own integration layer that had grown increasingly complex to maintain.
LS Central was the natural next step – offering the full retail mix within a single POS solution, native integration capability across Adobe Commerce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. After evaluating alternatives including Oracle NetSuite, LS Central stood out as the solution best aligned with Housing Units’ specific requirements.
Bringing it all together
Local LS Retail partner Sci-Net managed the implementation, bringing deep knowledge of both the LS Central platform and Housing Units' retail needs. For the first time, Sci-Net's own ERP Retail big-ticket sales ordering solution was integrated with LS Central.
The add-on eCommerce for LS Central then connected LS Central to Adobe Commerce where Housing Units had already built its own customizations.
As Newson says:
“The collaboration with our IT partner was very good. Communications were open, honest, and consultative. Both parties brought their own experience and knowledge to the project, and we were able to successfully deliver a complex, large scale project which has added value to both parties' businesses.”
Q&A: insights from Housing Units' implementation
What prompted the move to LS Central?
Housing Units had been running LS Retail and Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 2006, a setup that had served the business well through years of growth. As retail requirements evolved and modern integrations became increasingly important, upgrading to LS Central was the logical next step.
What made LS Central the right choice?
Housing Units needed a POS solution that could handle both ends of the retail spectrum – quick transactions and complex, large-ticket sales orders – within one platform, and proven support for Adobe Commerce. LS Central was the solution best aligned with those requirements. Existing familiarity with the LS Retail ecosystem made the transition smoother and the decision straightforward.
What does the business look like now?
Store and eCommerce operations run from the same platform, with real-time data flowing between them. Staff work with mobile devices on the shop floor, creating sales orders, and accessing product information wherever the customer is. Finance, purchasing, and after-sales teams have cleaner workflows and better visibility – and the productivity gains have been reinvested into higher-value activities across the business.
