K&J Group supplies household essentials on interest free easy payment plans across the North West of England. They have a diverse range of products from in-house manufactured beds & mattresses to a range of carpets, window blinds, vinyls, bedroom and living room furniture.
All their products can be ordered on an interest free payment plan with a choice of Weekly, Fortnightly, 4 Weekly or Monthly payments.
K&J Group needed a system to run their business. They wanted one system that integrated Sales Lead Management (from multiple inbound sources) and CRM with Order Management, Product Management, Sales Force Automation (SFA), Delivery Management and Financial Reporting.
They didn't want a series of interfacing systems that didn't fit well together. Nor did they believe that a set of products would deliver them what they needed. Given their complex payment plans, they wanted a system that fitted their business, not the other way around.
Like all of our projects, we spent time understanding K&J’s business before we started to capture their requirements. Doing so, cut the cost, de-risked development and sped up delivery.
K&J offers something a bit different in the market place. Whilst they sell a range of standard products, how they sell is different.
They offer payment plans. These spread the cost of the purchase over less than a year, with a choice of Weekly, Fortnightly, 4 Weekly or Monthly payments. This meant that their financial management requirements didn’t match an existing product. They also needed to see the payment schedules on a customer, a region and an aggregate perspective. Effectively, CRM and debt management.
They also needed to provide their Sales Force with a SFA solution to allow them to convert leads, manage up-sell and cross-sell, as well as monitor payments. That SFA tool allows for route planner, territory.
As well as this, they also had order, product and delivery management requirements plus financial reporting requirements.
From a technical perspective, we designed and built a custom .NET application which followed our well-established design principles.
The application used the Microsoft stack and integrated with a Payment Provider, Post Code look-up services, Microsoft Cognitive Services, Route Planning services and Social Media Management. The SFA tool is provided as a mobile web app for speed and convenience.
The system manages inbound leads from across all digital touchpoints, assigning them to sales and marketing segments. Those segments are then marketed to using a cross section of digital channels, all managed by the system.
Responses are collated by the system, allowing for profiling and propensity to purchase mappings. The system assigns Leads to the Sales Force team for them to follow up either in person or electronically.
"Our solution has completely automated a £5m turnover business. Giving them competitive advantage through improved sales experience."
The SFA tool lets the Sales Force team complete and take payment for an order on a mobile. Then it manages the payment plan cycle, taking period payments automatically.
The system also manages the product database and production scheduling. Assigning resource to the order and providing an estimated delivery date. The delivery date and the shipping are managed by the system too.
Our solution has completely automated a £5m turnover business. Giving them competitive advantage through improved sales experience, better sales conversion and financial visibility.
It was also delivered affordably and with a payment schedule that suited the business requirements.
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