OKA Direct

Now that Elucid is up and running, the benefits are clear. OKA has new-found visibility across the business, for stock management and for customer data. “We can see every customer’s history throughout the organisation, whether they bought via the web, from a shop or by mail order – it’s all there. Equally, the stock visibility is end to end: just by simply keying in a product code, you can see the full audit trail, from the product’s delivery and onwards throughout the organisation.”

The ease and speed with which this data is presented brings new opportunities for OKA. “We don’t even use Elucid’s full capability in terms of marketing,” admits Hickin, “but what we do use is already a huge leap forwards for us.” Further analysis of buying patterns and campaign trends is possible – “even square inch analysis of product photos”.

This improved visibility means that OKA’s senior management team now has business-critical data available at the press of a button. “We have increased turnover substantially in recent years, but it’s not only about selling more, it’s about selling more of the right products,” says Hickin. OKA needs to know which goods are moving slowly and which are flying off the shelves: “The only way we could do that before was by sight within the warehouse.” That’s not a simple exercise in a 95,000 sq ft warehouse, but with lead times of as much as five months on some furniture items, product analysis is a vital enabler. “Better visibility means we stock more of the right stuff. Now, the merchandisers can carry out a full analysis so that if a particular product isn’t selling well, we can promote it elsewhere.

“It’s amazing, the difference in our operation now that we are supported by a truly integrated multi-channel software package. Not only is the information available at our fingertips, but we can be confident that the data is reliable.”

Andy Hickin is convinced that OKA’s growth would not have been possible without the implementation of Elucid:

“Certainly we wouldn’t have been able to grow at the fast pace we have,” he says. “We probably would have ground to a halt. Obviously, at the time we chose Elucid, we’d reached a critical point: we had to bring in new software and we had to make sure that system wouldn’t be defunct in 12 months. Unlike one or two of the other suppliers, we were wholly confident in the Elucid system from the outset. Three years on, Elucid is still the only proven multi-channel solution available.