Ideal Cycle & Toy Wholesalers, a family-owned branded toy distribution business, has adopted the Sage Inventory Advisor to help it make better inventory management decisions.
Founded in Springs in 1936, this business import toys including Yookidoo, University games, Hedstrom and Zoob to stockists such as BabyCity, Baby Boom, Makro, CNA and Toyzone and distributes them throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia.
The company has relied on the Sage 300 ERP enterprise resource planning system to run its business for years, making the Sage Inventory Advisor a natural choice of solution when it wanted to improve inventory management.
Says Helena Coertzen, Operations Manager at Ideal Cycle & Toy Wholesalers: “We were buying stock based on intuition rather than based on accurate inventory information, with the result that we frequently ran out of stock on some items and overstocked on others.
“We went to a Sage seminar, where we were exposed to Sage Inventory Advisor. We realised that this product could help us to keep a closer eye on stock levels and provide us with reliable information to make more informed decisions around which lines to discontinue.”
Ideal Cycle & Toy Wholesalers approached its long-standing Sage implementation and support partner Rolinda for a consultation about the product.
“Given how fast-moving and fickle the toy business is, having access to accurate, up-to-the-minute inventory information will help Ideal Cycle & Toy Wholesalers to grow revenues and improve profitability,” says Ian Goldsmith of Sage ERP Africa solution provider Rolinda.
“Sage Inventory Advisor is easy to use and slashes time spent on forecasts and ordering. It can be implemented cost effectively and rapidly, making it a perfect fit for a mid-sized distributor that needs to be agile.”
With Sage Inventory Advisor in place, Ideal Cycle & Toy Wholesalers can see with a click which lines are not performing, which items are stocked out, and which could potentially go out of stock, says Coertzen.
”Sage Inventory Advisor has had a huge impact on the way we manage our buying budget,” she adds. “Now we can avoid spending our funds on products that have stopped selling. We have also been able to increase our revenue by ensuring we keep the hot sellers in stock. From an operational and financial point of view it just works. We save time, make smarter decisions, and spend our money more wisely.”
Jeremy Waterman, MD for Sage ERP Africa, says: “Sage Inventory Advisor is an affordable solution that integrates with Sage ERP systems to provide companies with a daily diagnostic of inventory so they can reduce time spent on forecasts and optimise their stock levels. It’s a perfect match for any organisation that wants to reduce stock outs, eliminate excess inventory, and maximise its working capital.”
