Steve Wilson has been selling grooming products for men since 2009 and was early to recognize the growing interest in this market. He established a successful retail business in New Zealand before joining forces with international company Barber Brands about five years ago.
The company is now New Zealand’s leading importer and distributor of premium men’s grooming products. It supplies barbers and independent retailers with around 1,000 products imported from Australia, America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Aotearoa itself.
Barber Brands chooses to import most products by sea, making for long lead times. Accurate demand forecasting is key to ensuring orders can be filled without overstocking the warehouse. It’s challenging, with customers ranging from one-man barber shops to large department and e-commerce stores, and most unable to predict demand from their own clientele.
Barber Brands’ warehouse management system can perform basic stock forecasts but without the flexibility to vary lead times or override quantities, Steve wasn’t confident that he was ordering the right products in the right amounts.
“We would go through the product list and guess how much we needed to order. We were getting a little more scientific by using the warehouse system’s built-in process, but it was a bit of a black box and we couldn’t see the reasoning behind the order numbers.”
Not wanting to order products “just because they’re on our product list”, Steve started looking for a specialized demand forecasting tool with more flexibility and customization options.
“We trialed StockTrim for a day and then decided to go ahead with it. It was quick to set up and StockTrim were very supportive.”
Following the initial time investment in making sure the brands and product were input correctly, StockTrim now requires minimal attention. The software is integrated with Barber Brands’ Cin 7 inventory management system and instructing StockTrim to load the inventory data is the only manual step required.
Since implementing StockTrim a year ago, General Manager Louisa Marais has taken on the stock ordering, giving Steve more time to focus on future goals and opportunities in keeping with his role as Company Director.
“I tend to run reports weekly on StockTrim to see what the system is asking us to order,” Louisa says. “Once an order needs to go through, it’s quick and simple.”
The process takes about two hours a week, with an additional 30 minutes to place an order. More importantly, it’s accurate.
“Slow-moving stock has reduced over time and we’ve seen a big improvement in stock-outs,” Steve says. “Before StockTrim, we would sometimes find we couldn’t supply half of a large customer’s order; now, it might be just two or three items.
“We also have a much better idea early on if there’s going to be a problem. Previously, we might suddenly realise that we were down to one or two items of a particular product."
In the interests of maintaining a wide selection for customers, Barber Brands accept a certain level of slow-moving products. StockTrim highlights these, enabling Louisa to delay ordering more of a slow seller until it has almost run out.
Having fewer stock-outs has a positive impact on sales, leading to a better cash flow. This is significant for the future of the company, which is growing and increasing its inventory.
“Without StockTrim, we would have less cash available to invest in that.”
Steve is now working with StockTrim on a customization that will highlight product classed as Dangerous Goods, which require special packaging for delivery to customers. StockTrim has suggested a short-term fix in the meantime.
“They’re always very responsive and I would recommend StockTrim to other businesses facing similar challenges to ours,” Steve says.
Get started on a free trial with StockTrim today or contact us for a Demo.