Case study: Rococo chocolates

Computing - London,UK
‘Functionality such as inventory management has been quite crucial as the
business has grown, because it means we have systemic knowledge of stock
turnover ...

‘Being able to access a common, centralised ERP platform means that everyone speaks the same language,’ says Gerry Kerins, financial director at Rococo Chocolates. ‘So introducing it led to a big boost in staff efficiency and to the business.’

Rococo Chocolates, which was set up in 1983, is based in London and manufactures luxury chocolates. The company employs 20 staff and sells confectionery to wholesalers and through two of its own shops, the flagship store being located on the Kings Road, Chelsea.

By the end of 2003, the business had grown to such an extent that Kerins no longer considered a Sage Line 50 accounting package to be fit for purpose. The package had been used to run spreadsheets and word processing documents.

‘It was all very ad hoc,’ he says. ‘We had loads of Excel and Word documents dispersed across different sites, which meant that some internal documents were on the wrong desktops, there was no cross-communication, no one understood what anyone else was doing and there was a lot of emails flying around with lots of opportunity for misunderstandings.’

The company introduced a hosted suite of ERP applications from NetSuite, which included accounting, sales management and logistics functionality.

‘I did the figures and it was the way to go,’ says Kerins. ‘I did not want us to be dragged into having to deal with server, maintenance and security hygiene issues, so what I pay for in subscription licence fees is more than made up for in internal cost implications.’

Deploying the system has helped support a 25 per cent growth in retail sales and a doubling of wholesale revenue at the company by providing staff with access to the information they need to do their jobs.

‘Functionality such as inventory management has been quite crucial as the business has grown, because it means we have systemic knowledge of stock turnover,’ says Kerins.

‘Previously, it was all visual and in people’s heads, but it is now transparent in the system and everyone can see what is happening. It is very helpful because it invites better management discipline for the business.’

The next step will see Rococo deploying an in-store inventory management application to run on its electronic point of sales systems. The package will be integrated with the firm’s existing ERP suite and allow it to see immediately what each shop has sold.

‘We can tell what has been transferred to our stores, but it is difficult to tell what has been sold,’ says Kerins.

‘Our integrated management system was a stepping stone, but we are also looking at putting a web store on our web site and opening a new store in Kensington in September, so it has been a win-win situation.’