PARK CITY, Utah -- Resort Retailers, a North American licensee of 7-Eleven Inc., has recently completed its rollout of DataMax Group Inc.'s Envoy Cloud backoffice software. The implementation has streamlined its operations at its chain of 18 convenience stores in Utah.
William Ohm, category manager for Resort Retailers, Park City, Utah, likened the process to "anything else you are doing for the first time: The first store took some time, however, by the time we were wrapping up the project, it was only taking a matter of minutes."
That on-the-spot learning meant "changing the game plan along the way," he told CSP Daily News.
Ohm said the results included "better efficiency, better accuracy, better tracking and better profit."
He also shared a few key areas where Envoy Cloud has helped Resort Retailers improve:
- Store profits are up double digits, over 18%, from last year.
- Resort Retailers was previously paying more than $100,000 a year to outsource accounting. By having Envoy directly integrate with their accounting system, Resort Retailers was able to save more than $100,000 per year.
- Retail pricing accuracy--not only does Envoy have the ability to scan items correctly, but manages promotions with ease and control costs on an item-level.
- Resort Retailers enjoys the ability to have granular data available to mine at any time through a variety of different reporting tools.
- Envoy holds vendors accountable for dead items/stock, cost increases and product mixes.
- Transaction efficiency--there are now shorter lines and faster customer service due to the enhanced scanning capabilities.
- Resort Retailers found the ability to design/edit its own custom shelf tag labels very helpful due to the chain's widely dispersed stores and varied-label print stock.
In terms of lessons learned, Ohm said that if he had it to do over, he would set up one store, make it perfect, then move onto the others.
Retailers are looking to integrate sales, ordering, marketing and performance-measurement within their chains, according to Peter Jackson, vice president of engineering for DataMax. "We see our role as providing a link between the selling point, marketing strategist and the accounting system," he told CSP Daily News.
Round Rock, Texas-based DataMax provides backoffice software solutions and support services to the convenience-store retailing and petroleum industries, with more than 28,000 sites installed in more than 50 countries.
Resort Retailers Inc., Park City, Utah, has been operating 7-Eleven locations for more than 26 years. Dan Slaugh, president, said the chain began in 1988 with five stores in the Park City and Heber City, Utah, area. Over time, the number of stores increased to nine in that area. In 2013, it purchased the four convenience stores owned by Walkers in Moab, including stores in Moab, Kanab, Hurricane and Heber, Utah. In July 2014, the company acquired five c-stores from Black Oil in southern Utah.
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