Thanks to high demand, DIY stores find themselves competing on a daily basis and have to invest a lot of time and resources in promoting customer loyalty and expanding logistics. To facilitate this process, DIY stores receive support from COSYS software solution for digitizing the flow of goods and digitally mapping work steps using mobile data capture.
What can the construction market / construction trade software do?
DIY stores and garden centers specializing in home improvement supplies are a billion euro market in Germany, Europe and the world. Consumer interest in investing in their own four walls, coupled with trends such as do-it-yourself and home automation, are generating billions in sales in the sector. Customers get a unique shopping experience when they visit a DIY store, can see for themselves the quality and functionality of the products on site, and can purchase them on the spot and take them home with them. In a highly competitive market, suppliers have to differentiate themselves via service and, if possible, set themselves apart. To this end, the availability of goods in the DIY store and the choice of delivery options are key factors.
This also increases the demands on material flow recording and its permanent optimization. In this context, DIY store chains are dependent on a large number of suppliers and partners in order to meet customer requirements in the best possible way. These have to comply with the specifications that support DIY stores in the best possible way in order to continue to do good business.
Product areas in DIY stores DIY: Building materials, construction elements, hardware, sanitary ware, lighting materials, paints and wallpapers as well as household goods and gardening supplies
This requires digital processes to keep an eye on inventories, to pack customer orders in good time in logistics, and then to place the products correctly in the DIY store on a seasonal basis via freight forwarders or the company´s own delivery networks.
NVE and DESADV in logistics - BHB Guideline
The BHB association, which is committed to the creation of economic structures for the DIY sector, demands electronic data exchange to speed up the handling in the central warehouse. For this purpose it is necessary that the suppliers indicate the number and division of the packages to the orders or work according to the specification of the DIY stores.
The process flows from the receipt of an order, the handling with the question of where the packages should go as well as the targeted picking, proportional cross docking to the loading control
are possible workflows and processes in the DIY industry. Digital solutions offer the advantage of working faster and at the same time with fewer errors, since the entries are permanently validated by barcode scanning, for example, and the data can be made available digitally and in real time at the same time. In this way, the data from the supply chain provides a planning basis for employee, logistics and product resources. For more than 40 years, COSYS has seen itself as a scanning partner for retailers, offering software for logistics operations that sustainably optimizes processes.
Warehouse management software (MDE + Dashboard)
The demands placed on the management of central warehouses and suppliers´ warehouses are very high. This is because the goods in the DIY store are geared to rapid turnover, short-term fluctuations in demand then ensure a high volume of work, and at the same time inventory must be kept at the right level without being stuck with seasonal goods.
The warehouse management software from COSYS digitally transfers the orders to the pickers in the warehouse for processing. Through simple barcode scanning, the employees can confirm order item by order item. At the same time, the comparison with the article barcode ensures the avoidance of errors due to article mix-ups, for example. In addition to reducing errors, work can also be done faster.
A decisive factor in warehouse management is the transparency of the processes. Thus, the current processing status is visible for the disposition. Employees have transparency over the order and receive assistance through intelligent software dialogs. Overall, this results in process optimization that avoids sources of error and uses digital data to ensure that intralogistics are carried out more effectively.
Distribution and pick-up stations are also increasingly becoming a decisive factor for DIY stores in meeting customer demands for fast delivery times. Customers expect flexible delivery conditions to the curb - for this, the warehouse already has to work efficiently and then transmit the packages to the shipping partners.
Loading and delivery scanning
After the goods have been successfully picked for the customer order or for delivery to the stationary stores, an efficient logistics system is required for successful delivery on the "last mile". Those responsible need an overview of the packages, pallets and load carriers to be loaded so that safe and error-free loading can take place. Also during delivery
replacement recipients, documentation of damage, recording of returns, transparency about load carriers, their exchange, and seamless digital documentation are required to also inform customers about every step of the process in real time and thus achieve a high level of customer loyalty.
Returns management
Intensive online trade can cause returns to increase, but store-related returns, such as seasonal merchandise, are always a logistics process that takes too much time.Here, the store can already pack the merchandise into a package, provide it with a package label and thus ensure easier storage in the central warehouse. This can also greatly simplify the inspection of goods, as a comparison can be made against the orders.
The COSYS material flow overview gives you an overview of the recorded returns and their status. E-mail notifications in case of deviations as well as evaluations of the return reasons and throughput times are possible in the COSYS backend.
Click and Collect Service Offers
The concept of reserving goods online and then picking them up at the DIY store is putting classic DIY stores on the fast track, is very practical for customers, and conveys a good shopping experience. To this end, the inventories at DIY store locations are also increasingly being linked with online store offerings on marketplaces and the DIY store groups´ own online offerings. This creates synergies, as customers can pre-order merchandise online and choose to pick it up at the store or have it delivered to their home.
To map this internal picking for Click and Collect, COSYS offers the leading picking software. The in-store order system is also possible with COSYS, a success factor that customers in the wholesale environment have been using for a long time. This is how classic retailers hold their own against the increasingly strong online competition.
Retail Management for DIY stores
Customer service in DIY stores suffers from the many different tasks that have to be mastered every day in store management. Stocks in the warehouse and on the sales floor have to be managed, and prices and item information have to be maintained given the incredible depth of the product range. These tasks always require a lot of time and ensure that customer service is neglected and the customer has a negative shopping experience. Customers are therefore often left to their own devices when shopping in DIY retail and rightly demand better customer advice.
But in order to create more time in store operations for customer service, it is necessary to optimize store merchandise management processes to handle tasks more effectively and create more time for customer service. COSYS Retail Management helps you to make your daily store operations in DIY and home improvement stores more efficient by comprehensively digitizing value-adding processes. The advantage: COSYS Retail Management can be used in a single store as well as in several stores simultaneously.
The COSYS Retail App helps you to manage the stocks in your store and to reorder if necessary, to maintain article information as well as to change prices on the go and to store them in the system. Changed prices are stored in the system and can be automatically printed on price labels. Inventory can also be carried out with the COSYS Retail App, which supports all inventory processes as standard thanks to years of experience. This includes, for example, the inventory with first and second count or the completion by employee signature. All data recorded on the move can be viewed and edited in COSYS WebDesk, a user-friendly data management software. User management and administration of the software can also be done from the WebDesk. An interface to merchandise management systems such as shopwin, SAP, prohandel and many more ensures real-time data exchange between the COSYS Retail Management solution and your system to always provide your employees with the latest data.
If you want to get a better picture of COSYS Retail Management, you can try our free POS Non Food Demo App for Android.
Inventory
Inventories are mandatory and time-consuming at the same time. With the help of mobile devices and intelligent COSYS software, recording by individual areas or full recording can be done much faster, more cost-effectively and with fewer errors than with classic paper lists and subsequent digitization.
COSYS has been the provider of inventory service offers for over 40 years and offers service providers and dealers equipment for rent with top hotline support and services. Devices are delivered on the due date and picked up again on request, thus saving the DIY giants on the market more extensive organization and shipping processing and allowing them to concentrate on inventory recording instead.
Home improvement software functions:
Monitoring of the acquired process data with evaluation functions
Warehouse structure, unique storage bin inventories, suggested storage bins.
Plausibility checks after barcode scanning
Barcode capture, easy transfer of goods, unique capture
Administration, assignment of group rights,
Home improvement software advantages:
leads to reduction of costs and increase of output.
for suppliers: creation of a competitive advantage and the right to continue supplying.
Creation of more customer-oriented services through material flow control
Creation of more transparency, better plannability
higher material availability
Reduction of the error rate in shipping
Construction market sector Complete solutions
DIY stores and their suppliers depend on digital processes to serve the high demand and to take over the competition. COSYS offers mobile apps and powerful functions for the flow of materials and parts in the DIY sector, the home improvement and construction trade.
Orders for new items and materials can be placed easily using the goods ordering function. By scanning the required goods and entering the required quantity, orders can be created quickly and easily directly at the storage location and transmitted to purchasing. Direct transmission of the order to the supplier is also possible via a connection.
Goods receipt
Accept ordered store deliveries simply by barcode scanning and check them against the order document.
Storage
Staged material has been unloaded from the truck and is to be put away in the sales or storage area, simply scan, view storage bin suggestions and put away in the storage bin.
Stock transfer
Map internal transfers of goods between the outdoor area, sales area and warehouse can be easily recorded mobile and digitally via app.
Removal from stock
Damaged material can be recorded via stock removal, with a reason or a photo, and thus removed from inventory.
Provision
For the suppliers of DIY stores who produce or assemble to order, the Provisioning module helps to document this handover.
Order picking
For the suppliers of the DIY stores, picking must be carried out exactly according to customer specifications. It helps to counter-scan the items, confirm the quantity to avoid shipping errors and a deterioration of the supplier rating.
Dispatch completion message
For the suppliers of the DIY stores, error-free shipping is crucial. To this end, the packages formed are validated to ensure that the correct pallets and shipping containers arrive at the distribution centers and locations.
Shipping labels
Printing of shipping labels can be initiated via the app after packaging has been completed. Consideration of customer-specific information is possible.
Loading
Scanning processes for loading onto your own fleet or external service providers to ensure error-free shipping.
Best before control
The app can be used to check expiring best-before dates, reduce prices or check stocks for remaining shelf life.
Counter sales
The counter sales module enables you to successfully conduct business at the pick-up counter. In addition to the customer, you can also use the module to record the stocks that have been booked out.
Evaluation & Statistics
Mobile collected data is graphically evaluated with COSYS powerful backend systems and forward business critical data as a report by mail to the decision makers.
Online Order Nachbestellung
COSYS Foto- und Schadensdokumentation ermöglicht die Erfassung und Hinterlegung von Bildern zu einem bestimmten Artikelcode. Beschädigungen oder anderweitige Besonderheiten können so dokumentiert werden und durch die Bearbeitungsfunktion zusätzlich mit Markierungen versehen werden.
Retail Management
Article information
In order to offer the best possible service in retail and specialized trade, your employees receive support from COSYS Article Info. With a short scan of the article code, your employees receive all stored information about the respective article (article description, price, storage location, stock). This way, customers can be advised comprehensively at any time and customer loyalty can be improved efficiently.
Goods Order Online Order
Customers have a request? Is material running low due to high demand? Simply enter order suggestions via the mobile goods order and transmit them digitally to the head office.
Inventory
To record the current inventories and to compare them with the system inventories succeed with a good inventory software. In addition to the software, with COSYS you use a powerful complete system.
Return
The return can be used for customer complaints, as well as for systemic returns, for example in the case of recalls or similar.
Price control
Products are provided with price labels. Price control is used to check whether the system/cash register price corresponds to the label. If there are discrepancies between the price on the label and the system price, an updated price label can be created.
Customer information
By capturing a customer card, information can be viewed and recorded.
Labels
The creation and printing of labels is necessary to easily scan items without entering the item number.
Label printing
Dank COSYS Label printing können Sie jederzeit bei vorhandener Verbindung zu einem mobilen oder stationären Label printingser einen Druckanstoß aus der Software geben. Das Layout der Labels wird im Vorhinein von Ihnen mittels der Software BarTender gestaltet. Sofern gewünscht übernimmt auch COSYS die Umsetzung Ihrer Design Vorschläge.
FAQs in the DIY and construction trade
The BHB Guideline of the leading industry association provides clear rules to enable deliveries to the DIY stores as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. COSYS software helps to form NVEs / SSCCs, merge the data centrally and report back to the leading ERP system. Easy to understand workflows in the COSYS software simply help the employee to form the NVEs, gather all the necessary data to fully comply with the BHB Guideline.
Mobile data capture in the DIY store works by capturing EAN codes and barcodes on products as well as SSCC codes, which in turn reference a database and thus enable identification of an item. The mobile app differentiates between different processes and modules that require free item entry or matching against an order specification.
COSYS is platform-independent and can thus be used on existing Windows MDE devices, smartphones with Android or iOS operating system as well as classic Android MDE devices with fulltouch or keyboard MDE devices. The use of smartphones and tablets as backup during peak times or for external employees can thereby complement classic MDE devices.
COSYS relies on intuitive software that guides the app user through specific tasks and provides plausible feedback. In most cases, a short briefing is sufficient and employees learn how to use the app during operation. The simple barcode scanning and few entries for digital documentation do not keep employees from their work.
COSYS software systems are designed for scaling and further expansion of the solution. This way, our customers start and gain experience with the systems and can easily add more sites.
Our modular configurable software is designed to map the individual company process. Thereby, our app does not have to be programmed from scratch but already configured with a solid basis of approx. 80% customer-specific. This means that you do not have to wait years for individual programming, but can already start testing with a prototype.
Do you need more information?
Interested? Request a quote from our sales department today at +49 5062 900 0 or via our contact form.
