J & T Management Selects Visual ProphetLine For Value Village Thrift Stores
Value Village thrift stores in the Atlanta area, managed by J & T Management, are currently installing a new point-of-sale solution from ProphetLine that can integrate with their existing reporting system. The difficulty in finding a new solution, according to J & T Management, was that they wanted to install software that had a SQL Server backend, was affordable, would integrate with existing systems and could be installed by the chain's management. Visual ProphetLine, a multi-tiered, client/server, unified retail and POS, e-commerce and back- office management system was the perfect solution.
"Before installing the VPL software, our stores did a lot of redundant data entry. Store managers would collect sales figures at the store location, and then have to reenter it into a separate reporting system," said Randy Cohen, CTO.
He continued, "Our primary reason for going to an integrated POS system was to allow us to manage the registers and inventory control from our central office. This way we have control over the inventory at each location, giving us a huge advantage."
J &T Management looked at several solutions that had the power of a SQL Server, but all were extremely expensive, with the exception of Visual ProphetLine. VPL had the functionality built in at an extremely affordable price, according to Cohen.
Bob Brown, president of ProphetLine, said they worked with J & T until they settled on a mutually satisfactory agreement that included J & T installing the software themselves.
"The installation process was very straightforward and easy. This was surprising because the system is fairly complex and we are deploying it in ten locations," said Cohen. "The store managers are also saying it is easy to use."
Value Village started with one location in 1981. They now have ten retail locations in Atlanta, and many partner locations in several different states. The thrift stores purchase new and used clothing and merchandise from charitable organizations and wholesalers, then resell it in their clean, bright thrift department stores. This provides vital funding to the charities that they purchase goods from and helps provide families with the best selection, quality, and service in resale merchandise.
"When we developed Visual ProphetLine, we had the small to mid-size retailer in mind, said Bob Brown. "Their budgets are usually limited and they probably have their back office applications already in place. Visual ProphetLine is easy to integrate with other applications and we can usually meet their budget. Sometimes it doesn't cost more to go first class."
About ProphetLine
ProphetLine is a national leader in the development and implementation of technology-based systems for retail management. Its family of award-winning, state-of-the-art scaleable systems range from enterprise-level, high-performance, multi-tier, client/server POS over WANs/LANs, supporting thin or thick-client architectures, to stand alone PCs that serve specialty retailers of all sizes. For more information, contact ProphetLine at (800) 875-6592, or check us out at www.prophetline.com.
SOURCE: ProphetLine