Summary

International Decorative Surfaces (IDS) is the UK’s largest distributor of surfacing materials specialising in flooring, worktops, laminates, panel products and solid surfacing selling primarily to shop fitters, office, bedroom and kitchen manufacturers, as well as bathroom fitters, and builder’s merchants. The company is part of the Saint Gobain Group, recognised as Europe’s leading organisation in building materials.

IDS has been using Maginus Order Management System (OMS) since 1999 when it was a £55M turnover organisation. Since then it has grown to £120M (2014), introduced a number of new brands and developed new sales channels turning itself into a modern, forward thinking B2B distributor.

A platform that facilitates business change – Maginus OMS

Back in 1999 the management team at IDS knew they needed a technology platform that would allow them to not just handle the current position, but would facilitate future business change. Since then Maginus OMS has managed all of their major new developments. These include the introduction of new brands such as The Makeover Centre and Tuscan Floors, the development of new online channels, equipping sales reps with iPads so they have access to information during meetings with the clients and many other initiatives.

Maginus Provides IDS with Wall to Wall Order Management Solution

www.idsurfaces.co.uk

Industry

Distributor of surfacing materials

Customer profile

Multi-channel B2B & B2C retailer

Maginus solution

Maginus OMS

Customer benefits

• Single view of customers and stock across all channels

• Improved business controls helping to grow sales and drive up margin

• Efficiency gains in complex B2B space, leading to increased profitability

Quick Facts

Challenge

Case Study

IDS knew they needed a technology platform that would allow them to not just handle the current position, but would facilitate future business change. Since then Maginus OMS has managed all of their major new developments. These include the introduction of new brands, the development of new online channels and many other initiatives.

T: +44 (0)161 946 0000 E: info@maginus.com or visit www.maginus.com

The management team at IDS are excited about the recent new developments in Maginus OMS which include a comprehensive suite of mobile apps. Joe Bromfield, IT Manager at IDS commented “The Mobile Apps in Maginus OMS are a vital development for the future. It’s important, going forward that our staff have the flexibility to work on any device, anywhere, any time.”

Strong Partnership Results

IDS has built its business on strong relationships with its customers and suppliers. John Bagshaw, MD at IDS commented “We have worked with Maginus since I formed IDS in 1999. We believe in building strong relationships with all our suppliers – we are in business together - and we particularly value our relationship with Maginus. Maginus OMS has helped us to put our new business initiatives into practice, which has ultimately helped us to grow and become more profitable.”

He continued: “It’s great to see the investment that has been made in Maginus OMS to keep this well-established product ahead of the game. The new suite of apps and web services will really help us to push forward to ensure that we keep ahead of our competitors and continue to efficiently deliver excellent customer service.”

Single View of Customers and Stock across Sales Channels

IDS trades across a number of sales channels. Key Account Managers and Sales Reps visit the larger customers to build and manage relationships, internal sales staff in the call centre handle sales calls and customer queries, they produce a number of catalogues, have showrooms/trade counters at each of the 12 branches and trade online with their B2B eCommerce site.

Maginus OMS controls the orders placed through each channel so the management at IDS see all of their customers’ order history in one system ensuring they have accurate, timely information and understand the total value of each customer.

Equally, Maginus OMS gives IDS accurate stock visibility across the sales channels. The Central Distribution Centre in Nuneaton stock all of the 6,000 product lines, but the regional centres stock the fast moving products specific to their region. The immediate visibility of stock across the estate allows IDS to maintain its 24 hour delivery promise or, if that can’t be done, to give customers an accurate date for when the stock will be available, thus maintaining customer service levels.

Efficiently Managing the Complexities of B2B Trading

Trading B2B is more complex than B2C trading in many ways. For example, customer specific pricing and supplier rebates, both of which are managed within standard Maginus OMS functionality.

IDS sells eight different product brands and has eight pricing brands for each one. Each of IDS’s 8,000 customers can be on a different pricing band for each brand which makes for thousands of potential combinations. Joe continued: “Maginus OMS is massively flexible when it comes to pricing and easily manages our very complex pricing structure ensuring that we are efficient, accurate and in control.”

Supplier rebates are another complex process with agreements in place with different suppliers for a rebate to be paid when sales reach certain price or volume thresholds. Joe continued: “Maginus OMS automatically monitors sales, compares those to the rebate levels we’ve negotiated and automatically generates the invoice for us to claim the rebate from the supplier.”

Tight Business Controls

Maginus manages the flow of information around the business and notifies managers when exceptions to acceptable levels are identified. Michael Ward, Financial Controller at IDS comments: “Maginus OMS gives us strong business controls helping to grow sales, prevent leakages and drive up margin. We are only notified when activities fall outside of the normal levels which allows us to react to those where required.”.