Closer to the Business and Closer to Customers: Retail Pharmacy Revamps Point-Of-Sale

Microsoft Retail Management System Customer Solution Case Study

Roy Young Chemist Closer to the Business and Closer to Customers: Retail Pharmacy Revamps Point-of-Sale

Overview “Microsoft Retail Management System is an easy-to-use, affordable solution that streamlines business processes, integrates with other Country or Region Australia applications and adapts to meet our specific retail needs.”

Industry —Jim Harriott, Owner, Roy Young Chemist Retail

Customer Profile Retail is an unforgiving business. It punishes companies that ignore Roy Young Chemist is one of the opportunities to streamline processes or get closer to customers, a truism largest retail pharmacies in Australia, employing more than 120 staff. Located well appreciated by Roy Young Chemist, one of Australia’s largest and most in Sydney, it specializes in discount pharmaceuticals and vitamins and turns popular retail pharmacies. Roy Young Chemist was making do with isolated over about A$20 million a year. administration, dispensing and point-of-sale (POS) systems that were making Business Situation The UNIX-based point-of-sale system at inventory management, purchasing, supplier relationships and customer care Roy Young Chemist was retarding a chore. After upgrading to Microsoft® Business Solutions Retail Management growth and the hardware was failing customer demands. This created System, Roy Young Chemist now has an integrated IT infrastructure that has service interruptions, customer delays, work flow obstructions and supply chain streamlined business processes and cut the costs of its POS and supply problems. chain operations. Management at Roy Young Chemist now know more about Solution The company deployed Microsoft® the business, its customers and how it can scale its technology to meet future Retail Management System Store Operations running on Microsoft SQL business growth. Server™ 2000 within Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003, connected to 35 new Microsoft Windows XP clients.

Benefits . Faster sales processing . Improved cash handling . Lower technology costs . Improved inventory and supply chain management Situation wanted to go. There seemed to be many Inventory management, purchasing and providers but when you got beyond the pricing are the perennial chores of the gloss of their brochures, the programs modern retail establishment. Each needs were pretty rudimentary. to be as streamlined as possible so more “The electronic data time can be devoted to improving the “I had a closer look within our industry and interchange features of our business and delighting customers. Such at new systems from Microsoft. That gave new system have lowered was the task facing Roy Young Chemist. me the best of both worlds – a robust, supply chain costs and internationally supported POS system and given us more accurate and This large retail pharmacy that specializes the pharmacy elements important for our responsive communications in discount pharmaceuticals and vitamins business from a third-party system. We with our major suppliers.” wanted to expedite its checkouts and back- found this to be a good result. We got the office tasks, find new ways to promote and strength of the Microsoft platform plus the —Jim Harriott, Owner, Roy Young Chemist sell products, cut the costs of its point-of- intimacy of the pharmacy industry product.” sale (POS) system and be able to scale up for expansion and e-commerce. Solution Roy Young Chemist upgraded its basic Roy Young Chemist also wanted to network infrastructure from a combination manage and control inventories, make of UNIX and peer-to-peer networking to 35

informed decisions with real-time data and new Microsoft® Windows® XP clients maintain a unified view of its customers. It connected to Microsoft Windows Small was a tall order. Business Server 2003 Premium Edition.

“We had an existing POS system that With a new, stable network in place, Roy needed upgrading,” says Roy Young Young Chemist replaced its existing UNIX Chemist owner, Jim Harriott. “We also had POS with ten registers of a pharmacy- an administrative network and a dispensing customised version of Microsoft Business system, but they were all isolated. So, we Solutions Retail Management System had to consider a new IT system for our Store Operations. The POS system was POS. configured on an HP Proliant 370 Server running on Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 “This was an exhaustive process. It took within Microsoft Windows Small Business about 18 months to settle on a provider. I Server 2003 Premium Edition. initially wanted to go outside our industry and get a retail program as opposed to our “We integrated EFTPOS and credit card previous system, which was a pharmacy services and linked electronic data developed system. interchange functions to our major suppliers via Web services,” says Harriott. “One of the conclusions we reached was “We then added wireless stock that most of the commercially available management and integrated the data from POS programs could not take us where we

2 our drug-dispensing software to provide a solved several problems for Roy Young seamless solution.” Chemist.

The ten registers were configured using “The solution is robust and internationally touch screens with a customer-facing LCD supported,” he says. “But we also needed display. The drug dispensing system, the local content to make sure it was called WiniFRED, runs on six machines relevant to the pharmacy business in running Microsoft Windows XP. A Windows Australia. That is the strength of this service running on Microsoft Windows solution: we have a world-class system Small Business Server continually polls the that we can manage at a local level.” drug-dispensing system for new prescriptions and passes sales data to Benefits Microsoft Retail Management System Harriott says Microsoft Windows Small Store Operations. Business Server 2003 has provided a secure platform that has stabilized the The store data is then combined to allow pharmacy’s IT infrastructure while lowering for electronic data interchange (EDI) computer costs. ordering to suppliers from a central Microsoft .NET technology Web service. “It’s an easy-to-use, affordable solution that streamlines business processes, The system at Roy Young Chemist was integrates with other applications and implemented by Microsoft Gold certified adapts to meet our specific retail needs,” Partner, PCA NU Systems – one of Harriott says. “We can make informed Australia’s largest pharmacy IT providers. decisions with accurate data and powerful PCA NU Systems provides support and reporting tools and reduce our POS system services to more than 2,500 pharmacies and operating costs.” throughout Australia. The solution helped PCA NU Systems win a Microsoft 2005 Improved Inventory and Supplier ANZ Partner Award for best Retail Management Management System Solution in Australia Microsoft Retail Management System and New Zealand. Store Operations is helping Roy Young Chemist to ‘tame’ its stock and inventory. PCA NU Systems Chief Executive, Paul Naismith, says: “We were able to By maintaining tight control with demonstrate outstanding use of technology automatically generated purchase orders to help Roy Young Chemist spend more and stock levels, Roy Young Chemist can time looking after the health of customers reduce inventory costs and ‘out-of-stocks’. and running its business.” Centralized purchasing and in-store transfers enable Roy Young Chemist to Harriott says combining the PCA NU replenish items efficiently and cost- Systems offering with the Microsoft product effectively. Visibility into supplier histories

3 makes it easy for Roy Young Chemist to product, service or subscription; process select vendors who offer the best service payments and work orders; accept credit and the lowest prices. cards, coupons and gift vouchers; check stock instantly and locate it in the store; “We carry thousands of products,” says and continue selling even when their Harriott. “The issue for us is that we need network is down. to have the right product at the right place in the store at the right time in the right Enhanced Customer Experience quantity. We live or die by what happens to With Microsoft Retail Management System our stock on the shelf. If we have not Store Operations, Roy Young Chemist can managed our stock effectively then we will serve customers as individuals, using the disappoint a customer in some way. We same tools employed by retail giants. The need to make sure we are selling each system equips staff to respond quickly to product profitably and that we have it in customer needs, making it easier for Roy store or on order. Young Chemist to turn a single purchase into a lasting and profitable customer “The EDI features of our new system have relationship. lowered supply chain costs and given us more accurate and responsive Besides building a loyal customer base, communications with our major suppliers.” Microsoft Retail Management System Store Operations ensures accurate Speed and Flexibility at Point of Sale accounting. It can show or hide customer The customizable POS screens of contact and demographics on a POS Microsoft Retail Management System screen; instantly access the complete Store Operations deliver faster, smoother history of purchases, payments and sales. The screen looks like a receipt – account information at the POS; with every item, price and quantity in plain accommodate partial payments and sight. Cashiers make fewer mistakes. Card account payments; target customer processing is simplified. Lines move faster. preferences to suggest relevant up-sells, Tricky transactions such as returns sale items and volume discounts; target become easier. mailings to a customer’s special interest; grant automatic discounts and differential “The integration of EFTPOS provided pricing to special customers; and reprint e- faster sales processing with improved cash receipts to resolve disputes, speed rebates handling and lower error rates,” says and verify purchase dates and amounts. Harriott. Save Time and Money The POS system in place at Roy Young Every function of Microsoft Retail Chemist allows the store’s staff to serve Management System Store Operations is others while keeping a stalled transaction easy to learn and flexes to a store’s ‘on hold’. They can sell and track any changing needs. Intuitive screens speed

4 learning so staff can spend extra time Store Operations report engine runs serving customers or researching new reports with blazing speed. Better reporting products. power provides Roy Young Chemist with tighter management. The system is installed and set up easily and allows its administrators to lock out or Drawing from detailed, current information, open any employee’s access to sensitive senior staff can identify sales trends in data. It can automate inventory every department, category and season; management and reduce shrinkage and evaluate operations and financials; track slow-moving items. the return on investment of advertising and sales campaigns; and set and monitor Roy Young Chemist can also use wizards business policies. to bulk-update prices and inventory data; know which staff members sell best; Roy Young Chemist has been able to predict what days and hours to staff up or increase knowledge of its operations and cut back; know when to order; and take gain full visibility with daily sales graphs advantage of multiple suppliers to get the and journals that can be viewed and lowest prices. printed from any register. With Microsoft Retail Management System Store Microsoft Retail Management System Operations, Roy Young Chemist can Store Operations does not require an preview, search and print journals by extensive IT staff to establish and maintain register, batch and receipt number. and it adapts easily to meet specific retail needs. As Roy Young Chemist changes The new system at Roy Young Chemist and grows, its partners can provide support means the store can decide what to buy or and assistance with customizing, mark down; track ROI from its ads, integrating and scaling its solution. mailings, promotions, sales and discounts; preview, print, or export data in multiple “The scalability of the solution was a formats; filter, hide, sort and group data as highlight in such a busy pharmacy with it needs; and even delve down to modify future available transaction volumes up to the database directly from reports. 10 times larger than our existing stores,” says Harriott. “The more user-friendly nature of the interfaces has given us more ability to dig Quick, Comprehensive, Flexible into stock issues to understand any Reports problems and gauge performance of Roy Young Chemist can make smarter, product much more quickly and faster decisions using accurate and timely effectively,” says Harriot. “I know that will data. It is able to exploit thousands of give us some major improvements over standard reports or it can design its own. time, particularly in terms of our stock The Microsoft Retail Management System

5 management. We will have much better have a seamless transition in 12 hours and control than we had before.” that’s what happened.”

Easy Integration More Revenue Per Customer Microsoft Retail Management System Microsoft Retail Management System Store Operations integrates easily with Store Operations allows Roy Young many popular business applications, credit Chemist to expand customer reach, target card services, third-party applications, customer preferences and serve other accounting/financial software and customers better to increase revenue and legacy systems. Roy Young Chemist can build loyalty. also integrate the system with most PDA, mobile and wireless solutions. Easy The system allows Roy Young Chemist to integration with the Internet and other easily know a customer’s buying history. software packages avoids double work and The store can remind customers who broadens management visibility. forget their usual items; handle vouchers, back orders and quotes; display up-sells Roy Young Chemist can make in-store on the POS screen so staff can mention traffic, catalogue sales, phone orders and them; use multimedia to sell impulse items Web traffic feed each other. The system to customers in line; sell goods and helps Roy Young Chemist maximize cash services from partner businesses or Web flow from every ‘touch’ and transaction. sites; and customize receipts with Microsoft Retail Management System promotions for new products or special Store Operations can manage account offers. receivables, then trade data with popular accounting software. Expand Economically With Microsoft Retail Management System With Microsoft Retail Management System Store Operations, Roy Young Chemist can Store Operations, Roy Young Chemist can protect its investment and keep the same integrate Web sales with in-store sales; software and systems as its business use the system’s POS as a data collector grows. As it adds customers and products for ERP or CRM applications; and connect to its system, other Microsoft technologies to business-to-business purchasing and e- such as Microsoft SQL Server will allow fulfillment services. Roy Young Chemist to store and manage virtually unlimited amounts of information. “I was surprised at how quickly we had things up and running,” says Harriott. “As a “For us, one of the positive outcomes is retail outlet that operates seven days a that we have sharpened our IT systems week, we had to take down the old system across the store, not just our POS,” says one night and have the new system in Harriott. “It has allowed us to become more place for the next day’s trading. We had to professional with our IT. Microsoft and PCA NU Systems have helped us establish

6 systems that are appropriate and they are also helping us to manage those systems. That is really important to us.”

7 Software and Services Microsoft Retail Management System . Microsoft Retail Management System Store For small and mid-sized retailers, Microsoft Business Solutions Retail Management Operations System is an easy-to-use, affordable way to automate retail stores. It can help . Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition manage operations more efficiently to save time and money. This software . Microsoft Windows XP package runs on personal computers and helps manage a wide range of store . Microsoft Office 2003 operations and customer marketing tasks, including point of sale; inventory control and tracking; pricing, sales and promotions; customer management and marketing; Hardware employee management; customized reports and information security. . HP Proliant 370 Server . 30 HP desktops For More Information Partners For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft . PCA NU Systems Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada . Correct Solutions Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Microsoft Australia please email [email protected] or call the MBS Inside Sales number on 1800 197 960

For more information about PCA NU Systems products and services, call 1300 731 888 or visit the Web site at: www.pcanu.com.au

For more information about Roy Young Chemist products and services, call (02) 9412-3304 or visit the Web site at: www.royyoungchemist.com

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Document published November 2005 8