More on 'the big switch'

A progression of changes

Henere Valk, president
Evergreen Home & Garden Showplace, www.egardenplace.com
Locations: 3, plus a growing facility
New POS system: SimPOS

Henere Valk is proof that switching point-of-sale systems is inevitable. As the garden center changes and grows, technology has to keep pace. Back in 1995, the business used the DOS-based ABC system.

“It was quite a challenge,” Valk said. “Our real dilemma was doing transfers between multiple locations [inventory-wise]. And we had a hard time with connectivity via the Internet. We just really struggled.”

To top it off, manual updates had to be made in Peachtree accounting software to keep things running smoothly. When the process became too onerous, Valk switched to KISSPos system.

“Looking back I would probably make the same decision today,” he said. “But it wasn’t an open-source system. We just had a lot of trouble getting in there creating reports that provided the info we needed to use.”

Valk stuck with the system for eight years before he decided to make another switch. In October 2008, Evergreen Home & Garden Showplace transitioned to SimPOS. He did extensive research and consulted his colleagues within The Garden Center Group before taking the plunge.

“We went live on Oct. 18, 2008,” Valk said. “It took a couple of weeks to interface the data from the old system. We also had to ask, ‘How much of the data do I really need?’ You don’t want to clutter the new system. It took a while to understand which data I didn’t want to bring over. But it’s a very easy system to use.”

According to Valk, SimPOS has proven to be a great system. It’s particularly good for folks like him, who like to drill into data and pull specific information.

“It has been a great tool for us—but I like the hands-on control, where I can generate the reports I want.”

Valk’s best advice for fellow retailers is to study the POS system and take advantage of all its capabilities—particularly inventory control and customer-database management.

“It’s a whole lot more than a cash register,” he said. “It’s your lifeline to your customer.”