Shipping Success Stories

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Q: Can you give us a little background about your story so far?

A: Nuts and Grains is predominately a bricks and mortar store that's been running for around 35 years. In the last 5 years we expanded online and are now an omni-channel business and online sales have gradually built to about 10% of our business. We're like a natural products mini mart - we sell everything from fresh fruit and veg, wholefoods, grains, nuts, seeds, cosmetics, but the major part of our business is supplements and herbal remedies, which make up the majority of our sales, particularly our online ones.

Q: Despite being called Nuts and Grains, you sell so much more than that. How much has your offering grown over the years?

A: The beauty of a small business is we're lean and nimble and can change depending on trends and customer requirements. With Covid, we've trended towards more local Irish food produce for our in-store products, for example. Our catalogue for our customers has grown significantly over the last 30 years, but it's always been supplement driven. People are always looking to boost their health and treat problems with natural remedies and supplements.

Q: How does it feel looking back over the growth of your family business?

A: It's lovely to look back. My aunt set up the store and my mum ran it, and it was a shop about the size of a back office. We sold a few gluten-free products and supplements. It was still quite small when I took over the running of the store 16 years ago, but we expanded the physical store and decided to really go for it. Now with our online store, it feels like we're growing in the right direction.

Q: What sets your products apart from your competitors'?

A: All our supplements are good quality and well-researched, so they really make a difference. I think in the next few years people are going to be a lot more careful with their money, so if they're taking something they want it to be good quality and know it works. We think focusing on quality will pay off.

Q: Where do you see the business going?

A: I guess our biggest challenge is competing with supermarkets - even petrol stations are trying to get in on the act! We have to stay on top of the game and we do that with excellent customer service. We aim for high speed of deliveries to match our service in store, to give our customers something they won't get in the supermarkets. We're trying to expand more into local artisan food produce too.

Q: How has using Shiptheory and PSS helped your business?

A: We are predominately a brick-and-mortar store therefore our POS system is central to day-to-day activities. We use Retail Management Hero (RMH) by PSS to manage our stock, sales, and customers. As our website is fully integrated online orders come through our POS system. Connecting our EPOS system to Shiptheory has been a dream for processing online orders!

The work begins when we must pick, pack, and do the labels, which nobody wanted to do! Our account manager at PSS recommended the Shiptheory module for RMH. The integration was seamless, and we've never looked back!

Q: What's your proudest achievement as a company?

A: No one's ever asked me that before! To be honest, every other day we have a customer tell us how much one of our team or products has made a difference. That's really heart-warming, and we know we're going in the right direction. I can't give you a single one, but just knowing we're making a difference is amazing.

Q: Would you recommend using Shiptheory and Retail Management Hero to other retailers?

A: I would highly recommend it, it's just another string to your bow. As customers enter their details, mistakes and error codes are picked up as they do it, so things are caught instantly. When using the Shiptheory module for RMH was suggested to me, I was a little sceptical. I thought, oh you know, what's a couple of hours sitting down doing labels? I said I'd look at it, but now I'm so glad that we implemented this technology! The support from both Shiptheory and PSS has been excellent. It's just great, especially on a Monday morning – previously a label could take between 5-10 minutes, so even on a day with a few dozen orders, you can save hours!

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