Eyre & Elliston looks to build greater success with K8

Independent electrical wholesale distributor Eyre & Elliston first signed up for Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) software back in 1998 and K8, Kerridge’s flagship solution for electrical wholesale, remains just as integral to its operations today as the original version was on day one.

Commercial systems manager David Monteith explained that as the business has grown, the need for a scalable ERP solution has never been greater. “When we first introduced KCS software, we had around 40 branches. We’re now operating 61 electrical branches and eight industrial and compressed air divisions,” commented David.

“K8 has taken over all our business functions, from stock management, point of sale, and accounts – we don’t use any other software. We don’t need anything other than K8 to successfully run our business. When new people join our team, they often say that K8 provides twice as much information as other software they’ve worked with previously – it has really paid dividends for us.”

David believes one of the changes facing the electrical industry will be the standardisation of product descriptions. The ETIM international classification standard will eventually be rolled out, which will make it easier for electrical wholesalers and distributors to market products digitally and globally.

“There are so many differences in how products are named that having a common description would make it easier to sell to the rest of Europe and beyond,” said David. “Having ETIM alongside a product information manager is probably a good place to start from a cataloguing point of view. It’s something that everybody in the electrical industry will adopt sooner rather than later, and we look forward to integrating this valuable data with K8 as it becomes available.”

No time to stand still

Eyre & Elliston is now making its own steps towards a new digital era. “There’s no time to stand still in the marketplace. I think we are seeing an increasing trend towards online trading. The days when a contractor would stop for a cup of coffee in the morning and place their order for the day are being replaced with a shift towards customers ordering online for collection or delivery.

“There’s a portion of our industry where owners have perhaps passed their businesses down to their children. These new owners – and their customers – now want to do business digitally and merchants are doing what they can to facilitate this.

“Our digital platform is an important part of our future business strategy; being able to place orders online and have these immediately available within K8 for processing ensures that we can meet our customer’s needs efficiently. We can also continue to deliver that excellent customer service that sets us apart from our competitors.” For more information, visit www.kerridgecs.com