According to Bud Stockwell, owner of Cornucopia, a customer recently described his store as being "part of the fabric of downtown Northampton, MA." For the past 22 years Cornucopia has provided a wealth of quality health foods and supplements to the 5-college area which includes Smith College, Amherst College, Mt. Holyoke College, Hampshire College, and U-Mass at Amherst. "It's a vibrant area that has propelled Northampton to the Top 10 lists of several books and publications," explains Stockwell. Northampton is the home of dozens of world famous artists, writers, musicians, scientists, and scholars. Although its population is a modest 30,000, Northampton's seasonal festivals, regionally renowned restaurants, and art communities make for a steady, eclectic flow of customers through Cornucopia. We recently caught up with Stockwell to find out how he's using Catapult to manage his busy operation.

Cornucopia : A Living Horn of Plenty

"We're located in an old renovated department store in the heart of downtown. In our 2,000 square feet of retail space we carry about 15,000 SKUs, practically all of which are natural products, says Stockwell. "As a full service health food store, we provide groceries, produce, cheese, fresh-baked breads, and over 30 varieties of locally roasted coffee beans. Our Supplements Department has a great reputation in our health community. One of the owners is a practicing, registered dietitian, and the department manager has been with the store for 20 years. Local MDs often send their clients to us for advice on natural health practices."

Catapult's Inventory Analysis at a Glance

"Over the years, we've used various technologies that were applicable to our needs. We decided to move up to Catapult when we realized we needed to be much more nimble with our inventory selection. Product trends change very quickly in the health industry," says Stockwell, "and staff turnover is always an issue for retailers in a college town. Catapult tracks our sales with such precise detail that we now know when an item has performed so poorly that we can't afford to stock it anymore. We rely on Catapult to help us efficiently manage our inventory by showing us both the top sellers and the slow movers."

A Wealth of Reports : Catapult as a Buying Tool

We use a variety of Catapult reports at Cornucopia," says Stockwell. "On a daily basis we get our financial data and hourly sales for each register, which we use to plan our schedules. On a regular basis we check our prices and sales data on particular product lines. Every month we print the sales reports for each subdepartment. This information shows our buyers both popular and unpopular items and helps them gauge what quantities to purchase. We plan our sales in advance and use Catapult's reports to manage our shelf pricing. As we expected, Catapult has become indispensable. We finally have the data we need, when we need it. I really don't know how we did without Catapult for so long."

Catapult Hardware & Peripherals : Total Integration

"We have the flat panel, touch screen monitors at our POS checkout. They're so easy to use that we can hire a new employee and literally have him operating a register within minutes. Our Magellan scanner/scales were a considerable investment, but well worth the cost. Their user-friendly scanning really speeds things up at the registers. There's no repositioning the product or hunting for bar codes. Just one swipe is all it takes. Our checkout lines are definitely shorter as a result of the Catapult system. We also use Catapult's LabelVision interface to create our own barcodes for those items that don't come with them so we can track our product movement with more accuracy.

A Final Word

"The support team at ECRS has always been very friendly and eager to help. They've always provided us with the technical information we've needed." In closing Stockwell reiterated : "If you're a retailer who wants to stay competitive, get Catapult. If you have competition moving into your area as we do, get Catapult. If you want to improve your inventory turns, get Catapult."

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