From Custom to Industry Technology

In 2017, Top 100 retailer, Kittle’s Furniture began evaluating a new ERP system. For many years, Kittle’s used a homegrown, customized solution. As the pace of technology requirements accelerated, maintaining an internal team, current programming knowledge, and operating system compatibilities became a challenge.

Kittle’s had a decision to make.

What is its core competency: retail or technology? Ultimately, Kittle’s chose to partner with a technology company whose expertise was software engineering. This lets Kittle’s shine as Indiana’s leading furniture retailer and local delivery expert.

During a diligent search, Kittle’s determined STORIS was the best choice for their future. Kittle’s appreciated STORIS’ thirty-year history, exclusively dedicated to the home furnishings industry. Because STORIS’ engineering is focused on their market without distraction, Kittle’s leadership knows their technology interests will be secured for the long term.

“The STORIS team’s keen understanding of furniture retail is foundational to Kittle’s evolution. Since implementing STORIS, many of the greatest challenges we had as an organization are simply resolved.”

CHOOSING A TECHNOLOGY TEAM

For Kittle’s, it was the people they met during the STORIS evaluation process that sealed their decision. Kittle’s has enjoyed collaborating with the STORIS team from their implementation through strategic projects and technical support. Kittle’s wanted to partner with a team that would treat their business as an extension of their own.

“The STORIS team cares about us and is committed to Kittle’s success through an everchanging retail climate. We appreciate STORIS’ true partnership approach to working with us.”

Fully-Integrated, Furniture Retail Solutions

Seamless Conversion

Converting from a legacy system was no easy task, but STORIS was up to the challenge. ”The STORIS team was attentive to our every need and helped us manage change,” Hudak commented. “Their client services team is outstanding with a deep knowledge of STORIS features and functionality. They were always accessible with current knowledge of our project.”

Efficient Onboarding

With Kittle’s legacy system, it was tedious to onboard new hires. STORIS’ modern system has cut training time for new hires by more than 50%. Further, team members have expanded responsibilities because STORIS processes are intuitive. Formerly a back-office process, now Kittle’s sales associates check out the customer directly – an enjoyable customer experience.

Consumer Security

Challenges of a custom system included complying with security standards and managing human error from having to manually enter credit card data. Data security was instantly solved by implementing STORIS including integrated credit card processing.

Accurate Financials

Prior to implementing STORIS, Kittle’s accounting software was not integrated with their ERP. This caused many data inconsistencies that were tedious to reconcile, especially related to inventory. STORIS’ unified solution for inventory and accounting is priceless. Now Kittle’s company financials are precise.

Real-Time Analytics

STORIS understands the daily operations of furniture retailers and provides timely analytical insights. Hudak comments, “decisions are made minute-by-minute, day-by-day to optimize our product mix, pricing, and promotions. Timely data we can trust guides our strategic decision-making. A furniture retailer can’t operate without real-time data.

Holistic Customer Views

Previously, managing customer service required Kittle’s to manually look up data from multiple locations. Customer data flows seamlessly through STORIS. Every aspect of customer history is connected. From the showroom floor to the service desk and warehouse, Kittle’s entire team has data transparency which enhances customer experience and professionalism.

Out-of-the-Box Integrations

An advantage of STORIS is its vast ecosystem of integrations to other technologies in the industry. In the past, having to custom-build each integration prevented Kittle’s from expanding its technology network. Today, they no longer intervene with workarounds to the routing process, a huge relief and time savings for Kittle’s busy team.

eCommerce Continuity

Kittle’s next strategic initiative is updating the integration of their website via STORIS APIs. The flexibility STORIS provides for website integration is a highlight for Kittle’s. This integration will drastically reduce the time it takes to maintain inventory data and provide customers with a real-time experience.

“STORIS allows us to prosper using modern technology with a quick learning curve while facilitating seamless integration.”

What Challenges Can We Solve Together?

About Our Partner

Indiana owned and operated since 1932, Kittle’s Furniture is Indiana’s Home Team. Kittle’s offers furniture and mattress styles for every budget, with over 70% of the items they sell made or assembled in the USA. From an enormous inventory on display in their showrooms and available on Kittles.com to custom-designed creations, Kittle’s has exactly what their customers want. Kittle’s provides value and personal service before, during, and after the sale. Their commitment to quality and service is unmatched. Kittle’s has been recognized as a Top Workplace, awarded National Furniture Retailer of the Year by Furniture Today, and is consistently rated above 4 stars.