Customer stories


Lost My Way finds a POS solution

Challenge

Entrepreneur Sarah Palmer realised a dream in 2006 when she launched her online store and retail full of perfect and unusual gifts. One of the first things Sarah had to consider when starting the business was a reliable, easy-to-use and accurate point of sale (POS) system. This system needed to both meet the company’s immediate financial reporting needs and accommodate future business growth. Palmer explained, “We wanted a retail point of sale solution that could manage all aspects of the business – ordering, goods receipt, stock management, sales at the check-out and the full range of retail operations management and reporting.”

About Lost My Way


Lost My Way is an exclusive online and retail emporium offering a variety of unique, beautiful and sublime gifts, homewares, crafts, clothing and cards from local and international suppliers. Each item in the Lost My Way store is hand-picked by Sarah Palmer to excite customers’ imaginations. The packed two-floor retail outlet in Waverley in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs is complemented by the online store at www.lostmyway.com.au.

Solution


When looking for a complete POS solution, Palmers first thought was to look to FileMaker to see what it could offer. She commented, “It was always going to be FileMaker. Previously I operated a computer business for 17 years and we used FileMaker for all the crucial business functions. We did however consider a number of other commercial retail POS solutions, but they were discounted based on their inflexible nature, poor feature set or unattractive and difficult interface. In my opinion they were just overly complex and too inflexible.”

During her search for the ideal POS software, Palmer came across US-based developer BrighterData and its unique retail application built in FileMaker Pro 10 - BrighterShop. This product met many of Lost My Way’s needs, however lacked some essential business tools for the Australian market. “The US version of BrighterShop came the closest to satisfying our needs, but lacked some features specific to an Australian operation, including the handling of Australian GST, managing multiple exchange rates, handling lay-bys and managing bill-of-material items.”

Palmer decided to work with Australian FileMaker Business Alliance (FBA) member, Ambrite, to customise the US software product. Subsequently, Lost My Way became the first company in Australia to install and operate BrighterShop AU, the revamped version for the Australian market. Palmer said, “It astounded me that Ambrite could customise a commercial application to meet our wide range of Australian requirements in just a month. The developers took an application that was already feature-rich and added a host of others that have proved really useful.”

Product

  • BrighterShop AU, built in FileMaker Pro 10

    Key Benefits


    The collaboration between Lost My Way and Ambrite resulted in a product perfectly suited to the needs of Australian retailers and designed to streamline all business, administration and marketing processes together in one location. Palmer described the benefits Lost My Way experienced, “BrighterShop AU is simple to use, fast and has an attractive interface. It’s inherited all of the best features of FileMaker, such as simple searches, fast operation and clear design and has incorporated them into one carefully thought-out and extensive retail solution.”

    The speed and ease that staff can be trained to use BrighterShop AU has improved productivity and service levels at Lost My Way and has meant greater customer satisfaction. Palmer said, “I’ve found my staff members learn how to use BrighterShop AU very quickly and immediately feel confident using the system to serve customers and process transactions. This creates a positive experience with customers and leads to better service. The ease-of-use of the BrighterShop AU applications has also meant we have been able to train staff quickly to assist in data entry and system updates, which reduces my managerial burden significantly.”

    The implementation of BrighterShop AU has given Palmer the opportunity to monitor the company remotely and as a result allows her to devote more time to promoting and marketing the business. “As a manager, I can access shop information from any Mac or PC, including from home over the internet. This means that I am not tied to the shop to do order processing and other management duties. I can also log in remotely and check how the store is operating at any time.”

    Palmer has also found the reporting ability of BrighterShop AU is a handy business tool providing her with a quick, accurate snapshot of the business’ performance and bottom line as often as required. She explained, “The software delivers a precise picture of business performance with simple and flexible reporting providing as little or as much detail as you require over any time period. A store owner can see what’s selling and what’s not, who’s buying and who’s not and see exact measure of turnover and profitability.”

    Palmer is very satisfied that adopting BrighterShop AU was a solid business decision. “Lost My Way was a start up business that had to implement a retail management and point of sale solution up-front that would deliver big results and making running the business simple. Using BrightShop AU was a great decision and we haven’t looked back since.”

    Contact information

    Customer Contact:

    Mark Richards
    Managing Director
    Amibrite Pty Ltd
    PO Box 286 Waverley
    NSW 2024 AUSTRALIA
    +61 2 9386 9368

    Filemaker Contact:

    Colleen Elcham
    Marketing Coordinator, Asia Pacific
    FileMaker Inc.
    +61 2 9641 8084
    colleen_elcham@filemaker.com
    http://www.filemaker.com.au


    • Lost My Way