BNET Video

Taking the Pulse

Now Playing:

Modernizing Inventory Management

Cole Hardware | Taking the Pulse

The original Cole Hardware was founded in 1959 by Dave Karp. Today, his son, Rick Karp has four stores throughout the city of San Francisco. Technology is at the heart of operations for this small business. Karp currently spends 50,000 to 100,000 dollars annually on IT to help optimize and grow the SMB. Correspondent Sumi Das visits the store on a busy day and talks to Karp and his IT manager Robin Miller about how he uses inventory management software and scanners to help catalogue more than 40,000 items, and how they’re using analytics solutions to track revenues.

2 Comments

See Full Transcript

Tags: Analytics, Information Technology, Inventory Management, Financial Planning, Scanners, Enterprise Software, Finance, Hardware, Peripherals, Software, Cole Hardware

 
Reply to Story

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

  •  
    1

    Miles Technologies

    02/03/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Local Hardware Chain Hammers Away with IT

    "Technology is at the heart of operations for this small business." - When implemented properly with careful consideration to unique business needs and specific industry requirements, technology is the smartest investment that any business can make.

  •  
    2

    ApparelBrando

    03/18/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Local Hardware Chain Hammers Away with IT

    While these stories of the "Taking the Pulse" themes are interesting, they never give the details of the software or companies that were used as consultants for the IT implementations of the technologies, so it's more "entertainment" reporting than actual practical information that small businesses can use. Sort of like watching Inside Edition for news on Afghanistan.

    I'm sure there's reasons for not specifying the IT companies (no free ads, or a sense of journalistic integrity), but why watch these without some takeaway other than "Wow, they got something going there, but where do I start?"

Please add your comment:
  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  4.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

Modernizing Inventory Management

The original Cole Hardware was founded in 1959 by Dave Karp. Today, his son, Rick Karp has four stores throughout the city of San Francisco. Technology is at the heart of operations for this small business. Karp currently spends 50,000 to 100,000 dollars annually on IT to help optimize and grow the SMB. Correspondent Sumi Das visits the store on a busy day and talks to Karp and his IT manager Robin Miller about how he uses inventory management software and scanners to help catalogue more than 40,000 items, and how they’re using analytics solutions to track revenues.

>> Moe: Finding everything you need my friend?

>> Yup

>> Moe: Okay, excellent.

>> Sumi: Moe Amera assumed spelling is the Assistant Floor Manager at Cole Hardware in San Francisco.

>> Moe: Let me know if you guys need any help down there.

>> Sumi: Today he's facing typical customer service challenges.

>> Moe: I think we used to carry but it may have been discontinued. What I could do is let me check another store 'cause they may

have some in inventory there, you want to hang on a second, thanks.

>> Sumi: A customer is looking for an electric drill but it's at one of his other stores.

>> Moe: It turns out that our store over on Polk; they've got two of them in stock.

>> Sumi: He's counting on IT to help him find the item.

>> Moe: Alright, what I'll do is I'll give them a call and I'll tell them to hold it for you, alright, okay thanks.

>> Sumi: Technology is at the heart of operations for this small business but it wasn't always that way. In the early 80's Rick Carp assumed spelling, the

owner of Cole Hardware took over the business from his father Dave Carp assumed spelling who founded the original hardware store in

1959.

>> Dave: I was looking for a hardware store and a fellow in a plumbing wholesale house called me up and says, "Dave, there's a store

on Cole Street that I think you and your wife Margie can make a go at," my son Rick started when he was 12 years old and he never left.

>> Sumi: But his son wanted to modernize the hardware store.

>> Rick: Just these two for you?

>> Yeah

>> Sumi: Adding technology to help organize the business.

>> Rick: The business has changed tremendously, I mean, at that time my dad was running the store as a one person band, if you will.

>> Sumi: And at what point did it stop working well?

>> Rick: I think it stopped working well when his little kid came into the business and said, "I don't want to live like this."

>> Sumi: Since taking over Carp has implemented a number of tech solutions to meet his business needs ones that weren't available in the 60's.

>> And what kind of finishes you want on that?

>> Sumi: Keeping track of inventory was the biggest challenge.

>> Nothing, everything's 48.

>> Sumi: So they started implementing software to help catalogue thousands of items across the supply chain.

>> Rich: We have probably about 45,000 different items in the store here and just to manage the inventory alone without a computer

system would be sort of a nightmare.

>> Sumi: Today the inventory system has helped the business optimize and grow from just one store to 4 throughout the city of San Francisco.

One of the ways Cole Hardware is able to keep track of glue; sealant and duct tape across all 4 stores is by using these hand-held

scanners.

>> Robin: Well, you've got to break old habits.

>> Sumi: Robin Miller assumed spelling is Cole Hardware's IT manager.

>> Robin: The employees use these they walk around the store with them they scan out locations, we also do cycle counting with them

to keep our inventory counts accurate for inventory evaluation. And the other thing they can do with them is when they move merchandise

around put where the home the location code of the merchandise is.

>> Alright, can I get a $20.00 meter card up front?

>> Sumi: New technologies have helped Cole Hardware reach profitability and continue to grow. His investment on IT, between $50,000 to $100,000

annually.

>> There you go, have a good day.

>> Rick: We look at it totally from an opportunity perspective and how it can help us grow our business not really as an expense, so

I don't track it that way but we do spend.

>> Sumi: Carp's latest IT spend is on analytics which helps him understand how the store is performing day by day.

>> Rick: This screen here is one that I look at every day it shows us on the top what all 4 stores did in sales yesterday compared to

the same retail day last year and then this is the same thing but a month to date comparison and a year to date comparison. And it's

a nice snapshot of the health of the business, if you will, in terms of what's coming in the front door.

>> Sumi: Carp doesn't have grand ambitions to take on Home Depot, it's exactly the opposite.

>> Thank you very much.

>> Rick: No desire to be a replica of a big chain like that, I think our nitch is San Francisco specific and whether we'll grow or not

is a big question mark but we have a wonderful management group within our business that is ready to take on challenges.

>> Sumi: In the end his goal, to be community driven and small business focused. For BNET, I'm Sumi Das.