Switching to Vend gave Pigeonhole stronger cash flow, better forecasts and more confidence

After coming across Vend at the Life InStyle trade show, Johann saw multiple demos of Vend and was assured that Vend’s functionalities would help solve Pigeonhole’s problems.

Switching to Vend was an easy decision in early 2018. “The previous system was telling us our stock was hundreds of thousands of dollars off,” says Johann. “I knew we couldn’t delay a change any longer; we had to get it right.”

“Vend’s really made our lives easier. We’re able to do a rolling stock take each week now, and then we do monthly top-ups with our suppliers.”

Since switching to Vend two years ago , Pigeonhole’s store managers have more ownership and make more strategic decisions . “Store managers now have all the data they need at their fingertips, without having to know how to use Excel,” says Johann. “They can make micro adjustments very easily in terms of what they need to get into the store and what they need to move around. It takes a lot of pressure from the Perth HQ team, who don’t have the full picture.”

“Vend has a really powerful filtering system for reporting. We can compare product against product, category against sub category… there are so many different ways we can filter right down and get insights,” says Sam, Pigeonhole’s manager of the Emporium store. “It really makes our in-store management so much easier.”

Getting stock under control has transformed Pigeonhole’s entire business operations. Now Johann and the head office can delegate decision making to store managers, team members can focus more on customer experience, and Johann has more time to pursue growth strategies like pop-ups and international trade shows.

A significant change for Pigeonhole is now their in-store team can focus on creating an exceptional customer experience. “We really want our in-store experience to be fun, friendly, full of joy,” explains Johann. “We believe that if the experience is really good, we’ll see results in sales.”

They have the time to create this customer experience because they are no longer stuck behind computer screens.. “Vend is very intuitive and fast and this means less computer time and more energy,” says Johann. “Our team is more focused on the way our store looks, the music that we play, the types of products we have and how they’re merchandised, everything that makes the experience fun.”

Christmas is a busy time for Pigeonhole. Johann relies heavily on a nimble model of pop-ups, which allows him to trial new locations and maximise sales potential. “This year we’re looking to open 5 pop-ups in high traffic locations within a 3-week timeframe,” says Johann. “Vend is great because we can set up new locations and registers instantaneously. We don’t have to pay until we want to set them up - which can be the day before we open the pop-up.”

“We’re getting much better at organising for pop-ups with the help of Vend,” says Johann. “We can manage all the stock orders and transfers leading up to the opening day. It’s also much easier to train new staff on Vend, on different hardware whether it be on a computer screen, on a laptop or on an iPad.”