Widget boosts performance with Maginus

The solution enables the company to buy and stock more efficiently because it provides extensive reports into sales and margin by product, season, promotion and customer.

Rapid growth

Widget has grown dramatically since it was founded in 1987 by technology journalist Mark Needham. Initially it was a supplier of third party products for Psion handheld computers. In 2002 the company became the first distributor to specialise in GPS, and was TomTom’s first distributor in the UK. 

The market Widget operates in has low margins, hence the need to get supplier rebates through, which have helped the company grow and the annual turnover has risen from £1.7 million to £30 million over a three-year period. However, TomTom made up over 80 per cent of its sales and the company wanted to diversify into other products as it looked to continue its expansion. 

Making the right choice

Originally Widget spoke to about 15 companies that it believed could help the business, on further investigation this was reduced to a shortlist of four. The company decided to opt for Maginus’ technology which had the closest fit for Widget’s business. 

The Maginus solution provides purchasing, sales and order processing, accounts, returns, EDI, warehousing and supply chain, white label web sites and reporting. The fully-integrated solution gives Widget a 360° view of its business. 

Mark Needham, Chairman at Widget, said, “The technology offered us the closest fit to our business. Maginus offered us an integrated website, integrated B2B operations and a replenishment system. Along with cutting-edge technology Maginus’ enthusiasm for their product was a big selling point.”

The benefits

The Maginus technology has provided a host of benefits to the business and there is now much better visibility of information within the system. Needham, said, “Customers often call us to find out detailed information regarding their credit, an invoice or a sale. With Maginus the user can easily drill down to get the necessary information. This means customers get detailed information immediately and staff are able to handle calls quicker and more efficiently, improving our customer service offering.” 

Using Maginus, Widget has been able to manage business to business orders in a single, fully integrated system. And this enormous growth has been achieved without the need to recruit additional staff, enabling Widget to offer both retailers and the public competitive prices. 

Mark Needham, Widget’s Chairman, said, “Maginus has provided us with a solution that has been flexible enough for our business which is rapidly changing and developing, enabling us to take advantage of new business opportunities very quickly, critical in the fast-changing world of consumer electronics. We can set up a new sales office, warehouse, new product lines and white label channels very easily.” 

The solution has allowed Widget to improve their processes across the business. While the company’s turnover has increased dramatically over recent years the company has not had to increase its staff numbers to match the growth. “Initially the company had about 15 staff and in recent years this has only risen by an additional four people. The Maginus technology has helped us manage our business efficiently. Customers can have their questions answered via the website, while the solution also allows customers to manage their own accounts on the web.” 

The Maginus technology gives Widget full control over the pricing process. Pricing is often complex, with different discounts negotiated for different channels and a wide range of products and options. Maginus gives Widget the control it needs and makes it easy to update pricing changes in the system quickly and accurately. Needham said, “Different customers are entitled to different types of discount. This system makes it much easier to calculate.” 

The technology also helps Widget get money back from suppliers. Needham said, “The market Widget operates in has low margins, hence the need to get supplier rebates through as quickly as possible. Maginus’ technology handles supplier rebates automatically, a process that had to be managed manually before and was very time consuming.” 

Going forward the company is looking at implementing business intelligence and data warehousing solutions which will help it assess both trends and market analysis. It also wants to increase flexibility and introduce microsites for specific events.