Metal Supermarkets increases the efficiency of its franchises with Openbravo
We appreciate Openbravo’s superior flexibility in terms of price management, integration, user set-up, tax regimes and data management.
We appreciate Openbravo’s superior flexibility in terms of price management, integration, user set-up, tax regimes and data management.
Stephen Schober, President & CEO
Metal experts focused on unique product line and superior customer experience
The Metal Supermarkets business concept was established in 1985 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Since then, the company has become the world’s largest supplier of small-quantity metals with over 90 brick-and-mortar stores across the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. The company sells a wide variety of metals, cut-to-size, with no minimum order quantity. Customers can choose from 8,000 metal types, shapes and grades, including Aluminum, Hot-Rolled Steel, Cold-Rolled Steel, Stainless Steel, Alloy Steel, Galvanized Steel, Tool Steel, Brass, Bronze and Copper. It also offers value-added services such as Production Cutting, Shearing, Punching and more. Today, the brand is known for superior customer service from start to finish.
Challenges
Prioritizing integration, ease-of-use, and scalability
Metal Supermarkets needed a real-time, integrated platform capable of handling all their stores, currencies, reporting and business needs. The solution had to be easy to design, maintain, scale up, and use across the entire network of franchise and corporate locations in four countries.
They also needed a system that could be customized for specific business aspects, such as consolidated accounting and finance, enhanced pricing logic and analytics, superior inventory management and cost control, while being able to quickly service customers through a variety of means.
We required a powerful tool that we could customize to provide superior benchmarking and analytics for our network enabling our franchisees to be as successful as possible in serving customers. Openbravo has offered us that and more.
We required a powerful tool that we could customize to provide superior benchmarking and analytics for our network enabling our franchisees to be as successful as possible in serving customers. Openbravo has offered us that and more.
Stephen Schober, President & CEO
Solution
Flexibility, scalability and ease of use make Openbravo the best choice
Openbravo’s solution provided an innovative platform with the flexibility, scalability, which included the ability to support the company’s expected growth into new countries, as well as Metal Supermarkets’ specific business requirements including sophisticated costing processes, unique procurement and inventory management requirements. Affordability, ease of use, data migration, and training were also important factors.
Results
Improved operational control and profitability
With Openbravo, numerous business processes have been fully integrated and adapted to Metal Supermarkets’ and their franchisees needs. The company has been able to integrate data from many business areas such as sales, accounting and financials, procurement and CRM, delivering a complete and powerful solution to support sales and network growth.
This integration has provided deep insights into product performance. This includes detailed information on inventory costs and inventory turnover that has allowed superior pricing and procurement management and identify top-selling products. This enables the company to negotiate better with its suppliers, contributing to more profitable sales transactions.
