On 13/08/02 Mt Barker Toyworld transferred to the Merlin system offered by Kendle Computer Services. Previous to this we have run with two other computerised point of sale systems in the past eight years. As the Manager of Mt Barker Toyworld I have worked extensively with these systems in our store.

The previous systems were used basically as an electronic cash register. We used the systems to give us basic reports, such as stock on hand, sales, product movement and re-order reports.

In my line of work it is very important to control my layby debtors being 35% of our business, so far none of these systems could give me an accurate overdue layby and debtors report. This meant that every month I would have to manually look up every account with us to check whether or not it was overdue, as you can imagine, not the most enjoyable job!

In all honesty we were at the stage where we were sick and tired of these damn computers which were proving more of a hindrance than a help.

We decided to approach Kendles again as they had been the support company for the Breeze system two years previously and we had worked well together with them.

So on 13/0802 we were up and operational with their Merlin system. Since then not only have we enjoyed working with the new system we have made the system work for us.

In the toy industry it is a very competitive market and squeezing every dollar you can out of a product is essential to survival. With this new system I have been able to dissect my sales of products and track the gross profit I am making from every individual product and through this have raised my monthly GP by an extra 2%.

Let me assure you that over a year that is a lot of extra dollars!

I can monitor what is selling well, what products are not and are holding up too much money, for the first time ever I feel like I am in control. No longer do I have a computer that simply records my sales, I have a system here that is becoming an essential tool to running an efficient business.

To my absolute delight I also have a foolproof debtor control system that I can refer to at any time I please. This system is well and truly paying for itself purely by the information it provides me and the way I can make it work for me.

In all honesty I have never enjoyed working with computers because I found it overwhelming. Since the new system was installed I am becoming quite expert and thoroughly enjoy it also.

If you are after a simple, efficient computer system to help you to control every aspect of your business I could not recommend Merlin highly enough!

If anyone has any questions on how you can make this system work for you I would be more than happy to assist.

Julia Roberts
Manager
Mt Barker Toyworld