About More Handles

More Handles started in 2007 as a small lifestyle business, but the business quickly grew and in 2012 they opened their first trade counter and showroom. The expansion has continued with a second branch opening in 2017 plus their ever-expanding online trade. More Handles strives hard to retain the original family feel to the company, which results in a loyal, committed and enthusiastic team.

Did you know: More Handles are a real family business – with 23 out of the 43 staff related to someone else in the business! 

Number of Employees: 43

Partnered with OGL since: 2012

Company Location: Carlisle

Company Website: www.morehandles.co.uk/

More Handles successfully manages a multi-channel operation with OGL Software

More Handles first partnered with OGL in 2012 to implement OGL’s ERP Software to help them connect all areas of their business and refresh their eCommerce website to enable them to stay competitive. Starting out on QuickBooks, the company struggled to improve efficiencies and manage the growth of their multi-channel operation with such manual, time-consuming processes. “The previous QuickBooks system was very basic and labour intensive, meaning that every website order had to be manually inputted. The lack of integration between the accounts system and the website also meant that the price changes and purchasing was also very labour intensive.

“The integrated approach has allowed us to run the three different aspects of our business; Trade Counter, Retail Showroom and eCommerce website through one system. prof.ITplus has been an excellent choice for our business and one that continues to develop and match our needs as we grow.”

A system suited to our industry

More Handles was looking for a business and stock management system that could handle their multi-channel operation, scale with them as they grow and importantly, suit the needs of their industry. “prof.ITplus came recommended by our employees and by many of our suppliers in the ironmongery industry” which gave More Handles the trust that the software can meet their individual needs.

“As ironmongery suppliers, we have to access a particularly large catalogue of products and our website, that is mainly focused on the retail market, has to handle hundreds of new customers being added a day. prof.ITplus is easily able to manage this level of data.

“We have to compete with national and international companies with large budgets for online channels. The fact that we can successfully operate as one of the largest providers of Architectural Ironmongery in the UK, is a result of continuing to invest in our eCommerce website. A major part of the decision to choose OGL Software was the ability for a new website to be built in Magento and integrate with the prof.ITplus system.”

Expanding our online operations

In order to successfully run a multi-channel operation, More Handles needed a system that removed the manual processes of order management and stock handling that inhibited them from growing and increasing orders. The integration between their website and ERP system was a key factor in choosing OGL Software and is the reason they can now seamlessly manage all sales channels within their business.

“prof.ITplus and the integration with the Magento website has meant that all orders are automatically imported directly into prof.ITplus, removing any extra staff involvement and the subsequent costs and potential errors. The time-cost saving of this system is crucial to our business model. It enables us to use staff time to manage the reactive and proactive sales calls and provide staffing to our customer service department, rather than as order input agents.”

It’s not just the processing of orders that needs to be managed when selling online, it’s keeping track and updating product pricing and meeting the needs of our new and existing customers. “The website currently has over 80,000 products listed for sales and this grows every month. The integration between our website and prof.ITplus allows us to manage price changes from our suppliers in a timely and organised manner.

“We also need to be able to use individual pricing matrices for each customer account and with prof.ITplus it means our customers can view their own specific pricing when they log in.

“The automatic import of customer orders from the website into prof.ITplus and the ability to immediately update pricing on the website is easily our favourite feature of the system.”  

More Handles knew they needed a refreshed, integrated website to stay ahead of the competition and meet customer expectations. Giving customers a modern, easy to use website is proven to increase sales so usability was important to More Handles, “our sales have been directly affected due to the feedback we’ve received from customers on the usability, look and feel of the site.”

Automating stock and purchasing processes

As the company continues to grow at a pace, More Handles looked to OGL’s ERP solution to automate business processes to make stock, purchasing and order processes much more efficient.

“The purchase ordering system was another challenge that was resolved with prof.ITplus. Previously all orders were part picked and then manually assessed for any missing stock, a time-consuming and error prone process. Given the growth plans for the business, this was untenable, but with OGL Software, the warehouse team can now rely on the shortages feature in prof.ITplus for automatic purchase ordering and generation of the picking list for complete orders only.

With prof.ITplus, we can rely on the system to effectively manage sales orders and purchasing. The efficiency savings this has provided has directly enabled us to grow to a £multi-million turnover business while retaining a small warehouse team that manages the sales order processing, purchasing and stock.”

Continued growth and success

More Handles plans to continue to grow with premises expansions and their continually increasing product portfolio and they’re confident in prof.ITplus as their system of choice that “continues to develop and match our needs as we grow. The system has allowed us to monitor progress and plan for growth in a much more organised manner.

“We are always pleased to sing the praises of OGL Software.”