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St Paul's Cathedral

"“The cybertill and J2 system enables us to have much more control over our stock.”"
Duncan Smith, Commercial Manager, St Paul’s Cathedral

The Client

Landmark heritage site St Paul’s Cathedral with its world-famous dome is an iconic feature of the London skyline and one of the most loved of the UK’s tourism venues. Rooted in a history of 1,400 years of worship and public life, St Paul’s was far from backward-looking when it came to selecting new point-of-sale software and hardware from Cybertill and J2 Retail Systems for its thriving retail shop.

St Paul’s was keen to install a system that could turn its point-of-sale into a real point-of-service and enhance the visitor experience. Located in the Crypt, the Cathedral shop stocks a wide range of merchandise from postcards and stationery to ceramics, jewellery, books and prints, including ranges designed exclusively for St Paul's.

Whilst an EPoS system was already installed, it used old DOS technology and was failing to keep up with business expansion. In addition to a Chip & PIN upgrade, St Paul’s wanted a solution that was cost-effective and intuitive.

The Solution

Benefits
· The hosted model enables offsite staff to monitor trading performance, regardless of location
· The system has increased shop revenue and opened up the market for internet sales
· Software and hardware are easy and fast to use, and support Chip & PIN compliance
· Efficiencies are generated by integration of front-office and back-office processes
· A single, multi-channel solution across the shop and transactional web site has resulted in reduced stockholding
· The business is benefiting from system-generated management information

The Process

Cybertill’s multi-channel software was seen by St Paul’s as the best option to support its business aspirations. Explains Duncan Smith: “Having used EPoS for a number of years, we knew exactly what we needed. Cybertill stood out as the best fit for our requirements and demonstrated how it can help us to develop our shop and e-commerce channels.”

The software runs in the shop on four J2 920 PC-based touchscreen tills from specialist manufacturer J2 Retail Systems. The system runs on a central server that is hosted by Cybertill and accessed remotely by St Paul’s staff. This is a real benefit because the wiring opportunities in the Cathedral are limited. The shop’s management team is based in an off-site office and the cybertill system makes it easy to manage trading without having to be in the shop.

The Results

St Paul’s is now enjoying speed and ease of use at the point-of-sale. This is helping it to manage the flow of customers (156,000 in 2008) who flock to the shop each year to buy gifts and souvenirs. With inbuilt Chip & PIN compliance, credit and debit card transactions from domestic and international visitors can be easily and securely processed.

In addition to smooth and intuitive front-office functions, the cybertill software integrates with back-end stock management and replenishment to create an integrated solution.

Thanks to cybertill and J2, St Paul’s Cathedral shop can support its faster-selling lines much better and does not have to hold as much stock as it did in the past. Observes Duncan Smith: “We’ve had a really good year and have recently completed our year-end stock-take using the system. Everything went very well and the processes were easy to perform. It’s good to have a system that can give us reports and information.”

The new system has both increased shop revenue and opened up the market for internet sales. There was a clear demand for St Paul’s gifts from the American market and many tourists expressed their desire to purchase souvenirs but not have to carry them around during their stay in London. To exploit this potential, St Paul’s now has a flourishing online presence at www.stpaulsshop.org.uk.

Duncan Smith and his team, using an easy-to-use Cybertill template, built the transactional web site. “It’s very simple to make your site look just how you want it to, and to change it as you need to.”

When it comes to systems management, it is a real benefit in terms of accuracy and efficient stock holding to have complete integration between the EPoS and e-commerce systems and to be able to work from a common view of products and stock.

About Cybertill Limited

Software house, Cybertill, prides itself on providing one of the few solutions that performs as well in a single channel as when integrating point-of-sale activity across stores, e-commerce web sites and mail-order.

With a client base including Farrow & Ball, British Red Cross and St Paul’s Cathedral, Cybertill’s hosted service has become the EPoS system of choice for retailers in many sectors of non-food retailing. The company supports thousands of store-based users and hundreds of web-based businesses in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Clients range from the smallest to the very largest of businesses: from single store boutiques right through to retailers with hundreds of stores, from start-ups to established global brands. Cybertill solutions level the playing field for young or smaller retailers and provide a springboard for growth for more mature businesses.

Sector: Heritage Leisure