Specialists of the 1C-Rarus branch office in Nizhny Novgorod finished the project of complex automation of the Cronos Optics, the largest optics chain in the Volga Federal District. The information system created on the basis of the 1C: ERP Enterprise Management 2 solution covered 250 workplaces in 83 company stores. The accounting of goods and components in the warehouse has been optimized, orders to suppliers are now planned more rationally, and stocks are reduced by 5% in terms of finances without reducing the range of goods. The control over the profitability of each store has been strengthened. The system helped unify the rules for the work of managers and consultants, and simplify and accelerate the calculation of the order totals taking into account various discounts and promotions. The system helped eliminate errors in calculations and accelerate customer service. As a result, more than 2 million customers of the chain showed an increase in loyalty: the number of repeat purchases has gone up and the number of new customers who have come on the recommendation of their friends has grown.
Cronos Optics has been present on the Russian market for more than 23 years. Over the years, 2+ million people have become customers of the company. The chain unites 83 optical stores: in Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Kazan, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov and Vladimir regions. The company currently has over 600 employees, including about 200 ophthalmologists and optometrists. 42 new pairs of glasses are made-to-order every hour in the company’s workshops.
It was necessary to simplify and accelerate the solution of the daily tasks of each store for the further development of the company and maintaining leadership in the market. That is, to reduce the time for processing and calculating the price of customer orders, taking into account personal discounts and current promotions, to increase the accuracy of planning the needs for goods, and to ensure flexible and rational assortment and pricing management. In addition, it was necessary to automate the calculation of employee wages according to various motivational programs and speed up the preparation of HR documents. The management needed tools for operational planning and control of the stores.
In order to solve these set of tasks, the company’s top management chose the 1С:ERP Enterprise management 2 system. 1C-Rarus branch office in Nizhny Novgorod became the partner for implementation.
Igor Yurov, IT director at the Cronos Optics, notes:
The quality of the customer service is the most important aspect in our work. But the necessary quality is impossible to ensure without effective tools for enterprise management. We set a goal to decrease customers’ wait time for the order status and issued documents as much as possible. We also set an objective to eliminate the errors in the calculation of order totals and provide the company’s top management with timely information about the current activities of each store in the chain. Considering a challenging economic situation, it’s vital to track all the changes in the company’s activities and make decisions quickly. The 1C:ERP system that we chose for the enterprise management provides the solution for all the set objectives. And what’s important, it allows you to obtain all the necessary data no matter where you are in the world at any time of day.
The project of the complex automation had been implemented in 12 months. The new system unified the work of 83 optical stores, a central office, including warehouse, accounting, and HR departments. It helped automate over 250 workplaces.
Key results of the project
The stocks of goods in retail outlets and in the central warehouse have been optimized. Purchases are now planned based on customer orders. This helped reduce the volume of goods with low demand stored in warehouses and revise the volume of purchases of goods for each price category. Inventories for the whole chain were reduced by 5% in financial terms, while the assortment remained full: the chain still sells 84 thousand items of various glasses, frames, lenses, accessories, and optical devices. As a result, the company reduced the costs for storing surplus stocks and increased the efficiency of using liquid assets, focusing on the production of goods under its own brand.
The work of consultants has been automated. The in-store employees now process orders faster, take advance payments from customers, issue loyalty cards, process sale of products, gift certificates, etc. The speed of sales processing doubled. The customers no longer need to waste time waiting for the necessary information or for the purchasing documents.
A single database of promotions has been created for the entire optic chain (there’s an average of 5–7 promos monthly). This helps to effectively implement the company's pricing policy. The calculation of all types of discounts is unified and automatically performed in the system. Errors are eliminated when calculating the total value of orders, taking into account discounts and promotions. Misunderstandings in calculating the cost of "promotional" goods are completely eliminated, and each customer knows exactly how much the product he liked costs.
All this helped increase customer loyalty to the company. The number of repeated customer requests has increased, as well as the number of customers who have come on the recommendation. Thanks to the new system, active work to further increase sales and increase profitability in each of the optics stores is underway.
In addition, the speed and accuracy of payroll for employees have increased, taking into account various criteria, bonuses, and rewards. Motivational programs are simple and fully understood by employees, which resulted in the employees’ growing level of trust for the company. Now it is possible to more quickly and efficiently plan the employment of new candidates and create vacation schedules. The system helped reduce the time for the preparation of HR documents and accelerate the processing of employee requests to the HR department. The time required for the calculation of staff payrolls of the entire company halved from 10 to 5 days.
Igor Yurov gave comments on the project results:
The system created on the 1C: ERP basis helped us combine the work of all the stores in one information database. As a result, our system quickly reflects all the information related to the company’s activities, allowing us to analyze in detail the results of our work such as the sales volumes of lenses through vending machines. Now, at any time, we can accurately and quickly evaluate the profitability of each store, unlike before when we needed several days to obtain reliable data. We reduced stocks by 5% without reducing the assortment of goods, eliminated the human factor to the maximum when placing customer orders and calculating discounts, and halved the calculation of employee salaries. As a result, we got good potential for further improving business processes and developing the business as a whole.
About Cronos Optics
Cronos Optics is the largest chain of optical stores in the Volga Federal district. A wide product range allows customers of every Cronos store to find any desired kind of glasses, contact lenses, sunglasses, and glasses for driving at any price.
Cronos Optics provides the following services: eye examination by an optometrist, consultations and recommendations for treatment by an ophthalmologist; selection of frames and lenses for glasses of any difficulty level and the manufacture of glasses according to a prescription; selection of contact lenses and training on how to wear them; selection of glasses or lenses for children; performing refractive vision correction using nightglass contact lenses Paragon CRT.
