BeDaring: From 15 hours per week of stocktaking to automation with a centralized database
Adult products
Australia
3 physical stores
Magento version. 2.4.3-p1
BeDaring, founded in 1992 by Keith and Tracey Boswell, is one of the leading premium brands in the adult products field. With a team of 25 people, the company is well known for running a robust online website and three brick-and-mortar retail shops in Caboolture, Chermside, and Sunshine Coast Kawana. The company has received several Australian Adult Industry Awards (AAIA) for offering high-quality products at a reasonable cost and excellent customer care. They also supply three wholesale brands to other adult shops in Australia. Since 2020, BeDaring has been collaborating with Magestore for their retail solutions.
Ben Boswell, who has been with BeDaring for 15 years, manages all aspects of the company’s websites, POS systems, and in-store technology as an eCommerce and IT Manager. He collaborates closely with Magestore to tailor projects to the company’s needs.
The challenges: Managing 25,000 SKUs
with manual stocktaking and limited insights
Struggles in handling a large inventory of 25,000 SKUs
3 months to complete a full inventory stocktake
Lack of reliable sales insights
BeDaring is dedicated to ensuring everything listed on the website is in stock. The company never sells a product they don’t have to avoid disappointing customers or needing to process refunds due to stock discrepancies. However, shipping times can extend to 3 weeks for local suppliers and 6-8 weeks for international ones. Inventory planning and restocking strategies are top priorities in such cases.
At BeDaring, the stocktake process is entirely manual. Each store manager is in charge of overseeing the stock count at their location. Every week, the dispatch team selects a specific product, and staff at each store carry out the stocktake for that item. They locate, count, and enter the information, adjusting as needed. With one warehouse and three stores, this manual process takes roughly 10 to 15 hours of work per week, and one whole inventory cycle is in about three months. For Ben, it’s a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.
Maintaining accurate financials and enhancing customer experience requires good insights. Yet BeDaring needs comprehensive reports on inventory, sales, profit, and product attributes. Consequently, this undermines management efficiency and decision-making.
To tackle this problem, Magestore introduced its Retail Management Software (RMS), a PWA solution that lets the team handle back-office operations without logging into the Magento backend. As the manager, Ben found this solution to be an ideal fit for BeDaring’s business needs.
The solution: A Magento-native and robust software to automate
and manage back-office operations in real-time
Restocking Metrics Worksheet auto-calculates stock levels for business needs
With the Restocking Metrics Worksheet in RMS, Ben and his team can now track when to reorder inventory. They can easily select a sales period, set their preferred stock cover days, and adjust settings according to different suppliers.
”The restocking metrics are the number one tool for calculating stock levels.
Ben BoswelleCommerce and IT Manager
Inventory Value Report for precise tax calculation and pricing adjustments
For Australian businesses, profit and loss accounting relies on accurate stock values, including opening stock, closing stock, and purchases. Magestore’s inventory report provides accurate figures for tax calculations, reducing the risk of overpayment or underpayment.
For BeDaring, which deals with international suppliers from countries like the U.S. and China, a clear view of changes in landed costs is essential. For example, a $2,000 order from China might come with $2,000 in shipping costs, doubling the landed cost. Ben and his team can use the report to check the Moving Average Cost (MAC), sell price, gross profit, and gross profit percentage. They also have the option to reverse the report to review low-margin items and adjust prices if necessary.
Inventory Status Report simplifies purchase order creation
The Inventory Status Report is a complement to the Restocking Metrics Worksheet. While the restocking metrics are calculated for each location, the Inventory Status Report brings all the preferred stock levels into one report. This allows easy configuration to include specific sources, enabling quick creation of purchase orders based on pre-calculated restocking needs.
This feature is helpful for BeDaring, as they place substantial orders at the beginning of every month. The report shows current stock and recommended stock levels, automatically filling in the quantity that needs ordering. With just a few clicks, Ben and his team can select the items they need, choose the suppliers, and generate a purchase order without hassle.
”Inventory Value Report has an accurate Moving Average Cost and allows us to keep a close eye on the potential margin of certain product lines.
Restocking Metrics Worksheet
- Customizable sales period
- Supplier-based adjustments
- Auto-calculation of stock levels
Inventory Status Report
- Consolidated stock levels
- Fast purchase order creation
- In-transit quantity tracking
Inventory Value Report
- Precise financial calculations
- Gross profit tracking
- Pricing adjustments
The result: Reduced stocktaking time from 15 to 3 hours per week
with auto-calculation
“The RMS relieved and resolved all of those issues. I’d give it a 5/5.”
Always stay stocked to meet demand, even in peak seasons
By adjusting inventory levels to match their exact needs, BeDaring can handle large volumes and work with multiple suppliers to avoid stockouts and keep operations running smoothly. Ben and his team now maintain a 90-day stock buffer and effortlessly place large orders at the beginning of every month.
A key improvement in the system is the inclusion of quantities in transit, addressing a previous gap where in-transit items went untracked. Now, these quantities are visible, offering a more accurate picture of stock levels.
Reduce operation disruptions with reliable and speedy software
BeDaring has enhanced its operations through improvements in system speed and customization. In the past, staff often raised concerns about the old system, citing slowdowns and glitches during stock takes, transfers, and inventory adjustments. However, with the new RMS, more than 20 team members have shared positive feedback, praising the smoother, faster experience when managing inventory, processing orders, and tracking sales.
Have a comprehensive overview of business performance
As the eCommerce and IT manager, Ben Boswell supervises all aspects of BeDaring’s operations. With the detailed reports from the RMS, he gains complete visibility into every facet of the business, from sales and inventory to customer trends.
Magestore as a long-term partner for business growth
A centralized database in Magento
When Magento 2.4 came out with features like enhanced stock and source management, it became clear that Retail Express, a leading POS system in Australia, couldn’t integrate well with their inventory system anymore. Additionally, Retail Express started focusing more on Shopify, leading BeDaring to search for a more fitting solution.
After thorough research, Ben found that Magento was the ideal platform for BeDaring due to its strengths in:
- Multistore management
- Multiple currencies and languages
- Future expansion into New Zealand
- Customization
- Cost-efficiency
To maintain the benefits of Magento, BeDaring transitioned from Retail Express to Magestore. By introducing Magestore POS for front-end tasks and RMS for back-office management, everything can run natively within Magento, simplifying the entire system and making operations much smoother.
Long-term savings and scalability
Unlike Retail Express, which charges a monthly subscription fee for each location, Magestore offers one-time payment for unlimited users and devices. Ben and the BeDaring team see this as a smart and long-term investment for the next 10 years. With their growth plans in mind, they are considering opening another store.
Adapting to industry demands
Working in the adult industry comes with challenges and restrictions, as many brands are unwilling to collaborate. This makes choosing solution providers more difficult for BeDaring. As they needed a highly customizable system, Magestore developed a tailored POS system specifically designed to meet unique requirements. This setup enables BeDaring to adapt quickly to changes in industry trends and regulations.
