In a bad business year, Spice Mecca experienced a rise in profits of almost 40%.

It started with a CEO who knew that he could gain a competitive advantage if his sales force was automated. He wanted orders placed in real-time from a customer’s shop floor for a 24-hour delivery turn-around. He knew that seamless integration with a comprehensive business system would cut down administrative errors and the associated wastage and, at the same time, enhance business efficiencies and customer relationships.

In search of the perfect blend

When looking for a business system, Spice Mecca who sells pre-mixed spice blends to well known retailers across the Western Cape, knew it wanted something that could provide a solid accounting base. In addition to mobilising its sales team, Spice Mecca wanted a system that could help streamline its production processes and keep track of manufactured product batches including details such as expiry dates on all products.

“We could offer Spice Mecca a solution that needed very little customisation with a rapid three-month implementation,” says Nils Woxholt, divisional director for Pastel E-Business.

What’s in the mix?

In addition to the standard Evolution package, Spice Mecca has deployed a number of add-on modules including the E-Business online store and PDA sales rep module.

“Most of the Evolution customisation took place around the PDA module,” says Woxholt. “Spice Mecca has so many products that we had to create an efficient way for the reps to find and order a product as opposed to wasting time scrolling through lists of thousands.”

Using their Nokia E71 smart phones, the eight members of the sales force are now empowered to visit a store, view the products that apply to that store only, decide what stock needs replenishing and place the order for delivery the next day.

Other add-ons key to Spice Mecca’s success are the Multi-warehousing and Lot tracking modules. Multi-warehousing provides detailed insight into 2 500 products (including raw materials) across nine warehouses which also takes into account stock-in-transit. Lot tracking helps with quality assurance processes because the date and time of production as well as the expiry date of each product is recorded and tracked which means no old stock on-shelf and if ever necessary, products can be recalled quickly with no mess or any fuss.

“The Pastel Evolution team was brilliant,” says Nadiem Fredericks, who calls himself the technology evangelist for Spice Mecca. “They worked closely with us and developed a fantastic solution that mirrors our enterprise processes.”

The hot stuff!

Mr Abbas, Spice Mecca’s CEO says that since the implementation of Evolution, he’s never had such efficiencies in his business. An automated mobile sales team has increased the businesses profit by 40%. He sees this boom as an opportunity for further growth so will be looking at Evolution’s CRM module next, which he believes will provide a powerful base from which Spice Mecca can expand nationally.

“Pastel Evolution has fulfilled many of my dreams,” he says. “Thank goodness for the advent of e-integration!”

Spice Mecca Evolution solution at a glance

Number of users

Sage Pastel Evolution modules in use

Implementation requirements

• A fully automated, real-time sales process with minimal human intervention
• Enhanced efficiencies for product development and deployment
• Detailed stock tracking

Benefits

• Increased sales due to quick and easy real-time ordering
• Reduced product and cost wastage because no more human error-prone data recapturing
• Satisfied clients due to increased order turn-around speed and improved accuracy
• Ability to handle large volumes of stock information
• Scalable to facilitate business growth