The Orvis Company speeds checkout while improving customer service and data capture with NSB’s Connected Retailer® Store Solution

The Company

In 1856, Charles Orvis turned his hobby of building fishing rods into a full-fledged business when he opened a retail establishment in Manchester, Vermont. Customers quickly spread the word about The C.F. Orvis Company’s celebrated fishing gear, creating repeat, mail-order sales among affluent sportsmen. In the 150 years since, The Orvis Company has become synonymous with outdoor tradition, quality and a no-questions-asked 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Along with its world-famous fly-fishing gear, Orvis offers distinctive clothing, home furnishings, gifts and products for dogs.

The Challenge

In 2004, multi-channel retailer Orvis was ready to be outfitted with a new point of sale (POS) system—one that would enable the company to integrate core business systems, software, and technologies across a single platform.

Orvis’s antiquated DOS-based POS system was beginning to limit the company’s ability to provide its time-honored level of service to its multi-channel customer base. Orvis’ Retail division needed a more reliable POS process that would be the same standard as the Orvis Web and Catalog experiences as well as what customers experienced at other retailers.

Orvis was looking for a platform that would help them realize improvements in transaction speed; allow them to track and manage promotions, automate special orders, collect CRM (customer relationship management) data at the register; and even streamline associate training.

“We needed more than just a POS application,” says Ken Smith, IT Director. “We needed better transaction processing and detailed tracking for all the functions of our in-store system. We wanted a platform that was flexible so it could grow with evolving business demands, and it had to have a 6- to 10-year lifespan and allow our own (IT) development team to write exit-point functionality unique to our business model.”

The Solution

Orvis replaced their existing POS system with NSB’s Connected Retailer® Store Solution and realized a tenfold gain in POS processing speed and multi-tasking functionality. The solution has enabled faster checkout for customers and more time for Orvis’s in-store associates to focus on one-to-one customer interaction.

NSB’s Store Solution also provided more efficient special order and non-sales transactions, as well as better collection of customer data such as ZIP code and email address. The result is an enhanced customer experience— including accommodating unique requests and ensuring that customers’ future buying opportunities will be fulfilled.
Other improvements resulting from the migration to NSB’s Store Solution include:

• A 30-second drop in credit transaction processing without redials and line drops
• Integration with UPS WorldShip for more efficient web and catalog order fulfillment
• Increased promotional offers, tracking and analysis due to complex logic capabilities
• Reduced associate training time and costs, especially with seasonal workers
• POS register collection of store-specific CRM data for use in cross-channel and direct retail marketing
• Ability to extend and customize functionality for a unique business model
• A scalable platform that allows for uniform operations and training regardless of store size or location

Says Smith, “Thanks to NSB’s Store Solution, sales, returns and 85 percent of our daily POS transactions are 100 percent easier to learn—and execute.”