Bungalow Trading Co provides a seamless omnichannel experience with Lightspeed
Bungalow Trading Co specialises in fashion, gifts and homewares. First established in May 2013 by local resident Anna Chisholm, the store was initially based in Caulfield South, but later relocated to Brighton, Melbourne. Bungalow Trading Co is a single store retailer that runs both a brick and mortar location in conjunction with their online store.
Business type:
Apparel
Customer since:
2017
Locations:
1, Brighton, Victoria
Bungalow Trading Co + Lightspeed
Anna routinely attended the Life In Style trade show each year and had often noticed Lightspeed at one of the booths. She knew it was a platform that she needed to explore further.
The fact that Anna and her team were already used to working in the cloud before the pandemic gave them a competitive advantage. It allowed them to quickly adapt to the rapid changes brought about by COVID-19.
At a glance
Bungalow Trading Co provides a seamless omni-channel experience with Lightspeed.
A cloud-based platform that removed manual processes
“When we moved stores, we knew it would be the perfect time to implement Lightspeed.”
When Bungalow Trading Co. first opened in 2013, all processes in store were manual. There was no point of sale system in place; just an old school cash register, price tags were handwritten and all inventory levels were manually reviewed and adjusted where required.
When Anna decided to relocate the store to Brighton she decided that it was also the perfect time to launch a cloud-based system that would streamline her processes in-store.
The move gave her the opportunity to integrate her eCommerce platform (Shopify) and accounting software (Xero) with her POS and retail management system (Lightspeed).
“I loved the idea that they talked to each other. I didn’t want to be downloading data from one place and then uploading it into another.”
Inventory management reduces manual processes and staff error
“There's been much less staff error.”
Since transitioning to Lightspeed, the team at Bungalow Trading Co have seen a number of benefits, particularly with their stock management.
“Being able to answer questions about stock and where it is and what we've got available has definitely been such a change in our business from what it was when we were completely manual.”
The team also access Lightspeed via the Lightspeed Reporter app for smartphones and complete stock takes on the Lightspeed Scanner app.
“Completing a stocktake is much easier now that we have the scanning function.”
Anna can run the business from anywhere
“The fact you can be working from anywhere in this climate is fantastic.”
Anna and her team are able to operate from an iPad when in the store, and they access the back office using a laptop so they can explore the reporting features in more detail.
“You don't have to actually be in the store to be working on your products and uploading new stock. That's been amazing.”