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Success Story
Switching to Britannia Brings Powerful New Web Presence for Bailey Office Equipment
Greg & Linda Gardner, Owners
- Dealership:
- Bailey Office Equipment
- Industry:
- Office Supplies
- Technology
- Maintenance & Break Room Supplies
- Office Furniture
- Technology
- Years in Business:
- 75
- Bailey Office Equipment Uses:
Software for growing office dealers
In today’s technology-driven business environment, it really doesn’t matter any more how big or small you are or what kind of market you serve. If you’re an independent office products dealer looking to grow and prosper, you absolutely need an online presence that’s just as good, if not better, than anything your big box competition has to offer.
Just ask Linda Gardner and her team at Bailey Office Equipment in Ottumwa, Iowa. Bailey’s is not a large dealership by any measure—10 full-time employees in addition to Linda and her husband Greg, who became full owners of the business just two years ago.
We wanted a strong Web storefront that could outsell the big boxes.
The market their dealership serves is a small one. Located in southeastern Iowa, some 90 miles from Des Moines, Ottumwa boasts a population of just 24,000 and an economy based largely on agriculture.
The city’s history goes back all the way to the 1840s and Bailey’s itself can take pride in over 85 years of outstanding service to the local business community. But both Linda and Greg recognize that, regardless of their proud traditions, they can’t afford to go to market in the 21st century without being able to draw on 21st century business tools and resources to be competitive.
“We had used the same system to run our dealership for close to 20 years and everyone was comfortable with it and knew how to make it work,” Linda recalls. “But we needed more and we needed it now if we were to compete successfully online with the likes of Staples and Quill.”
It was Britannia’s online ordering system that really made the difference.
In the spring of 2010, Linda went looking for a new system. “We wanted a strong Web storefront that could outsell the big boxes, but we also wanted a system that would be nimble enough to let us to respond quickly to sudden market shifts and changing business conditions,” she explains.
As the Bailey team reviewed its options, it didn’t take long for Britannia to emerge as the clear front runner.
“My IT person liked the idea of not having to worry about routine backups and system upgrades, but it was Britannia’s online ordering system that really made the difference,” Linda noted. “The new V5 storefront is awesome and it looks and performs as well as anything else out there in the industry,” she reports happily.
But while Linda also liked Britannia’s flexibility and the way it put far more control in users’ hands than their previous system, it was still no easy decision. “Change on that scale can be difficult and our people were happy with what they had been using,” she explains. “We knew Britannia would give us the features and functionality we were looking for, but we didn’t know how our own people would respond to a new system.”
Even in the early stages of the move to Britannia, we were able to maintain business as usual without missing a step.
Just one month after Linda and Greg made the switch, they had their answer. “Switching to a new business system is never totally pain-free but the move to Britannia was pretty close,” she says. “The transition to Britannia went far easier than I expected and the training could not have been better.”
And Linda is equally generous in her praise of the people at Britannia. “Any time we had a question during the transition or went looking for technical support, we found the Britannia people very accessible and usually got an answer right away,” she notes. “And even in the early stages of the move to Britannia, we were able to maintain business as usual without missing a step.”
With the transition largely behind them, Linda and her team are now starting to focus on putting their new system to work. Top of their to-do list: growing online sales and strengthening their Web presence to counter the threat of big box competition.
A daunting challenge? Maybe. But with the features and functionality of the new Britannia V.5 to draw on, they’re already well on their way to meeting that challenge and then some!
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