RockSolid Takes POS, Purchasing and Productivity to the Next Level at Karp's Hardware Store

ECi RockSolid POS customer Karp's Hardware

Alan Talman

Dealership:: Karp's Hardware Store; East Northport, NY
Industry:: Hardware
Affiliation:: Do it Best
In Business Since:: 1934

Karp's Hardware Store uses:: POS software for hardware and lumber dealers

Ask Alan Talman what RockSolid has meant for his hardware store and you get an answer any hard-charging, multi-tasking entrepreneur would love to be able to give: “It’s made us so much more productive and given me, personally, the opportunity to spend far more time on the things that are truly important for the business."

The business in question is Karp's Hardware Store in East Northport, NY, a Do it Best member since 2002 and an enthusiastic RockSolid user for the past six years.

Karp’s has been around for a while—the company was founded in 1934—and Talman himself has over 20 years of industry experience. That experience, he freely admits, has been a whole lot more fun since bringing in his RockSolid system to run things.

RockSolid took (the building orders) process—which before used to demand several hours a day, seven days a week—and turned it into just an occasional job.

RockSolid made coming to work fun again

“Before we converted, coming to work was literally a torture for me,” he recalls painfully. “I was spending at least part of every single day working on building orders. But once it was up and running, RockSolid took that process—which before used to demand several hours a day, seven days a week—and turned it into just an occasional job.”

And, he adds, RockSolid not only cut the time needed for ordering dramatically, but also made the process a whole lot smarter.

"We saw a significant jump in business in our second year with RockSolid because the system was not only making ordering so much easier, it was also taking the guesswork out of what to order,” he explains. “We were not only ordering product more efficiently, but we were also ordering more of the right product!”

And once that product came in, RockSolid also made getting it to the shelves much easier, Talman points out.

We saw a significant jump in business in our second year with RockSolid because the system . . .took the guesswork out of what to order.

“Pricing the store and managing price increases became significantly easier with RockSolid and it also made for far fewer pricing errors,” he reports.

Easy ordering and pricing came as a bonus

For Talman, RockSolid’s strengths on the inventory management and pricing side of hardware store operations came almost as an added bonus.

“We went with RockSolid initially because it didn’t involve a large upfront investment and I was very impressed with the speed of its point-of-sale system,” he explains. “I really didn’t appreciate how much of a benefit it would be for our ordering and pricing, but it’s made a huge difference.”

For Talman, RockSolid’s productivity gains have also made his own time a lot more productive.

We went with RockSolid initially because it didn’t involve a large upfront investment and I was very impressed with the speed of its point-of-sale system.

“Listening to the customer is about the most important thing any hardware store owner or operator can do,” he contends. “And once we started running our ordering and pricing through RockSolid, it freed me up to spend more time with our customers and find new and better ways to meet their needs.”

RockSolid’s ease of use also gets high grades from Talman. “When we first set RockSolid up, we put the system on rolling carts so our people could play with it and get used to it before going live,” he recalls. “Literally within hours, they came back and told us they were ready to go!”

Built for hardware dealers' needs

And they haven’t stopped making the system hum since then. “RockSolid is built around a true appreciation for what a modern hardware store needs,” says Talman. “It’s a system that’s designed by hardware people, not accountants, and that really sets it apart from its competition.”

Once we started running our ordering and pricing through RockSolid, it freed me up to spend more time with our customers and find new and better ways to meet their needs.

Like just about any successful hardware retailer these days, Talman and his team are working hard to create a unique value proposition that will set their own store apart from the competition.

Part of that effort takes the form of a product mix that’s deep in some key categories—would you believe nearly 400 different drill bits, over 40 different padlocks and over 100 different types of sandpaper, for example?

But they also make a point of going beyond the traditional hardware product mix to offer supplies for home-brewing beer and making wine, welding equipment and accessories, snow sleds and snowboards and other exotic items.

(RockSolid is) a system that’s designed by hardware people, not accountants, and that really sets it apart from its competition.

Once again, their computer system finds a way to shine. “RockSolid handles products that are not part of the traditional hardware mix just as easily as the rest of our inventory,” Talman reports. “It’s another part of the RockSolid’s value as a productivity tool. It’s a system that works and works well and it makes life in the store easier and more profitable every day.”