Informed Retailer Case Study

The Company 

Founded back in 1975, kitchenware, giftware and homewares retailer, Matchbox, has grown from a family-owned business starting in Armadale to a thriving eCommerce operation and 25 store locations spanning across Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. 

Serving customers with over 75 curated brands stocking everything from daily serveware to fine-quality chefs’ items, Matchbox has expanded to become a multi-store, omnichannel operation Australian’s love and count on.

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The Problem

Traditionally using an on-premise product for their POS needs, Matchbox found that as their stores and stock expanded, their software provider lacked the support and technology they needed to maintain the visibility and level of customer service they needed.

Store staff were looking for quick guidance on how to use the POS and with their software provider unable to provide responsive support, staff were leaning on the Matchbox HQ team to get answers — delaying productivity on both ends. Staff frequently relied on each other to understand and solve issues with the system and continue providing customers with the customer service support and expert knowledge they had come to expect.

And with each additional store and the introduction of their eCommerce site, Matchbox was required to continually add to their network infrastructure to keep inventory, fulfilment and customer data synced. Their network requirement was growing more complex and exposing stores to increasing outages and data corruption issues, both of which were increasing costs.

From both an operational and customer service perspective, Matchbox decided to look for a cloud-based solution that could expand with their operations — now and in the future.

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The Solution

During their search, Matchbox discovered Retail Express and discussed their need for a connected, cloud-based and omnichannel solution that didn’t need to be built from the ground up.

With staff historically reliant on each other as make-shift IT support members, ongoing implementation and tech support was going to be a huge driver to moving from their on-premise legacy system to an agile, cloud-based platform.

And that’s exactly what they found in Retail Express.

Equipped with an ongoing team of retail experts from the beginning, Matchbox implemented Retail Express as their cloud-based POS solution across every bricks and mortar store and integrated it with their eCommerce platform. With stores integrated and synced in real-time and staff supported properly, Matchbox could focus on reducing the cost and complexity of their historical network infrastructure, implementing new fulfilment options and onboarding or upskilling staff easily.

“We were looking for more of an omnichannel experience where we could connect with customers regardless of where they shop. And to get that built from the ground up would be a huge undertaking, whereas with Retail Express they already had the integrations built-in or the APIs ready, so we were able to bring that instore and online element a lot closer together.”

- Peter Heath | Marketing Manager

The Features

The Results

Since implementing Retail Express as their cloud-based POS solution, Matchbox realised the cost and time-saving benefits of having a powerfully synced business, off-the-shelf integrations and expertly supported staff.

Matchbox has slashed costs, re-introduced real-time syncs with cloud-based operations, introduced new fulfilment and analytics integrations and empowered staff with the always-on expert support team of Retail Express so they can get back to selling confidently. 

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Streamlined, cloud-based operations that reduce the cost and pressure on network infrastructures

Previously, Matchbox found syncing information across multiple stores an issue. There was a domino effect of network issues where if one store was to slow down it caused all the others to be impacted. To offset these issues, Matchbox was forced to continually add additional network infrastructure to keep up.

The shift to a cloud-based platform has allowed them the opportunity to now remove their complex server-based networks — saving them up to $1500 per month in costs. Not only was the cost reduced, but Matchbox has since been able to confidently sync their stores' smoothly and continuously. 

Matchbox Marketing Manager, Peter Heath, spoke of the significant advantages shifting to a cloud-based system brought the company.

“We used to find if one store went down the whole network would slow because everything was connected, instead of being cloud-based. And now we’ve saved a significant amount of time and can run our operations a lot leaner.” 

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Expert support & training resources increase every stakeholder’s productivity

For the first time, with Retail Express as their POS partner, store and HQ staff were now able to get guidance and support on using the system whenever they needed it. 

What used to be a store staff member stuck in front of a customer and trying to get a hold of HQ to help, has transformed into quick-answer phone support in less than a minute from a Retail Express Support team member and a 24/7 knowledge base. 

Retail Express’ responsive support and fully cloud-based solution has also meant IT support partners can reduce their time spent trying to troubleshoot POS hardware and server-based issues that were a constant occurrence with the old server-based system — increasing IT partner efficiency by 150% and cutting what would typically be 2 hours of investigations into a few minutes. 

And the right support doesn’t just count with day-to-day tasks. Matchbox has credited the real strength of the 24/7 knowledge base as a crucial and effective onboarding and upskilling tool for new and promoted staff. Available for staff to access anytime, the teams have been able to train new staff members on areas they’ll use and introduce new modules and features to staff who have been promoted or changed roles.

Peter Heath from Matchbox went on to emphasise how important it is to have responsive support when you’re working in retail, saying, “Anyone can provide adequate support. What shines through is how brilliant the support team is. Not only are they on hand to answer when you have questions, but they will follow up and ensure the staff know the system and can easily use it. That’s when Retail Express really shines through. I have high praise for the Support Team.”

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Ready-made Starshippit fulfilment integration to empower convenience

Setting up an integration between Retail Express and StarShippit, along with their integrated Shopify eCommerce store, gave Matchbox the tools to maximise decentralised fulfilment and delivery options in a time when supply chain issues have been at an all-time high. 

The Retail Express and StarShippit integration allow in-store customers to purchase products and have them shipped straight to their home, instead of having to carry the goods home with them after shopping. And when certain items are out of stock, customers are able to take home available items then and there and have the rest shipped straight from the warehouse or another store. 

Marketing Manager, Peter Heath, spoke about how the Retail Express and StarShippit integration has given Matchbox customers more choice, and staff more control to set up orders directly from the store. 

“We have the capacity with our warehouse to hold a lot more stock than a store where the ranges can vary, and what we’re able to do is create an order straight from the shop where the customer can be shown photos, complete their order and have it shipped from the warehouse directly to the customer from the POS.”

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“If our staff have someone in front of them and don’t know how to do something in the system, that’s when the Retail Express support model makes all the difference. They answer the phone quickly and give our staff a detailed walkthrough whenever they need it. It frees up our staff to be agile and productive because our staff can call Retail Express who can help them straight away.”

– Peter Heath | Marketing Manager

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