"We never realized how much money we were wasting. Now, our customers are happier, our employees are happier and we are saving money. W. Capra far surpassed our expectations."
- Grady Chronister, CEO of Qik-n-EZ Stores

Business Issue
After years of adding new customer-driven payment methods and convenience services, Qik-n-EZ Stores had a multitude of disparate equipment, phone lines and independent wiring connections. This resulted in superfluous up-front expenses, high ongoing operational costs, difficulty with changes, and extra time needed for shift-end and day-end procedures.

Most of the time, the store infrastructure was expanded incrementally with the addition of new devices and very few of the systems were interconnected. Qik-n- EZ Stores was not any different than most owners - focusing on the business and not focusing on optimizing the infrastructure, linking the systems and consolidating devices which will result in efficiencies and reduced cost.

Qik-n-EZ Stores was not receiving the highest value from their existing technology investments. The customers were experiencing slow payment processing and long check-out lines. Qik-n-EZ Stores knew the customers could be better serviced by faster payment response times and operational efficiencies could be gained if the stores were "connected".

Even the main systems were not integrated. There were a number of payment devices (POS, fleet card, loyalty card, credit card authorization, check validation) around the counter area and very few were integrated into the back-office system. Valuable counter space was being wasted. Shift-end balancing was cumbersome and time consuming. Day-end processing was even slower.

W. Capra's Role
W. Capra was asked to visit and review the existing sites. We assessed the existing devices, systems and connectivity. We were hired to recommend alternatives that generated a hard dollar return-on-investment (ROI) and positioned Qik-n-EZ Stores for future growth.

Track 1- Line and Payment Consolidation
Telephone lines were easily "added" as payment methods increased. In addition, hidden charges and disparate rates were discovered. W. Capra reviewed economic opportunities and possible efficiencies for line and payment consolidation. Significant savings, decreased payment processing times and increased customer satisfaction will be realized.

Track 2- LAN/WAN Options
Small-and-large operators can benefit from creating store-level local area networks (LANs) that connect to corporate headquarters via a wide area network. Small upfront investments reap large cost savings within the first few months of installation. The hard dollar benefits alone can be in the thousands of dollars per month per store. The soft benefits for the employees and customers are huge.

Outcome
W. Capra delivered a strategy for line consolidation, payment consolidation, and a store-level local area network.

The customers, employees, processes and technology were taken into consideration. Implementing the recommendations will provide faster response times, more efficient store operations, and result in substantial cost savings. This will also create an infrastructure for remote access to store information and systems.

We identified hard-dollar telephone savings of $1,500 per month and payment consolidation savings of over $1,400 per month. This was in addition to the $3,000 per month savings associated with consolidated card processing charges. This money is contributed back to the bottom line.

The reduction of physical devices will produce long-term maintenance savings and additional selling space on the counters.

Improved reconciliation should create labor savings of at least 15 minutes per person per shift. Cross-selling opportunities will increase as payment is processed quicker. Accepting cash and providing change will become the slowest transaction. These operational efficiencies are beneficial to everyone.

Increased customer satisfaction, improved service levels and increased employee morale are direct results of the joint efforts between Qik-n-EZ Stores and W. Capra.

W. Capra can be contacted at 312-873-3270, email us at solutions@wcapra.com and visit our website at www.wcapra.com.

For more information on W. Capra services, click here to contact us or call 1-312-873-3270.