News

Source: Meat & Co september 2007

Three years ago, ReflexSystems in Almere launched a new programme for internet orders from the ’customers of customers’ of the food industry under the name Reflex Internet Order. Lately the number of users has expanded enormously. Meanwhile, more than 40 companies offer their customers the opportunity to order via Internet Order. This is worth a total of 12,000 orders per month and a turnover of 3.5 million euro’s. Curious as to the secret behind the success of the Reflex solution, Meat&Co. sounded the experiences of 5 employers who work with it: Pieter de Ruijter, commercial director of Strogoff FreshFood in Schagen; Roy Bolscher, managing director of meat company Bolscher in Enschede; Frans Peeters, manager of De Jong Diepvries in Bergschenhoek; Stefan Smulders, managing director of Smulders Horeca grootverbruik; en Roger van Olphen, managing director of Van Olphen Viande Select.

Personal order lists

Pieter de Ruijter from Strogoff FreshFood, supplier of meat, fish, game and poultry to customers in the out-of-home-market, explains about the possibilities of Internet Order. “The programme was introduced to us one and a half years ago,” he recounts. “Since then, about 50 customers, varying from five-star hotels and café’s to health care institutions are active users. Customers can simply log in using a user name and password and place orders. They can quickly browse through the assortment and create order lists. In addition, they can find information regarding new products, special offers and current prices. Orders arrive as internet orders which are then checked by our inside sales staff according to data and amounts. If everything is correct the order is finalised and processed in our order processing programme. What’s more, we can encourage product sales by providing a photograph. Another advantage is that we can place a product specification next to each product. As a result of which, customers no longer have to file this in a folder. Customers who have been working with Internet Order for some time don’t want any other solution. Incidentally, it remains supplementary to our other order options of the telephone and fax. Internet will prevail.”

Smooth integration

Just as enthusiastic is Frans Peeters from De Jong Diepvries, a wholesale business in deep-freeze products for large kitchens in, for instance, nursing and residential care homes for the elderly. Since Internet Order was introduced in 2005, seventy customers of the Bergschenhoek wholesaler regularly place orders. Worth around 800 orders per month. “User friendliness and easy reference were important requirements which we set a new internet order system two years ago,” explains Peeters. “The chefs in the large kitchens often have no experience with computers and were not used to ordering online. A precondition was therefore not to have unnecessary information in the programme. In 2005 we looked at three providers of internet order systems. We choose Internet Order because this programme was easy to integrate into the Reflex 3000 software programme from ReflexSystems which we have been successfully working with for years. From Reflex 3000 we can easily assign order rights to customers. An important advantage is that customers can now place orders at any time of the day. Each customer can set up the system to meets its own requirements and to create orders. A main user can create sub-users who then receive their own user rights.”

Up to speed

Two years ago Internet Order was launched at meat company Bolscher in Enschede and is also now working up to speed. The 100 Bolscher customers who have discovered the internet, place about 800 online orders per month in all. “In the beginning we only thought that we had to invest in an internet order programme in order to remain at the forefront of the meat industry,” explains Roy Bolscher. “Meanwhile, the Reflex programme works remarkably efficiently. Eight years ago we set up an internet order programme ourselves. All sorts of things went quickly wrong. If we altered anything in our production file, we had to update this separately on the internet. These alterations are now immediately inputted.” Dealing with online orders takes less time than orders over the telephone according to Bolscher. “Dealing with 20 orders over the telephone or via the fax takes a few minutes whereas the same amount of internet orders is processed within 30 seconds. In addition, Internet Order saves on a lot of telephone queries about prices and invoices. This way, customers can not only check our prices but find invoices and packing slips as well.”

Future dreams

The programme’s biggest selling points are that customers can draw up order lists and see exactly what their order costs are, believes Bolscher. “What’s more, they can continually change things. In addition, we can place photographs of the products, special offers and news items on the internet.” Although he does not believe there are any gaps in the programme, he does, however, have a suggestion. “No chef will ever place a computer in the middle of his kitchen. That’s why it would be a fantastic idea if, in the future, Internet Order could work on a pda. A chef can then take the pda to the kitchen or cold storage where the products are.”

PDA

Various customers of Smulders Horeca Grootverbruik in Goirle already have Internet Order on a PDA basis. They can order from suppliers of products to large-scale food and non-food consumers both via a pda as well as via the webshop on the computer. “We have worked with Internet Order for a good two and a half years,” says Stefan Smulders van Smulders Horeca Grootverbruik. “We chose it because the solution can be perfectly coupled to the Reflex 3000 backoffice. Meanwhile, an incredible amount of customers are already using Internet Order. There is now one less person needed in inside sales. An advantage is that we now receive all the orders quickly and flawlessly. What’s more is that customers like the fact that a photograph is coupled to 8,000 of the 20,000 products from our assortment. This way they can see exactly what they are buying. We now market customers specifically and can concentrate our special offers on our three purchase groups: restaurants, health care institutes and cafeterias.” Two years ago, ReflexSystems provided Smulders Horeca Grootverbruik with Internet Order on a PDA basis. “It is useful for customers to walk by their own stock with the pda and see which products need to be re-ordered,” explains Smulders. “They can enter these orders directly onto the PDA. The order can also be sent wireless without using a pc or laptop.”

Newest technology

Van Olphen Viande Select in Rijen, meat supplier to the restaurant and catering sector and large-scale consumers market, is also a satisfied user of Internet Order. “We invested in the system two years ago because we always want to be at the forefront of the newest technology,” explains Roger van Olphen. “We used to work with another internet order system from another company. For many years now we have been working with Reflex 3000. When ReflexSystems introduced Internet Order we decided to immediately switch to this solution. This programme connects perfectly with the Reflex backoffice, as a result of which changes in the software are immediately implemented throughout.” In 2007, 120 of Van Olphen Viande Select’s customers used Internet Order, 80 of which place orders daily. “Our customers cannot find fault with this extensive internet order programme. On the internet they can check our entire article assortment which is exceptionally large. After a while a product folder is outdated but our online assortment is always up-to-date. Customers can place orders and create their own order lists. What’s more, they can work out how many products they have purchased over a certain period.”