Nordstrom Timber is an independent timber merchant in the City of Sunderland and was established in 1953 by Herman Nordstrom.
The company supplies both trade and retail customers from a large site in Hendon. A vast timber range is stored in one of two warehouses alongside the trade counter, hardware showroom and showhouse. A second warehouse accommodates a joiner shop for the production of bespoke joinery and a machine shop where original interiors for heritage projects can be matched.
“We’re most proud of our staff,” said General Manager, David Nordstrom. “Most of them have been with us for several decades and have great knowledge and expertise of our trade. We’re determined to stay on top of what we do and our customers know they can rely on us for good service and good quality materials that are responsibly sourced.”
The Nordstrom team decided to upgrade to an integrated ERP system from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) as the accounting system they had used for 25 years to manage trade and financial accounting lacked the functionality to make the business more efficient.
Office manager, Denise Corah, said: “K8 will give us a full overview of the business all in one place. It will be easier to see what is and isn’t selling and we’ll have full visibility of stock so won’t need to leave the trade counter or call customers back when they enquire about availability. It will make us more profitable too as we’ll have better control over our margins.”
David added: “We’ve been using a hand written manual till system for sales on the trade counter which means if the order has to be processed by a couple of different departments it leaves an opportunity for errors. Also, with our joiner shop being in a different building, when K8 goes live across the business we’ll be able to use the Works Order module to relay information and orders more efficiently as well as making sure we’re earning a profit on every job.”
David and his team were introduced to K8 by one of their major suppliers who also use it to manage their business. He said: “We spent the day with them which was a valuable reference. After we’ve gone live, we’ll be able to start using different parts of the system such as suggested ordering and delivery management as we’re ready to. Another reason for choosing K8 was its Web Builder online trading platform which we will use in the future.”
