Bike shop

[WickedOne]

If you knew the sheer size of our inventory and how it changes daily, you'd realise the impossibility of that.

Unless you were to use a bar code scanning system....

[imdying]

If you knew the sheer size of our inventory and how it changes daily, you'd realise the impossibility of that.

Rubbish. You think BNT don't know where all their stock is? Or Repco? You've more stock that changes daily than them?

If you're not keeping control of your stock and pricing, then you're not paying your tax correctly, and that's illegal.

I assume that you've a computer that you enter your part numbers, what they cost you, and how many you brought... you know, an inventory system, the one that does your invoices? If not, then you're doing it on paper, which is truly sad, especially come stocktake and tax time.

So, assuming we've established you've got an inventory system, which will of course run off of a database, then you've got most of your back end right there!! Sure, adding pictures and descriptions is a prick of a job, but once it's done for a part, it's done.

Any web developer worth his salt can hook your website to your inventory system, it's not rocket science, it's done every day.

If the website for a shop isn't hooked into the inventory system, it's fluff.

Ixion is correct, it doesn't even need to be real time... downloaded at midnight is fine, just have 'price and stock correct at midnight 'yesterdays date'. Any accounting/inventory package has an export feature.

Give us some more details on the system for starters... How much do you want to spend? Do you want an eCommerce developer to have a crack at it? Have you worked a cost benefit anaylsis on the propossed site?

A shit web presence is just shite, don't do it.

/edit: Hell, if you thought you could drum up significant business through it, and you wanted online ordering, live stock updating etc, you can get me an RZ500 out of Japan and leave me in a dark room for a few months till I've earnt it.

/edit2! Barcode scanner system, no worries. I can even build a PocketPC based handheld scanner system that directly interfaces with the stock taking system. As part of my final thesis for my degree, I built such a system. Used to work in car parts, so visited a local BNT. Did a stocktake on their discpads in two hours, a job that normally takes two guys a weekend.

[The_Dover]

Rubbish. You think BNT don't know where all their stock is? Or Repco? You've more stock that changes daily than them?

If you're not keeping control of your stock and pricing, then you're not paying your tax correctly, and that's illegal.

I assume that you've a computer that you enter your part numbers, what they cost you, and how many you brought... you know, an inventory system, the one that does your invoices? If not, then you're doing it on paper, which is truly sad, especially come stocktake and tax time.

So, assuming we've established you've got an inventory system, which will of course run off of a database, then you've got most of your back end right there!! Sure, adding pictures and descriptions is a prick of a job, but once it's done for a part, it's done.

Any web developer worth his salt can hook your website to your inventory system, it's not rocket science, it's done every day.

If the website for a shop isn't hooked into the inventory system, it's fluff.

Ixion is correct, it doesn't even need to be real time... downloaded at midnight is fine, just have 'price and stock correct at midnight 'yesterdays date'. Any accounting/inventory package has an export feature.

Give us some more details on the system for starters... How much do you want to spend? Do you want an eCommerce developer to have a crack at it? Have you worked a cost benefit anaylsis on the propossed site?

A shit web presence is just shite, don't do it.

/edit: Hell, if you thought you could drum up significant business through it, and you wanted online ordering, live stock updating etc, you can get me an RZ500 out of Japan and leave me in a dark room for a few months till I've earnt it.

/edit2! Barcode scanner system, no worries. I can even build a PocketPC based handheld scanner system that directly interfaces with the stock taking system. As part of my final thesis for my degree, I built such a system. Used to work in car parts, so visited a local BNT. Did a stocktake on their discpads in two hours, a job that normally takes two guys a weekend.

Fuck man, don't confuse poor old Sarge and concentrate on the important details.

Such as the porn.

[imdying]

Hey, it's in paragraphs! He did ask after all. Online stock goood.. I'd never buy off of them because I don't know what they've got, or how much it would be. Now if I wanted some bar ends (for example), I could just look on their site... there's a definite market opening here, the competitions sites are just as shite.

/edit: And yes, porn could be added! Make it a site easter egg... you've got to go looking through the stock listings to find it!

[Lou Girardin]

Hey, it's in paragraphs! He did ask after all. Online stock goood.. I'd never buy off of them because I don't know what they've got, or how much it would be. Now if I wanted some bar ends (for example), I could just look on their site... there's a definite market opening here, the competitions sites are just as shite.

/edit: And yes, porn could be added! Make it a site easter egg... you've got to go looking through the stock listings to find it!

There is no way any business is going to open their stock control system to the internet. Get real.
As for bar coding, it may be affordable for major retail chains, but it ain't for small businesses.
Add to that, the hell that would ensue when know-it-alls start trying to order their own part numbers.
"But I thought that was for an '02 XYZ"
Too bad it's not, but you ordered it, now it's yours.

I can just see the moaning on the interweb if that happened.

[SARGE]

What about the pictures of naked ladies?

im sure you have a fine collection already...

[SARGE]

And don't do the sort of shit that Bikepoint does. Picture of bike. Price. Lots of waffle about how wonderful the shop is. Details on the bike? In full : "Suzuki".

i use Bikepoint extensively.. i update daily with full descriptions etc.. i am getting an interface with that and i will be skinning the bikepoint stock listings.. the bike stock is covered..


i was thinking about stuff like a ride/ events calender..race reports from our sponsored riders, more interactive stuff in addition parts and bikes..maybe get someone to do some tech tips and stuff...

[The_Dover]

race reports from our sponsored riders

Race or crash reports?

[imdying]

There is no way any business is going to open their stock control system to the internet. Get real.
As for bar coding, it may be affordable for major retail chains, but it ain't for small businesses.
Add to that, the hell that would ensue when know-it-alls start trying to order their own part numbers.
"But I thought that was for an '02 XYZ"
Too bad it's not, but you ordered it, now it's yours.

I can just see the moaning on the interweb if that happened.

I'm not suggesting opening your stock control system to the internet. What I am suggesting is that you leverage the existing asset that is your stock control system, into providing more accessible product details to the consumer. Plenty of businesses do it... plenty do it directly from their accounting systems no less. I can only assume you've got some sort of security risk in mind? Is so, that's fine, not everyone can be convinced that such a system can be kept secure, and that's ok... a little misguided, but ok. That still leaves you with the option of nightly exporting your stock details.

I agree barcoding can be expensive, but it is worth noting that many items come prebarcoded (some sort of NZ commerce law??), and those existing barcodes can be leveraged also.

You can't fight idiots ordering the wrong parts, but you can mitigate that risk by providing clear information, enabling the customer to make informed purchasing decisions.

[Lou Girardin]

Our investigations showed that we can't use US barcodes for some reason, and seeing that most of our stock is US based, that becomes a big problem.
I'd be the first to want bar coding, if only to ease the curse of stock take.
But as it is now, we still get errors due to people ordering parts out of catalogues and not reading the listings correctly.

[SARGE]

crash reports?

thats what KB is for...i can usually tell how busy a month i am going to have by the number of crash postings ( Dover, Mack the Knife, Cibby) and the bitching about fuel prices.. ( 14 GN250's.. 9 crash threads.. 16 threads about full licenses...8 bitching about the price of gas..)


cool... 47 bikes ...

[imdying]

Our investigations showed that we can't use US barcodes for some reason, and seeing that most of our stock is US based, that becomes a big problem.

I'd be the first to want bar coding, if only to ease the curse of stock take.
But as it is now, we still get errors due to people ordering parts out of catalogues and not reading the listings correctly.

Well you'd be no worse off then! You can of course just have your accessories on the website, but not your spares. Or have the spares listed, but no automatic ordering. Even knowing you've got the powervalve for an RG150 is better than nothing!!

I'd be keen to know what's stopping you from using the bardcodes if you could find out?

[SARGE]

I'd be keen to know what's stopping you from using the bardcodes if you could find out?

all the scanners are made in china.. you have to rotate them 90 degrees because Chinese is read top to bottom...

[ManDownUnder]

Our investigations showed that we can't use US barcodes for some reason, and seeing that most of our stock is US based, that becomes a big problem.
I'd be the first to want bar coding, if only to ease the curse of stock take.
But as it is now, we still get errors due to people ordering parts out of catalogues and not reading the listings correctly.

It's been a while but I know there are a variety of bar code systems (they use different combinations of lines for the same character)... meaning some read 'em... and some don't.

See if you can get the scanner make/model from the manufacturer of someof the gears and I'll bring one back into the country next time I'm up that way if you want

You'll need a power supply adaptor - but Dick Smith should be able to help there
MDU

[imdying]

It's been a while but I know there are a variety of bar code systems (they use different combinations of lines for the same character)... meaning some read 'em... and some don't.

Yeah, a decent scanner should read pretty much all of them. Hell a decent scanner you setup to purposely reject some types, which is great if you've got boxes with multiple ones on them!