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Greg Hill is a motor sport racing fan and industry visionary. He's also a person who knows a good idea when it hits him. Reacting to what he recognized was an under-served market of motor racing fans, Greg recently launched a business whose mission it is to reach aficionados just like himself. Known as TrackHaus.com, Greg's company sells accessories, tools and parts for automotive enthusiasts over the Web to consumers involved with high-performance driving and track racing. Based in Boxborough , Mass. , TrackHaus.com sells products via its own Web site as well as at eBay.
"Had I gone straight to CORESense, rather then testing the other solutions, my business would have been up-and-running more quickly, and I would have spent significantly less money."
Greg Hill
President and Founder
TrackHaus.com
Despite being a relative novice in the world of electronic commerce, Greg knew that to distinguish his company among customers and competitors, he'd need a powerful technology system that would allow TrackHaus.com to integrate each of its back-end systems seamlessly. Greg had tried using disparate or "point" solutions that accomplished one objective, such as auction sales, but they didn't integrate well with his Web site. Greg also attempted to use a comprehensive retail solution, but the system was capable of handling only the most basic of eCommerce scenarios. When these efforts proved unsuccessful, Greg selected a powerful, end-to-end retail management software package from CORESense, a company whose system is designed specifically to automate and integrate multi-channel sales functions.
"Had I gone straight to CORESense, rather then testing the other solutions, my business would have been up-and-running more quickly, and I would have spent significantly less money," said Hill.
CORESense was a good fit for TrackHaus.com for a number of reasons. One, CORESense is a comprehensive retail management system that provides flexibility, customizability and functionality for selling products through eBay and other third-party channels. All product inventory, order management, shipping and customer service functions are handled from a single application, eliminating the duplication of efforts, errors and omissions. As a result, Greg would need to look only in one place to determine the status of a customer order or the availability of a particular product. From the customer perspective, the ordering process was the same regardless whether they purchased from the TrackHaus.com Web site or eBay - and all purchases carried the TrackHaus.com label, which served to further the company's brand equity.
Another reason Greg chose CORESense was the solution's customer relationship management capabilities. From Greg's perspective, the way a company deals with its customers is an issue that can make or break their business. "Most goods on the Internet are commodity based - that is, customers can get them from anyone, anywhere," commented Hill. "Price being equal, customers would rather deal with a vendor that provides great service and communication all the time."
CORESense makes this a lot easier by enabling the TrackHaus.com customer service staff to access customer information from a central Web-based location. With CORESense, all emails relating to a customer's order are linked to one another, so the customer service person does not have to go fishing around for important information. "CORESense simplifies and streamlines customer information and order flow - both of which are time-consuming activities. As a result, our staff spends a whole lot less time researching customer information and responding to customer requests," said Hill.
A third valuable CORESense attribute is its flexibility. With CORESense, TrackHaus.com can add data collection features to its customer and order management modules, such that the company can gather information specific to various sales transactions. The additional data will help Greg to drive promotions and marketing campaigns, offer discounts and up-sell to existing customers.
"We didn't want to have to live within the specifications of a pre-designed application, built as a generic tool for any number of different businesses," noted Hill. "CORESense will allow us to adapt as our business grows and changes. And while making these modifications may not always be as simple as the "click of a button," the time it takes to execute the alterations will more than pay off as we realize new and previously unattainable business opportunities."
TrackHaus.com also is excited about the CORESense integration with UPS WorldShip, which helps to expedite product shipment and self-service shipment tracking. The joint CORESense - UPS WorldShip solution allows TrackHaus.com customers to easily determine the cost of having their goods shipped. CORESense and UPS WorldShip also work together on the back-end, such that packing slips are printed and tracking numbers are generated quickly and easily.
Finally, like many of his peers, Greg was sensitive to the fact that not all technology vendors are alike: depending on their success in a given quarter, some vendors could be here today but gone tomorrow. Greg wanted to work with a company he could count on; a firm with a solid reputation and an experienced technical team. After careful consideration, Greg found CORESense to be a vibrant company with extensive industry experience and a strong balance sheet. "Clearly this was not some fly-by-night operation," said Hill.
While Greg spent more money deploying CORESense than he had originally budgeted for this project, he believes the savings enabled by CORESense will make up for the investment. Greg figures if he can avoid hiring one extra employee, the additional capital he committed to CORESense will result in savings of tens of thousands of dollars in 2004 alone - CORESense costs a fraction of this total.
"We are confident that CORESense will help us to save time and money, but also that it will help to create new revenue situations for TrackHaus.com," remarked Hill. "Managing multi-channel sales is a challenge for any small- or medium-sized company, and doing it right can mean the difference between success and failure. We are banking on CORESense to help us meet our lofty goals."
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