Established in 1870, A Ainsworth & Sons Jewellers Ltd is still a family run Jewellery business in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter in Blackburn Town Centre. Now in the very capable hands of Phil Ainsworth and joined by his wife Helen Dimmick, well known and respected with decades of experience in retail Jewellery and bridal, the vision for the future of the business required a business management system that would enrich and facilitate their own ideas and plans.
Here is their story and partnership with Clarity & Success Software….
Why did you choose Clarity and Success as the software solution for your company? What convinced you?
We looked at a number of systems, both specific to the retail Jewellery industry and more generic also. Having spoken to Karen and had a demonstration at a CMJ event, we were impressed with the ease of use and modernity, analytic and statistical options and the fact that our current data was able to be migrated to Clarity & Success’ Evolution platform.
Ainsworth Jewellers has been in business for 154 years…….
What has changed since you decided to go digital?
We had digitalized the business from pen and paper back in 1994 when we had taken the Bransom system and were probably one of the first customers using the old Bransom system and then BSmart. Over time, this became dated and in need of an upgrade which was not possible and we had begun to find the Bransom system restrictive as business requirements had moved on and customer expectations were more technologically driven.
What persuaded you to switch to Clarity and Success?
It was vital to us that our data could be migrated from Bransom to Clarity & Success Evolution and we had a number of discussions with both Karen and Sandra in advance, not only to be sure we could migrate our data but also Sandra takes the opportunity during migration to housekeep and remove outdated information such as suppliers we no longer deal with, duplications and errors as well as refining our departments to ensure we got the very best out of our new software when analyzing the stock and sales.
How has Clarity and Success enriched your day to day business and helped you grow?
The upgrade in technology allows far more integration possibilities and easy connection to for example multiple website platforms which means we can make decisions now but not fear change in the future which gives us confidence that we can future proof and adapt to continued changes with ease. The wealth and accuracy of reporting and quick access to stock and sales data in such easy to manage and exportable formats makes planning and purchasing far more efficient and financially effective.
What are your favourite features/functions of Clarity & Success?
We love the repair system and in particular the repair APP allowing us to take in repairs from anywhere in the shop and take multiple photographs at that stage. The ease of management and tracking of all repairs then and the documents produced for repairs sent out make this task far more efficient and faster to respond to customers.
Also the digital product lists – articlebases – from suppliers make input of stock considerably faster and price changes are simplified and completed in a fraction of the time.
How did your staff find the transition to a new software?
Despite the fact that Evolution is so different to Bransom, it is sufficiently logical and intuitive that our staff took very well to it. There are fantastic help icons with very well written guides and video tutorials and the support team are extremely friendly and helpful.
Would you recommend other Jewellers for the business and why?
YES! The transfer from our old Bransom system was easy and seamless and the daily updating of information is very easy to manage.
What could Clarity and Success further development to help in the future?
We would love additional articlebases from Suppliers to manage our data and also be involved with suppliers to send sell through data to ensure effective re-stocking. I am advised that this is a project very much underway at Clarity & Success to extend the number of supplier catalogues and work with suppliers to provide sales data and more information will be available early in the New Year.