Interview with the owners of the MagicLady shoe store

Hello Natalia! Tell us about your business: how long have you been in it, and how did it all start?
I’ve been working for a long time, 14 years ago I started selling men’s shoes at the market. I traveled to Odessa for products, and after a few years, I began flying to China. Now everything is different, there is the opportunity to take goods on consignment, and there are many domestic shoe manufacturers and distributors. Although we still have points at the market, I don’t see any reason to give them up just yet.

How has your business changed since then?

Four years ago, Sasha and I opened our first store and mostly switched to women’s shoes, adding bags to the assortment. And now we have already opened a second one – in the "Sakvoyazh" shopping center. The market has a completely different working environment, a different approach, and even the assortment is different – more youth shoes, heels, and fashion trends. In the store, we have both classic and "comfort" shoes, everyday and formal shoes. Now there are many different models, and every season, manufacturers create new collections. It’s great that consumers don’t have any strong preferences – people are eager to diversify their wardrobe with shoes of various styles.

How has your life changed after opening your business?
Of course, there is more work, you are always busy! We haven’t had a vacation for three years, and even on weekends, it's not always possible to get away from work. Sometimes we even have to work at night – during the season change or product delivery. But despite the fatigue and heavy workload, we get immense satisfaction from the work, which gives a sense of achievement and constant movement, development. We have found our "place," and it's wonderful!

As a business owner, where do you spend the most time and attention?

The most time-consuming part of the work is the accounting. Accounting for products, money, balancing stock... We constantly have to recalculate, double-check, and still forget something, or a mistake will pop up. Sometimes there’s just no time for meticulous accounting – we calculated the earnings, recorded it, and that's it. Sometimes we didn’t do stock counts for months. If you miss even a week, it's all over. Not only is this tedious, but sometimes mistakes lead to losses – for example, if a product is lost in the warehouse amidst many other items, and it's noticed at the end of the season. Or worse – we ordered the product again thinking it was missing, but later found it. This results in losses. Now, with the program, we are confident that we will have a full picture of the products in the warehouse and such mistakes won't happen, and it will be easier to control everything.
A lot of time is spent on purchasing and supply. As for such necessary things like advertising, promotions, and working with clients – we just haven't gotten to it. So far, all our activity in this direction is limited to handing out discount cards to regular customers. Thanks to your company and the program – for printing them, now we can keep track of discounts.

What prompted you to switch to computer accounting in the store?
When we decided to open the second store, we realized that we wouldn’t be able to handle such a workload without an accounting program. After all, there will be more products, and hence – more sales, shipments, and transactions. With just one store and points at the market, we could barely handle the calculations, so when we opened the second store, we decided to install the program right away.

What criteria did you use to choose a program, and what requirements did you set? What accounting programs for stores did you consider before choosing Torgsoft?

We hadn’t encountered other programs yet, and we don’t really "get along" with computers either. So we didn’t have any special requirements. The main thing we needed from the program was to track product movements, do stock counts, manage the inventory, see income and expenses, and control financial transactions. Now we are convinced that Torgsoft offers much more: there’s a discount system, order management (we bring shoes by order), and analytics. We haven’t explored all its possibilities yet, but we already like everything!
We didn’t consider other accounting programs, mostly 1C was offered, but honestly, we didn’t look into it – there are just too many variations. We chose Torgsoft because the program has everything we need and because it was recommended by a friend of ours. We called, then met in the office, where we received a very detailed and understandable consultation – what we need, how much it costs, and what we would get. That’s how we made our decision.
How quickly do you think the costs of implementing the accounting program will pay off?
We will be able to answer this question after some time, once we work with it longer. However, the benefits of the program can be measured not just in money – it’s also time savings, energy savings, and better control over information. Right now, we already have great "branded" price tags, civilized service, and everything is clear.

Your store is very beautifully designed, with a distinct brand style: feminine and yet vibrant. Was this your idea or developed by an advertising agency?
The idea to use poppy flowers in the store’s design came by chance – we simply saw a beautiful picture on someone’s computer. At first, we decided to order such a picture to decorate the interior, then the sign in the same style, and then we did business cards, discount cards, bags, and a customer corner.

How do you attract customers, advertise your store?
You know, we haven't really gotten to advertising yet. So far, we have been limited to business cards. Now, we hope that thanks to the discount cards, we will strengthen our position in the minds of our regular customers. Most of the time, customers learn about us by word of mouth, recommending us to each other. And the location of our stores is also quite busy. We hope to grow even more!

We sincerely wish the same to Torgsoft! Good luck!
08.02.2014