Eriks launches app for digital replenishment

Eriks UK has launched an App that enables its customers to digitally replenish their stores ensuring that they experience fast, efficient and reliable next day delivery with full digital traceability.

For applications at point of use or open industrial stores the App is specifically to help Eriks’ customers replenish their stocks. It’s a simple tool that allows them to create their own QR/bar codes, scan QR/bar codes, select the right quantities of product they wish to order and to complete an order in the Eriks web shop. The QR codes generated can be affixed on a customer’s racking, boxes or wherever their machine is, and their process is then fully integrated into the Eriks web shop. 

The App also allows people to search for products, to set up a favourites list and to build a shopping cart. It’s simple to check out and a full order history is available to view. An important feature of the App, given the supply chain difficulties that most industrial businesses have experienced in the last few years, is that lead times for products are shown when searching and products are picked, dispatched and delivered in 24 hours to most of the UK via Eriks’ Fulfilment Centre of Excellence in Oldbury in the West Midlands.

Mick Holland, Eriks chief product officer, says: “The App removes the challenge of distance and allows customers to interact seamlessly with our IT system in a way that adds genuine value and a great deal of process efficiency. It’s important to note that this is a replenishment process – it’s not vendor managed inventory, it’s not an inventory management algorithm and it’s not stock control. It is, however, what most people need.”

The Eriks App is simple but powerful and once downloaded customers have all their product and order information in their pockets. Using the App means less chance of making mistakes when ordering with no more writing down or copying item numbers or quantities. It all provides faster and easier ordering.

Holland says: “Many of our customers are what I would call ‘the busy buyer’. Our product is not their core focus, it’s a small percentage of their overall spending. They need to follow a set of purchasing procedures as they cannot allow what I call ‘maverick spending’ – where people order what they want without following a rigorous set of criteria. We want to unburden the busy buyer in this regard.” 

Another major advantage of using the App is that it is possible to specify a PO number that applies to a selection or all of the customer’s maintenance products. This allows the busy buyer to give autonomy to their engineers to buy products up to a certain spend limit and then receive all the spending information on one invoice at the end of the month – which obviously makes life much simpler for them in terms of vendor management and budget control. 

 “The launch of the Digital Replenishment App is the start of a journey and our first venture in providing our customers with a fully digital experience – it’s a big focus for us,” says Holland. “The user interface means that customers will control all aspects of their digital experience with Eriks. The objective is to make us easy to work with as we become almost invisible to the buyer.”