CATAPULT™ Provides Significant Return on Investment for Family-Owned Pharmacy

An Interview with owner Sheryl Martin

Sheryl Martin owns and operates Caesar's Pharmacy in Sommerset, Bermuda, and has been using CATAPULT for over a year now after upgrading from ECRS' DOS-based Simple Retailer back in early 2004. We recently caught up with Ms. Martin who told us about how CATAPULT is helping streamline the day-to-day business processes in her retail pharmacy.

ECRS: Tell us a little about Caesar's Pharmacy.

Martin: I've been a pharmacist for many years, and had always wanted to own and operate my own pharmacy. So in the mid '90s I started Caesar's Pharmacy. My maiden name was Caesar, which is also the last name of my grandfather and aunt who have had businesses in the area for some time. It made sense to use a family name that already had a good reputation in the business community.

ECRS: What kind of clientele do you serve?

Martin: Most of our clientele are local people who have been coming here for some time. I’d say about 50% come in simply to have prescriptions filled, while the other half visit us for general over-the-counter items.

ECRS: How did you decide on CATAPULT as the automation solution for your store?

Martin: For many years we used ECRS' Simple Retailer, which was a great DOS-based back office polling system. In an effort to stay current with emerging retail technology, we started researching Windows-based systems, at which point we discovered CATAPULT. We had full confidence in ECRS from our experience with Simple Retailer. When ECRS told us that they could convert all of our old data for use in the new Windows system, we made the switch to CATAPULT.

ECRS: How has CATAPULT helped Caesar's Pharmacy automate its procedures?

Martin: CATAPULT has helped to automate so much of our business. Accounts receivable, cashier reconciliation, purchase orders, receiving, and pricing inventory are some of the areas that immediately come to mind.

ECRS: What Pharmacy System are you using?

Martin: We use Rx30. CATAPULT's generic bar code interface works great with the Rx30 pharmacy system. We now have the needed control over both prescription and OTC items in various areas, including accounts receivable, inventory management, sales events, sales transactions, and financial performance.

ECRS: In what other ways is your business benefiting from CATAPULT?

Martin: The obvious value of our CATAPULT investment became evident almost immediately. The more we used CATAPULT to automate our operations, the more obvious its worth became. Every action on every bit of data in the system is captured and recorded, which has proved essential for streamlining operations in our accelerated environment. We now have a level of control we didn't know was possible before. CATAPULT was a very smart investment for Caesar's Pharmacy.

ECRS: Are you using the CATAPULT's Speed Keys?

Martin: The system's automated receiving keeps nearly all of our items scanning accurately. However, we do use CATAPULT's Speed Keys to create discount buttons, customer lookups, and $10 and $20 quick tenders.

ECRS: Have you ever had to run your checkout terminals when your network connection was down?

Martin: Yes, and it has never been a problem. CATAPULT's automatic POS Redundancy lets us continue to ring up customers without missing a beat. Our end-of-day reconciliations are still accurate because the POS data gets sent back to the server when network connectivity is restored.

ECRS: Has CATAPULT's touch screen interface and POS scanning helped with training new employees?

Martin: Definitely. Training is easier because now there is so much less that cashiers have to remember in terms of ringing in items. With fewer processes for cashiers to master, they can be trained in just a few minutes.

ECRS: What other benefits are you seeing as a result of implementing CATAPULT?

Martin: The most immediate benefit for us was the introduction of configurable POS touch screen terminals. After so many years with manual cash registers, CATAPULT's modern POS units were very refreshing. The combination of integrated scanning and customizable POS screens has significantly reduced pricing errors, margin erosion, and cashier mistakes. Along with increased customer throughput speed, CATAPULT has already paid for itself with its numerous improvements to our front end.

ECRS: How has CATAPULT made things easier for you as a store owner?

Martin: CATAPULT's automation of our inventory processes has been tremendously helpful. We now use Web CATAPULT on a wireless, browser-based hand held terminal to receive and price each item before sending that data into the system, which is a huge labor and time saver for us. So again, I think CATAPULT has paid for itself several times over when I consider the time we used to spend on manual accounting and inventory tracking.

ECRS: Has CATAPULT met your expectations of what it means to automate your store?

Martin: Absolutely. In fact, it has exceeded our expectations. We are so pleased with how CATAPULT has simplified our business processes.

ECRS: How do you feel about CATAPULT's ability to grow with your business?

Martin: We are really pleased with it and feel it’s exactly what we were looking for in a point-of-sale system.

ECRS: Would you recommend CATAPULT to other retailers?

Martin: I have already done so on several occasions. It's user friendly and it has all the flexible capabilities that any retailer could want.

ECRS: Can you rate the quality of technical support ECRS has provided with CATAPULT?

Martin: I give ECRS Support very high marks. On the rare occasion when an issue arises, ECRS is there to help guide us through.

ECRS: Any other comments?

Martin: Yes. I would recommend CATAPULT University to anyone who has recently purchased the system. ECRS' software training school really gave me a wide scope of CATAPULT's functionality, which fully prepared me for the installation and use of the system. It was also helpful being able to swap information and share stories with other CATAPULT users.