Design Oostende - Furniture shop
“Investing in ERP was a great move”
Design Oostende continues growing as a strong interior specialist
If you like cleverly designed interiors, beautiful furniture, contemporary designs and art, you will be in for a treat at Design Oostende. The family business of brothers Bruno and Maarten Jansseune lets customers choose from a range of high-quality collections from protagonists and from up-and-coming young talent from the design world. Four years ago, the company invested in a tailored ERP solution from Soft Naert, which has led to an appreciable improvement for the workflow.
Bruno and Maarten inherited their love for interiors from their father, a gifted interior designer who also had a store. “Although it didn’t seem likely at first, we eventually followed in his footsteps. Whereas father generally only worked with subcontractors, we realise total projects that we fit out with products from our extensive collections, with the support of interior specialists.”
In the meantime, the enterprise has also been making a name for itself as an art ambassador. “In our concept store, we love to switch between showcasing works from well-known names and works from up-and coming artists. This also stimulates the buying experience, an aspect that is becoming increasingly important in our business. Something like that invariably elicits a ‘wow’ feeling among our customers.”
Share on
Three outlets
Design Oostende has a large store in the Koninginnelaan (1500 m²), the concept store DOK (situated on the Hendrik Baelskaai, in the new quarter on the Oosteroever) and a show window near Casino Kursaal. “Until 2015, we were managing our administration with Excel files and paper order forms, but we realised that we couldn’t go on like that. An experience with a cheap online management programme was not a success. After that, we realised that we were better off contacting a specialist. A visit to Soft Naert opened our eyes.”
After careful consideration, the brothers decided to invest in the ERP system. “Of course, the implementation project was rather challenging, since you have to integrate your entire stock, for example. However, this new approach soon proved to be of great value. The system is very logically structured and ensures that at any time you have an excellent overview of your business One press of a button is all it takes to see what we have sold in which outlet, who sold it and what the margin is. Since we have a warehouse in addition to the three outlets, that is certainly not an unnecessary luxury. Furthermore, it also allows us to make an excellent assessment of the value of our sales people.”
App
Recently, the company also linked a brand new app for the assembly teams to the system. “This gives us a better view of what is delivered, where and when and, using photos of any disasters, we can also immediately deploy our service team should this prove necessary. The app is not quite ready yet, but thanks to the flexible approach taken by Soft Naert we will be able to optimise it completely in the near future. In addition, we have already had a webshop for the last ten years. In the future, we want to link this to the ERP system as well.”
Design Oostende experienced its best ever year in the time of corona and hopes to be able to realise a turnover of EUR 10 million in 2021. “To do so, we have the help of a team of motivated interior designers, supplemented by a strong assembly team. Without good taste, a nose for business and a powerful ERP package, we would never have been able to make such progress. So we are looking forward to a very promising future.”
Other news
Carreer opportunities