Kenwood Factory Outlets take advantage of Vigilant's retail expertise to manage and safeguard their venture

by Andy Shaw

When Kenwood, undoubtedly the best-known vendor of stereos in the United States, wished to expand their horizons and introduce distributor-owned chains known as Kenwood Factory Outlets, they knew they were in need of automation to begin this potentially difficult journey. They searched and decided to turn to Vigilant.

Already, Vigilant has aided Kenwood Factory Outlet distributors to open their doors in Los Angeles, in New Jersey, and most recently in Atlanta. And Vigilant provides an integrated solution to each and every one. "Through our VAR's, we supply each outlet with a standard data disk and a manual," explains Jon Mainwaring, Vigilant's President. "Because we support a large number of franchise organizations, we have developed a Vigilant 'Ready' program for them. It is designed to ensure that each location is the same. We provide a personalized set up for companies such as Kenwood. So all they have to do is turn on the lights and start doing business." Similarly, it will become the basic business solution for any Kenwood Factory Outlet commencing business. At the very least, these outlets are to be erected in half a dozen more regions in the United States, 51 percent owned by Kenwood. A Kenwood Master Distributor in each area owns the remaining 49 per cent.

Harold Dubroff, Kenwood Americas' senior field accountant, recalls the time before they discovered Vigilant. "Our stores will have up to $200,000 worth of inventory on hand and be stocking as many as 400 items. To handle that, we were looking at systems for our franchises at first that cost $20,000 to $25,000. But they weren't much more than fancy cash registers that couldn't be integrated completely with the rest of the franchise operation. But then a VAR in California brought Vigilant to us and we were floored by what it could do for the whole franchise and especially by its price."

Harry Van Steenacker and his VS Info Systems, Inc. originally implemented Vigilant at the Kenwood Outlet Store in Union City, New Jersey. The installation was a breeze and the staff at the factory outlet was trained with ease. "We had the advantage of simply installing a new system and not replacing an old one. But it was a dream installation," Van Steenacker recounts. "It took about a day's work to install the whole system. The cashiers were using it right away and the store manager was running it within four hours." He adds that his firm completed two weeks of periodic in-house training and fine tuning on Vigilant over six months ago -- and hasn't heard a complaint or query from the Outlet since.

"It's very user friendly and it keeps the store people right on top of their business. They know where they stand in inventory, sales, accounts payable, and profits at any given moment," declares Van Steenacker. According to Harry Van Steenacker, many retail businesses like the Kenwood Outlet Stores have finally come around to the computer age. Still, few have yet to integrate their other systems with their accounting packages. But he commends Vigilant on its ability to do so. "That's why Vigilant is such good value -- because it does integrate."

"I think our experience made us uniquely qualified to supply the right kind of solution for Kenwood," reveals Jon Mainwaring, who presides over a company with software installations in over 10,000 businesses and hundreds of franchises. "We know franchises and we know large corporations. And we know how to put them together."