Member Article

Bolton company provides purr-fect solution for Cats Protection

Animal charity, Cats Protection, is to roll out Bolton-based Nisyst’s ‘CHARiot’ charity sector EPoS system to all 72 of its shops following a successful three-month pilot scheme.

The charity had never previously collected Gift Aid on donated items and wanted to introduce a simple to operate EPoS system that would help increase revenues through Gift Aid and provide accurate management information.

Cats Protection invited providers to tender, considering seven systems and shortlisting three before deciding to start the CHARiot pilot with Nisyst in May this year.

The successful trial has been carried out in six shops of varying sizes across the country and Nisyst is working with the charity to tailor the software to ensure that the EPoS system is tailored to meet Cats Protection’s specific requirements prior to the eight month roll out.

Vicki Burnett, retail and trading manager at Cats Protection, said: “Gift Aid collection and accurate management information were the requirements that prompted us to invest in an EPoS system but it was Nisyst’s emphasis on service and the system’s ease of use that made us select CHARiot.

“We have shops across the whole of the UK, from Truro to Orkney so we needed a supplier that would be there to support our shop staff and volunteers at installation, through training and on the end of a phone thereafter. Nisyst offered that high level of service commitment along with a system that meets all our needs.”

Nisyst provided two days of training for Cats Protection’s back office team to ensure that managers can draw down key information about donation levels and the most profitable and popular items in order to manage the shops more strategically.

A further day of training was provided for the shop managers involved in the pilot and the new EPoS system was then run in parallel with the old manual cash tills for two weeks while the managers familiarised staff and volunteers with the system.

Vicki continued: “Feedback from the pilot has been very positive because the system is so intuitive to use. It’s quick and simple to sign donors up to Gift Aid and after that CHARiot does all the hard work while we collect the revenue.

“It’s too early to say how much the Gift Aid contributions will increase our revenue because we’re implementing CHARiot from a standing start. However we expect to achieve payback on the system across all our shops within two years.”

Dave Chunilal, technical director at Nisyst added: “Often charities do not realise how much revenue they’re missing out on by not having an EPoS system that can record Gift Aid sales. We are looking forward to a smooth installation and roll out and to working with Cats Protection for years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .