CBS Sports modernized their operations with Lightspeed
CBS Sports is the largest independent retailer of sporting goods in Morganton, offering sports apparel, athletic shoes, outdoor equipment and more for 40 years. The current owners, Carson Searcy and his wife, are in the process of taking over the business from his father. “I’ve been involved in it since I was a kid. My wife and I decided, we’ll go ahead and run it for the next, hopefully, 40 years," he says.
Business type
Sporting goods
Products used
Lightspeed Retail
NuORDER by Lightspeed
Lightspeed Payments
Location
North Carolina, USA
4
Years on Lightspeed
30
Built-in NuORDER suppliers
$136
Saved per month with Lightspeed Payments
The challenge: managing inventory on an outdated system
According to Carson, CBS Sports’ previous system was clunky and outdated. Because it wasn’t very user friendly, his staff didn’t fully understand how to use it.
"We were reliant on just one person to upload and manage the inventory,” he explains. Not only did this slow them down, but other important features like reporting and forecasting were practically nonexistent, leaving them in the dark when it came to replenishing stock.
It was clear; the business was overdue for an upgrade to optimize their inventory management, and bring their operations into the 21st century.
The solution: turning staff into Lightspeed experts
CBS Sports made the switch over to Lightspeed. According to Carson, the determining factor was the built-in NuORDER supplier catalogs. “It’s saved me massive amounts of time on reordering items...we can just click it and reship it almost immediately,” he says.
In addition to the time saved with NuORDER, Carson has improved his inventory management with custom reports that give him deeper insights into his business. "I really appreciate being able to create reports of what you did days prior, or even years prior. It's extremely fast," he says.
What's more, having Payments built right into the POS system has increased the accuracy of their bookkeeping. Because everything is integrated, they no longer need separate pieces of software to communicate. Without the need to manually key-in purchase amounts anymore, they've eliminated mistakes at the cash register.
And, because Lightspeed is more user friendly than their old system, Carson has been able to train his entire staff on it. They don't have to rely on just one person anymore, "now, everyone's an expert," he says.
"It’s saved us time and money by helping to prevent mistakes."
Carson Searcy, Owner, CBS Sports
“The best thing about Lightspeed is that it’s cloud-based. A lot of older stores go and buy a system for a one-time fee, but it doesn’t update or change when the technology changes. As Lightspeed updates and changes for the better, I’m automatically involved in that. I don’t have to update my system or pay for a new subscription.”
Carson Searcy, Owner, CBS Sports
The future: taking the business online
As for what's next, Carson looks forward to expanding his business online. He’s been working on setting up a Lightspeed eCom store to keep everything in sync across channels, and to make use of the same in-depth reporting he uses for his physical store. Just as with Lightspeed Retail, he’s confident he’ll be able to get his staff up and running on eCom, turning them into experts once again in no time.