Retail Pro Prism is easy to use! Having information about our orders, pending orders, received orders, vendors and current inventory at our fingertips has made a huge difference in being able to spend time on the sales floor with our customers.

- Laurel Schriber, Store Manager

How Flamingo Jim's is improving inventory management and visibility with Retail Pro Prism

About Flamingo Jim's

Located on the Oregon Coast in Rockaway Beach, OR, Flamingo Jim's is a fun place to stop and stretch your legs. Originally owned by Jim Tratz, Flamingo Jim's opened its doors in the early summer of 1976. The store, now owned by Jim's stepson Jeff Monaco, and has a great selection of clothing, both beachwear and casual wear, as well as kites for the beach, unique yard art and concrete crafts, toys, shells, bumper stickers, and everything in between.

Please share a day in the life of your role and responsibilities at the company.

Day-to-day operations include ensuring presentation of business and quality customer care. I also maintain the balance between our employees' productivity and personal needs. Throughout the day, I work as a cashier, freight processor, merchandise buyer, POS/inventory system manager and have full responsibility for our business' social media platforms as well.

For what specific business challenges did you choose Retail Pro? What business challenges are you solving with the software today?

We chose Retail Pro mainly for inventory management. Previously we had no inventory system and operated very "old school." With our summer season becoming busier than ever over the last few years it had become very difficult to operate without technology. Stock accuracy has improved immensely using Retail Pro Prism. Prior to using Retail Pro Prism, we found ourselves running out of merchandise we did not know we were low on and reordering merchandise we didn't really need.

When was Retail Pro first implemented in your company?

It was implemented in April of 2022.

What role does your Retail Pro play in your customer engagement strategy?

Retail Pro Prism is easy to use! Having information about our orders, pending orders, received orders, vendors and current inventory at our fingertips has made a huge difference in being able to spend time on the sales floor with our customers. Not having to surf through piles of paperwork has also been wonderful along with being able to access all this information remotely.

Retailers are striving to unify commerce. What does that mean for your company? What are you doing to unify commerce?

We are still exploring the many Retail Pro Prism features. Our next step in improving our customers' shopping experience is selling online. We currently use Facebook messaging for selling online. We would like to use an ecommerce platform that will enable us to track inventory updates and ensure a smooth ordering flow. With unified commerce it will be easy to keep track of inventory and display online whether an item is out of stock or ready to be picked up, meaning happy employees and happy customers!

What does the future look like for your company? What are some of your plans for growth, expansion, customer initiatives, etc.?

Looking ahead we plan to utilize Retail Pro Prism's API to integrate the customer base from a new low-speed vehicle rental segment of our business with the retail segment, creating enhanced cross-channel opportunities and a unified online experience. We are hopeful and confident that Retail Pro Prism will be able to support us in doing so.

What is the total number of stores using Retail Pro today or planning to use Retail Pro in the near future?

We have 1 location and an offsite warehouse. We will have an ecommerce site in the near future.

Related stories in Apparel