East Anglian outdoor lifestyle retailer Fluid Surf has had attempts to integrate its EPoS and warehouse management stymied by the shortcomings of British Telecom's (BT's) ADSL service.
The retailer contracted EPoS specialist Eurostop to provide till points and stock-management systems to link eight of its stores to a central distribution centre.
However, implementation of the project has been held up by difficulties with setting up the communications network needed to link the stores to the head office and distribution centre in Ipswich.
According to a source close to Fluid Surf, BT's ADSL service is incompatible with both the retailer's Redcare security service, which detects break-ins and alerts the local police, and its card-reading PDQ machines.
Until BT is able to offer the retailer a compatible ADSL service, its stock-control system will be managed by Eurostop, with an ISDN link to the Ipswich distribution centre.
'Until now we've just been using paper and clipboards, so we didn't know what stock we had and in which store it was,' said Fluid Surf operations manager Ian Morgan.
'With the new EPoS system, we should be able to track our stock much better. It's also going to help us with buying at the end of the season, because we'll know what we have left,' he added.
Fluid Surf has 10 outlets across the East Anglia region, selling surf, skate and sailing equipment alongside popular streetwear ranges.
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