Dave Cole of Action Hobbies in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a computer novice when he started with POS says, "Sales doubled in our first year of automation. It would not have been possible without POS."
The three major hobby distributors, Great Planes Distributors, Horizon Hobbies and United, offer their inventory of about 20,000 items on disks to model retailers. Import filters load these disks and keeps prices current from the biannual updates.
What's even more unique is, these major competitors agreed on a standard for EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to electronically order items. POS creates this standard purchase order file along with the regular purchase order. The file can then be sent to any of the three suppliers by modem. Dave can even check the status of the order by modem. Is anything on back order? Has the price changed?
Excellent communication between suppliers and retailers is provided monthly by Model Retailer magazine published in Milwaukee.
The entire hobby business seems to be the leader in automation. The reason may be the skill of the people involved and the fascination with electronics and remote control.