IT and Geo-Mapping Help a Small Business Succeed

Image from Tea Collection

One might ask, can a small business experience the same growth through IT technology as big business?  Well, the Tea Collection, a children's apparel company, has figured out exactly what is needed to do just that.  Emily Meyer and Leigh Rawdon, co-founders of the Tea Collection, founded their company in San Francisco in 2002.  In 2006, they launched their e-commerce website, TeaCollection.com.  By utilizing information technologies that are not just for big businesses,the Tea Collection has seen a signficant rise in revenues.

The VP of Sales, Tim Watson, uses IT software to help close deals with new retailers.  This allows retailers to order stock without having to pick up the phone and place a verbal order with the company.  Aside from using software that facilitates ordering by retail stores, the company uses design software, and software to sell the clothing online.  The company's sales software uses geomapping to target key regions and find prospects for retail selling and distribution of the clothing line.  "Geomapping enables visualization of sales volume and sales quantity in relation to your branch offices, POS or sales representatives" (Relate).  Because of the global inspiration of the Tea Collections clothing line, the geomapping software allows them to target key demographics that will be interested in this culturally-inspired clothing line.  Regarding geomapping, a similar system utilized in banking is that of marketing customer information files or MCIFs.  "With more information about where customers shop or even what radio stations they listen to, the MCIF can better target individuals or groups of individuals for specific products and services" (Steinborn).

The key challenge of these various software systems is integration.  Without the integration of the software systems, delays in order processing, production and design, and order delivery would occur.  The IT solutions utilized by the Tea Collection have enabled to the company to experience exponential growth in sales and revenues that have given them greater visibility in the children's clothing market.  With successful implementation of improved IT software, their growth is sure to continue!

Resource

Why do you need Geomapping? Relate: Relationshiop Database Management. Retrieved from http://www.relate.de/index.php/geomapping_en.html 31 August 2013.

Steinborn, D. (1994, June). Know your customers better through an MCIF. ABA Banking Journal, 86(6), 29+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.db24.linccweb.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA15430800&v=2.1&u=lincclin_spjc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w