As Lumi Business grew, we noticed a significant demand from our small business clients for a more efficient way to manage their inventory and sales processes. Many of these businesses were struggling with disjointed systems that couldn’t keep up with the complexities of managing inventory and sales across multiple locations. This not only led to operational inefficiencies but also limited their ability to scale and diversify their revenue streams effectively.
In response to this challenge, I led the development of a comprehensive Inventory Management and Point of Sale (POS) solution tailored to the needs of small businesses. Our goal was to create an all-in-one system that would not only streamline their day-to-day operations but also empower them to grow and expand their businesses without the typical hurdles.
Industry: Business Management Tools
Product: Inventory Management and POS Solution for Small Businesses
Target Users
- Stores
- Retailers
- Merchants
- Business Owners
- Restaurants
- Pharmacies
1. User Research & Needs Analysis
Customer Interviews: Conducted interviews with a diverse range of customers to identify pain points and assess the demand for advanced inventory management and POS tools.
Profitability Analysis: Developed a P&L model to evaluate the profitability of the new product and guide pricing strategies.
2. Product Development & Design
Competitor Research: Analyzed competitors to identify market gaps and opportunities for differentiation.
OEM Collaboration: Worked closely with OEMs to select the best hardware that offers a fast and efficient user experience, aiming for an all-in-one solution that integrates card processing with inventory management.
Product Roadmap: Created a detailed product roadmap that prioritized features based on customer needs, starting with an MVP that catered to the most critical functions.
3. Development & Testing
Agile Development: Led the development process using Agile methodology, ensuring continuous feedback loops with users to refine and improve the product.
Feature Design: Developed core features including product barcode scanning, First-In-First-Out (FIFO) inventory tracking, table management, prescription generation for pharmacies, waybills, credit management, and supplier management systems.
4. Product Launch & User Acquisition
Launch Execution: Successfully led the launch of the Inventory Management and POS solution, driving initial adoption through targeted marketing and customer engagement strategies.
User Acquisition & Engagement: Focused on acquiring new users and driving platform engagement post-launch, ensuring that the product met the varying needs of different industries
- Product Barcode Scanning: Integrated barcode scanning to streamline inventory tracking and sales processing, reducing manual entry errors and speeding up operations.
- First-In-First-Out (FIFO) Inventory Tracking: Implemented FIFO methodology to ensure that older stock is sold first, minimizing waste and optimizing inventory turnover.
- Table Management: Developed a table management feature for restaurants, allowing seamless tracking of orders and payments per table, enhancing customer service and operational efficiency.
- Prescription Generation: Designed a feature specifically for pharmacies to generate and manage prescriptions, ensuring compliance and accuracy in medication dispensing.
- Waybills: Enabled the creation and management of waybills for tracking the shipment of goods between locations, providing detailed records for logistics management.
- Credit Management: Integrated a credit management system to track and manage customer credit, including monitoring outstanding balances and repayment schedules.
- Supplier Management Systems: Built tools to track and manage supplier activities, monitor stock levels, and optimize the supply chain, ensuring businesses maintain healthy relationships with their suppliers.
- Product Sales: Sold over 2,000 units of the product within one year of launch, demonstrating strong market demand.
- Revenue Diversification: Introduced a subscription model for the inventory management solution, successfully diversifying Lumi Business’s revenue streams.
- Increased Market Penetration: The product’s versatility and comprehensive features led to increased merchant acquisition, with the platform meeting the varying needs of different industries.
- Challenge: The initial product version was too broad, targeting multiple niches without a clear focus, which limited customer acquisition.
- Solution: Refined the product strategy by initially focusing on pharmacies, a segment with a strong existing customer base for Lumi’s payment solutions. After successfully launching for pharmacies, additional features were added to cater to other industries.
