Smart Shop – “A versatile, nimble and unique software.”

Bathurst Signs is a regional business and generates 60% of its business outside the Australia city where it is based, including to Sydney just over 220 kilometers to the south east. Durst Software will ensure turnover grows by at least 25% in the next 18 months alone.

“Durst’s Smart Shop solution has – and will continue – to revolutionize our business,” said owner David Berry. “It’s done everything and more. In the next two years the profits generated through our website will more than give us a return on investment. A wider benefit is customer loyalty; the software is enabling us to become virtually indispensable to our clients, who also rely on us for training and other resources.”

Bathurst Signs employs 12 people and has a turnover of AU$1.3 million. Its traditional sign-making business largely covered government departments and other regulated industries such as forestry and rail. In the old days, every job order needed at least some form of change. “Change became so exhausting that we didn’t want to provide many of the services,” said David Berry. The software from Durst Software Solutions has simplified order-making, with the addition of a fast-expanding online shop business where the public can also order custom-made signs and other products directly through the website. Bathurst Signs’ extensive online libraries are accessible by logging onto the website and which has a powerful search function, developed by Durst Software Solutions. For example, over 5,000 different bits of artwork for state rail alone can be searched and found almost instantaneously. Any designs can be tailored to individual requirements with a powerful tool, known as the Smart Editor, provided by Durst Software Solutions in large-format printing. The Editor is used for personalizing anything from banners, wallpapering, signs, billboards and posters, as well as flexible packaging. Bathurst Signs has set up 15 sub-shops as a portal for larger customers.

“This is versatile, nimble and unique software,” said David Berry. “The time it takes to process orders now has been reduced from many days, sometimes weeks, down to just a couple of hours. The customer is in total control and uses Smart Editor to create the final job, while we are left to print and dispatch in very quick time. I have never seen anything so sophisticated that gives the average person the ability to design with such powerful software. “Personalization can be done to the nth degree – the options for our customers are limitless and cover endless applications. For instance, banners, wallpapering applications, stickers, posters and billboards, as well as packaging consumer goods such as lunchboxes and wine boxes.” David Berry concluded: “It’s been a learning experience, but the support from Durst has been incredible and the staff are always extremely professional. Durst has been a true partner. It is a company that is constantly investing and improving the software solutions, making improvements on a virtual daily basis.”