Retailers are increasingly realising that crucial to success are
a robust fulfilment operation and efficient IT. Not only can they
make cost-savings, but they can also facilitate future business
growth.
A recent systems overhaul at Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes
enabled the company to invest in its ready-to-wear range and
stripped out £1 million in stock. A Microsoft Dynamics
management system from K3 Retail redesigned Gieves & Hawkes’
stock management, finance, reporting and supply chain and as a
result, changed the way the company allocates stock in its 11
stores, four concessions and recently relaunched ecommerce
website. This greater overall stock visibility has helped to
reduce the retailer’s stock holding by 20 percent, equating to a
£1 million saving.
What’s more, the new system enablea Gieves & Hawkes to build a
new product line, allowing it to produce items as varied as shoes
and eyewear, whereas just two years ago, 95 percent of
merchandise sold was suit jackets and trousers.
Further showing that IT isn’t simply an “enabler” of
business, but a driver of it, is The Entertainer’s investment in
a new multichannel engine. The system, based on the Retail Suite
from Itim and the Hybris Multichannel Suite, and implemented by
Neoworks, will integrate the toy retailer’s web, call centre and
in-store applications.
Scheduled to go live at the end of June with a second phase of
functionality launching at the end of July, the new system
features a master product catalogue, real-time stock management,
multichannel stock allocation and replenishment, and
sophisticated order routing and management. The Entertainer will
also extend its current click and collect offer, with the
possibility of full despatch from store.
Multichannel director Duncan Grant says the new system will allow
The Entertainer to expand the business in the UK and overseas.
“We already sell through partners in France and this will
extend to at least one further European country this year.”
However, while multilingual sites are “on the radar”,
there are no firm dates for launching foreign-language websites
this year.
Also investing in new facilities is online pet supplies retailer
PetPlanet.co.uk. Kevin Hague, managing director of PetPlanet’s
parent M8 Group, says the business has come a long way,
“Petplanet.co.uk is now a £10 million-plus retail
brand in its own right. Only four years ago Petplanet had a
turnover of less than £2 million.” The company is now
investing in additional infrastructure and personnel to see it
through its next stage of growth, including moving to new 26,500
square-foot premises, which in addition to becoming PetPlanet’s
warehouse, will also serve as M8 Group’s new base of commercial
operations. Although it currently develops all its systems
in-house, Hague says the firm may look at “further
investment on the systems front towards the back end of 2012 when
we will be assessing how well our new warehouse operations have
bedded in.”
Share