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Fashion
retailer, Comptoir des Cotonniers, with
300 stores in Europe, Asia and the US, has
implemented new point-of-sale software through
VCSTIMELESS. The Microsoft .NET based solution
has allowed the company to keep track of
sales and stock levels in real time. It
has also led to operational tasks for stores
becoming simpler and more efficient. The
rollout was completed in a record two months,
despite the size and scale of an international
IT project. An innovative approach to remotely
installing the new software meant that the
old software could be partitioned and replaced
with no disruption to services.
Updating IT systems for expansion
The Comptoir des Cotonniers business
has grown fast, since opening its first two
boutiques in France in 1995. It continues
to expand, with around 130 more international
stores planned for opening in the next few
years. Due to its rapid expansion, Fast
Retailing, the Japanese fashion
group which owns the label (and other
brands like Uniqlo and Princesse
Tam-Tam), decided in 2006 to upgrade
its information technology systems. It chose
Microsoft’s ERP system for its head
office: Dynamics AX, Windows Server 2003,
a SQL Server 2005 database with 125 GB of
storage space, and .NET 2.0 web services.
Then, in 2007, the group needed to consider
technology for its stores. |
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“
The existing system didn’t have any capacity
for storing data at the store level,” said
Marc Bernhard, IT director at Comptoirs
des Cotonniers. “Whenever there was
a problem with the internet link with our central
server in Toulouse, our stores lost all the IT tools
necessary for running an efficient retail business,
and so they had to do all the essential tasks manually.”
Technologically
advanced store solutions
Comptoir des Cotonniers opted to equip its stores with the new point-of-sale
(EPoS) solution, BeStore, from VCSTIMELESS. Following successful
trials in two stores, the retailer rolled-out the technology to all its
300+ stores. The latest technological innovations, inherent in BeStore,
enabled the VCSTIMELESS teams to deploy the software in record time without
sending a single support engineer to site! This was possible thanks to
BeStore’s Installation Manager feature within the GlobalStore module
which enables packets to be automatically sent to the stores. Using this
system, around 10 stores were deployed per night, totalling about 50
per week. Deployment began in September 2007 and by the end of just six
weeks, all 300 international stores had been equipped with the new solution.
The EPoS
software was geared to each country’s own language, currency
and fiscal regulations. BeStore manages payments, the
price changes during sales, stocks as well as processes returns and inter-store
transfers, credit notes and gift tokens. Store personnel have their own
user interface with easily identifiable buttons for transactions and
other customer service offerings, like loyalty schemes or alterations.
It also gives instant access to information on stock, such as when articles
will be delivered to stores.
“With increasing pressures as our retail business expands, BeStore can
cope with our busy sales periods and replenish articles within a day, every day,” said
Bernhard. “Our old system took at least twice this time, and it wasn’t
always reliable. What’s more, markdowns now only take a matter of hours,
unlike days before.”
System benefits
A number of benefits have been achieved using BeStore, including:
- Faster re-ticketing for markdowns
(preparation for sales is now four times faster)
- Greater autonomy at a local
level (eg, in case of loss of internet connections
with head office)
- More reliable, quality data
- Compatibility and ease of integration
with Microsoft software
- Exchange of sales data in real
time
- Merchandise now replenished
daily
- User interfaces easier to use
- Faster transaction times
The company’s IT director
said that the most modern technology and service-orientated
architecture (SOA) of BeStore was
extremely important in their decision, because
it would make it easier to integrate new tools
as the retailer’s needs evolved in future.
The point-of-sale
software is controlled centrally from the
head office, which means that stores don’t
have to worry about updating their terminals.
It also guarantees continuity and reliability
of data in all its stores throughout the world.
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