Orchestra chooses VCSTIMELESS, software provider with
domestic and international retail expertise
and experience to support its IT overhaul, support
the retailer at each stage of the new project’s
implementation and respond to its individual
requirements.
Orchestra and VCSTIMELESS
Orchestra is one of Europe’s fastest growing
children’s clothing retail chains, and has grown
from 11 stores in 1998 to more than 200 in 2003. In
the last two years, Orchestra has grown even faster,
with stores abroad. In 2002 alone, the retailer opened
up 108 new stores, and turnover has increased from
Euro 8.48m in 1996 to more than Euro 70m in 2002.
VCSTIMELESS has supported Orchestra’s domestic
and international expansion since 1997. Today,
the Colombus
suite of advanced retail application products allows Orchestra to optimise its merchandise
management processes and increase visibility, efficiency
and control across the entire supply chain. This
is crucial to increasing reactivity in the highly
competitive children’s clothing sector. Thanks
to ongoing developments and enhancements, the Colombus
suite has been able to address Orchestra’s
needs by constantly improving the performance of
its distribution network in terms of productivity,
efficiency and turnover. In addition, the Colombus
solution supports the company’s CRM strategy
enabling the retailer to anticipate customers’ expectations
(both children and their parents) and to develop
customer loyalty by offering a range of innovative
services in each country (product reservation,
exchange facilities etc.)
Systems to support international
expansion
Orchestra realised it would have to arm itself
with an advanced IT solution able to collate
and analyse data. This was key to demonstrating
the viability of the concept prior to roll out
across France and abroad.
In 1997 Orchestra began
the search for an integrated software solution
which would address its head
office and point of sale requirements, resolve
issues inherent within a multi-channel
distribution chain and centralise all data in order to produce
key performance indicators for each activity. The
project’s aim was to implement a single solution
which would manage and analyse the entire life
cycle of a product and cover all the operations
of its retail chain, from purchasing to reception
and from warehouse to point
of sale including sale
event analysis. In addition to implementing a software
solution to meet the evolving specific issues (by
size and by colour), Orchestra selected Colombus for advanced functionality, evolving technology,
ease of use and scalability, which would give the
ability to roll the system out to an increasingly
extensive international network of stores.
The project
was implemented in several phases, facilitated
by the modularity and flexibility of
the Colombus architecture. Orchestra implemented
the Head Office, Distribution, Wholesale and Replenishment modules
in January 1998, followed by Colombus
Retail into the
flagship stores in 2000 along with interfacing
of the accounting system. In 2001 the Manufacturing,
Intranet and CRM modules were rolled out followed
by the analytical and decision making module in
2002.
Supply chain management
Other parts of Orchestra have benefited from VCSTIMELESS
solutions. For instance, Orchestra’s sales,
logistics and marketing priorities were to improve
its purchasing management processes, to optimise
logistics (notably replenishment) and to focus
on customer loyalty. And, with the Merchandising
management and Head Office modules already installed,
and faced with an increase in production and
sales activity, Orchestra (manufacturer and retailer
of clothes) recently acquired the Manufacturing
module from VCSTIMELESS in order to efficiently
manage its supply chain.
Orchestra has now optimised
its purchasing processes of raw materials and
the storage of these goods
and can accurately calculate their resale price.
Another development has been the acquisition of
Colombus Intranet and Colombus
Retail which allow
Orchestra to see the sales and stocks of each of
their stores in real time and to optimise
replenishment including
delivery within 48 hours. Every season, Orchestra
carries more than 1600 products across
hundreds of lines. The life cycle of these products
is no more than three weeks. It was therefore crucial
that the company equipped itself with a communication
tool to optimise the exchange of information (from
head office to store) and vice versa from point
of sale to head office.
Orchestra’s competitive
advantage is its customer service to parents and
children alike. To support this positioning Orchestra
uses the Colombus
Retail Module to manage its customer
relationship management and customer loyalty policy
to monitor customer purchases and the impact of
sales promotions. In this way Orchestra can control
its loyalty scheme by running special offers and
promotions to its most loyal customers.
More than
150 stores, 108 of which were installed in 2002,
now use VCSTIMELESS’ Colombus solution
every day.
The Colombus
suite supports all areas
of Orchestra’s
strategy and activity. It is customer-centric,
constantly increasing Orchestra’s turnover
and optimising its distribution and delivery chain.
The Colombus solution allows automatic
replenishment in less than 48 hours via a management interface
with Infflux’s warehouse management solution,
Alice.
Benefits
Orchestra reports the benefits of using VCSTIMELESS.
As a totally integrated solution, VCSTIMELESS
guarantees productivity, reactivity and quality
at every stage of the distribution chain. This
supports Orchestra’s positioning of good
quality and reasonable prices (through rapid
implementation and economies of scale). More
than just best practice, Colombus is key to Orchestra’s
international development as it ensures reliability
during expansion. In effect it assures vision
and absolute control over Orchestra’s worldwide
point of sale network and the franchises alike.
Orchestra
is currently testing the Colombus analytical
and decision-making module with the aim of increasing
reactivity in its decision-making process across
the entire retail chain and optimising merchandise
planning. Orchestra is planning to equip all of
its stores with ADSL technology in order to reduce
communication costs.
In conclusion, Olivier Clos,
IT Director for Orchestra, says, “VCSTIMELESS
has been working in partnership with Orchestra
for more than five years now and
in that time has developed a relationship of real
trust between all parties concerned. This has allowed
us to carry out this ambitious project successfully.
In addition, as a modular and client-oriented
solution, Colombus is easily integrated to complement
existing IT infrastructures.
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