Foundation builds e-commerce business with established retail systems from Eurostop
Award-winning independent fashion and homewares retailer drives business growth with launch of new website. Foundation is an independent retailer in Gloucestershire, with two established stores located in Stow-on-the-Wold and Cheltenham. It sells clothing, homewares and accessories, with an emphasis on style, wearability and excellent customer service. Winner of ‘Womenswear Retailer of The Year’ at the 2010 Drapers Awards (the UK Retail Fashion Industry’s ‘Oscars’), Foundation was a finalist for ‘Best New Business’ at the same awards five years previously. The business has gone from strength to strength since being founded in 2002. Expanding the business online The company has recently launched its online store to offer its product range not only to existing customers, but to benefit from the extended reach that the internet offers. Foundation selected Eurostop to design and implement its e-commerce site, having chosen their solution in the early days for its head office retail management and EPOS systems. James Wiseman, co-founder of Foundation said; “We have used Eurostop’s e-rmis and e-pos systems for over five years and their expertise in the retail fashion industry has been invaluable. The big thing for us was that we wanted to have a fully integrated system that could support our stores and our new e-commerce site – choosing Eurostop meant that we could achieve this with just one supplier.” Accurate multi-channel stock management Foundation currently uses e-rmis and e-pos to manage stock across both its stores. Integrating e-commerce with the current system enables orders to be fulfilled from one central pool of stock, reducing wastage. Managing stock more efficiently is just one of the benefits that the management team has found. Foundation uses reports drawn from e-rmis to review stock allocation to identify hot sellers and languishing lines and forecast accurately when buying stock. Increasing sales through social media Future plans also include further digital marketing campaigns using social media – Twitter and Facebook – to encourage more people to visit the site. “We expect our e-commerce sales to grow exponentially over the next three years – and to match the turnover of one of our stores easily within twelve months. With our previous success at the Drapers Awards, our next ambition is to win e-tailer of the year!” said Wiseman.
Top lifestyle and leisure brand Weird Fish supports expanding retail operations with systems from Eurostop
Weird Fish, the operating brand name of Freedom Sailboards Limited, was founded in Cornwall in 1981 to distribute water-sports products throughout the UK. In 1986 the company changed its emphasis to concentrate on leisure clothing, still aimed at water-sports customers. In 1993 the brand Weird Fish (www.weirdfish.co.uk) was launched and since then the brand has grown steadily and is widely appreciated by outdoor leisure enthusiasts. In 2005 the first Weird Fish standalone store was opened in Bath and now there are ten shops in the group with Ilkley, West Yorkshire being the most recent one to open. The group also has a fully transactional online store. In addition, Weird Fish supplies over 450 independent lifestyle and leisure stores throughout the UK with its branded clothing and accessories. Weird Fish is one of the fastest growing lifestyle brands in the UK. With so many outlets and online as well as high street operations, managing stock efficiently is a crucial activity for running a healthy business. Eurostop has been selected by Weird Fish to provide solutions to support the company’s expanding retail operations and to manage stock efficiently across all outlets. The company will use Eurostop’s e-rmis at its head office in Cheltenham and e-pos in the stores, replacing an older system that the company had outgrown. The sales data, which can be analysed in depth using Eurostop’s e-cubes data mining tool, will enable the merchandisers to ensure that the right stock is in the right place to maximise sales. The new system, which integrates with Microsoft Dynamics AX, will ensure that replenishment is timely and accurate, and stores receive the stock they have asked for, rather than what head office decides to send. Weird Fish commented, “Weird Fish is expanding from our traditional wholesale base into retail. The focus of the stores is to promote the brand, build awareness and make a fuller range of products available to a wider audience. Our investment in the Eurostop system means that we are able to place greater emphasis on better merchandising and improving support for point of sale. This will help us to maximise sales opportunities.” Jon Goodwin, Financial Controller at Weird Fish said, “The Eurostop system gives us much more detailed and reliable information which will enable us to run our retail business more efficiently. As our product ranges continue to expand it is crucial to the success of the operation that we are able to manage our stock as efficiently as possible.” Jon Goodwin continued, “We were looking for a technology partner that we could build a strong relationship with and work closely with in the coming years. Eurostop has an impressive client list, good references, we liked the look of the system, it integrates to Microsoft Dynamics AX and we felt that Eurostop was a good match for Weird Fish.” Phillip Moylan, Sales and Marketing Manager at Eurostop Systems said; “With our strong retail background Eurostop understands the challenges that growing retailers, and in particular wholesalers moving into retail face. We work closely with our customers, to understand their needs and develop the systems that best meet those requirements, enabling them to concentrate on their business, empowered by Eurostop technology.”
Paul & Joe UK selects Eurostop to support London stores
Named after creator Sophie Albou’s two sons, Paul & Joe is based in Paris, with the first Paul & Joe menswear collection launched in 1995, followed a year later by a womenswear range. Since then Paul & Joe has never stopped changing, with diffusion line Paul & Joe Sister introduced in 2006. The brand has over thirty boutiques around the world from Paris to London, via Seoul and Jakarta. Paul & Joe is also distributed in the most prestigious multi-brand department stores in the world; Barney’s, Harvey Nichols, Isetan, Le Printemps and Harrods to name but a few. In London there are three stores that are wholly owned by the Paris headquarters; Paul & Joe in Sloane Square; Paul & Joe menswear in Covent Garden and; Paul & Joe Sister on the Kings Road. Each store stocks a wide range of the collection including shoes and accessories. Paul & Joe UK selected Eurostop’s retail management systems to support its UK outlets in the capital. Investment in IT retail solutions The company uses Eurostop’s e-rmis, the suite of head office management applications to manage stock and coordinate sales and merchandise data from the stores. Eurostop provides a managed service whereby the server is hosted by Eurostop and standard procedures are performed by Eurostop including daily sales and end of week processes. Paul & Joe head office in Paris are able to connect to the system via Virtual Private Network (VPN), so that they can do work on the system, run reports and check daily sales. As Eurostop has a multilingual workforce they were able to work with Paul & Joe employees in Paris speaking French. Eurostop’s e-pos is installed in the shops giving staff access to the latest stock positions and customer loyalty data. Again e-pos is managed by Eurostop as part of the managed service. Proven experience Philippa Wood, UK Manager for Paul & Joe UK commented, “We needed a system to support our UK business. We were impressed by Eurostop’s deep understanding of the retail fashion industry, the broad array of functionality within the product and that their customers speak very highly of the systems and the service provided.” Phillip Moylan, Sales and Marketing Manager at Eurostop said, “Our aim at Eurostop is to automate as many processes as possible and provide as much functionality as possible, allowing our customers to pick and chose the features that best support their business. We are delighted to welcome Paul & Joe UK as customers and look forward to working with them more in the future.”
Running Bare leads the race with ecommerce site designed by Eurostop
Leading women’s active wear retailer’s new transactional website keeps customers coming back Running Bare is Australia’s leading supplier of women’s activewear including; fit flops, yoga clothes, women’s running shoes, women’s workout wear and gym clothes. The Running Bare concept stores are located in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia and have growing profile in Asia, Canada and the US. With increasing demand for its unique activewear range and a growing customer following, Running Bare has invested in Eurostop’s e-pos: (EPOS system for standalone shops, concessions and franchises) to capture sales data at till point across its UK retail operations, and e-rmis, the suite of head office management applications for stock and warehouse management. Following the success of the retail systems in store, the company has also now developed an online store with a Eurostop system. Fully integrated e-commerce The Eurostop team was selected from four competitive suppliers to develop the new transactional site. The company was chosen for its knowledge of e-commerce and its ability to integrate the site seamlessly with the existing retail systems Increased sales The e-commerce website (www.runningbare.co.uk) was designed and developed by Eurostop. It is fully integrated with the company’s back-end stock and sales system, acting as another retail outlet. Running Bare has seen increased sales as a result of the user friendly website, which enables customers to view and purchase products from the company’s full range of stock easily and intuitively. According to Anthony Stiefel, Director at Running Bare; “Eurostop’s solution was definitely the best suited for our needs. Their expertise in e-commerce, and the ability to integrate the website transactions with our stock systems exactly matched our business goals. “Our website now operates successfully as another sales channel and we can manage stock efficiently to ensure that we meet customer demands, whether in our stores or online.” Improved customer service The new website is recognised by e-rmis as another retail outlet, allowing for seamless stock levels and replenishments to meet customer orders. The website also has an integrated content management system, enabling all item details, photographs and specifications to be managed directly from the main head office system. Customers using the website benefit from such facilities as creating a wish list, recently viewed items, reviewing products and previously purchased items. Running Bare also intends to email customers that subscribe with regular updates and targeted promotions, identified from previous buying history. Philip Moylan, sales and marketing manager at Eurostop said, “The web is now an essential additional sales channel for retail businesses. Having a successful e-commerce site relies upon a design that is easy to use and attracts and keeps customers. It is crucial that there is seamless integration with a company’s back end systems that ensures transactions are handled efficiently and accurately. Eurostop’s solutions have been designed to meet both these needs.”
47 Degrees delivers boutique shopping experience at the click of a button thanks to innovative retail management technology from Eurostop
47 Degrees was established in the mid-1980s by a New Zealander who wanted to share his love of skiing and the outdoors. Since then, it has built up a loyal base of customers faithful to the company’s philosophy of providing quality over quantity with the spotlight on key brands and more complete collections. Today, 47 Degrees offers a range of unique and premium ski-wear and winter sports equipment from its flagship boutique store in Fulham, southwest London and has recently launched a new e-commerce website. Moving beyond a traditional store environment 47 Degrees initially deployed Eurostop’s retail management solution e-rmis four years ago to support all EPOS and head office activities at the company’s flagship store in London. Since that time, 47 Degrees has grown and the solution has had to adapt to changes in customer requirements, ambitions to open up into new markets and the technological complexities that accompany any expanding business. “Relying on customers to physically come in and visit our store in London worked well at the beginning when we had a relatively small number of customers but it has its limitations,” said Marcus Wilson, Director and Owner of 47 Degrees. “Not all our customers are within easy reach of the capital or, increasingly, they just prefer to order our merchandise from the comfort of their own homes. Also, it makes good business sense to expand and tap into new geographical markets, impossible from a traditional store environment.” For Marcus and his team, e-commerce was the sensible way forward, offering online browsing and ordering facilities to existing customers and the opportunity to promote the company’s unique range of merchandise to potential new customers and markets outside the UK. In addition, 47 Degrees was looking for a solution that could integrate its stock and warehousing management activities with the company’s in-store and new online sales activities as Wilson goes on to explain: “A bricks and mortar shop is conducive to providing a personalised service but our e-commerce site goes one step further, giving customers the same boutique shopping experience but at the click of a button. At the same time, Eurostop’s e-rmis system helps us keep track of which items of merchandise are the most popular so we only ever stock what we need, keeping our in-store environment uncluttered and ensuring customers always receive the products they want when they want them.” Eurostop has given 47 Degrees a distinct advantage over the competition by maximising the tightly-knit user community that has grown since the company’s inception: “Some of our customers have been with us for over 20 years. We have tremendous customer loyalty and wanted our Internet business to reflect this and take it forward. For example, if a customer wants to know more about one of our jackets, we will have virtual hangtags, where the information you would expect to see on a jacket in the shop, will appear on the website, giving the customer everything you need to know about the jacket in layman’s terms – what it is made of, how it should be cared for, how it should be stored as well as the commercial aspects such as price. Eurostop helps us give customers easy-to-understand and detailed information, quality merchandise and excellent service,” Wilson continued. By using Eurostop’s e-commerce Customer Loyalty module, 47 Degrees will be able to email promotions and special offers to customers quickly and effectively. In the future, 47 Degrees hopes this will give it the ability to launch into new areas, such as Tennis, to boost business during the traditionally slower summer sales season. The Eurostop system provides comprehensive reporting and enables 47 Degrees to link together its in-store and e-commerce businesses and monitor the effectiveness of both. For example, specialist boot fitting can only be done effectively in person but is advertised on the company website. The day after the website launched, there was a sharp increase in the number of new and existing customers wishing to take advantage of 47 Degrees’ specialist boot fitting service. Deborah Loh, e-commerce Manager at Eurostop commented, “As retailers move beyond a traditional store environment, it is important that they have an integrated retail management system capable of linking, monitoring and supporting their various sales and communications channels. The Eurostop system has been designed to provide all the functionality required by some of the UK’s largest fashion retailers, yet remains easy to use, and suitable for the requirements of smaller chains as well. This ensures that retailers like 47 Degrees will only ever need to buy one system, safe in the knowledge that the system will adapt and grow with them as their business expands.”
Iconic fashion retailer Matches harnesses systems from Eurostop to support expansion of the brand
Since the first Matches store opened in Wimbledon in 1990, it has become a brand in its own right – an iconic retail experience, trusted by London’s most fashion literate clientele, offering the best of the best in established and new international labels. Thirteen stores across Notting Hill, Richmond, Wimbledon, Mayfair and – most recently opened in March 2008 – Marylebone High Street, cater specifically to the unique style characteristics of their customer: each has its own fashion profile while at the same time a dip into each, results in sound knowledge of the season’s spectrum of trends. From the hand-sanded, parquet flooring of the Marylebone store to the elegant shop furniture in Richmond – also for sale to the right buyer – Matches upholds a dedication to creativity, personality and attention to detail as much to the advantage of the product it offers as to the customer buying it. Promising a fashion education within the capital’s most elegant retail experience, every season sees the best designers in the world collaborate with Matches to create the most talked about fashion exclusives: Burberry Prorsum, YSL, Diane Von Furstenberg, Azzedine Alaia, Sophia Kokosalaki – the list is endless – it’s the first place to buy the key pieces every season as well as a guaranteed introduction to your favourite labels of the future, from Roksanda to Joanna Sykes. The stores phenomenal success has been built on its reputation for providing excellent customer service, understanding its customers and keeping the right stock at the right place at the right time to meet demand. Knowing who its customers are and keeping them loyal to the brand is a core part of the business strategy. To help meet those business challenges, Matches has implemented Eurostop’s e-pos at its stores and e-rmis at head office for the management of sales, merchandising and stock control. Matches selected Eurostop as it was able to offer a comprehensive retail solution, from stock management and tracking to sale breakdowns and customer profiling. A fully integrated head office and EPOS system, which enables each store to see what stock is available and where it is being held, it integrates openly to other business systems. In addition, Matches has integrated the Eurostop system with its e-commerce solution enabling seamless stock control for both its bricks and mortar stores and its online presence. Reports generated by the Eurostop system give the company complete visibility of stock movements, from delivery to sale, whether it was transferred to another branch, sold or returned. The ability to track and trace stock enables Matches to react quickly to meet customer demands for specific items. Tony Kalha, IT Director at Matches commented, “The support provided by Eurostop is excellent, and the company is very approachable at every level. The system has broad functionality and yet is easy to use, enabling us to do some of our own development work, so that the system is exactly as we need it to be to support our business operations. As a result we are able to run our business smoothly, keeping close track of stock enables us to provide our customers with excellent service, ensuring that we are able to the make the most of every sales opportunity.” To find out more about Matches, click here.
Designer handbag retailer Ollie & Nic plan nine new stores using the Eurostop retail management system
Independent stockist of stylish fashion handbags and accessories supports rapid growth with robust retail system. Ollie & Nic launched their first designer handbag collection in 2003 instantly placing Ollie & Nic firmly on the fashion scene. The designer handbags were soon available in department stores throughout the UK, including Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and John Lewis. Following the success of its first flagship store in Brighton’s Lanes, Ollie & Nic has organically grown to its current ten stores, with a further nine stores planned to open by the end of 2011across the UK. The stores sell designer handbags, jewellery and accessories. It has also launched a successful website where customers can purchase from the range. Rapid growth with new stores Ollie & Nic has invested in the latest retail IT systems to support its rapid growth to date, as well as the planned expansion into new stores. The company installed Eurostop’s e-rmis retail management system and e-pos till system in its first store in Brighton for stock management and sales and stock reporting. According to Nick Hill, Director at Ollie & Nic; “We have seen fantastic growth in the last few years, despite the current retail climate. In the early days we had ambitious plans and it was important to invest in reliable Head Office systems to support our business. “We have four new stores opening this summer and a further five planned by the end of next year, as well as a catalogue launch planned for Spring/Summer 2010. Without robust and accurate stock management and sales reporting we could not support such growth.” Proven retail management system The company selected Eurostop’s system having researched the retail options available, choosing Eurostop for its proven expertise in the retail sector. “Eurostop’s system provided us with the reporting and management functionality that we were looking for and the ability to integrate with our other systems and website. We were impressed with the number and calibre of fashion retailers that Eurostop counts as clients, such as Joseph, Ann Summers and Charles Tyrwhitt,” said Nick Hill. Successful merchandising While the company has grown with the number of store outlets, the merchandising team still buys relatively small quantities to replenish stock, focusing on stylish and unusual designer bags and accessories. Zara Oakley is one of two merchandisers at Ollie & Nic who regularly uses sales reports from the system to monitor and manage stock. The reports reflect the latest sales data from the stores, which the merchandisers use to identify hot sellers and popular lines in the new seasons collections, as well as those with poor sell thru. “We manage all of our stock on the Eurostop system,” explained Zara. “As a brand we specialise in combining together a wide range of distinctive, practical and colourful bags and accessories that our customers associate with Ollie & Nic. We order in all stock items into one stock pool, from which we replenish the stores.” The company now focuses solely on the retail side of the business, having phased out the wholesale operations. Visibility of the latest sales data Currently the merchandising team has visibility of sales from all its stores every Monday morning, enabling them to get an up to the minute view on what has sold during the past week. The team uses the data for stock planning and forecasting, as well as reviewing how new seasonal lines are selling. The investment in Eurostop’s system will, explains Hill, be of even more benefit once the company starts to use the customer loyalty features in the stores. “As our number of stores increase, as the online store takes off and as we launch our new catalogue, customer loyalty will become a key area of future development for our business. The Eurostop system already has these key features built-in.” Ollie & Nic also plans to integrate its online store with the retail management system in the future. The new website reflects the stores brand look and feel, and has already firmly established its place on its customer’s online favourites. “Eurostop’s retail system has been critical to our business growth,” said Hill. “With accurate stock management and merchandising, we have been able to keep tight controls on stock, sales and margin, helping us ensure that our business continues to be healthy and profitable.