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Classic men’s clothing retailer, Roderick Charles, measures up to customers’ demands with Eurostop retail systems
Quality bespoke gentleman’s outfitters relies on specialist merchandising systems across it’s retail chain and website. Founded in 1992, Roderick Charles is a retailer of classic men’s tailoring. Since the early days the independent retailer has expanded to nine standalone outlets located throughout the City of London, the West End and Battersea and also offers mail order via its website for customers around the UK. From its roots in bespoke tailoring, Roderick Charles offers a full ready to wear collection with an emphasis on traditional styling and the use of hard wearing British milled cloths. The retailer caters for the best traditions of English dress rather than following trend led fashion. Managing expansion The company’s clothing range has evolved to encompass the latest modern cloth and garment production, including high twist travel cloths. Managing such a wide range of stock is challenging for any retailer, but in particular one with a network of stores. From the early days, Roderick Charles invested in Eurostop retail systems to ensure stocks are monitored and replenished across its London outlets as well as meeting demand from its website. Anthony McIlroy, of Roderick Charles said; “We offer a choice of over a thousand cloths to customers, which is a significant capital investment and so it is important that we maximise the turnover of our stock. “Eurostop’s systems help us to keep track of and manage our stock efficiently. We originally selected Eurostop as we felt they were a proven supplier in the retail business and the software was right for a clothing retailer like ourselves. Over the years we have expanded the number of stores, with Eurostop systems providing the software for our retail store network.” Systems made to measure Roderick Charles’ business provides off the peg suits, jackets and shirts as well as a bespoke suit service, where customers can choose from the many samples of cloth. Roderick Charles has implemented both Eurostop’s e-pos for the shops and e-rmis at its head office. As well as capturing daily sales in store, the system is also used by the warehouse team to replenish and re-order stock across its stores. Although not tied to the highs and lows of seasons and fashions as many clothes retailers, it is still important for the company to monitor sales of different lines, whether particular shirt styles, suit colours or accessories. Seasonal changes and particular holiday periods often result in increased sales of lines – for example, wallets and scarves at Christmas and wash bags during the summer period. “Eurostop’s retail systems help us to keep our finger on the pulse of the business. Although we don’t have to react as swiftly as a fashion retailer to changes in demand, we do monitor our daily sales very closely with reports from e-rmis, our head office system. Both myself and my head buyer are able to check which particular styles, cloths and colours are more popular and use the information to predict our future sales and stock requirements,” said McIlroy. Cutting edge solution for bespoke suits The success of Roderick Charles’ business is reliant upon accurate forecasts that help to ensure the right orders are placed. The retailer does not rely upon wholesalers who have large pools of stock upon which to draw – instead each buying decision must be carefully made since stock is made to order. “We place orders with our British manufacturing suppliers, which means we have to be sure that we are ordering the right items and the right cloths that will sell. Our lead times are quite long as we don’t obtain stock from wholesalers, so it’s really important that we have accurate sales data upon which to base our decisions,” explained McIlroy. “Traditional, quality clothing continues to rise in popularity, as many people are turning away from the short wear fashion items in favour of well made, long lasting classics. With Eurostop systems in place our business has continued to thrive and service customers even in these difficult times for retail,” said McIlroy.
Ann Summers sees 4% increase in sales from using Eurostop’s Customer Counting solution
Ann Summers is one of the most successful privately held companies in the UK. It has over 7500 party plan sales people and over 135 stores in the UK and Europe. As a long term IT partner of Ann Summers, Eurostop has provided the company with retail solutions that provide a good return on investment. Eurostop’s e-pos solution is installed throughout the stores, with e-rmis Retail management solution at its head office. Successful investment in IT Following the success of the automated stock systems, the company has also invested in stock scanning and auditing as well a wireless warehouse picking system. The new system has increased efficiencies and reduced picking discrepancies considerably. Staff use scanners to pick stock which is recorded centrally and integrated with the head office systems. More recently Ann Summers has implemented Customer Counting Solutions from Eurostop. The footfall counter is located by the door of the stores and is linked to software in the tills. The results collected are fed directly into the head office system e-rmis, where the business intelligence data mining software interrogates the databases to provide management reports. The business intelligence module, specifically designed for merchandisers and senior management enables the sales data to be analysed in a number of ways. Every step counts “For us footfall is a key driver – we can monitor whether store traffic is up or down and work out what our sales conversions are from the transactions made,” explained the Corporate Projects and EPOS Executive at Ann Summers. The company has also installed a time and attendance system that enables it to monitor sales against members of staff, hours of the day, days of the week and compare branch performances across different regions. Being able to analyse the data down to this level of detail at store level enables the management to identify why store sales are up or down from average. Using the information from the reports that Eurostop’s solution supplies means that they can identify sales variations which may occur as a result of other factors rather than stock supply or weather. In the stores on the South Coast, for example, the company identified from footfall data that most customers shop earlier in the day and that the stores were quieter later than in other regions. By moving the opening hours for those stores earlier, sales were increased by over 4%. Maximising staffing instore Data from Eurostop’s solution also enables the team to look at the management of staffing in the stores. The company can work out staff cost ratio to sales and calculate true trading costs. Hourly sales data can be compared against the number of customers visiting the shop to ascertain whether by approaching customers more proactively this may increase sales. This may involve introducing more training on products or customer service skills both at the recruitment stage and with ongoing staff development. Introducing seasonal promotions Ann Summers has also implemented the Promotions and Gifts Accounts Module within Eurostop’s e-rmis and e-pos. The company is introducing promotions like ‘buy one get one free’, where the lowest priced item is free. Promotions can set up to be live for specific time periods on single or multiple items, or pick and mix promotions. The system automatically processes and applies discounts displaying the customer savings on the receipt, saving valuable time at the till and maximising trading margins as well as promoting “add on” sales. “Despite operating in a cut throat promotional market, where margins are very tight, having the right data at our fingertips and being able to process options at the till point means that we are still able to react quickly to customer demand and bring promotions to the customer,” said Patel. The company is also introducing serialised gift vouchers to customers in the run up to Christmas. Previously Ann Summers used printed vouchers, which were costly to print, track and redeem. If the vouchers were used for refunds, then there were restrictions on the values of the vouchers, such that cash amounts were often also included in refunds, which the customer does not always choose to spend in store and is potentially lost revenue. The vouchers enable the company to provide any cash denomination that may be used in store. The store manager scans the voucher and can immediately see the amount available for the customer to redeem. It is now easy for customers to redeem the value to any amount, which is much more flexible. Increased sales opportunities Overall Ann Summers is delighted with the benefits that Eurostop’s systems have brought to the business to date. The Corporate Projects and EPOS Executive at Ann Summers commented, “By targeting stores the company has increased sales by over 4%. However, for us it is not just about sales but operating a cost efficient business.” “It is about achieving the right balance of having the right stock and staff in place to match the customer needs – that is where Eurostop’s solutions really work for us.”