White Stuff speeds communication and reporting with Vodat International

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: White Stuff speeds communication and reporting with Vodat International.

White Stuff is enjoying cost-savings, productivity gains, greater staff efficiency and improved customer service, following the roll out of a managed communications solution from Vodat International.

Background

White Stuff, the UK fashion and lifestyle retailer, has been undergoing impressive growth. The company saw revenues of 44 million and operating profits of 7 million in the year to end of April 2008. The company is expanding its multi-channel operations and is continuing to add stores to its growing portfolio. The retailer sets guidelines of opening around 10-12 stores a year, but is benefiting from suitable opportunities for new stores where available.

While the retailer is UK-based, it also has wholesale relationships in Norway and Ireland and the wholesale side of its business will continue to play an important part in its future.

Challenge

White Stuff wanted to improve the communications between the store environment and head office, but its existing network could not support the business. The company was keen to improve these relationships to help drive efficiencies on a day-to-day basis.

Each stores data needed to be integrated into the head office environment as the retailer was left with disparate information across the company. White Stuff was keen to give stores a business intelligence advantage so it could react quicker to changes within the company. It also wanted to improve transaction times for customers to improve the consumer shopping experience.

White Stuff was also looking for a network that was better value for money and could help the day to day passing of information between the stores and the head office. Venn Luscombe-Mahoney, Head of IT at White Stuff, says, We needed a cost effective solution that could provide us with support 24/7 and help us drive the business forward, while helping improving communications across the business. We had problems with the previous provider who often failed to support the business during busy weekend periods. This meant it could be a long time before a problem was recognised.

Solution

White Stuff looked at a variety of service providers before selecting Vodat. Luscombe-Mahoney comments, We looked at some large service providers to support our network but we didnt feel that they were able to support our technology. We also wanted an option that could run across our entire organisation even in remote locations. It was important we had someone who could deliver at a cost effective price while also sharing the enthusiasm and dynamism of our business.

White Stuff selected Vodat International due to its extensive experience of providing communication solutions for the retail sector. Stores are connected via Private Access Broadband, while the head office is connected via a Fibre Optic links and a backup SDSL Line. It also offers the capacity to introduce features such as Voice Over IP.

Vodat International provided a fully managed solution that has built-in PCI compliance to ensure cardholder details are protected. The network is also suitable for Chip and PIN processing and improves transaction speeds for customers from around 40 seconds to under five.

Initially the retailer did some testing in selected stores, after successful trials Vodat rolled out the technology across the business. The technology supports the head office with 130 staff and Vodats Network is used to communicate with 60 stores, and in the future will connect more than 200 EPOS tills & EFT Solutions. It also supports home shopping, mail order services and the customer call centre.

Benefits

The managed communications solution has enabled White Stuff to boost sales in its stores through more efficient use of store labour, enabling staff to spend less time on administration and more time selling to customers.

The technology has also boosted inter-store communication with head office and allows the business to deliver enhanced reporting at store level and roll out a content rich company wide intranet, allowing the company to make more informed decisions.

Luscombe-Mahoney adds, We need to empower our staff to do a better job. Our reporting server takes data out of the ERP system. Managers can look at backsales and use it as a dashboard reporting tool via the network. This allows us to assess best seller information. The technology allows us to assess transaction values and we can assess performance in stores. At White Stuff we have a strong focus on giving customers a personal shopping experience. Our staff are now better informed to give customers a better in-store service.

The technology is also helping other areas of the business and allows managers to arrange staffing schedules. Luscombe-Mahoney says, We can assess the level of staffing required to meet customer demand. We can measure footfall information within the store so we know when we need more staff on the shop floor. We can also see when is the best time to dress a shop window and the effects sales campaigns have had upon profits. By having an improved network we can share more detailed information which will help how the business operates across all divisions.

The technologys resilience is also a big advantage and White Stuff can open a new store much quicker. Luscombe-Mahoney, says, The lead time for opening a new store is now 35 days and we need to have the technology in place two weeks before the opening. In the past it would take up to ten weeks to get the network right so we had to pay ground rent on unused property for a lot longer, but with the Vodat network this lead time is reduced greatly.

The retailer had also experienced problems when network problems went unnoticed for long periods. Luscombe-Mahoney adds, With Vodat the support is much more impressive as they notice any problems almost immediately and service remains unaffected.

White Stuff now has a complete infrastructure for store level business intelligence reporting and has enabled managers to do their own reporting. Luscombe-Mahoney comments, Store managers will be able to look at their stores performance based on bestselling goods, speed of sale per item, best performing staff etc. The Vodat Technology will play an important role within our business and allow us to drive efficiencies. We want to be able to capture more detailed information about customers at the POS and look to explore technology such as mobile POS to help our business continue to grow.