Central Madeirense selects Wipro Retail for business critical IT overhaul

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Central Madeirense selects Wipro Retail for business critical IT overhaul.

Central Madeirense, Venezuelas largest supermarket chain, with around 45 stores, has chosen Wipro Retail, an international IT and business services company, to implement an Oracle Retail solution, which will provide the company with a single application to manage inventory and stock levels, improving customer service and managing costs. The project will also give the company greater control in negotiations with suppliers, and act as an enabler for growth.

Ernesto de Abreu, Central Madeirense, which focuses on the value shopper and has stores in all of Venezuelas major cities said, This project will provide a technology platform that will put Central Madeirense in a position to compete with the most developed retailers around the world.  We choose to work with Wipro Retail, as it has extremely strong retail experience, particularly in the grocery sector.  Another key factor in the selection was Wipro Retails local presence in Latin America, providing the ability to deliver the project in a local language.

Central Madeirense has purchased a large footprint of the Oracle Retail solution platform, and the project will be divided into three phases; Merchandising and Stores, Supply Chain, and Optimisation and Forecasting.

Ernesto de Abreu continued, We are looking forward to having a single application managing the inventory and stock levels.  It will also help us improve our negotiations with suppliers, paving the way to growth ahead.  This project will deliver us the platform to compete with the most developed retailers around the world.

The new solution will enable Central Madeirense to operate in a more professional fashion, enabling it to raise the bar in terms of efficiencies, turnover and profitability.  Improving the customer experience is also another key objective.

The conference room pilot for the first phase (Merchandise foundation and Stores) is being run in August, with an anticipated go-live of October 2010 across all of Central Madeirenses stores.

Mike Davies, Vice President, Wipro Retail, said, Central Madeirense will be in great company, as we work with some of the largest global grocery retailers.  We have a proven track record in delivering major systems and process change into large businesses. This implementation will help Central Madeirense as it looks to improve its position within the grocery retail market.

About Central Madeirense
Central Madeirense is the largest supermarket chain in Venezuela, with around 45 stores.
Central Madeirense sells merchandise including; household items, white goods, clothing for ladies, men and children, plus linens, appliances, hardware, textiles, shoes, books and items for babies.

About Wipro Retail
Wipro Retail is a division of Wipro, a $5 billion international IT and business services company.  Wipro Retail delivers measurable value to the worlds leading and best-known retailers through the deployment of innovative IT-based solutions.