Fashion Retail

In most retail networks, both Russian, and western, the main projects on automation of the last two years are connected with active expansion of floor spaces and maintenance of consumer loyalty. Also fashion-retail is not an exception.

In the conditions of the amplifying expansion of the international players and potential threat from online retailers updating of the operating information systems, including in outlets, is very relevant for networks of average scale. For management of work of dynamically upcoming business and rapid response to any shifts in demand retailers even more often think of transition to complex ERP systems which are configured under industry specifics of a specific segment of retail market.

So, for example, the retail companies of a fashion-segment imposes more and more strict requirements to planning processes and assortment managements which unlike other types of networks always strongly depends on a seasonality factor. In a pursuit of the whimsical consumer of fashion-network aim not only to provide operational and high-quality formation of an assortment matrix according to the recent fashion trends, but also as much as possible to optimize key processes of management of trade inventories.

For solving of tasks of planning of the company first of all it is necessary to build convenient and easily management model the range of future seasons. In turn, category managers should locate the corresponding IT tools which would allow to react to the shifts in demand more quickly. When planning the next collection in addition to key parameters it is also necessary to consider plans of opening and closing of shops, appearance of new players in the market and some other factors, even such slaboprognoziruyemy as a weather forecast. Thanks to such solutions fashion-networks manage to manage flexibly stocks and to provide satisfaction of buyers. Finally it allows to control filling of shops, to react quickly to the shifts in demand.

Important task for maintenance of optimal stocks of retail network and timely management of promotion actions is also supply chain management. In a fashion-segment rather long periods of time between formation of the request for a new collection and its actual receipt on the central warehouse and in retail stores (for example, planning of a collection of a season the fall-winter occurs in the spring). An ERP system allows to plan optimum deliveries taking into account many parameters, for example, opening of shop, the planned promotion action and also to monitor all changes and quickly to react to them.

The wide range of retail networks means considerable load of a system for collecting and data processing for the purpose of demand forecasting and planning of replenishment of shops that defines high requirements to performance and scalability of the ERP system. Fully the information system Microsoft Dynamics AX conforms to these requirements. So, for example one of the most resource-intensive processes - calculation of distribution of goods for shops and formation of orders for shipment - in a system is executed in the multithreaded mode that allows to scale almost indefinitely a system with growth of the range and the number of shops.

Rapid expansion of networks also stimulates growth of number of IT projects on management of merchandising and logistics in regions. However, ensuring delivery of due goods quantity by the principle "in the necessary point, in due time" is an immediate goal for network of a fashion-segment. It is much more important to guarantee effective accounting of goods by relevant requirements of "fashionable" shops, timely and precisely to calculate necessary goods items on a size range. The complexity of this task consists that each packaging unit (box) contains the different sizes of products. To fill up stocks of shop from a warehouse and to minimize unpacking of goods in a warehouse a system should cover optimum requirement of shop for the specific sizes with these boxes.

Additional competitive advantages for fashion-networks are provided by the effective organization of marketing campaigns and program management of loyalty. And, it is not only about planning and management of the current actions, maintaining the corresponding reporting. Retailers are extremely interested to receive exact data on interests and needs of each acting and potential client, including from social networks. It allows to create for them the personified offers stimulating to make new purchases and to react quickly to possible changes of consumer behavior. Especially as target audience of shops of fashionable clothes, both in a massmarket, and in a luxury-segment, generally are women. And for many of them perceive shopping as pleasant pastime which first of all should bear a positive emotional charge.

All above-mentioned opportunities proposes the solution Fashion Retail which is specially developed by specialists of consulting company Columbus on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. The functionality of this system provides a broad spectrum of requirements of networks of a fashion-segment, including transparent and operational management of product lifecycle – from a stage of its development to an output from the range. So, for example, thanks to Fashion Retail the retail network of shoe shops Kari supports in a common information space the coordinated work of geographically distributed divisions of the company in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Poland.

Use of the same solution Columbus helps Footwear Côme network to build optimal routes of deliveries of products, guaranteeing their accuracy, to coordinate each stage of the movement of goods and to manage its distribution according to current demands of specific shops. The friendly and simple Microsoft Dynamics AX interface in use automates acceptance and shipment of products on all network, work with returns that among other allows to exclude a human factor from accounting processes almost completely. Besides Fashion Retail is implemented into short terms and differs in low total cost of ownership.

Author: Mikhail Cherepashchuk, director of business development of CRM, project manager, consulting company Columbus