Those looking to integrate their online and offline channels to introduce concepts such as click & collect or click & reserve cannot do without a modern POS system. MS Mode and America Today together chose Cow Hills' POS system. Simac made sure the system was up and running in all 250 stores at home and abroad within six months. "We can now roll out new concepts without having to do much programming," says Simac.
For the past year and a half, every item of clothing at MS Mode has been equipped with an RFID label. This technology enables employees at all 186 stores to inventory and check store stock at lightning speed. As a result, stock reliability is now at 99 percent. That's a lot higher than before, when MS Mode still relied on annual store counts. "If a customer now wants to reserve a pair of pants online to pick them up in the store, we know for sure that the pants are actually in stock," says Floris Ackermann, chief financial officer at MS Mode and sister company America Today. "At America Today, we completed the implementation of RFID as early as 2019. We now have real-time insight into the stores' current inventory. And we can now pick items in every store for click & collect and in the near future also for ship-from-store."
Online manual
The above example shows how the online and offline channels are increasingly intertwined, although the pace varies by retail formula. America Today targets people between the ages of 18 and 28 and has a target audience that is already more online oriented. Before the pandemic, the online channel already accounted for 19 percent of sales. During the lockdowns, that percentage rose toward 35 to 40 percent. explains Floris.
"With MS Mode, we appeal to a very different audience: women with size 40 or higher who are looking for comfortable, affordable clothing that has a perfect fit and follows current trends. These are consumers who prefer to take all the time they need to go to the store and be helped there. The share of online hovered around 8 percent before the pandemic."
When the stores were forced to close their doors, MS Mode wrote to all registered customers with a manual explaining in Jip and Janneke language how to order an item online. "We have customers aged 75 who used to go to the store, but still wanted to buy new clothes during the lockdown. For such customers, that was often the first time they went online," Floris explained. "The promotion worked out well. Online sales grew even faster at MS Mode than at America Today, although we do see that the share of the online channel has been declining again since last year. We expect that this is an overcorrection and that in time the online channel will grow again. So we remain committed to that."
Digitization
Floris has been responsible for the finances of both MS Mode and America Today since 2019. Immediately after taking office, he was able to get to work on a big job: the integration of both retail formulas, especially regarding the back end of the organizations. "We were already in the same building, but that's where the similarity ended. To create more synergy, we started merging finance, logistics and parts of human resources and IT. We've been very busy with that in recent years. And we are still working on optimization."
The role of IT within the integrated organization has only become more important during that time. Like many other retailers, MS Mode and America Today are fully committed to digitalization. "The time-honored idea that IT is a kind of back office department is, of course, long gone. IT is the heart of the organization. Just look at the whole omnichannel issue. It's all about making products available to customers anywhere, anytime, in the best and easiest way possible. That stands or falls with the set-up of our IT systems," Floris explains.
''Products available anywhere and anytime in the best and easiest way. That's what it's all about.''
He is joined by Robert Jan Paape, who as ICT manager is responsible for the 10-person IT department of MS Mode and America Today. "All processes today are digitized and data-driven. Take as an example the distribution of stock among the stores. We used to do that manually, now automatically based on the data from the POS system, among other things. Every process in the store is also supported by IT."
New POS system
Part of the digitization strategy was to replace the POS system. MS Mode was using a severely outdated system that only supported cash register transactions. "The whole omnichannel piece was not in there. If we wanted to link to enable new concepts such as click & reserve and click & collect, we had to build and install all kinds of applications on tablets ourselves to do so," Robert Jan explained.
Initially, the retailer opted for the same POS system that was already in use at America Today. One system for both formulas would offer great advantages in terms of management and support, was the idea. After a pilot, it was decided to pull the plug on this system after all. They were concerned about continuity with the supplier of the system, but also saw some shortcomings in the functionality. "Not all processes in fashion retail were fully supported," Robert Jan explains.
Also on the original shortlist was the name of Cow Hills, a POS system supplier with some of the same shareholders as MS Mode and America Today. "We sensed from everything that Cow Hills was highly motivated to take on this project. The time we lost with the pilot more than made up for Cow Hills," Floris knows. Robert Jan adds: "The necessary interfaces Cow Hills already had in place. Within three months we were able to launch a pilot, which went off to our complete satisfaction. In the end, the implementation was completed ahead of schedule."
Smooth rollout
That the project went so smoothly is partly to Simac's credit. Within six months, the Cow Hills POS system was rolled out to all 186 MS Mode stores and 65 America Today stores. At eight in the morning, Simac 's service engineer was on the doorstep of the first store to disconnect the old cash register and install the new one. A second store followed at nine, so that before opening time at ten o'clock, two stores had new cash registers. "Usually a third store followed after opening time where it was usually not so busy in the morning hours. That one only had to close its doors for an hour at most. In that hour, the new cash register was installed and one transaction explained. The employees could then get back to work, minimizing the loss of sales," Robert Jan explains.
The rollout went incredibly smoothly, which can be attributed to good preparation. Simac made sure that the hardware was set up and tested beforehand, so that all that was needed in the store was to connect it to the network and power grid. Robert Jan's team made sure that all users were in the system so that they could start working with the cash registers immediately.
"We placed a number of trial cash registers at the headquarters so that we could train a number of people extensively. We prepared a comprehensive manual so they could get started quickly and without problems," says Robert Jan, who looks back on the project with satisfaction. "The experiences have been positive. Of course we sometimes have software or hardware problems, but that is normal in a retail environment. Those problems are solved adequately by Simac. If a Dutch store needs new hardware, we often get it the same day. In Belgium, France and Spain it's the next business day."
Feedback
The choice of Simac as a partner did not come out of the blue. Simac already took care of the maintenance and management of MS Mode's old POS system. In addition, Simac has also been responsible for managing the network in the MS Mode and America Today Today stores for four years. "Simac replaced the old network with a modern software-defined network. We use standard DSL lines to connect the stores to the headquarters and the Internet. With a 4G backup in case the line goes down. This gives us a relatively simple and inexpensive solution for creating a secure and reliable connection," states Robert Jan. "Since we were satisfied with the service, it was obvious to also place the implementation and management of the POS systems with Simac.
Simac itself handled the rollout in the Dutch, Belgian and German stores. Local partners were engaged for the stores in France and Spain.
"What makes Simac a good partner is that they are open to improvements. It is important to be able to discuss openly and honestly with a partner what is and isn't going well. Simac listens to our feedback and does something with it. Partly because of this, Simac has decided to take care of the service desk for the French stores from their Belgian branch. For the work in those stores, Simac has switched to another partner."
Click & spare
Now that the new POS system is up and running and both retail chains are using Magnus Black's order management system OIL, both MS Mode and America Today have many more options for fulfilling their omnichannel strategy. If a customer wants to pick up an online order coming from the distribution center, a store can easily book the package and inform the customer via Voyado's e-mail service that the order is ready. Robert Jan: "Previously, we would have had to build a special application to support that. By choosing standard applications that themselves had already built the necessary interconnections, it is mainly a matter of configuring and arranging with at most a small adjustment where necessary. This allows us to move much faster and roll out new concepts."
The first new concept is click & reserve. Customers can now check on MS Mode 's website whether an item is in stock and reserve it immediately. That reservation enters the order management system, after which a message is sent to the cash register of the relevant store. "That message indicates that a pick order is ready on the tablet in that store. We set up this whole process with minimal changes to the various systems." Existing processes are also faster and more efficient. For example, the pinter terminals in MS Mode's French stores were not yet linked to the POS system.
"With Simac's help, we will soon be rolling out linked pin machines to all stores in France. These will be controlled via the standard link from Cow Hills' solution. Anyway, it offers advantages that both MS Mode and America Today use the same system. This allows Simac to stock the same equipment in all countries so that we can quickly exchange it in case of a failure."
