LS Retail
Transcription
LS Retail
THE LS RETAIL NewsLETTER JANUARY 2012 Event Network Inc. Selects Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail Solutions Union Coop Overcoming Challenges with LS Retail Europe’s Largest Indoor Market Chooses Worldly Solution Event News 2012: Eurocis – Convergence USA – Directions EMEA LS Retail NAV 6.3 – Solving a Variety of Challenges LS Retail Partner Conference 2012 LS Retail is a Global Supplier of Software Solutions And Services for the Retail, Hospitality and Forecourt industries. LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 1 End-to-End Retail and Hospitality Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV • Store Back Office LS Retail develops state-of-the-art solutions with focus • Franchise Management on Specialty, Food and Grocery, Fashion and Hospitality. • Store Front Office (POS) • Instore Management • Replenishment • Special Orders • Inventory Optimiser • LS Hospitality • Web Integration • Forecourt • Stock Ledger Reporting Proven. Tested. Recommended. LS Retail is a Global Supplier of Software Solutions and Services for the Retail, Hospitality and Forecourt industries. LS Retail is sold and supported by more than 120 certified partners in over 60 countries and has been installed by more than 40.000 stores operating over 80.000 POS terminals worldwide. 2 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 DASVERK DESIGN / LSR1211 • Head Office THE LS RETAIL NewsLETTER SEPTEMBER 2011 JANUARY 2012 CONTENT Event Network Inc. Selects Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail NAV Solutions 5 Overcoming the Challenges of a Competitive Retail Market 6 LS Retail at EuroCis 2012 7 Het Natuurhuis Works More Efficiently with Better Prices to Customers 8 Balancing the Supply Chain 9 Staff News 10 LS Retail Introduced to Future Managers in Slovenia 10 Haldiram’s Serves Indian Delicacies with LS Hospitality 11 LS Retail Gold Sponsor at Convergence USA 2012 11 Zilian: New Shoe Store Concept Streamlines its Retail Processes with LS Retail 12 Bringing Russian Retailers Up-to-Date 14 New LS Retail Standard: Warranty Hotel 15 Surtidora Departamental at the Vanguard of Profitability 16 Innoware, Microsoft Ukraine and LS Retail Collaborate on Seminar for Restaurateurs 17 Europe’s Largest Indoor Market Chooses Worldly Solution 18 LS Retail NAV 6.3 18 Buy the Right Amounts and Reduce Markdowns with Allocation Planning 19 How Do I Improve My Franchise Operation? 19 Do You Know Who Is Stealing from You? 20 Extend Your Hospitality Business by Integrating an Offline Call Center 20 Do You Want Your Customers to Spend More Money in Your Store? 21 Is My Staff Selling the Right Products? 21 Getting a 360 Degree Vision of the Business from a Single Application 22 “All Roads Lead to Rome” - LS Retail Gold Sponsor at Directions EMEA 2012 23 LS Retail Partner Conference 2012 24 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 3 4 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 Event Network Inc. Selects Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail NAV Solutions Radiant Technologies, Inc. announced that Event Network, Inc., a leading cultural attraction retail operator in North America, has selected Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail NAV as their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and retail operations software systems. Radiant Technologies will support Event Network through the process of implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail for all national operations. They will also focus on their aggressive growth strategy, which includes providing the best guest experience and achieving the maximum retail potential for their partners‘ cultural attractions. “Radiant Technologies, together with LS Retail, have years of experience in helping retail operators like Event Network implement solutions critical to their business,“ said Tony Da Silva, Radiant’s vice president of sales. “We look forward to a successful partnership with Event Network, as well as delivering exactly what the customer needs within their budget.“ Event Network was struggling under the weight of managing multiple disparate systems, including financial management, store replenishment planning, POS, and inventory management. With the Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail solutions, Event Network will benefit from a single architecture that provides a single unified view of the company’s operations across all of its departments. They will also gain complete visibility into the company’s financial health, including real-time store sales performance, and will reduce redundancies and inefficiencies in their business processes. About Event Network Cultural attractions are an important part of the fabric of our communities. Event Network has become the leading cultural attraction retail operator in North America. They elevate the guest experience and achieve the maximum retail potential of their partners’ cultural attractions. They support their partners’ missions and enhance their brands by delivering a world-class, seamlessly-integrated retail experience. They guarantee their partners a higher return from retail than they have ever achieved on their own or with another third-party operator. They provide exemplary guest service. They are experienced, creative and passionate. Through continuous improvement and excellent partner relationships, Event Network will build an enduring enterprise. “We look forward to a successful partnership with Event Network, as well as delivering exactly what the customer needs within their budget.“ Tony Da Silva, Radiant’s vice president of sales For further information on Event Network, please visit www.eventnetwork.com. For further information on Radiant Technologies, please contact radiantmarketing@radiant.us.com For further information on LS Retail, please contact info@LSRetail.com LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 5 Overcoming the Challenges of a Competitive Retail Market Union Cooperative Society (UCS) is one of the leading hypermarket and supermarket chains in Dubai with 10 outlets in major residential areas in Dubai and one store in Ajman called Aswaq Ajman which is managed by UCS. Four of the Stores were opened directly with LS Retail POS System whereas seven stores were migrated from legacy POS to the LS Retail POS System. Biggest Challenges: Availability and Reliability UCS had multiple challenges to overcome with the legacy POS system as each store was like an island by itself. Availability and reliability were some of the biggest concerns as the legacy POS was communicating directly with server, increasing the risk of failure, and even though legacy POS was designed to work independently it did not work properly. The growing number of transactions at UCS was becoming a major hurdle for the legacy POS to handle. Scalability was also one of the issues as adding new functionality was not easily possible Need for Reliable and Scalable Solution UCS’s goal was not only to move from the aging system to state-of-the-art technology, but to find a flexible system that could evolve as the company’s needs changed, keeping in mind the projected growth of UCS over the coming years. This meant that UCS needed a reliable, robust and scalable system offering customization for each store, real-time sharing of data, fast credit-card and payment processing, and 24/7 support. 6 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 “The application covers most of the challenges retailers face, by linking warehousing and ordering systems, sales data, staff management, customer service, customer loyalty, integrated online EFT, and marketing functions”. Archie Patrao, Managing Director at AP&T Business Solutions The new system was required to be a complete end-to-end solution specifically designed for the retail market, catering to all types of promotions. Why LS Retail? UCS analyzed many Retail solutions in the market and found LS Retail to be one of the best choices because it provides detailed, real-time views of product sales, store performance, consumer behavior that will ultimately allow UCS to innovate and grow. LS Retail fulfilled most of UCS’s requirements and had some advantages over other systems: • Part of a full-fledged ERP from Microsoft • Already in use at many similar businesses worldwide • Very easy to customize and integrate • Availability of local partner and support • Overall value received versus total cost of ownership Implementation Journey Implementation for new stores was relatively easy, compared to the migration of existing stores on legacy systems; one of the challenges was the migration of data from the legacy system to LS Retail. Integration with current existing POS Hardware was also one of the key issues. Apart from that, JD Edwards being the ERP used at backend, successful integration became a key factor. UCS tasted the Success of Special Functionality LS Retail was implemented in one of the stores as pilot project. After minor initial hiccups, careful observation and user reviews, it was rolled out to all the other stores in quick succession. After the LS Retail implementation, UCS tasted the success of running different promotions, offering different types of discounts and also being able to have online information, which enabled UCS to take dynamic business decisions. Ease of Use Most importantly, LS Retail is suitable for UCS, which is coming up with multiple chains of stores. Quick installation, rollout and ease of training were the keys to match with the business goals of the company. Benefits for UCS Increased Customer Satisfaction: • LS Retail NAV enables fast processing of sales transactions with minimum interruption to customers and less waiting at counters. Intelligent Reporting/Enquiries: • LS Retail NAV provides an online view of the Stores‘ performance, going into detailed sales transactions to help businesses take quick decisions. Business Growth: • Adapting changes in organization and environment quickly which keeps the cost of ownership low. Archie Patrao, Managing Director at AP&T Business Solutions, is extremely pleased with the implementation of Union Cooperatives Society Retail solution. “By implementing LS Retail with real time integration to JD Edwards ERP gave Union Co-operative Society the customized retail solution it needed. The application covers most of the challenges retailers’ face, by linking warehousing and ordering systems, sales data, staff management, customer service, customer loyalty, integrated online EFT, and marketing functions”. Patrao continues: “The implementation schedule was tight. During this time, customization of the LS Retail solution to the Union Cooperatives Society company-specific needs has been done. We managed to deploy the solution successfully with planned rollouts. The customer was pleased with the all-in-one POS solution having a more efficient user-interface, integration to various loyalty cards and online credit card payments thus successfully handling huge customers transactions in two to four seconds.” For further information, please contact: info@LSRetail.com LS Retail at EuroCis 2012 EuroCis 2012 will be held in Dusseldorf from February 28th to March 1st 2012. LS Retail partners in the DACH Region will join LS Retail, and together they will present the latest versions of the LS Retail products. Join LS Retail at Stand F32, Hall 9 and explore solutions that include LS Retail NAV 6.3 with exciting features including: • Sales Commission - Transaction and Sales Goals • Allocation Plan - Top Down and Bottom Up • Loss Prevention • Offline Call Center • Membership Management including Loyalty and Staff, Schemes within Clubs, Discount Traceability • Offer and Coupon Improvements • Transaction service supported through Web Services • Data Director 3 support with monitor LS Retail .NET as a full Microsoft .NET retail solution LS Retail AX, add-on solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail including: • Staff Commission • Meal & Recipe management • Retail Portal • Loss Prevention • Inventory Optimizer EuroCIS is Europe‘s unique trade fair which focuses on the entire retail-specific expertise of the IT sector with the full spectrum of relevant themes for the future. Alongside excellent perspectives for retail, EuroCIS 2012 again presents an outstanding ancillary program. Top decision-makers from more than 30 countries are expected. For further information, please contact info@LSRetail.com LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 7 Het Natuurhuis Works More Efficiently with Better Prices to Customers Het Natuurhuis is an organic supermarket in Belgium that sells organic food, organic non-food products, food supplements, plant extracts and natural cosmetics. This family business was established in 1977 and now has two branches in Antwerp and Merksem, with a staff of twenty-three. Het Natuurhuis was looking for a way of changing data-handling at both its branches to make it more centralized and integrated. It also needed a central overview of the customer database. Previously each branch had worked with its own cash-register system with no centralization, so the staff had a lot of administrative work and there was also the risk of incorrect or outdated information. Retail solution customized according to the specific needs of Het Natuurhuis The technology had to be flexible and provide a suitable basis for an Internet shop. Het Natuurhuis searched for a reliable and capable IT partner and arrived at The Concept Group who proposed installing LS Retail, an end-toend software application based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV and specifically designed for retailers. The Concept Group took care of the customizations and the installation. The package was fully prepared to meet the needs of Het Natuurhuis. The Concept Group also trained the two managers and five of the twenty three now have direct access to the new application. LS Retail is also the basis of a recently launched Internet shop. Saves considerable time LS Retail allows Het Natuurhuis to save considerable time and gives access to extensive reporting capabilities for sales analysis. It forms the basis on which the family business can plan its commercial approach more efficiently and offer customers better service. All this benefits its competitive position. 8 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 “I’m confident that LS Retail was the right choice. The initial price may have been a bit higher, but at least now we can be sure that we won’t have to look for a new IT provider in a few years’ time. What’s more, we couldn’t have started our Web shop without LS Retail. In short, this software offers many more possibilities than other applications.” Raf Van Den Heuvel Much less administration “We now save a lot of time and we have much less administrative work,” says Raf Van Den Heuvel, who is in charge of sales and marketing at the family business. “Previously we didn’t have a cash register system running centrally on the server and so no interaction between our two branches. As a result, we couldn’t even allow customers to use their store cards in both shops. Also, whenever we changed product data or price information, this couldn’t be done for both branches at the same time. So we had to duplicate the work and there was always the risk that the prices weren’t correct or consistent. Thanks to LS Retail, everything now runs centrally. Whenever we change anything here in Merksem, this is automatically passed on to our branch in Antwerp. I’m thinking, for instance, of the sharp price fluctuations in fruit and vegetables, which are now much easier to keep track of.” Extensive sales analysis capabilities Another major benefit of the software is its extensive capabilities for sales analysis. “Now we see immediately on which products we are making a loss and which products bring the highest profit margin,” confirms Raf Van Den Heuvel. “What’s more, we can also see if there are certain trends per week or per month, or even per season. We can use all this information to organize our purchases a lot better. So we can present ourselves in a professional way vis-à-vis our competitors.” The business managers Raf and Pieter Van Den Heuvel both received training from The Concept Group to learn how to work with LS Retail. Afterwards they passed on this knowledge to the other three users. Two of them are warehouse managers, who have only restricted access to the system and cannot, for instance, acces the sales analysis. More beneficial for customers too Thanks to LS Retail, setting up items is much faster than before. The extensive database is kept up-to-date systematically, so that Het Natuurhuis can immediately see which suppliers are offering discounts at which times. This means the customers are also always getting the best prices. Recently an Internet shop was also launched, where customers can order packages of diet food online. “We are now expanding the database further. This demands a great deal of energy since we offer more than 7,000 items in total,” continues Raf Van Den Heuvel. “Still, I’m convinced that this effort will prove useful because it allows us to keep our item files up-to-date very accurately. The customer data in LS Retail also helps the company to strengthen its relationship with customers. Now it’s easy for us to invite customers for open days and discount actions. With our previous system we had to ask our IT provider for the customer data each time, which is obviously more time-consuming.” Flexible and forward-looking Het Natuurhuis is very pleased with the collaboration with The Concept Group. “They mapped out our specific needs in great detail in advance,” explains Raf Van Den Heuvel. “Based on this, they made modifications to the standard LS Retail package. The new software was first introduced in Merksem in August 2010 and a few months later the shop in Antwerp was also connected to the server. If we want to expand with a third shop in the future, we just need to connect it to the server and everything else happens automatically.” Automation of inventory management Eventually Het Natuurhuis will also automate its inventory management, since currently the shop inventory is still checked regularly and physically with scanners. “With LS Retail we immediately see if we have to restock, based on the number of products sold, without actually having to check in the shop,” explains Raf Van Den Heuvel. “However, we only implement this automation for certain parts of the stock because we have less control over some areas, such as theft and expired products and we cannot risk having a distorted view of the stock.” Raf Van Den Heuvel concludes: “I’m confident that LS Retail was the right choice. The initial price may have been a bit higher, but at least now we can be sure that we won’t have to look for a new IT provider in a few years’ time. What’s more, we couldn’t have started our Web shop without LS Retail. In short, this software offers many more possibilities than other applications.” For more information about Het Natuurhuis, visit www.hetnatuurhuis.be Please download the complete customer story at www.LSRetail.com or www.theconceptgroup.be Balancing the Supply Chain “After implementing the LS Retail Inventory Optimiser we have lowered our inventory levels considerably, consequently freeing up valuable working capital and saving time in the purchasing process.” Grettir Björnsson, IT manager, JYSK Canada • Being pressured to reduce inventory levels, but not sure where to locate the excess stock? • Are frequent stock outs making your life difficult? • Tired of digging through enormous excel sheets that make your work more complicated? Learn how the LS Retail Inventory Optimiser can dramatically reduce workload related to purchasing processes while optimizing inventory levels to bring your customers better availability on lower inventory levels. JYSK is one of the leading and fastest growing retailers in the world. First established in 1979 in Denmark, the company is now present in 32 countries with almost 1,500 stores, bringing “Quality-for-less” to millions of customers each day. The first JYSK Canada store was opened in 1996 by Jakup Jacobsen in Coquitlam, BC. Today there are close to 50 JYSK stores in Canada and the company is still expanding. JYSK Canada relies on LS Retail NAV, which is built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV for its business operations, from accounting to point of sales and logistics. After examining a number of demand-forecasting and inventory solutions, JYSK selected the LS Retail Inventory Optimiser for its operations in Canada, Iceland, the Baltics, Bulgaria and Romania. The system is used in two distribution centers in Vancouver and Toronto. Through these centers, JYSK supplies 47 stores across four time-zones, with over 8,000 types. Demand is forecast per item, based on sales figures extracted from NAV. The forecast demand is then allocated to one of the two warehouses, depending on store location. Although the organization has over 500 suppliers worldwide, the bulk of its purchases comes from China. This generates different lead times for items, depending on whether the final destination is in Vancouver or Toronto. “The design of the system allows it to be flexible enough to meet all the needs of the customer. Dealing with multiple warehouses, lead times and vendors has become a much simpler process. We have been able to manage our lead times much more effectively after implementing the system and we were impressed with the fact that stock-outs have reduced despite the impressive drop in inventory levels,” says Grettir Björnsson, IT manager, JYSK Canada. One of the system´s main goals is to reduce workload through automation. By item categorization purchasers can prioritize their efforts correctly, increasing focus on fast moving items and letting the system deal with the slow movers. Grettir concludes “One training day with our purchasing staff was sufficient as the system is very user-friendly and intuitive. Our employees were able to start using the system effectively in a matter of days after implementation, which made the whole process run very smoothly.” LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 9 New Employees Ron Fox (USA), senior consultant at LS Retail in USA, has a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Western Washington University. Ron’s experience ranges from 24 years in Project Management, 19 years in Accounting Solutions and 14 years in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Prior to joining LS Retail, Ron was a Senior Project Manager at eSoftwareProfessionals in Portland Origon. Ron also worked as a Senior Analyst at MicroAccounting Systems in Washington for 10 years. Over the years Ron has aquired broad set of skills in implementing multi-site Microsoft Dynamics NAV solutions, integration of multi-location retail and distribution systems and design and integration of retail ERP solutions. Unnur Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir joined LS Retail in November as a Marketing Coordinator. Unnur has worked as a Marketing Director at the newspaper Morgunbladid and www.mbl.is, the most popular website in Iceland. She has also worked as an Account Manager at the advertising agency, Gott folk, McCann-Ericson. Unnur has an MBA degree from Reykjavik University and a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Iceland. Arngrímur Einarsson joined LS Retail in November. He has a M.Sc. degree in Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Arngrímur has worked for both Skipti and Actavis in the past. He will be working in the development team, dividing his efforts between .NET and NAV. 10 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 LS Retail Introduced to Future Managers in Slovenia The entrance of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. The Economics and Business Faculty of the University in Maribor, Slovenia has very tight connections to real business environment. It offers real-life business experience to its students and approximately 50% of all lessons are practical – discussions with guests from different areas. The students have the option to finish 11 types of different Microsoft Certifications, including Dynamics NAV and SAP Certifications. This gives them additional advantage out in the business field. Cooperation between the Business Faculty and Microsoft Slovenia started a few years ago when the idea of offering real product knowledge was expanded into learning MS CRM and Dynamics NAV. It has now developed into learning about major ERP systems. The students are studying Dynamics NAV in the first semester and SAP in the second during the second year of their base and master level. LS Retail joined the program on Dec 1, 2011 by preparing two sessions in Slovenian for the students: a) Base level: Challenges in Retail Retail functionality and trends in retail and LS Retail NAV as the right solution. b)Master level: Retail and IT Market IT challenges in retail industry and LS Retail as example of partnership model. The sessions were very well received and the interest was genuine, even though the students were quite surprised to learn about an Icelandic company with such an impressive reputation within the Microsoft Dynamics world. For further information, please visit: www.epf.uni-mb.si/eng and www.facebook.com/epfmb Haldiram’s Serves Indian Delicacies with LS Hospitality Haldiram’s began as a tiny shop in Bikaner and soon grew its business manifold to transform into a global phenomenon. Today Haldiram’s is a 4 million dollar brand that is a familiar sight on shelves across the USA, UK and the Middle East at prominent supermarkets like Tesco, Somerfield, Spinneys and Carrefour. In addition to the packaged products, Haldiram’s has its own outlets and range of restaurants in and around Delhi NCR where it sells sweets and eatables. Sixty years on from the beginning, it has become a name synonymous with taste and quality not only within India but all over the world. The Challenge of Growth and the Need for Standardizing Operations Haldiram’s as a brand was growing and it needed a robust, scalable system that could support its growth plans and efficiently serve its rapidly multiplying consumer base. Haldiram’s was using in-house developed software for its retail and hospitality operations, which meant that the consolidation of requirements for manufacturing as well as collection of data required manual intervention and duplication of work. This affected the efficiency and output of the system which became error-prone and time-consuming. Managing inventory flow between outlets and making accurate purchase decisions was proving to be a difficult proposition with this setup. Standardizing operations and ensuring quality at its numerous outlets became another key challenge for Haldiram’s. With a strong roadmap for expansion and introduction of new business formats, it needed an integrated system that controlled operations centrally and could manage its extensive business arms. and is frequently updated at the HO, with individual store requirements reflected at the central database. It has also allowed Haldiram’s to manage seasonal demand spurts through the optimal allocation of resources. DVS & LS Hospitality the Perfect Fit LS Hospitality has a flexible architecture that makes it easy to integrate with any third party ERP and strong POS functionality that lends it an unmatched ability to manage multiple business formats. The scalability and ease of adaptation within the current system led to the adoption of LS Hospitality to manage their restaurant operations across its multiple outlets. LS Hospitality ensured Haldiram’s a seamless integration with the Head Office which resulted in centralized control and stable workflow. Inventory is tracked right from the store level Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS) is a leading provider of end-to-end integrated, adaptable business applications built on the Microsoft Dynamics Platform. Founded in May 2006, DVS made its mark in the South Asian retail and hospitality industries through its unique, highly skilled Partner Channel Network Model, unparalleled industry knowledge, and subverticalisation of these macro industries. For further information, please contact info@LSRetail.com LS Retail Gold Sponsor at Convergence USA 2012 LS Retail will be a Gold Exhibitor during Microsoft Convergence 2012 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas, March 18 – 21, 2012. LS Retail will unveil exciting functionality from the latest versions of LS Retail NAV, AX and .NET suite of products and services. Every year, Convergence serves as the intersection its name implies: the meeting point for the Microsoft Dynamics Customer and Partner business community; the crossroads of learning, discovery and opportunity; the junction of connections and possibilities. This annual gathering of business professionals is where new product releases are encountered and understood, where best practices are shared and learned, and where business relationships and partnerships are forged and renewed. We invite all partners and customers to join us at our stand. To set up meetings with LS Retail during Convergence, please contact: Runar Sigurbjartarsson, runar@LSRetail.com or Carsten Wulff, carsten.wulff@LSRetail.com Image from Convergence USA For further information on Convergence, please go to www.microsoft.com/dynamics/ convergence/ LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 11 Zilian: New Shoe Store Concept Streamlines its Retail Processes with LS Retail Zilian, a ladies’ shoe concept developed by Grupo Mar aims to become an innovative and sophisticated brand, offering a big variety of modern design at affordable pricing. Zilian’s collections are designed by the company’s production team and are produced in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Brazil. Zilian – part of Grupo Mar In 2008, Grupo Mar accomplished a long time desired goal launching its own brand, Zilian. Zilian represents a new store concept in the national market – a space with an expressive variety of models, fair prices, product linear exposure and big sales areas. Aiming at innovation and sophistication, with a concept different from most other shoe retailers, Zilian is already operating in Madrid, and has the ambition to expand further internationally in the future. The brand promotes versatility, targeting all types of ladies but with a common cosmopolitan style; the quintessential trend-setter who knows no bounds.The stores have their unique displays sorted by size and color, making it easy for customers to find exactly what they are looking for as they browse the store. Grupo Mar is a Portuguese retail company that has been active in the fashion market since 1986. In 2007, its turnover reached 23 million Euros, an increase of 6.2% from the previous year. It represents several retail brands in Portugal, including United Colors of Benetton, Sisley and Gente Miúda. Need for a full Retail ERP application Prior to implementing LS Retail NAV, Zilian did not use any structured solution. The company was looking for a full retail ERP application to fit its dynamic business and to handle the accounting, production, and retail aspects of their business. Among the challenges the company wanted the new system to solve were to • Align strategies and operations • Provide immediate access to enterprise information • Guarantee data integrity & reliability • Adapt to dynamic business change/ growth when they will go international • Support their loyalty card program 12 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 “LS Retail provides reliable, real-time insight into critical aspects of our business, such as comparison of stores, breakdown of sales according to time-periods, with drill-downs over different periods. Moreover, it ensures total data and system integrity,” Sara Midões, Marketing Manager of Grupo Mar The company lacked a systematic procedure to carry out an item or product level analysis, implement and monitor new promotion schemes, check the performance of each product on the basis of high or low selling products and promote them accordingly. With the launch of such a sharp new brand, Zilian needed to raise the bar in obtaining a versatile and stable retail solution that would provide the tools to become customer-centric. Partner in Portugal, to conform to local legal and language requirements. LS Retail NAV is a flexible POS-based solution that can be configured according to requirements and maintains common data throughout the entire organization. Since the POS terminals, back office and head office, all use the same application and functionalities, individual transactions can be directly tracked from the head office. LS Retail fits perfectly Zilian chose LS Retail, a solution specifically developed for the retail industry, based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The solution has been customized by Arquiconsult, an LS Retail The system enables diverse data exchange between stores and headquarters and it keeps running even if there is a connection breakdown between stores and headquarters. A Solution for the future Zilian now has business management software that controls processes from store to head office level and vice-versa. It stores sales information for analysis and reporting purposes and also follows sales trends. Furthermore, it is easy to use, ensures good connectivity and consistent operating speed, is rich in features, reliable and most of all cost-effective. With the backing of this software, the staff is now more efficient and can quickly attend to customer requirements. “LS Retail provides reliable, real-time insight into critical aspects of our business, such as comparison of stores, breakdown of sales according to time-periods, with drill-downs over different periods. Moreover, it ensures total data and system integrity,” states Sara Midões, Marketing Manager of Grupo Mar. “Arquiconsult gave us excellent support, and also addressed the local needs and changes.” The scalability and customization features of LS Retail NAV are ideal for Zilian’s retail environment as it efficiently manages all POS terminals, the number of which can be increased as per future requirements. The back office operation automates data reconciliation from all the different departments at the head office. Zilian Loyalty Card – perfectly managed by LS Retail Customer loyalty is a huge factor in driving up sales. One year after Zilian’s brand launch, Grupo Mar created Zi Card, the Zilian loyalty card system. Counting more than 30.000 loyal customers, this project has been designed as a differential factor. In addition to the usual discounts, customers can benefit from experiences provided by the partners of Zilian, including international and local brands. Zi Card holders also get exclusive promotions on special days and events such as birthdays. “With LS Retail NAV, we got a solution that can successfully run our loyalty card system. Moreover, we can trust all data...” Sara Midões, Marketing Manager of Grupo Mar “With LS Retail NAV, we got a solution that can successfully run our loyalty card system. Moreover, we can trust all data,” says Midões. “Zilian can measure which customers are interested in specific models, colors, and so forth. We can easily measure several key performance indicators (KPIs) such as email averages, total clients, number of points, transactions, number of discount tickets created and used; client segmentation such as potential revenue values, items required and many more.” Main Benefits: • Complete end-to-end retail solution • Optimized inventory management • Automated processes • Ensures customers satisfaction and retention with quick delivery • Greatly improved transaction time • Integration with loyalty card, Zi Card • Allows data analysis for enhanced business decisions • Easier overview of KPIs measured For further information, please contact info@LSRetail.com LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 13 The Microsoft Dynamics Retail Innovation Forum in Moscow, June 2011 Bringing Russian Retailers Up-to-Date More than 50 top managers, finance, commercial and IT directors of retail companies took part in the event. Also present were representatives of major retail players such as Mexx, Adidas, Stanem Druzyami, Domovoi, Dufry, Auchan, Ecco, Coffee Bean, Eldorado, Merlion, L’Etual and some large drugstore chains. The main topic on the agenda was the launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail in the Russian market. The President of Microsoft Russia, Nikolai Pryanishnikov, discussed the future trends and development of the Russian retail business in his keynote speech. LS Retail representatives at this forum were CEO, Magnus S. Norðdahl and Carsten Wulff, Partner Management Director of LS Retail, who discussed new opportunities in the retail market in their presentations. LS Retail NAV and AX for Retail master classes In November 2011 Impact-Soft organized a workshop that included theory classes and practical training where participants had the opportunity to work with LS Retail NAV and AX for Retail on their own as well as with support from experienced consultants and trainers. The workshop generated great interest among the participants as was proved by the fact that the participants of the first class also took part in the following events. New LS Retail customers in Russia United Distributors is a wholesale and retail wine trading company that has operated in Russia since 1997. Its main business is the import of elite wines, cognacs, whisky and other high-quality spirits from prominent suppliers. The company decided to open a chain of retail stores and chose LS Retail NAV as their system. Two stores have been opened by now and further development of the chain is being planned. 14 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 03 is a dynamically developing chain of drugstores which now includes over 75 drugstores in Moscow and the greater Moscow Area. The key reason why the chain chose LS Retail NAV was that it provides the opportunity to create a joint information area for the drugstores and the back-office, as well as the experience of its successful implementation in retail chains in Russia. The 03 drugstore chain has now been incorporated in the drugstore chain Stary Lekar, which operates more than 200 drugstores in Moscow and the capital area. Stary Lekar is one of the largest customers of Impact-Soft. TVOE is a chain of fashion stores for youths and one of the oldest customers of Impact Soft. TVOE is a part of a holding company that combines cotton spinning with stocking and knitwear production. By now the chain has 400 stores in more than 160 Russian cities. The company had earlier automated its retail business with LS Retail and, presently, Impact-Soft specialists together with logistic consultants from the UK are implementing the WMS system based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Impact Soft Success in 2011 September 10, 2011, Microsoft nominated Impact-Soft as the winner in the category of Leading Suppliers of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Solutions in Industries in Russia. Previously, Impact-Soft had won the Retail Trade – Fashion and Accessories category, consolidating its leading position in the retail sector for many years. Besides this, LS Retail nominated Impact Soft as LS Retail Golden Partner based on the sales results of 2011 and customer loyalty level. Impact-Soft was also a prize-winner in Retail Trade of Long-Term Usage Products and a finalist in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV EXPRESS Suppliers category in 2011. It has been a very good year for Impact-Soft. Inventory Optimiser A new product for optimizing stock– Inventory Optimiser- has now been launched on the Russian market. A pilot project for the company Azbuka Vkusa has been finished and initial estimates show that results with using the Inventory Optimiser could improve results by up to 24% on actual forecast. Based on the solid result of the pilot project, Azbuka Vkusa has decided to buy the Inventory Optimiser. LS Retail NAV 6.3 in Russia Early in 2012 a major technological forum for Microsoft Dynamics NAV will be held in Moscow where LS Retail NAV 6.3 will be presented. Impact Soft specialists have already started the localization of this new LS Retail NAV version. In addition to the localization, work on integration with the EFT-terminal and Russian accounting and payroll will be done, allowing the use of the functionality of the new version to its full extent in the Russian market. About Impact-Soft Impact-Soft has been working in the Russian market for over 18 years, and has more than 250 successfully executed projects as a supplier of business solutions. The employees of Impact-Soft are Microsoft Certified specialists, and the company is a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner. Impact-Soft has the exclusive rights for the localization of LS Retail in Russia. www.imactsoft.ru New LS Retail Standard: Warranty Hotel LS Retail is proud to present a world first as standard in POS terminal systems: Warranty Hotel is a solution that enables retail chain stores to offer digital storage of their customer’s warranty cards. Many people are familiar with the scenario when an appliance, bike, PC or another item still under warranty breaks down and the warranty card or proof of purchase is lost. The store needs documentation that the claim is within the warranty period but the customer, who feels that his claim is justified, cannot provide it. Warranty Hotel solves this problem once and for all. With LS Retail, Warranty Hotel is a built-in standard so each sales receipt carries a Warranty Hotel code. The customer can activate it inside three months by visiting www.warrantyhotel.com or by using the Warranty Hotel app. Evidence of the sale is safely stored in the digital hotel, and the customer can log in and check the number of warranty cards stored and their expiry date. Stores can also look up warranties for customers. Now available on Android, iPhone & iPad With the launch of Android and iPhone apps, Warranty Hotel brings consumers and the registered chain stores even closer. The app makes it very easy for the customer to find and check in warranties directly on the smartphone and also offers other advantages. Stores can also use the app to offer consumers the possibility of receiving news or ads, which in turn gives the registered consumers free credits. Revolutionary “All retailers know that claims should be handled swiftly and in that respect, Warranty Hotel provides unique help. A modern family can easily have 30-50 active warranty cards covering a variety of household items but many people don’t have an overview. Warranty Hotel can provide that overview when they buy the product, and older warranty cards can be registered as well,” says Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen, creator of the Warranty Hotel concept. The actual creation of an account in Warranty Hotel is free and the first 20 uploads are free of charge. If a Warranty Hotel Code is provided on the receipt, the customer can redeem all warranties from this receipt by entering the code at the price of 1 credit. The sales staff in stores offering extended Warranty Hotel service can create or find the customers’ Warranty Hotel account and send the information directly to the customers account. In this case the customers pays in store (2€) The Store Profits The Warranty Hotel business model is designed so the amount paid by the consumer is divided between the store, you as an LS Retail Partner and Warranty Hotel. Today, Warranty Hotel is in use in several leading chain stores in Denmark, such as Bahne, Punkt 1, Elplus and Jupiter Cykler. “It is true that the price of the service is low because we expect the number of transactions to increase significantly as consumers become aware of its advantages. At the same time, offering the service is an incentive for the store as it generates income while satisfying the customer,” says Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen. “A modern family can easily have 30-50 active warranty cards covering a variety of household items but many people don’t have an overview. Warranty Hotel can provide that overview when they buy the product, and older warranty cards can be registered as well” Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen. Better Service in Jupiter Søren Jensen, owner of the bicycle chain-store Jupiter Cykler, has used Warranty Hotel since 2010 and is very happy with the solution: “We are now able to provide much better service than before. In addition to helping the customers keep track of their warranties, we can also offer our help if the bicycle is stolen. And through Warranty Hotel, we find the necessary documentation immediately.” Visit www.WarrantyHotel.com for further information, or contact info@LSRetail.com LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 15 Surtidora Departamental at the Vanguard of Profitability For more than 40 years, Surtidora Departamental has been the choice in fashion, footwear and household goods in Guadalajara, Jalisco. With five stores downtown and in the south of Guadalajara, Tonala and Puerto Vallarta, and more than 70 points of sale (POS), the hallmark of Surtidora Departamental, in addition to the wide selection of products and competitive prices, is the philosophy to use innovative technology to guarantee the optimal customer experience through fast and efficient service. The need to improve operating efficiency to increase profits As one of the key players in the retail industry, Surtidora Departamental had to consolidate its management, and optimize operations to become more competitive and profitable. The company needed reliable and timely information about sales, acquisitions and inventory to make decision-making easier. “The company needed an enterprise management system with POS, as well as the interface to synchronize the information of the daily transactions from all the stores with the back-office; a process that used to be slow and inefficient”, said Mr. Omar Hernández, System Manager at Surtidora Departamental. An end-to-end system would allow Surtidora Departamental to make the operation at checkout smooth, to design promotions based on demand, to provide credit options in the different departments, and to effectively manage the loyalty program using a digital wallet. The company also required a robust technology option, which had to be able to support a bigger volume of transactions in peak season and at night-time clearance sales. “Working with a single interface was not productive at all; just synchronizing the POS information used to take up to eight hours. At night-time clearance sales, we used to have a limit; we couldn’t exceed that limit because that required a higher number of transactions, processing capacity and time to synchronize data, which affected the opening of the store the following day. It was impossible to open at the scheduled hour because the balance and transactions of the day before hadn’t been updated yet”, said Hernández. 16 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 “The company needed an enterprise management system with POS, as well as the interface to synchronize the information of the daily transactions from all the stores with the back-office; a process that used to be slow and inefficient.” Mr. Omar Hernández, System Manager at Surtidora Departamental. Surtidora Departamental opts for easeof-use and flexibility The company selected Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail – the Retail Management solution that manages all the processes from the POS to accounting. The systems’ strength and ease-of-use was a major influence in the decision making process, as well as their flexibility to support the company’s expansion strategy. Fillgap, a certified Microsoft and LS Retail partner was in charge of implementing the solution. This involved teamwork and joint efforts because Surtidora Departamental didn’t stop operating at any point during the process. According to Hernández, “Fillgap’s consulting team analyzed different choices in order to implement the points of sale in a single session; four stores were migrated at the same time. Achieving this successfully on due date was fantastic, in my opinion”. Daily sales increased between 30 and 40 % while night-time clearance sales increased by 50% Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail resolved all the commercial logistics, enabling the creation and release of online promotions and their automatic replication at all the POSs, optimizing the data synchronization, increasing the information reliability and centralizing the credit system and loyalty program management. The new systems also allowed managing the inventory online and helped improving the acquisition, sales and invoicing processes; as well as the company’s finance administration. As a result, the daily sales increased “between 30 and 40%, while the night-time clearance sales increased by 50%”, said Hernández. “The added value was the cooperation between Fillgap and Surtidora Departamental’s teams, working as solution seekers in order to solve any issues related to the project,” concluded Omar Hernández, System Manager. For further information about Surtidora Departamental please visit: www.surtidoradepartamental.com Please download the full story at www.LSRetail.com or at www.fillgap.com Innoware, Microsoft Ukraine and LS Retail Collaborate on Seminar for Restaurateurs In November Innoware together with Microsoft Ukraine and LS Retail organized a seminar for top-managers and owners of restaurant chains. The seminar focused on modern technologies to improve the effectiveness of restaurant chains. During the event, current trends within restaurant business development in Ukraine and abroad were discussed and analyzed. Innoware and LS Retail also presented LS Retail Hospitality based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, the solution for restaurant business management. LS Retail Hospitality is a proven solution for restaurant management that meets all the specific needs of the business – from taking an order from a customer and its preparation all the way to cost and profit accounting and obtaining analytical reports on business results. The solution integrates well into the existing IT infrastructure of an enterprise and has an interface familiar to users of Microsoft applications. Katja Ocvirk, who is in charge of partnership development for LS Retail in Central and Eastern Europe, took part in the event. Mrs. Ocvirk raised many interesting topics for the hospitality sector and restaurant business, providing participants with the information on tools used by their colleagues in other countries. She also discussed technology development trends within the sphere of hospitality. Workshop participants had an opportunity not only to get familiar with the functionality of the LS Retail Hospitality, but also to discuss possible ways of solving important problems for restaurateurs such as: how to calculate the real cost of production and control it, how to attract new customers with the help of loyalty programs, how to manage effectively the delivery of goods, how to avoid embezzlement, and so on. The founder and director of the Ukrainian chain of pizzerias “Mamamia”, Alexey Tyurin, created a lot of buzz with his contribution at the seminar. His chain has just recently implemented LS Retail Hospitality. Mr. Tyurin shared his point of view about the principles he followed while choosing the management system for his restaurant business and why he is convinced that his company has a strong competitive advantage now. “You simply need to use this tool, if you are going to be competitive – success does not only depend on the cuisine, atmosphere and interior of your restaurant.” Vitaly Kurdyumov, Partner and Business Development Director at Innoware, commented: The LS Retail Hospitality solution, represented by us at the event, meets all needs of the restaurant business. The best proof of it is not only well-known names of the international companies using this solution but also all the satisfied users. I would like to quote one of our clients who said: “You simply need to use this tool, if you are going to be competitive – success does not only depend on the cuisine, atmosphere and interior of your restaurant.” LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 17 Europe’s Largest Indoor Market Chooses Worldly Solution Photo collage from various images from www.debazaar.nl Europe’s largest indoor market and multicultural meeting point, De Bazaar, has selected LS Retail from K3 Business Solutions, to further improve its payment process. „The LS Retail POS solution fits perfectly with our strategic focus on standardization and efficiency.” Richard Hulshof, head network administrator at De Bazaar The ‘Black’ Market in Beverwijk, the Netherlands, was founded in 1980 and has received a high number of visitors ever since. Exhibitors can offer their products through a spot on the ground, a stand or market shop. The rental period for these spots can vary from a single day to a week, or for a longer period of time. The Bazaar also offers season tickets to exhibitors who would like to have the same spot every weekend. K3 Business Solutions, from the Netherlands is the IT partner of De Bazaar for the implementation of their solution, which is based on LS Retail NAV. It supports retailers around the world in their pursuit to streamline the payment process and will now be installed at De Bazaar. The project will be executed in cooperation with Qurius Nederland BV. 18 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 Richard Hulshof, head network administrator at De Bazaar states: „The LS Retail POS solution fits perfectly with our strategic focus on standardization and efficiency.” About K3 Business Solutions K3 is a Microsoft ERP Gold Competency and LS Retail Partner and is part of the K3 Business Technology Group Plc from the UK. About De Bazaar De Bazaar has been the place where different cultures meet and products such as antiques, clothing, books and fruit & vegetables have been offered for over 30 years. Besides the well-known, ‘Zwarte’ Markt, De Bazaar consists of the Oosterse Markt, Grand Bazaar, Computer market, Hal 30 and outdoor markets with a total of 2.500 stands. Over 50.000 people visit De Bazaar on a weekly basis. K3 delivers standard software solutions to the retail and wholesale industry based on the Microsoft Dynamics™ platform. Their focus is to simplify and improve processes and increase business efficiency for companies throughout the supply chain. For further information, please visit www.debazaar.nl For further information, please visit www.k3business.nl/ LS Retail NAV 6.3 Buy the Right Amounts and Reduce Markdowns with Allocation Planning Allocation Planning is about buying the right amounts of items from the start. Getting your allocation planning right will increase your profitability by optimizing your order process, reduce markdowns and lower capital binding in inventory. The Allocation Plan is a high-level tool for buyers to plan their season for selected items or a full category of items. It is a part of the LS Retail NAV Replenishment module and supports the buyer in: • Planning the buying process • Allocating planned quantity • Allocating to stores and customers • Planning warehouse buffer quantity as percentage of the store quantity In general it is used to prepare a season and preplan how to distribute retail items. The Allocation Plan is either Distributed where the quantity to distribute is decided and defined, with weights deciding the quantity for each store, or Defined where the quantity for each store group is defined and the system then calculates the total quantity. An Allocation Plan can be used to create Purchase Order(s), Transfer Orders and/or Sales Orders. Default Allocation Rules and Dimension Patterns can be created and linked to Items to speed up this preparation process. The same user interface and methods of distribution are now supported in Cross Docking and Buyer’s Push How Do I Improve My Franchise Operation? A key factor in creating a prosperous franchise business is to ensure that the entire franchise network adheres to the same branding strategy, however costly or demanding it may be. With dozens of Franchisees, it takes time, money and effort to guarantee compliance to brand principles and swift reaction time, unless you have proper tools.LS Retail Franchise management is a simple and cost-efficient way to manage the cooperation between the Franchiser and the Franchisee. The LS Retail Franchise module handles replenishment and communication between two legal entities, usually a Franchiser and a Franchisee. An example might be a company operating in three different countries. What the Franchise management handles is: • Item Master consistency. The Franchiser defines which items are to go to the Franchisee by defining Item Distribution to Customer or Customer Group. A batch job writes the item to the Outbound Buffer which then is moved to the Franchisee when the system transfers the data to Item Import, which is a part of the Replenishment add-on module. Item Import creates or updates the Item Master. • Document Communication. The Franchisee can pull goods from the Franchiser by creating a Purchase Order which is moved to the Franchiser when a Sales Order is created. The Franchiser can push goods from the Franchisee by creating a Sales Order which is moved to the Franchisee when a Purchase Order is created. The system supports additional documents like Sales Order Shipping and Sales Order Invoicing. The Franchiser can make multiple shipping from the same Sales Order or multiple receiving on the same Purchase Order Document. • Items and prices per Franchisee. LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 19 LS Retail NAV 6.3 Do You Know Who Is Stealing from You? These days, basic surveillance simply isn’t enough to guarantee that your retail loss-prevention efforts will bear fruit. Any serious attempt to combat losses must also involve comprehensive POS systems data analysis and exception-based reporting to identify unauthorized discounts, “sweethearting,” invalid returns, and cash shortages. The principle objective of LS Retail Loss Prevention is to preserve profit by reducing losses to the company. Shrinkage is estimated at an average of 1, 45% or more of the annual sales turnover in retail and therefore proper measures need to be taken. LS Retail uses transactions generated by the POS as a basis for this functionality. Transactional data contains a number of interesting parameters such as: Refunds to cash, refunds after closing hours, refund from credit card A to credit card B, discounts over a given amount and sales outside opening hours. These are triggered and events are created. Events can be analyzed by store, POS, staff and date & time. Events can also be escalated to incidents. Incidents can be created if events pass a pre-defined threshold. The LS Retail NAV Loss Prevention functionality includes 20 predefined standard triggers that can be turned on and off as required. These include, for instance, cashier behavior analysis and can trigger alerts and/or reports. It addition, the users can define their own triggers that target their special needs. Extend Your Hospitality Business by Integrating an Offline Call Center LS Retail is now introducing new feature for Hospitality: Offline Call Center. Its aim is to guarantee immediate response to requests in an offline environment and total control over when to request and receive orders and other messages. 20 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 With the Offline Call Center it is possible to have separate databases, for instance for the Call Center and the Restaurant. Web services are used as communication between those two. The communication becomes more direct and productive by using web services. An example of the interaction between the call center and restaurant would for instance be like this: • The Call Center takes an order and sends it to the Restaurant. • At any time the Call Center can look up the order at the Restaurant as well as changing or cancelling the order. • When the order is finalized a message is sent from the Restaurant to the Call Center. • It is also possible for the Restaurant to auto-update the order and send a message regarding it to the Call Center. • The Call Center can also request a status update on the list of orders or estimated timing of orders. LS Retail NAV 6.3 Do You Want Your Customers to Spend More Money in Your Store? LS Retail takes loyalty to the next level LS Retail Membership Management incorporates a fully integrated membership management system with extensions to make it easy for organizations to collect very powerful information about the customers, collecting their sales data and make them benefit from their previous purchasing. In LS Retail NAV the focus of the Membership Management, including Loyalty, Offers and Coupons, is to make these attractive for the customers. If the customer benefits enough by joining a well-defined club, the businesses that offer them will collect important data about the behavior and interests of the customer and target him or her in the most effective way. There are many possibilities in offering the customers benefits, for instance a whole range of different discounts and specific pricing, and the collection and usage of points within different schemes. Discounts are traceable, which gives the ability to limit the benefits and simplify the analyzing process. Serial Coupons can be awarded directly to customers in which case usage is tracked, or the usage of a general magazine coupon by a loyalty member can be limited to only twice. Coupons can be used as a discount, payment or to trigger a more complex offer. It is quite simple for enterprises to activate new benefits for their customers. The information that is collected through the system is a basis for offers that can be pointed towards the right customers, for instance customers who have not bought anything during the last three months, have spent an amount below some defined target amount, have collected some points but not used them, or as simple as having an interest in golf. The ability to generate additional sales by offering loyalty members double points until at the end of the month is yet another possibility. The way this functionality is built up allows further development with even more sophisticated functionality. Is My Staff Selling the Right Products? Encourage your staff to sell more and sell the right items with LS Retail Sales Commission Being able to grant employees a Sales Commission can be stimulating for sales in the retail sector. But it is also important to be able to control which kinds of sales trigger a sales commission and to whom it is paid, to set reasonable targets and use them to increase the sales and/or direct the sales to older stock or more profitable items. LS Retail Sales Commission is a framework where several types of Sales Commission Rules can be defined. They can be allocated to staff members in different roles, one or more. The type of commission can be either based on transactions or certain sales targets. An example of transaction-based sales commission might be selling specific items or a group of items that would trigger a sales commission for the sales person and other employees at the retailer’s choice. Sales targets are normally based on fulfilling certain aims for sales during certain periods. It is possible to choose certain goods that will trigger the sales commission or a selection of goods that are defined in an Item Group within LS Retail NAV system. Although sales commission is normally linked to certain item or items, it can also apply to all items sold during a certain defined period. LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 21 Getting a 360 Degree Vision of the Business from a Single Application Prin is a market-leading chain of five stores in the Dominican Republic that sells top quality clothes and accessories for infants, children and adolescents at competitive prices. The company was founded in 1984 and offers its customers a comfortable and pleasant place to shop. In order to meet the demand of their customers Prin offers several item categories, namely babies, children, girls, furniture, maternity, shoes, toys, food, school and list management services. Solution to Streamline Processes Prin was looking for a retail application to fit its business and to increase efficiency among the staff, which was often tied up in time-consuming manual procedures and data entry. Therefore the company was looking for a solution that would streamline processes, eliminate the inefficient use of human resources and to enhance the efficiency of economic resources. Among the challenges the company wanted the new system to solve were management of POS, having 20 POS in 5 different locations, store management, replication of data, inventory management, replenishment, loyalty program, management of credit sales, financial management and payroll and HR. LS Retail NAV – integrated solution on one platform Prin chose Sistemas de Gestion and LS Retail NAV, based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The reason for this choice was the fact that LS Retail NAV offers an integrated solution on a single platform that enables Prin to integrate the administrative and financial operational areas of the company in a single database. It also enables the effective management of daily operations from anywhere in the database from any location. They also looked to the fact that Sistemas de Gestión has extensive experience in the retail industry, with an existing base of satisfied LS Retail NAV customers. Increased Productivity Now after the implementation of LS Retail NAV, data is fed electronically from one department to another, which frees up other resources. This has led to an increased resource efficiency and productivity in the stores. “The implementation of LS Retail and Microsoft Dynamics NAV has enabled us to obtain a solution where our vertical business management requirements: Finance, Purchasing, Stores an Point of Sales, are fully integrated, getting a 360 degrees vision of the business from a single application, accelerating productivity and generating confidence in the decision-making process.” Antonio Ramos VP of Marketing and Sales at Prin. For furhter information, please contact info@LSRetail.com 22 LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 “All Roads Lead to Rome” LS Retail Gold Sponsor at Directions EMEA 2012 LS Retail will be Gold Sponsor at Directions EMEA in Rome 25-27 April 2012. Come and visit us and find out everything about our new LS Retail NAV 6.3 product with exciting features including: DASVERK DESIGN / LSR1211 • • • • • Sales Commission - Transaction and Sales Goals Allocation Plan - Top Down and Bottom Up Loss Prevention Offline Call Center Membership Management including Loyalty and Staff, Schemes within Clubs, Discount Traceability • Offer and Coupon Improvements • Transaction service supported through Web Services • Data Director 3 support with monitor Directions EMEA is exclusively dedicated to NAV where the latest trends and happenings in the NAV Community are explored. Attendees will experience educational seminars with industry leaders, enlightening updates from Microsoft executives, and an opportunity to exchange information with other NAV partners. The primary goal of the event is to: • Help build a stronger and more engaged Dynamics NAV channel community • Enhance the NAV Partner communications and relationship with Microsoft For furhter information on Directions EMEA 2012, please visit http://www.directionsemea.com/ We at LS Retail look forward to meeting you in Rome! LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 23 LS Retail Partner Conference 2012 LS Retail will hold the 12th annual LS Retail Partner Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland May 13-16th 2012. The LS Retail Partner Conference is the premier LS Retail event where Partners, LS Retail, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Microsoft come together. The Partner Conference will be a combination of Keynotes, Technical Workshops as well as seminars for sales and marketing professionals. This year’s conference will have a special focus on LS Retail NAV 6.3 and 7, Mobility, new products based on .NET, and finally a look into the future lab. Main Agenda: • Sunday: Arrival and opening reception at LS Retail offices with stunning mountain and sea views • Monday: Full conference day with activity and dinner • Tuesday: Workshops and an ISV exhibition and cocktail reception followed with adventure dinner • Wednesday: Meetings at LS Retail offices and departure The conference guests will be hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel Saga (link: http://www.radissonblu.com/ sagahotel-reykjavik) Our last conference sold out very fast. Please register as soon as possible at: LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012 24 www.LSRetail.com/partnerconference2012.aspx Highlights for 2012: • Roadmaps and upcoming versions • Release of LS Retail NAV 2009.3 • Development/Technical and Sales and Marketing Workshops • Delving in to specific retail scenarios • Exhibition and Cocktail reception • LS Retail honoring outstanding partners - Platinum, Gold and Special awards • Exciting after hours program • Sightseeing trip before/after conference (scheduled upon request)