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Fashion retailer Gant rolls out Cegid software across Europe
26 Mar '21
4 min read
Pic: Cegid
Apparel retailer, Gant, with over 750 stores in 80 countries, is completing a roll-out of Cegid Retail’s Unified Commerce Platform across Europe, to improve stock management and customer service across multiple channels and territories. The cloud-based point-of-sale and merchandising solution has been added in France and goes live in the UK in March.
The roll-out is part of the brand’s strategy to introduce more omni-channel and digital technologies and standardising systems throughout the group. The initiative follows a move to bring more of its overseas franchise partners under the same roof, such as Portugal and Spain during 2020, as wholly-owned subsidiaries, sharing the same processes and accelerating a shift towards more digital services like ‘click-and-collect’, according to Gant.
In addition to its network of stores and e-commerce sites around the world, roughly half of global sales are via wholesale and selling through franchise partners and over 4,000 selected retailers and department stores. Gant’s best-selling product internationally remains a white ‘Oxford’ shirt. Its most popular shirts come in five or six sizes and colours are often dictated by seasonal trends, so Cegid’s software has to be able to determine which sizes and colours are selling at what rate, Gant said in a press release.
“Without a single view of stock across e-commerce, wholesale operations and retail stores, the challenge for many retailers, is knowing at any given time where stock actually is. To avoid too much stock in stores you need to be flexible and allocate (inventory) directly to the channel that sells the most. And better visibility and automated replenishment means less capital expenditure tied up in stores,” Peter Joelsson, global IT director at Gant said in a statement.
To compound the issue, the apparel brand stocks a wide range of style combinations to suit varying tastes and regional preferences. For example, UK customers tend to favour short-sleeve shirts, while Nordic countries prefer long-sleeved. However, few stores are big enough to stock everything, so ranges need to be carefully curated. Offering customers access to digital catalogues in-store (increasingly, these days, on mobile devices) provides more choice and better service, he says. It’s another digital add-on service, referred to as ‘endless aisle’, that’s helping retailers bridge the divide between traditional stores and online retail.
Other digital services and mobile solutions are being piloted and considered for further rollout across the group. Live video-streams have been used in some stores to stay in touch with the customer, particularly when stores were forced to close during lockdown. Gant has also been trialling a few of Cegid’s mobility tools, including a mobile inventory module (for instance, to help staff carry out stock checks directly on the shop floor) as well as a mobile point-of-sale solution (to enable staff to serve customers and process payments while on the move), Gant said.
“Gant now has much better reporting systems in place for accurate, up-to-the-minute information on stocks, customers and sales across all channels. For consumers, it expects to reduce the number of returns by providing images and better information on sizing. It also hopes to align sales and distribution by having a more accurate picture of stock availability and location, ultimately cutting costs and speeding up delivery options by determining the nearest store, warehouse or reseller. Cegid’s cloud software offers standardised tools, which means it’s quicker and easier to deploy and add new services like ‘click-and-collect’, as well as open new stores in different countries,” Joelsson added.
“We’re helping Gant rebuild its foundations and lower costs by adopting standardised processes and having a cloud-based system to manage multiple retail operations across the globe,” Alan Holcroft, country manager, UK and Northern Europe at Cegid said.
The roll-out is part of the brand’s strategy to introduce more omni-channel and digital technologies and standardising systems throughout the group. The initiative follows a move to bring more of its overseas franchise partners under the same roof, such as Portugal and Spain during 2020, as wholly-owned subsidiaries, sharing the same processes and accelerating a shift towards more digital services like ‘click-and-collect’, according to Gant.
In addition to its network of stores and e-commerce sites around the world, roughly half of global sales are via wholesale and selling through franchise partners and over 4,000 selected retailers and department stores. Gant’s best-selling product internationally remains a white ‘Oxford’ shirt. Its most popular shirts come in five or six sizes and colours are often dictated by seasonal trends, so Cegid’s software has to be able to determine which sizes and colours are selling at what rate, Gant said in a press release.
“Without a single view of stock across e-commerce, wholesale operations and retail stores, the challenge for many retailers, is knowing at any given time where stock actually is. To avoid too much stock in stores you need to be flexible and allocate (inventory) directly to the channel that sells the most. And better visibility and automated replenishment means less capital expenditure tied up in stores,” Peter Joelsson, global IT director at Gant said in a statement.
To compound the issue, the apparel brand stocks a wide range of style combinations to suit varying tastes and regional preferences. For example, UK customers tend to favour short-sleeve shirts, while Nordic countries prefer long-sleeved. However, few stores are big enough to stock everything, so ranges need to be carefully curated. Offering customers access to digital catalogues in-store (increasingly, these days, on mobile devices) provides more choice and better service, he says. It’s another digital add-on service, referred to as ‘endless aisle’, that’s helping retailers bridge the divide between traditional stores and online retail.
Other digital services and mobile solutions are being piloted and considered for further rollout across the group. Live video-streams have been used in some stores to stay in touch with the customer, particularly when stores were forced to close during lockdown. Gant has also been trialling a few of Cegid’s mobility tools, including a mobile inventory module (for instance, to help staff carry out stock checks directly on the shop floor) as well as a mobile point-of-sale solution (to enable staff to serve customers and process payments while on the move), Gant said.
“Gant now has much better reporting systems in place for accurate, up-to-the-minute information on stocks, customers and sales across all channels. For consumers, it expects to reduce the number of returns by providing images and better information on sizing. It also hopes to align sales and distribution by having a more accurate picture of stock availability and location, ultimately cutting costs and speeding up delivery options by determining the nearest store, warehouse or reseller. Cegid’s cloud software offers standardised tools, which means it’s quicker and easier to deploy and add new services like ‘click-and-collect’, as well as open new stores in different countries,” Joelsson added.
“We’re helping Gant rebuild its foundations and lower costs by adopting standardised processes and having a cloud-based system to manage multiple retail operations across the globe,” Alan Holcroft, country manager, UK and Northern Europe at Cegid said.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)
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