Kookai migrates core IT to France

Fashion retailer's IT will be run from its headquarters to cut costs and increase visibility

Kookai expects to save by moving product warehousing to France

Fashion retailer Kookai is moving its core systems run from the UK to its French parent company in a bid to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.

As of end of June, the firm's main platforms such as stock management software and electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) systems will be run from the company's head office in Aubervilliers.

The move will drive a "major change" to the business, which will involve the elimination of UK-based depots as products will be shipped directly from France to ensure faster delivery turnaround, said the firm's finance director Daniel Price.

"By having the systems run from the headquarters, our parent company will gain improved visibility of the UK store network, so they can react to market trends accordingly," Price told Computing.

"And there are obvious cost advantages to be had in consolidating system management."

Another project geared at improving store processes was the rollout of an electronic data interchange (EDI) platform intended to enhance the reporting of business critical information.

Kookai does not have a direct link with the EPoS systems where its concessions are located and its products can be purchased at any till within a department store.

Such arrangement meant sales staff would spend significant amounts of time in admin-related tasks such as collecting purchase tickets, reprocessing and reconciling data at the end of the trading day, to be entered onto the firm's back-office systems.

Risks associated with the manual process included data input errors and the failure to collect tickets, which resulted in inconsistencies in stock replenishment and sales performance.

To tackle the issues, implementation of the Kewill-supplied EDI system began in September 2008 and was completed in February 2009.

"The new system improved accuracy when reporting information, saves staff time, increase productivity and improves replenishment which should boost sales, " said Price.

The roll-out suffered a delay of approximately five weeks caused by the need to make changes to the firm’s central stock management system - now to be replaced by a French platform.