Studii de caz

Sprider Stores

Novensys, a successful partner for Sprider Stores

„By implementing the integrated solution Microsoft Dynamics NAV - LS Retail, the company gained several competitive advantages on the Romanian retail market. The sales volume of the Sprider Stores network increased fast, but thanks to the multidimensional reporting and analysis tools for sales we are now able to improve the accuracy of purchase orders for the best sold items in Romania, obtaining better time-to-market rates. From our point of view, the application implemented by Novensys offers in practice all options required by a modern retailer on a dynamic market, like the local one is", states Georgios Dionysatos, General Manager of Sprider Stores Romania.

About the company

Officially entering the Romanian market in January 2007 by opening the first store in the City Mall in Bucharest, the Greek group Sprider Stores rapidly evolved at national level by opening another 5 stores in the next 15 months. Sprider Stores Group, the main clothing retailer on the Greek market, is an active presence in South-East Europe with some 60 stores opened in the region (belonging to the Greek company only and not being operated as franchises), in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Cyprus and Macedonia (besides the 11 stores in Greece). The Greek clothing retailer, established in 1971, entered the Balkans in 2000, when it opened the first store in Bulgaria.

Our client's situation

The success of the first Sprider Stores shop in Bucharest increased the expansion speed of the Greek company in Romania, inaugurating the sixth store in Oradea in April 2008 after the openings in Bucharest, Timisoara, Targu Mures, Bacau and Cluj.
The aggressive expansion policy, as well as the need to coordinate the company's activities with the head office of the parent-company in Greece, soon pointed out the necessity for a centralized information management system that would enable fast adaptation to the requests of local market, as well as a real visibility of the operations both of the local head office and of the office in Greece. The decision to choose the information management system Microsoft Dynamics NAV from Microsoft integrated with the application LS Retail (from LS Retail) was based on the requirement for the activities in Romania to comply with the information management system of the parent-company Sprider Stores Group in Greece.
This imperative eased the identification process of a implementation partner in Romania, the company Novensys being first choice for the Greek head office of the Sprider Stores Group. The decision was based on the high level of expertise of the company Novensys as a solutions integrator, as well as on the fact that in Romania it is one of Microsoft's main business partners (Microsoft Gold Partner, with the highest sales records of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX in H1 2007 - the Microsoft fiscal year). The superior level of competence in integrating the Microsoft application with the LS Retail solution, certified but many customers in the retail business area (a business area in which the customer portfolio awards Novensys with a leading position) also contributed to this decision.

The solution

The advantages of Microsoft Dynamics NAV
The Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution efficiently addressed the request for consolidated data and real time reporting tools, required both at the head office in Romania and at the parent-company in Greece. Superior capabilities of centralized management of activities throughout the whole store network enabling real time visibility of operations in every single store allowed for continuous optimization of strategic business processes to faster respond to market changes through the solution from Microsoft.
The scalability and flexibility of the Microsoft NAV solution permitted the adaptation of the application to specific requests, resulting in a simplification of operations at store manager level through:

• enabling fast access to critical information (such as sales, revenue, purchases, payables, etc.)
• easier configuration of inventory operations
• improved visibility and control over stock levels
• real time access to relevant information on customers, such as payment terms, invoicing and shipping methods, purchase history, etc.

At central level, the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV enabled Sprider Stores Romania management to access:

• consolidated data, received in real time
• advanced reporting possibilities on profit centers, the possibility to trace the profitability for every store
• close tracing of payment terms
• superior control and evidence at every level (sales, purchases, distribution, stocks, customer relationship, etc.)
• identification of risk factors which can result in blockages
• traceability of operations
• total control over the financial situation
• elimination of activities carried out manually and shorter booking times
• fast employee access to updated information in real time, while benefiting from the Microsoft interface, ensuring high user acceptance rates
• close tracing of customers and orders, greatly increasing customer satisfaction.

Reaching this high degree of efficiency was possible through the fast and efficient implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV application at all company levels, resulting in a good costs/quality ratio. At the same time, an increase in reporting speed and accuracy was achieved (through the centralization of information flows throughout the entire Romanian network), a strict requirement for the head office of the Sprider Stores Group in Greece.

Consolidating the advantages with LS Retail

The benefits of the implementation of the Microsoft application in the Sprider Stores retail chain in Romania were fastened by the integration with the LS Retail solution, developed by LS Retail, a specialized application for retail companies.
Based on Microsoft and Microsoft Business Solutions technologies, the solution from the company LS Retail facilitates the integration process, while guaranteeing a unitary information management system with no blockages in information flows between back office and head office. The users gain access to the information provided by the application Microsoft NAV, the integration also offering the advantage of a unitary interface at all levels (though which can be freely configured) and the system administrators only manage one single system.
LS Retail is a worldwide acknowledged software application with integrated features for sales management and automation, thus being an efficient management system specially designed for the retail sector. The application is available with a modular structure (having the main components LS Retail Basis and LS Retail Plus POS) and enables the management of the whole retail process, from head office all the way to the POS terminals. (In fact, the application allows a high level of granularity, enabling the identification of every single transaction from the POS to the general accounting system. The LS POS module is seamlessly integrated with the other LS Retail modules and with the application Microsoft NAV, ensuring superior efficiency by increased operating speed and easier and error-free operation.)
LS Retail quickly proves its usefulness in centralized management of pricing policies of retail chains, creating a direct link between head office and sales centers. At store level, LS Retail puts a broad range of options at store manager disposal, such as: local price definition and reductions management, editing and printing of item and shelf labels, goods receipt, reporting and statistics generation, day-end procedures, etc.
The main competitive advantages resulting from the application for the Sprider Stores retail chain in Romania, most valued at central office level, are:

• the unitary application architecture enabling companies to configure the application in accordance with their specific needs without investing in customized solutions
• price management (pricing policies, item and item group discounts, customer and customer group discounts, multiple purchases etc. can be managed at store level)
• control and storage of information from all stores
• BI features, facilitating multidimensional analysis of information from any level
• inventory management (transfers, adjustments, stocks levels, etc.)
• merchandising and replenishment features
• employee and vendor performance management by monitoring profitability, purchase order fulfillment, etc.
• warehousing and store operations automation by using mobile computers and bar code technology
• bar code printing
• administration of hundreds of POS systems
• remote reporting and management capabilities
• online data update.

By implementing the LS Retail solution within the Sprider Stores network in Romania, the company gained centralized and efficient management that enables visibility and control of business critical areas (such as peak times in sales and times with poor sales, depending on the period of the year). The result was a unitary control, analysis and action tool that can intervene fast and efficiently.

Benefits

„The fact that Novensys could carry out the first step of the implementation in just two weeks represented a major advantage for the development of the Sprider Stores network in Romania. To this success contributed the Novensys implementation policy with outstanding customer services - in fact, all our requests were optimally handled in the shortest possible time. At the same time, we got and are still getting consistent support - it was and is a great help. These things are showing in the competitive advantages we gained - orders that are perfectly adjusted to the demands of the Romanian market, faster goods receipt and easier access to more accurate information on sales costs. Through the user-friendly application and thanks to the support offered by Novensys, the end-users are satisfied and user training doesn't take longer than two days. At the same time we spend less time and money on reporting procedures which allows us to access the sales history from the first store we opened filtered by days, weeks an months", and these are only a few of the main benefits resulting from the implementation by Novensys which Georgios Dionysatos, General Manager at Sprider Stores Romania, considers worth mentioning.
All these benefits resulting from the growth in productivity and competitiveness, together with a more efficient administration, are showing in an increase in efficiency in the Sprider stores in Romania, as well as at head office level, a fact confirmed by the rapid countrywide expansion of the network.
„For companies, the benefits of the integrated solution Microsoft Dynamics NAV - LS Retail result in certitude, control and peace of mind, efficiency in business management and competitive advantages. It is very important to us to be able to offer our customers solutions that are making all the difference on a continuously changing market. Novensys provides all services - from planning to implementation, as well as permanent support, ensuring that the implemented solution truly satisfies our customers' needs", states Cezar Golumbeanu, Managing Partner Novensys.