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
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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.
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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
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LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012
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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
[email protected]
For further information on LS Retail,
please contact [email protected]
LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012
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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.
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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:
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2012
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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.
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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.
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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
[email protected]
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,
[email protected] or
Carsten Wulff,
[email protected]
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
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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
[email protected]
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.
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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 [email protected]
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.
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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
[email protected]
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)