STORES Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 84)

NUTS AND BOLTS / POS Function Forward Charlotte Russe finds new POS system a good fit BY KAREN M. KROLL Finally, the system was ill-equipped to handle regulatory requirements like PCI compliance. Moreover, the hardware in Charlotte Russe’s stores was aging. Store-level training Wong and his colleagues debated whether it made more sense to upgrade the existing system or install a new one before settling on the latter course of action. This allowed Charlotte Russe to move to a Java-based platform, which better supports connectivity between store locations and corporate headquarters, says Wayne Usie, senior vice president of retail with Scottsdale, Ariz.based JDA Software Group. Also key was a system that allows for rapid and intuitive training at the store level, Wong says. Like most retailers, Charlotte Russe hires large numbers of store associates for the critical holiday season, and needs them to hit the sales floor running. The retailer also was looking for a system that incorporated several other applications, such as workforce scheduling and customer relationship management. For stores to be as profitable as possible, managers need to be able to match employees’ schedules with sales continued on page 88 WWW.STORES.ORG C harlotte Russe targets hip, trend-savvy and value-conscious teen and twenty-something women. That means offering up-to-theminute fashions, such as nautically striped T-shirts, polka-dotted jackets, short shorts and crocheted tanks. “Our business model is based on fast fashion,” says Ed Wong, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer for the San Diego-based apparel retailer whose annual inventory turns are in the double digits. “We move a lot of units at moderate prices.” About 80 percent of products are sourced domestically, Wong says, which enables the company to respond quickly to shifts in the ever-fickle young adult market. It’s not only the fashions that move quickly: Charlotte Russe now boasts about 440 stores across the country, and has been adding 50 to 60 WHAT TO EXPECT stores annually for the past several years. Until early last year, however, the company’s stores Better matching of had been making do with a “well-serviced, less-updatsales employees to ed” POS system, Wong says. While it got the job done, traffic patterns it lacked the capacity, scalability and transaction speed More efficient labor that the rapidly expanding company required. scheduling In addition, the system was unable to provide the level of customer service that management desired. Improved deploySales associates were unable to acquire customers’ ment of employees names and, therefore, were unable to develop any sort for operational tasks of customer database, for example. 84 STORES / APRIL 2008 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - April 2008

STORES Magazine - April 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page More Retailers Bagging Monthly Comp-Store Reports Time-Warner Center's Economy-Defying Results What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Eating Locally Grocery Concept2Watch Restaurants Online Services Marketing Human Resources Product Lifecycle Management E-Commerce: Peer Reviews Drive Online Buyers Kiosks Recycling Operations Payment Systems POS Logistics E-Commerce: Getting Personal Website Management LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - April 2008

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