Premium G-Star RAW Footwear brand relies on Eurostop to integrate stock control and merchandising across Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Spain
London-based G-Star RAW was first established in 1989 and quickly found fame for introducing ‘luxury denim for the streets’, fusing quality and functionality with cutting edge style to create an inspirational range of clothing for men and women. At the beginning of 2007, the company extended its denim fashion range to include the latest premium urban shoes and boots via licensee Overland Shoes. The footwear range displays G-Star’s unique technical craftsmanship with its unconventional approach to design.
Proven retail expertise seals the deal
When Overland Shoes began to retail G-Star’s new footwear range, it required a highly versatile solution that could easily be rolled out in different countries, was able to accommodate the language aspects of running a European operation and integrate seamlessly with the company’s STYLEman wholesale distribution system.
After reviewing a multitude of retail systems, Overland Shoes named Eurostop as their preferred supplier, impressed by their excellent reputation in the marketplace as well as the vendor’s pan-European capabilities. They also liked the easy-to-use Windows-based interface provided by Eurostop’s portfolio of retail management solutions.
According to Richard Thompson, Merchandise Manager of Overland Shoes, “We looked at a lot of retail systems but Eurostop’s proven and unrivalled expertise in the clothing and footwear market finally clinched the deal. They came highly recommended and their technology offered the flexibility and superior functionality we needed to handle the language aspects of running a truly pan-European business. This winning combination inspired us with confidence and we expected a quick return on investment.”
Overland Shoes originally installed Eurostop’s e-rmis head office management and e-pos retail systems to handle stock inventory and capture sales of the newly launched G-Star RAW footwear at two stores in Holland and Germany. Eurostop integrated seamlessly with Overland’s wholesale and warehouse systems to ensure tight control of more than 400 styles and sizes from day one.
Implementation grows with thriving business
Since first deploying Eurostop, Overland Shoes has created a highly efficient mechanism for communicating between UK headquarters, including the finance department, and the growing number of outlet stores across mainland Europe. It effectively links the company’s STYLEman wholesale distribution system with the Eurostop retail system to track and replenish stock quickly and accurately. Today, the Eurostop solution covers six major outlet stores in Belgium, France, Holland and Spain with plans to support two more stores when they open next year and work alongside G-Star RAW’s footwear concessions in Germany sometime in the next 12 months.
Automation drives efficient stock control
Staff selling the G-Star RAw brand of footwear at Overland use Eurostop to keep track of stock levels at their respective outlet stores and order more stock, if necessary. When stock is received from the warehouse, they simply scan it and this automatically confirms to the warehouse that the order has been successfully delivered.
Overland has even configured the Eurostop system to replenish stock automatically twice a week according to the agreed stock targets for each store.
High visibility is vital to pan-European success
Richard Thompson praises the transparency of the Eurostop system, adding, “At a glance, shop staff instantly see what they have and can order more whenever they want it keeping stock levels high and customers happy. At the same time, our central warehouse has a clear and complete picture of what needs to be shipped at any point in time across all parts of our European retail chain. In a short space of time, Eurostop has visibly tightened up our stock control processes and become vital to running our multi-national operation smoothly and professionally.”
One-stop-shop offers powerful merchandising benefits
One of the biggest benefits of using Eurostop is its ‘one-stop-shop’ approach enabling Overland to view, store and execute all stock control, inventory and replenishment information and activities from a single, integrated system.
Most recently, Overland has purchased e-cubes, Eurostop’s data mining module to interrogate and report on sales and customer data at all six outlet stores, particularly valuable in an industry where preferences for footwear often vary from country to country.
Richard Thompson continued, “The recent acquisition of e-cubes is a massive bonus. This innovative reporting product from Eurostop gives us the hard data we need to make informed commercial decisions. We know which lines are selling well at different stores and can quickly move stock around to meet the style demands of different cultures. Extremely easy to use, it also means we can quickly introduce carefully tailored promotions and special offers that help us boost sales and foster customer loyalty in a way that just wasn’t possible before Eurostop.”
Keeping customers happy in every country
Phillip Moylan, Sales and Marketing Manager at Eurostop concluded, “Successful retailers need to ensure that they have robust, secure systems that can support their businesses as they expand. Dynamic brands like G-Star RAW also need the latest information at their fingertips to spot the hot sellers and less popular lines and so give customers in different countries exactly what they want. Eurostop’s expertise is in understanding the challenges that international organisations face and deploying web-based technology that is easy to use, yet provides a fully automated, scalable retail management tool.”
