Dunelm is one of the most successful home furnishings retailers in the UK and is enjoying rapid growth, which promoted them to look at their existing business systems. Dunelm stated “we recognised that to make a good choice for our new system, we would need support from a specialist.
We met a number of consultancies before deciding to work with PMC. … PMC helped us to find a solution which we believe will be right for us. Their expertise allowed us to define the brief, manage a structured process and gave us access to the knowledge and experience we did not have in house.”
Read case study ... |
 Retail Perspectives
Sign up for our E-commerce and Online Marketing Newsletter.
|
|
|
Thresher Quote
 PMC helps Thresher Group implement Centralised Stock Replenishment system
Thresher Group (formerly First Quench) is the UK's leading independent specialist drinks retailer, operating around 2,000 shops and employing over 15,000 people across the UK. Thresher Group operates under several different fascias, within two distinct business units of 1400 wine-led shops and 650 drinks retailing stores. The ‘wine-led’ business unit incorporates Threshers and Wine Rack stores, while ‘drinks retailing’, includes the value driven Victoria Wine, Bottoms Up, Drinks Cabin, and in Scotland, Haddows.
Recently, Thresher Group instigated a significant business-wide systems update to improve central control, implementing JDA including a Merchandise Management System (MMS) and a new Centralised Stock Replenishment (CSR) system.
Andy Stables, Head of Merchandising, Thresher Group, states: “Traditionally, store managers ordered from a product catalogue on a weekly basis. That meant 2,000 regional stores ordering independently and 2,000 unknowns - even the best inbound planning in the world will still struggle to maintain effective availability. We could specify the right stock for a promotion, an event or regular sales but store managers tended to pull out more than they need and straight away we had a distributed stock problem.”
“Things had to change, so we decided to move to a ‘push’ distribution model based around a central stock control system. It’s more efficient to move one lever to make something happen than rely on lots of distributed and independent levers.”
Thresher Group first piloted the CSR system in two stores. By the time they had reviewed the results, it was October and they were heading into the Christmas trading period, so it was decided to delay further pilots until the following year.
When Thresher Group re-started the programme, however, they soon faced some significant issues. The data from the two-store pilot was hardly representative of their 2,000-store estate and their merchandising teams began raising organisational, accountability and process concerns. These concerns translated into limited faith in the system and a fear that it could fail and leave stores without stock.
Simon Thomas, IT Director, Thresher Group, explains: “The last piece of our central control jigsaw was to remove the overhead of manual stock ordering from the stores and implement the CSR system. However, we faced significant problems with accountability, motivation, readiness and confidence in the system.
“Those issues, coupled with a lack of knowledge within the business on how to extend CSR to the whole estate, led us to search for an external consultant to review the capability of our entire function - not just the system itself but the way it was being used – and give us a way forward.”
Thresher Group appointed retail IT specialist Paul Mason Consulting (PMC) Limited to carry out an evaluation programme, which examined the system and the processes. It highlighted the problems facing the Thresher Group, validated many of their concerns and presented an action plan to implement CSR.
The action plan was based around a programme called ‘Learn and Prepare’. This developed roles, accountabilities and procedures, required system enhancements, and provided a plan to extend the pilot. As the initial two-store pilot had provided little useful data, PMC designed a statistically valid extended pilot covering 86 stores across the range and grade of the Thresher Group estate. This included all store formats, sizes and demographics, product grades, turnover and customer types.
Thomas confirms: “ We chose PMC because they have vast retail experience, considerable understanding of JDA and specific skills in implementing CSR systems for retailers. They were sensitive to our needs and the retail business - that demonstrates a good retail consultancy.”
The ‘Learn’ phase did not involve Thresher Group in lots of detailed training, it simply took them back to basics to ensure everyone understood CSR, their individual roles and how to use the system. Thresher Group moved on to the ‘Prepare’ phase, which tested the implementation procedures and prepared the stock injection models. This prepared the ground for an aggressive rollout.
As CSR represents a significant change in culture for their stores, Thresher Group appointed the manager of an early pilot store to support their manager network. Feedback from managers is collated and then sent to Thresher Group HQ to provide factual information on the acceptance of CSR and continue the ongoing learning.
Nick Connolly, CSR Project Manager, Thresher Group states: “Before we go live with a store we prepare briefing packages and presentations to ensure the store managers understand their role and how the system operates. Now they no longer place orders, most recognise that the CSR enables them to spend more time doing what they do best - interfacing with customers. It also enables us to run a tighter ship.”
“Without PMC we would have struggled implementing CSR and we would have ended up wasting time and money. They helped us make the most of our investment.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
