Family Dollar has
invested $58 million in technology related projects this past year
which includes its major Project Accelerate imitative and plans to
upgrade its POS systems across all of its stores in order to support an
expanded selection of payment options.
According to Howard R. Levine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Family Dollar, "The completion of the point-of-sale refresh this year
will increase the convenience of our checkout processes as it supports
an expanded selection of payment choices. In addition to supporting food
stamps as a form of tender, our new point-of-sale technology also
enables us to accept credit cards. And while cash remains the tender
type preferred by our customers, debit cards, credit cards and food
stamps are becoming a larger part of our payment mix."
Family Dollar also is focused on improving the shopability of more than
3,500 stores through the realignment of selling space to support an
expanded assortment of consumables. The chain has increased the appeal
of these stores through improved signage and more intuitive merchandise
adjacencies.
"The investments we have made as part of our Project Accelerate have
provided us with greater visibility in store planning, assortment and
pricing capabilities as we have lowered inventory risk, increased
inventory turns and improved gross margin return on inventory," says
Levine.
To further improve gross margin in inventory activity, this year Family
Dollar intends to expand its private label offering, enhance global
sourcing capabilities and make additional investments to strengthen its
pricing efforts.
Styles For Less Upgrades POS and Back-Office Infrastructure
|
Styles For Less uses Epicor Retail software suite to support chain
expansion, streamline operations and strengthen processes around
industry requirements and mandates. To support upcoming plans for
expansion, and to address business requirements such as PCI compliance,
Styles For Less sought to update its retail Point-of-Sale and back
office infrastructure. Styles For Less selected the Epicor Retail
software suite, which includes the following:
-Epicor Retail Store: Provides point-of-sale (POS), returns management,
data exchange and configuration tools functionality, along with Epicor
Retail Mobile Store to support wireless devices for extending store
processes beyond the register and workstation.
- Epicor Retail Merchandising: Streamlines operations, unifies asset
management, and manages business.
- Epicor Warehouse Management: Ensures merchandise quickly flows from
receiving through distribution to store shelves to optimize
productivity, streamline operations and reduce stock-outs.
- Epicor Retail Planning: Links financial plans, assortment plans,
buying plans and individual store plans - and combines Merchandise
Planning and Assortment Planning with visual tools to identify what's
needed at both the chain and store level.
- Epicor Audit and Operations Management: Designed for multi-channel
retailers, the solution accepts transaction data from any channel (POS,
kiosk, Web or catalog), centralizes and verifies it for anomalies, and
then feeds the clean and accurate data to the retailer's downstream
systems. The module includes Sales Audit, Loss Prevention, Voucher
Management, and Employee Productivity and Commission components.
- Epicor Retail CRM: Provides a 360-degree view of the customer
including a broad set of complementary tools to build and manage loyalty
programs, execute and manage campaigns and promotions, analyze customer
databases and transaction information across sales channels, segment
and manage lists, and analyze and measure the impact of CRM efforts.
- Epicor Financial Management: A suite of financial applications for the
global enterprise that enables organizations to operate efficiently,
comply with fiscal regulations, underpin strong corporate governance and
drive performance.
Under the agreement, Styles For Less will also leverage Epicor Retail
Services for system configuration, implementation and training, as well
as new IBM and DigiPOS hardware. The company plans to pilot the project
in October 2009, followed by a six-month rollout beginning in January
2010 to its corporate headquarters and all 120 store locations.
"Among our key criteria during the selection process was to find a
partner that could help us address compliance requirements today while
supporting our plans for expansion tomorrow," said Augie DeAngelo,
executive vice president and CFO, Styles For Less. "We are confident the
automation built into every Epicor module will increase efficiencies as
we continue to expand our chain. Epicor gives us the ability to make
retail decisions faster, smarter and better without the need for extra
resources."
