Clothing business Slaters uses new retail business software to update store processes and boost sales

Clothing business Slaters uses new retail business software to update store processes and boost sales

Slaters was established as a menswear retailer in Glasgow in 1973 by Ralph Slater and is still owned and run by the Slater family. Though its head office remains in Glasgow, the organisation has branched out significantly and today boasts 25 stores across the UK.

As well as extending its reach with stores, Slaters has also extended its products beyond menswear – adding formal hire in 2004 and ladieswear the following year. In addition to own-brand suits and work wear, Slaters also sells items from designer ranges such as Aquascutum, Ben Sherman, Ted Baker and others. Slaters also provides formal hire of Scottish highland wear, dinner suits and morning suits.

Unusually though, Slaters is a High Street retailer without a High Street shopfront. Slaters’ business strategy is to locate just off a main street or on a first floor site, enabling it to pass on the benefit of lower overheads by offering affordable quality to customers. Location is not its only differentiator – each store is home to a team of tailors and seamstresses offering free alterations. And the company also offers a free personal shopping service.

Finding system to match service levels

“We do everything possible to ensure our customers have a truly enjoyable shopping experience with us,” said Slaters financial director, Paul Rose. “Our staff aren’t on commission – their target is solely to put the customer first and help them find what they want, with the minimum of fuss.”

Slaters legacy retail software was becoming unreliable. The company decided it needed a new retail solution for their stores to bring the technology up to date and provide confidence that its electronic point of sale (EPoS) system was futureproof.

After evaluating a number of products, Slaters decided that a best-of-breed EPoS solution was the best fit and chose Retail-J from Sanderson. As well as finding the right software, it was particularly important for Slaters to find the right supplier to partner them in a longstanding relationship. “Retail-J gave us the assurance of a leading EPoS solution and it was matched by the strong skillset and experience Sanderson has in the fashion retail sector,” said Rose.

Once the decision was made, Slaters wanted the new system up and running as soon as possible; Sanderson proactively managed the implementation and Retail-J went live across 90 EPoS in all 25 stores within just six months. Sanderson also supplied and installed new IBM hardware for each point of sale. Standard Retail-J functionality fitted all store processes, with some additional enhancements from Sanderson enabling Slaters to capture deposit information for each ‘hirewear’ sale.

Improved service and retail operations

Immediately, the benefits were apparent in the stores. The new technology is enabling a far smoother transaction for the customer. Beyond that, the implementation has delivered wider business benefits – by upgrading to a modern, best-of-breed solution, Slaters is now on a par with other retailers using sophisticated EPoS systems. Promotions, loyalty schemes and special orders, for example, are simple to administer and manage. “Retail-J enables us to use technology to meet market demands in a way that would never have been possible with our old system, certainly not without expensive and time-consuming development work,” Rose said.

With hirewear orders, for example, Slaters is able to create a specific customer order at the EPoS, whereas previously this was a manual, paper-based process. Now, with Retail-J, Slaters manages the entire process simply and easily. Orders are created and accompanied by the required deposit. Order analysis and reporting gives an accurate and up-to-date view of special orders at every store.

The system’s promotions functionality has transformed promotions management for Slaters, since any format can be set up quickly and simply. Slaters can use this to match a local competitor’s offer, for example. Alternatively, managers can use the data provided by reports to identify poorly performing lines and set up a short-term promotion to boost sales – a promotion can be set up on the system in a matter of minutes. What’s more, multiple promotions can run simultaneously for different stores or products.

Benefits felt behind the scenes

Behind the point-of-sale improvements, other benefits have been seen with stock management. Real-time data is enabling Slaters to see which products sell best in which locations; automated store replenishment means top sellers need never go out of stock. “The comprehensive reporting from Retail-J enables us to react very quickly to sales trends within the stores,” confirmed Rose. “We can see at a glance how each store is performing, right down to each product line.”

Point of sale data is fed continuously to the Retail-J server via a wide area network (WAN) providing real-time updates of central systems. An interface then provides batch updates of the EPoS data into Slaters’ head office system. The new system is providing Slaters with real-time, accurate data which allows immediate management decisions to be made on business issues as soon as they arise.

The system is crucial to Slaters’ ongoing success and profitability, and has proved a perfect fit for the retailer: “We are very happy with the service Sanderson provides and we are confident that both the system and Sanderson will continue to support us for many years to come,” concluded Rose.