L’Occitane to roll out new IT solution to all stores around globe
International cosmetics brand L’Occitane is to next year roll out a new retail IT solution that includes its Point-of-Sale and replenishment needs across its entire 700 company-owned stores that will help it reinforce its desire for a centralised technology infrastructure.
By Glynn Davis
Speaking at the Cegid Retail Connections 2009 Conference in Monte Carlo last week Vincent Weider, group IT director for L’Occitane, told delegates that the roll out to its stores after the first quarter of 2010 will follow the company’s successful trial of the Business Retail software solution from IT vendor Cegid in its 28 stores in Australia.
The pilot was undertaken in March following a proof of concept in Hong Kong and involved a quick two-week installation of the solution in the Australian stores. The solution encompassed all L’Occitane’s PoS activities along with replenishment, merchandising and reporting tools. In addition it needed the capability to be able to also run its loyalty programme, marketing campaigns and e-commerce operations;
Among the pilot’s aims was to investigate whether the Cegid software “matched the commercial structure of L’Occitane around the world and would overcome the language barriers of a global retailer”. Weider says it also hqd to adhere to the key objective for L’Occitane with all its IT solutions is to select best-of-breed products.
“We do not go for integrated solutions as we want to go for market standards and so do not do in-house systems. We were a pioneer in centralising IT in order to share best practice around the world,” he explains.
Following the quick completion of the roll out of the software to all the Australian stores the decision was made deliver the product around the world. Weider says: “We will wait for Christmas to finish qnd there willthen be qn opportunity to roll it out to Asia, but it will not be before Q1 2010”. The rest of the group’s 700 outlets around the world will then follow.
This process will involve each of the regions in which it operates modifying the core of the solution to suit their needs although Weider states that the group’s desire for a centralised IT infrastructure that adheres to global IT standards will mean these changes are modest and no new elements can be added.
