Cannelle Lingerie is focusing on merchandise planning to achieve sales objectives

Cannelle Lingerie is focusing on merchandise planning to achieve sales objectives

Cannelle Lingerie, part of the Mulliez Group, has selected Cegid’s retail management solutions to completely overhaul the systems at its head office and store network.

At the beginning of 2009, Cannelle Lingerie became the first retailer to implement Cegid’s .Next Planning and Open to Buy expert modules. More recently, Cannelle Lingerie also selected .Next Assortment to optimise buying and assortment planning.

After many years of struggling with an aging and cumbersome system, Cannelle Lingerie, which is the second largest lingerie chain in France, with more than 120 stores, launched a major project to replace its IT system for the headquarters and the stores.

Replacing legacy systems

The new solution had to be flexible and reactive, with best-in-class functionality, especially in purchasing management. After a series of meetings with the industry’s key software providers, the company selected Cegid’s merchandise management and electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) solutions, as well as the .Next Merchandise Planning, Open to Buy and Assortment modules.

"We wanted an integrated solution to manage the entire business, including our stores and franchises, without having to create multiple interfaces. We were also looking for a software partner to support us with budget construction, seasonal assortments and advanced replenishment," said Sandrine Smith, Cannelle Lingerie supply chain manager.

"We operate with a permanent product line, regularly adding new products, some of which extend from one season to the next. If you add theme and colour management, plus numerous sizes, especially for bras, defining objectives and adequate assortments becomes a major challenge," she pointed out.

The primary ambition of the brand is to meet its overall targets whilst giving each product manager the autonomy to manage their activity based on pre-defined objectives.

Optimise sales and replenishment objectives

Each of Cegid’s value-added modules has helped Cannelle Lingerie to consolidate sales and purchasing budgets at different levels. Operational since early 2009, the .Next Planning and Open to Buy module enables retailers to determine sales objectives (season, product, equivalent stores, network) according to previous years' track records. The modules also enables Cannelle Lingerie to set up pre-season budgets and purchasing authorisation according to certain indicators, like sales figures, margin, markdown rate and stock.

"Every Monday morning store and product managers have a complete view of their performance," explained Smith. "Each manager can review the data, perform a number of what-if scenarios, and then fine tune the sales strategy. This allows the managers to anticipate their activity with full knowledge and a clear view of the results."

As well as improving in-house productivity, the company aims to optimise assortment management to maximise sales and net margins.

As Smith observed, “Early feedback from users has been very positive. Not only is the solution easy to use, but it has also improved and streamlined our business processes – the close cooperation of our project teams from day one can attest to that”.

Assortment optimisation

Following the success, Cannelle is soon to implement the .Next Assortment module which will enable the company to improve range planning and management (size, colour, price), in order to reach the objectives set at the start of the season.

This second step will be at the heart of budget construction for Autumn/Winter 2010. She concluded: "Although we're in the early stages, the possibilities offered by the expert modules are enormous. The equation is simple; I can make more informed purchasing decisions, have more accurate stock levels per store, which increases sales so we finish the season with minimum stock."