Scottish fashion chain Wilkies has rolled out Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to speed up communications to and from Europe
Clothing, shoes, accessories and homeware chain Wilkies has implemented EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to support its relationship with European brands and trading partners like German premium fashion label Olsen, for whom EDI is a mandatory requirement.
The Scottish chain, which recently opened its eleventh store in Castle Douglas, says it rolled out Futura’s EDI module to improve its speed of response in the competitive fashion sector, deepen relationships with suppliers and extend the choices available to customers across its store network.
“Retail moves very fast and one of the things which singles us out and which has enabled us to attract the best concession partners is our ability to give them the critical information which they need to drive sales in our stores,” said Clare Beck, financial director of Wilkies.
International requirements
“Without doubt our MIS has been a major factor in our continued success. However as we expand and look at some premium international brands we recognise that different suppliers have different requirements especially in Germany. For Olsen an upmarket European label having EDI was non-negotiable.”
Beck explained that the implementation of the solution turned out to be the biggest challenge, mostly because it is completely different from anything they had done before.
“As well as completely satisfying Olsen’s automatic trading requirements, EDI opens access to even more fantastic brands. We simply create new partner accounts as we extend our brand offerings without costly or time consuming set up, putting us ahead of our competitors.”
Led by Managing Director Karen Forret following a management buyout in 2012, Wilkies has stores in Edinburgh, North Berwick, Falkirk, Helensburgh, Kirkcaldy, Peebles, Gaslashiels, Largs, Stirling, Dundee and Castle Douglas.
