Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes, has stripped out £1m in stock at the same time as introducing new ready to wear and bespoke ranges into its stores following an overhaul of its IT systems.
The company has changed the way it allocates stock in its 11 stores, four concessions and a recently relaunched ecommerce business following the introduction of a Microsoft Dynamics management system from K3 Retail. This has enabled the redesign of Gieves & Hawkes’ stock management, finance, reporting and supply chain.
The new systems were commissioned to enable the company, famous for bespoke suits, to support growth in the off the peg market.
Gieves & Hawkes is using a Microsoft CRM system to identify customers both online and at the point-of-sale in-store, so they can retrieve customer details and call up their transaction history, and other recorded information.
[asset_ref id=”1446″] Gieves & Hawkes shop at No 1 Savile Row.
The new system has also enabled the retailer to build a new product line, from design, to sourcing, to production. As a result, it is now producing items as varied as shoes and eyewear; whereas just two years ago, 95 per cent of merchandise sold was suit jackets and trousers.
Andrew Merriman, chief operating officer of Gieves & Hawkes, said: “Thanks to the centralised solution, staff now have the ability to see stock levels in the warehouse and across the stock estate. Therefore, if a customer asks for a tailored suit that is not available in-store at that time, staff can check if the materials are available on the system and still process the order, opening up a whole raft of opportunities for trade. K3 has revolutionised the way our staff work, and our customers have really noticed the difference and very much appreciate it.”
The retailer also now has greater visibility over stock, and has reduced its stock holding by 20 per cent – equating to a £1m saving. In addition, its proportion of ‘new’ stock to ‘old’ stock has improved, with 90 per cent of stock in-store now ‘new’ as per the retailer’s wishes – a higher proportion than ever before.
