Suit hire firm Moss Bros is predicting a £10m revenue boost next year after implementing a central customer system across its 150 stores and online channels.
Previously the company, which specialises in wedding and evening attire, had separate systems and databases for instore and online customers. This meant customers were unable to order online then pick up their goods instore. From now on, customers will be able to shop, order and collect across stores and online.
Moss Bros Group head of IT Brett Grobler said the company expects to make at least £10m more next year as a result of its £1.8m two-year project to bring the two systems together to provide a unified view of stock and customers.
Moss Bros was losing money being unable to check stock availability across channels. “Customers would walk out of stores if we didn’t have their size available, but often we had the stock available elsewhere,” said Grobler.
He said the business case was an easy one to make. “Our strategy is not based on money-making. It’s based on whether we wanted to be around in the next five years or not. That makes the business case very simple.”
Moss Bros rolled out a multiprotocol label switching live network and replaced routers with unified communications provider, Daisy. The company is also using a business operations platform by business process management and cloud platform provider Cordys.
Part of the project included upgrading the company’s instore till system. Tills have been bespoke-built using Dell hardware and Linux and Java software.
