British luxury sportswear brand, Cole Buxton have deployed retail software vendor Cegid Retail’s mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution. The deployment in its London flagship store is part of a drive to grow and expand the business internationally. Cegid Retail mPOS helps store associates serve customers, check stock and process payments from anywhere in the store, directly using iPhones.
Amar Dehal, Head of Operations at Cole Buxton, says that the “queue busting” technology was essential. It reduces waiting times for customers. Especially after its experience during lockdown when customers queued outside the store. As a result, staff had to bring out devices to avoid lost sales.
“You can’t keep customers waiting too long. You need to be able to check them out then and there. Or, if a product isn’t available, have it delivered to their preferred location, whether it’s at home or a hotel.”
Cole Buxton started out in 2014 with the idea of redefining contemporary sportswear to suit the modern man’s lifestyle. Six years later, following increasing online sales and a growing range of over 300 items, the label decided to open its first physical store in London’s Soho. The store was opened in 2020 between lockdowns. At a time when global demand for loungewear, tracksuits and comfortable clothing was on the rise.
Planned international growth
The physical store sales now account for around 15% of annual sales. In 2021, 70% of sales were direct-to-consumer (DTC). Cole Buxton wanted to keep sales through wholesale partners and department stores down to a minimum.
The retailer projects annual sales of £20m in 2022 amid rising sales abroad. Notably 15% in the US and 10% in Germany. New stores are being considered in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Berlin.
Prior to opening its first physical store, the brand experimented with pop-up stores in 2019. The experiment relied on “a fairly basic” fixed POS system that “wouldn’t have allowed the business to grow internationally. Furthermore, it did not allow staff to serve customers effectively while on the move.”
Dehal knew that the company needed to invest in an innovative and functionally rich POS solution. A solution that could serve its developing retail system requirements abroad. Furthermore, it needed to comply to local compliance regulations and provide a building block to support growth over the next 10 to 15 years.
A fast implementation
The company chose Cegid Retail mPOS, which was implemented in just under 12 weeks by Cegid’s UK-based reseller MWC Partners. MWC also developed a wireless payments connector to facilitate integration with Planet, a leading payments provider.
“In a short space of time, store staff had added over a £100k in sales. This was directly (attributed) to using Cegid Retail mPOS,” says Steve Watson, Chairman of MWC Partners. The retail software also integrates with Shopify, which Cole Buxton uses for cataloguing products online. This ensures it has up-to-the-minute, accurate information on customers, stocks and sales.
“Everything is automatically shown up in Cegid Retail mPOS. This gives improved visibility across all warehouses and stores,” adds Alan Holcroft, Country Manager for Cegid. “And mobile and queue busting tools help boost sales and ensure a fluid retail experience.”
Enterprise Times: What this means for businesses.
Cole Buxton has an interesting philosophy for its new flagship store in London. The store is viewed as the ideal platform to allow the fashion designers and founders Cole Buxton and Jonny Wilson to communicate directly with customers about their values as they grew the business beyond a digital-only model. Industry research indicates that consumers are returning to the high street to complement their digital activities. Ensuring the customer has a superior in-store experience is vital, hence Cole Buxton’s investment in Cegid Retail mPOS technology. Anecdotal evidence suggests there are still far too many queues on the high street. Perhaps other retailers should explore adopting similar technologies.
