THE LS RETAIL

NewsLETTER SEPTEMBER 2010

Nicholby‘s

The right technology is the sweetest thing Impactsoft automates the MEXX, Calvin Klein and Pinko stores PT Multi Citra Abadi customer story Pharmaceutical IT and pharmacy solutions

Array of add-on solutions for Dynamics AX for Retail

Limoni for complete information systems renewal

Project grant for Marketing Intelligence

LS Retail is a Global Supplier of Software Solutions and Services for the Retail and Hospitality Industry

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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DESIGN AND LAYOUT: DAGSVERK.IS

IN THIS ISSUE YOU FIND:

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New worlds

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Limoni for complete information systems renewal

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LS Retail Consulting growing

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Impactsoft automates the MEXX, Calvin Klein, and Pinko stores

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KIWI Minipris – Discount in a different way

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LS Retail and Microsoft with a LATAM Road Show

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W gains benefits with LS Retail NAV

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DVS presents LS Retail at GITEX 2010

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New employees

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Project grant for Marketing Intelligence

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Array of add-on solutions for Dynamics AX for Retail

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LS Retail Store Manager Portal and Commission released

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Nicholby’s. The right technology is the sweetest thing

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Pharmaceutical IT and pharmacy solutions

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LS Retail NAV certification exam

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Domovoi selects LS Retail from Impactsoft

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Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail training world tour

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Blue Mountain service guests with fully integrated solution

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A New Connector

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PT Multi Citra Abadi customer story

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LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

LS Retail ehf. · Hofdatun 2 · 105 Reykjavik Tel: 354 414 5700 · Fax: 354 414 5710 www.LSRetail.com · [email protected]

LS Retail into New Worlds Our partners sell and support LS Retail solutions from over 120 locations around the world – from the Philippines to California, from Iceland to South Africa. This fall we will expand our footprint in the new world when we join Microsoft for the second roadshow in Latin America. Last year we presented LS Retail in cooperation with Microsoft in Argentina and Brazil. This year we will visit Mexico (where we are already very well represented by Fillgap), Columbia, Argentina and Chile. The purpose of the roadshow is to strengthen the relationship with existing LS Retail partners, introduce LS Retail for NAV in new markets and establish a channel for the upcoming suite of addon products for Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail. In cooperation with Microsoft we plan to organize certification training for the new Microsoft Partners. LS Retail is also entering a new world in another sense – we are heading for the “Clouds”. Our partners who attended the LS Retail Partner Conference in Paris saw Jörg Schmikale and SaaS Plaza conduct one of the first tests of streaming an LS Retail NAV POS from a central host to a local PC. Since then we have tested the solution with hosts in Europe and USA against local PCs in for example Japan. We are happy to report that Walter Steiger of New York has been up and running on a hosted LS Retail solution from SaaS Plaza for two months.

“LS Retail has been sold to 136 new customers in 2010 – among them some very large installations like Limoni in Italy.”

LS Retail is continuing to make a massive investment in new products. The release of LS Retail NAV 2009.1 last spring was the most comprehensive version in six years. This fall we prepare an array of new releases. Version 7.1 of .NET based LS POS will include a lot of new functionality including the Store Controller, which enables the POS to function as a standalone POS, and it also comes with an ERP connector to facilitate the integration to 3rd party ERP solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains). The AX team has now released the LS Retail Store Manager portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail and more modules like Retail Staff Commissions will be released in the coming months. Our flagship product line, LS Retail NAV, will do its second major release (LS Retail NAV 2009.2) this year in Q4. Although the market conditions are still affected by the financial crises, LS Retail NAV is doing well –

“LS Retail is continuing to make a massive investment in new products. The release of LS Retail NAV 2009.1 last spring was the most comprehensive version in six years.”

thanks to the excellent work of our partners. LS Retail has been sold to 136 new customers in 2010 – among them some very large installations like Limoni in Italy. Starting up in new offices, expanding our partner network in LATAM and an ambitious release plan on three platforms strengthens LS Retail’s position as the leading Retail ISV for Microsoft Dynamics in the world. [email protected] LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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LIMONI S.p.A. selects Microsoft Dynamics and LS Retail Microsoft Italy and NTT Group engaged for complete information systems renewal Limoni S.p.A. is a leading company within the sales and distribution of cosmetics in Italy, with countrywide presence. Late in the year 2009, Limoni started looking for a new solution with complete integration of retail, distribution and finance operations with a service partner that could guarantee a successful integration process. The company was founded in the nineties through the merger of several perfumeries into one chain, which since has become the leader in its field in the home market with over 500 stores. The requirements called for a

scalable solution that could grow with the expansion of the chain and would simplify processes and support the management in the decisions. After a thorough selection process, where all areas of the business operation were evaluated, Microsoft Dynamics NAV with LS Retail was considered best suited for all the necessary functionality, and the choice also ensured fast implementation. The Limoni project plan assumed that the new system would be up and running within seven months. Moreover, both local and international references indi-

cated that Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail together were a proven and efficient solution. LS Retail Consulting Services will take an active part in the project. [email protected]

LS Retail Consulting growing The base training is, as before, the number one service but with the update training that position is being challenged. The three days’ training session focusing on new features from LS Retail NAV 2009.1, Replenishment and InStore processes has been quite well received by the partners. “We have been training our new partners as well as our previous ones and got great feedback from many of our long term colleagues in the partner channel,” Högni continues. “In light of the response we have had, we expect this part of our training to continue to be on the top list in the months to come and we will definitely meet this demand with new agendas following the next release from the NAV team, which will be especially rich in features. The traditional part of the training is no more the fastest growing part of the consulting at LS Retail. The consultants are now increasingly taking part in many projects along with the partners.” “The reason for introducing the Consulting Services as a formal offer was the demand from our partners and it has proven to be very well received,” Högni says. Since the Prague Conference, LS Retail has been busy assisting partners in all kind of projects. These projects range from helping a new or an existing partner in installing a few stores to creating an architectural overview and de4

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

sign for several hundred stores or making use of the Data Director in multi-country setups. “As we anticipated this is helping the partners to finish projects faster and better plus it builds up an even better relationship with the partners and provides excellent feedback for the development. We see the partners we have worked with wanting us to participate immediately in the next projects which is the best feedback we can get and we are already adding to the team to meet the growing demand,” Högni says. [email protected]

“Since the LS Retail Consulting Services was introduced at the last Partner Conference in Prague, the LS Consulting team has been kept pretty busy. The partners responded very well to our offers and are challenging us with all kinds of service requests.” Högni Hallgrímsson, Director of Consulting Services

BNS Group (MEXX, Calvin Klein, Pinko, etc.) Impact-Soft automates the MEXX, Calvin Klein, and Pinko stores using LS Retail for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The Centralized Management System During the project the software already in use at the stores is to be replaced gradually with LS Retail. In new stores LS Retail will be installed according to the project plan. As far as a POS system was concerned, BNS Group decided to use the existing one in the stores. This entailed developing a docking module for this system and LS Retail, which allows the upload of information on items, prices, discount cards, sales promotions, cashiers and sellers. The information on sales and returns is imported from the cash register. The result of this integration between the POS-system and LS Retail is a centralized management system for cash registers that allows the company to manage any POS at any site from the headquarters. The JSC BNS Group, which manages stores such as MEXX, Calvin Klein, Pinko and more, has implemented LS Retail on the basis of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. At present the network consists of 99 fashion stores in 11 cities. The implementation was managed by Impact-Soft, the most experienced Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in Russia with 16 years’ experience in the IT-market. The decision to replace the existing software was taken because of its lack of functionality and limited capacity which was becoming an obstacle in the development of the business. Requirements The company was looking for a system that included the automation of activities involving the management of financial and material resources of the enterprise, personnel, accounting calculations with various debtors and creditors, budget support, detailed cost accounting, automated calculation of item cost, support for taking management decisions.

“There is still work to do. But now we can say that we have a replicable and scalable solution that allows us to open new stores with minimal cost and in a short period.” Oleg Andreev, Director of IT at JSC BNS Group.

“A rapid expansion of the retail network is impossible without a modern and functional information system. The decisive selection criteria for our choice were the scalability and the code replication of LS Retail, the fast implementation process, as well as the ability to cope with large volumes of management information in a geographically distributed retail network and the ability to support the work of a complex warehouse,” says Oleg Andreev, Director of IT at JSC BNS Group.

One of the main criteria of BNS Group for selecting LS Retail was the presence of budgeting: “With the business growth, budget handling is getting ever more important. Operative planning, analysis and control of budgets are very important issues. The implementation of budgeting in Microsoft Dynamics NAV allows budget analysis in the real time. We can eliminate a lot of manual operations. The financial department reduced the number of employees,” says Mr. Andreev Replicable and Scalable He reflects on the results of the implementation of LS Retail: “There is still work to do. But now we can say that we have a replicable and scalable solution that allows us to open new stores with minimal cost and in a short period.” The company plans to open a number of new brand stores in the near future which will be an easy task with LS Retail. As for the system – it does not require any major modifications. The loyalty system will be developed further and the introduction of bonus cards and various marketing actions are planned. [email protected]

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KIWI Minipris – Discount in a different way Kiwi (originally named Alta) has been using LS Retail solutions for more than 10 years in its 58 supermarkets. Over the years, IT manager Peter Bruun has provided a lot of valuable feedback to LS Retail, which has resulted in new or improved functionality. In 2008 the chain was taken over by Supergros and Norgesgruppen – larger corporations within the food and grocery market. The new owners changed the name and concept to the successful Norwegian discount store concept – KIWI Minipris. KIWI was expected also to replace its Landsteinar Retail solution to align with company policy. However, in the evaluation process KIWI decided to continue with LS Retail and upgrade to LS Retail 5.1 and use it as the platform for further expansion. “We are very happy, that we could continue and expand our cooperation with Kiwi,” says Stig Madsen, Department Manager of Logica (formerly WM Data), which has been servicing Kiwi over the years. In addition to upgrading LS Retail, we also installed 8 new supermarkets. Unique Loyalty Card The most exciting part of the project was to customize LS Retail to support a new unique Loyalty Card Concept – Bummelum Kortet (The Poo Card!). This loyalty card is especially directed towards families with babies. When using the card, the LS Retail Transaction Server keeps track of how many packages of diapers

the card-holder purchases and then automatically every fourth package is free. Within a year 34.000 cards have been issued and over 280.000 transactions processed without any administration. “The management of our retail operation has become extraordinarily efficient through Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail. Furthermore - the cost of running our IT systems is less than one percent of the turnover through standardization and because it is an integrated end-to-end solution. And with 10 years’ experience of using LS Retail and NAV, we know that everything works,” says Peter

The most exciting part of the project was to customize LS Retail to support a new unique Loyalty Card Concept – Bummelum Kortet (The Poo Card!). Stig Madsen, Department Manager of Logica

Bruun Kjaerbye IT manager of KIWI Minipris. KIWI Minipris expects to install the solution in another 20-25 supermarkets in 2010, bringing the total number of stores up to around 80. [email protected]

LS Retail and Microsoft team up with a Latin American (LATAM) Road Show Roadshow 1

LS Retail is now in cooperation with Microsoft Latin America for the 2nd time in a LATAM Retail Road Show, to commence on September 22nd and end on October 22nd 2010. The large size of the South American market, together with a relatively high disposable income from a section of the population, has acted as a potent magnet for international retailers looking for new developing markets. But hidden in this promising outlook are a number of distinctive challenges that successful retailers in this market need to tackle in order to achieve high performance.

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LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

• Sept. 22-23 Wed-Thu, Venue: Mexico Roadshow 2 • Oct. 14-15 Thu-Fri, Venue: Colombia • Oct. 18-19 Mon-Tue, Venue: Argentina • Oct. 21-22 Thu-Fri, Venue: Chile LS Retail with Microsoft and other ISV partners will aim to tackle these challenges with the roadshows. It will include two tours, starting in Mexico, September 22nd to 23rd and will be hosted at the new Microsoft offices in Mexico. The second tour will start on October 14th and will include Colombia, Argentina and Chile.

One day will be allocated to customers and prospects and another to partners and meetings with internal Microsoft employees. The press has also been invited to the roadshow events. For further information and to book meetings, please contact [email protected]

W gains benefits with LS Retail NAV TCNS Clothing Company Pvt. Ltd is a $37 million apparel manufacturer and exporter with a strong presence in both domestic and international markets. W set up its first Brand Store in Delhi in 2002-03 and today W has 30 Brand stores and a total of 110 touch points which includes multi brand outlets such as Ebony, Shopper’s Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloon, Debenhams and many more across 22 cities. The W stores are designed in line with the brand identity - spirited, contemporary and innovative to lend a pleasurable shopping experience.

Key Challenges With the committed philosophy “Creating Fashion with Passion for the modern Indian woman”, TCNS faced various challenges on the operational front. The company was working on local systems for back-end and POS and lacked the functionality to automate management tasks, which caused substantial processing delays and frequently led to data-entry errors, which were then propagated in the system and passed on to the POS locations. With the limitations of the old systems in mind, TCNS found that it was not cost-effective to develop new functionality for its custom-built system. The addition of new stores, which coincided with the expansion of the company’s inventory mix, the need of data synchronization, the ability to track and plan inventory transfers to stores, and the requirement to monitor sales only compounded these problems. Solution Delivered TCNS’s aim was to have a single integrated system allowing for better management decisions through analysis and reporting by means of an end-to-end integrated solution which would increase stability, resilience and speed. TCNS conducted multiple meetings with various solution providers. The product which stood our far above the rest was LS Retail NAV built on Microsoft Dynamics, an end-to-end solution for the retail industry. Exclusively distributed through Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS), TCNS had found the product which would streamline its business processes and help take the business to the next level. Having understood the client requirements, its esteemed Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, Tectura India, was chosen as the implementation Partner. LS Retail NAV allowed for a seamless integration of the back office and store operations, which ensured data synchronization, eliminated data duplication, and enabled TCNS to track and plan inventory transfers to store, store sales and cater to all store promotion activities.

“In addition to integrating components and meeting the short time frame, our biggest challenge was deploying technology with minimal impact to store operations and gaining user acceptance and proficiency, TCNS’s rollout was extremely smooth and the system didn’t require too much training time – as we expected.” Saurabh Anand, IT Manager of TCNS.

IT Head – TCNS The benefits gained by TCNS through the implementation of LS Retail include for example: • Increased Supply-Chain Efficiency: With better automation, TCNS is able to complete its purchasing and product update processes in less time. Employees can focus more time on strategic business tasks. • Increase in Store Sales: Sales are up because item replenishment is much faster—required merchandise is generally replaced within a minute of being sold—so TCNS doesn’t lose sales because customers can’t find the merchandise they want.

• Reduction in Cycle Count Time: Cycle counts are now accomplished in 2-3 hours—a time savings of more than 90 %. The time spent on handling inventory and thus the associated costs are down by 35-40 percent. • Improved Communication with POS Locations: TCNS has significantly improved the quality of the information it provides to its stores. TCNS can now quickly and reliably distribute business information not only to the stores but also to its entire touch-point network. • Business Intelligence Enables RealTime Decision Making: The reporting tools provided real time information about the health of each store and how it performs. Thus TCNS were taking action much faster than before because they could spot problems right away. [email protected] LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS) to present LS Retail at GITEX 2010 DVS has attended GITEX every year for the past 3 years. Each time they have been able to promote the products and services to a quality potential partner channel and have achieved strong growth and recognition. The Middle East market is a strategic focus for our group as this region is constantly expanding and especially welcoming to new technologies and ideas. GITEX is also internationally recognized and attracts many international companies searching for new opportunities. As this is the 30th year for GITEX, DVS will have an even stronger presence showcasing new products such as the latest state-of-theart Retail Software Solutions, incorporating such features as personal shopping, mobile

POS, Kiosk, advanced inventory management and business intelligence, Hospitality Software solutions and the new TOSHIBA retail hardware solutions which have the highest performance, lowest power consumption, highest reliability history and a sleek modular construction to ensure easy maintenance. This will allow existing and new customers to evaluate the benefits within an ever-changing and demanding market sector. An increased number of visitors are expected, and with this even better success than in the previous years.

DVS is the exclusive distribution partner of the LS Retail suite of solutions, based on the Microsoft Dynamics platforms, for the Indian and Middle East territories. The company plays a pivotal role in the localization of the LS Retail integrated solution to meet local statutory and compliance issues relating to the these markets, as well as additional features further enhancing the benefits of the solutions. [email protected]

New employees at LS Retail HQ Helgi Hafþórsson, Software developer, has a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Iceland. He has worked as a software developer for 16 years, spanning projects from industrial control, pharmaceutical management and food production. He has experience in consulting and project management but his main focus is software development on the Microsoft .NET platform. He joined the LS Retail Data Director Team, from Marel ehf. Alma Birna Bragadóttir has a diploma in Applied Computing from The University of Reykjavik and 11 years of experience within Dynamics AX. She comes to LS Retail from Hugur/AX and lately, her responsibilities were mostly to localize and service a Danish payroll system Hugur/AX has installed at several large customers. Alma Birna joins the Dynamics AX team as a programmer and consultant.

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LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

Helgi Viggosson joined LS Retail as a Product Manager for Customer Intelligence solutions. He has over 25 years of IT experience, most of it working with leading vendors in the field such as IBM and DEC, where he acquired broad set of skills within the discipline of enterprise level computing. He has been responsible for various roles, such as software development, sales management, and software support. As a developer he has been involved in as diverse fields as developing compilers to retail marketing solutions. Prior to joining LS Retail, Helgi co-founded a startup software company specializing in marketing solutions, and prior to that he was IBM Software Manager at Nyherji (formerly IBM in Iceland), where he was involved developing e-commerce, POS and data mining solutions for retail. Guðbjörn Einarsson recently finished a BSc degree in Computer Science at the University of Iceland. He also has a BSc degree in Physics from the same

school. Guðbjörn joined the .NET team as a programmer in April. Úlfhildur Rögnvaldsdóttir joining the Dynamics AX team as a programmer and consultant, has a diploma in Applied Computing from Reykjavik University and 11 years of experience within the Dynamics AX system. She comes from Hugur/AX and while working there her responsibility mainly was to localize and service a Danish payroll system Hugur/AX has installed at several large customers. Unnur Áskelsdóttir studied computer science at Reykjavík University, and has a certificate in Project Management from the University Of Maryland University College in Asia. She has worked in software development, support, management and other areas of IT. Unnur joins the NAV team as a software tester.

LS Retail Receives Grant The Technology Development Fund of the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNÍS) has awarded LS Retail a project grant to develop customer intelligence based marketing automation solution for retailers. The aim of the project is to lay the foundation for a comprehensive retail marketing solution, which will empower LS Retail’s users to increase sales and customer loyalty in an efficient manner. It is also in line with the goal of LS Retail to broaden its product and service range in the retail market. Within the project, which has the working title LS Retail Intelligent Marketing (LSRIM), an intelligent marketing module will be developed that will provide LS Retail customers a vehicle to define and convey targeted messages to end-customers. This project has the promise of making it possible for today’s retailers to enter a new era in building a lasting relationship with the customer. To underline the uniqueness and high ambitions that LS Retail has in this area, the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS) granted LS Retail a significant development grant which will enable LS Retail to put more effort into this important development than before. Customer intelligence is about creating actionable knowledge about the customer from the data the company has gathered via sales transactions, demographics, as well as attributes from the customer’s loyalty membership profile, and use this knowledge to manage the relationship with the customer, improve service, and contribute to more loyalty and increased sales.

Feature Highlights and Availability The first version of LSRIM will be developed in cooperation with a large retailer (+200 outlets), and will be released for a test run in Q4. The focus of the first version will be the “brick and mortar” store. The following modules will be included in the test run:

• 3rd party Loyalty System Integration

According to the project schedule, the above modules will become available to selected partners in Q1 2011. Support for other channels, such as web-stores, social media (such as Facebook), mobile phones, e-mail marketing, and kiosks/dispensers will follow suit. Integration with Dynamics NAV and Dynamics CRM will also be on the agenda early on.

• Dynamics AX Integration

About RANNIS

Personalized Marketing

• Intelligent Marketing Engine

Old-fashioned marketing, where the mass is targeted and the customer blasted with irrelevant messages, which many consider as spam, is very ineffective in driving store visits and sales. It is difficult in today’s commoditized world to use products to differentiate and much simpler to enhance the customer experience and build lasting relationship. By leveraging customer intelligence, relevant, personalized and value-adding interactions across channels are enabled, which is essential today to sustain loyalty.

• Customer Profile Manager

By using advanced data-mining and artificial intelligence technology, LSRIM can precisely target customers according to their purchasing history, and other relevant data such as demographics, or on the content of their shopping basket, ensuring that the offer will be well received. The process is fast and targeted, takes less time than credit card authorization and is personalized for each customer based on knowledge that the system has generated from collected data.

“The right message, to the right person, via the right channel, at the right time.”

• POS Integration

With this edition, the retailer can define marketing campaigns that are executed automatically in the store, for example at the till: Personalized and targeted offers can be printed on the receipt printer or a special coupon printer; targeted messages conveyed via check-out digital signage; and transactional follow-up messages can be triggered when the customer interacts with the store, invoice sent by e-mail, which also can include content or links to contents associated with the purchase (for example instructions or further marketing). Unidentified customers can also be targeted based on the content of the shopping cart, in a similar manner as Amazon.com does. The motto is: “The right message, to the right person, via the right channel, at the right time.”

The Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS) supports research, research studies, technical development and innovation in Iceland. RANNIS cooperates closely with the Icelandic Science and Technology Policy Council and provides professional assistance the preparation and implementation of science and technology policy in Iceland. RANNIS administers competitive funds and strategic research programs, coordinates and promotes Icelandic participation in collaborative international projects in science and technology, monitors resources and performance in R&D and promotes public awareness of research and innovation in Iceland. REF: http://www.rannis.is/english/about-rannis/ For further information, please contact: [email protected]

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LS Retail set to release an array of add-on solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail LS Retail is set to release an array of add-on solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail. We introduce the first two releases in this Newsletter: The LS Retail Store Manager Portal and LS Retail Staff Commission. In addition to these releases, a number of add-on solutions are being developed to meet various industryspecific requirements. These include Hospitality and Staff Management to name but a few.

LS Retail is committed to its Partners by providing world class business solutions on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. Therefore we are excited to announce the second wave of addon solutions that will be released this coming winter, making it one of the largest releases of add-ons from LS Retail in Microsoft Dynamics AX. • Hospitality – Recipes • Hospitality – Meal Planning • Intelligent Marketing • Inventory Optimizer • Fraud Detection • Staff Management

Hospitality Recipe Management is an enhancement to Microsoft Dynamics AX that allows for easy recipe scaling along with the ability to control and configure nutritional information.

The Fraud Detection modules foundation is built on a set of triggers that assist organizations in identifying areas where losses are being incurred and ultimately to stop or prevent future occurrences.

The Hospitality Meal Planning module is designed for the catering business, managing ingredients, recipes and menus.

Staff Management is a module designed to help automate the staff management process. Retailers are able to improve staff and store productivity by reducing staffing costs through optimized staff rosters.

The Intelligent Marketing module uses advanced data-mining and artificial intelligence technology to precisely target customers according to their purchasing history, demographics or on the content of their shopping basket, to ensure that offers and promotions will be well received. The Inventory Optimizer is a demand forecasting module that uses automated forecasting methods to estimate future demand through the creation of order proposals that minimize inventory costs and service level optimization.

LS Retail is set to release these add-on solutions to Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail this December. Already released are the LS Retail Store Manger Portal and LS Retail Staff Commission, introduced in this newsletter. These add-on solutions along with LS Retail’s Consulting Services will give our Partners a strong stable foundation to pursue the competitive retail market. At LS Retail we strive to provide our Partners with the highest quality products and service to ensure that they can be at their best. [email protected]

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LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

LS Retail Store Manager Portal and LS Retail Staff Commission released LS Retail originally developed the LS Retail AX solution that was acquired by Microsoft that is now putting it on the market as its own brand, Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail. The LS Retail Store Manager Portal and LS Retail Staff Commission are the first two industry solutions to be released by LS Retail to enhance the Microsoft Dynamic AX for Retail solution. LS Retail is proud to be able to present new addon solution to coincide with the release of Microsoft Dynamic AX for Retail in August 2010. The LS Retail Store Manager Portal provides store managers with a comprehensive set of tools that allow them to run their stores at peak efficiency with more control and reduced risk of failures and mistakes whereas LS Retail Staff Commission brings commission to the fingertips of retailers, allowing them to efficiently manage commission along with driving sales team through commission incentives. LS Retail Store Manager Portal As retail management becomes increasingly complex and the pace of business life accelerates, store managers are faced with an increasing flow of data. Together, the quality of the information that managers receive and the time it takes to access and process that information affect the decision-making process. When data is misplaced it can lead to the waste of valuable time and wrong information will cause errors and inefficiency. Complicated calculations and assessment demand accuracy that may be difficult to achieve in a busy, stressful work environment. The end-result will be poor decisions, which will increase costs and reduce profitability. The LS Retail Store Manager Portal is an addon solution to Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail that addresses all of these problems. It provides store managers with a comprehensive set of tools that allow them to run their stores at peak efficiency with more control and reduced risk of failures and mistakes.

LS Retail Staff Commission The release of LS Retail Staff Commission introduces an advanced add-on solution that is aimed at answering the needs for efficient management of commission as well as being an effective tool for the sales team, enabling them to take active measures towards increasing sales and improving the quality of service. To name a few of the functions available in this release: • Commission Management • Commission Simulation • Commission Breakdown for Store Managers and Sales Associates • Sales Associate Commission Incentives • Fixed Amount Bonus for Product Sales (spiff) • Sales Target Bonuses • Periodic Discount Integration • Commission Reports • Commission KPI´s LS Retail Staff Commission is a module that enables retailers to leverage commission and bonus incentives to drive up sales, increasing profitability and reducing costs.

Committment to LS Retail Partners LS Retail is committed to its Partners by providing world-class business solutions on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. The expertise and knowledge within LS Retail has enabled the company to respond to demand for industry-specific solutions that add functionality to the base product, Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail. All our solutions are developed in close cooperation with our Partners to meet their Customers’ needs. Fact sheets for these products are available at www.lsretail.com under Downloads, Horizontals. [email protected]

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The right technology is the sweetest thing

Flourishing enterprise has room to grow with flexible retail management solution from EC Advance and LS Retail For three decades, Nicholby’s has been marketing a variety of retail items to Canadians. Founded by Rob Kadlovski in 1980, Nicholby’s developed as a chain of corporate stores and has evolved into a thriving franchise enterprise with 30 locations in Ontario and growing. The company operates a mix of corporate and franchise stores that sell convenience, confection, gift, and souvenir products. Travel a major highway or visit a tourist area, and there’s a good possibility a Nicholby’s store is nearby. In June 2008, Nicholby’s purchased the Old Firehall, a historic building in the heart of Unionville, Ontario, with a view to transforming the main floor into a convenience store and moving the corporate head office to the building’s second floor. Shortly after purchasing the building, Rob and Wendy Kadlovski quickly realized that it would be in everyone’s interest to create a new concept more harmonious to Unionville’s quaint, historic downtown atmosphere. When Nicholby’s presented the idea of an old-fashioned candy store, town officials were thrilled. Treat yourself to candy Wendy Kadlovski, Director of Operations for Nicholby’s, explains: “In poor economic times people may not spend money on travel or other luxury items, but they will treat themselves to candy. Packaged confectionery sales are strong at our other locations, so with that in mind we embarked on the development of an old-fashioned candy store concept.” Flourishing enterprise has room to grow with flexible retail management solution from EC Advance and LS Retail. For Nicholby’s, the right technology is the sweetest thing. With just one year to move from the candy store idea to implementation, the time crunch 12

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

was on and business took a radical turn for the retail veteran. “We had to transition from packaged goods to process manufacturing, which was a big change in products, design, system... everything,” says Ms. Kadlovski. Unlike the products sold at their other stores, fudge, ice cream and other such goodies have no barcodes.

“Being able to take our point-of-sale (POS) data and bridge it right into our accounting system was absolutely essential for us.”

How was Old Firehall Confectionery going to cost these products and handle materials management?

planning is critical to running a lucrative retail operation. And technology that delivers that insight is invaluable. Integration and automation are key factors.

In addition to the new challenge of handling these unique products, Old Firehall Confectionery was experiencing ongoing issues with its proprietary POS system. Numerous manual accounting processes were still necessary due to lack of integration with their Microsoft Dynamics NAV financial management solution, and the system was reaching its limits in terms of functionality and capacity. “Our homegrown POS system was not robust enough to handle the departure from packaged goods,” explains Ms. Kadlovski. It wouldn’t have made sense to implement that system in the new concept store. Time was ticking away, and Old Firehall Confectionery needed help... in a hurry. Information like hourly sales data, as well as inputs for longer range sales forecasting and inventory

Ms. Kadlovski, Director of Operations for Nicholby’s

“Being able to take our point-of-sale (POS) data and bridge it right into our accounting system was absolutely essential for us,” states Ms. Kadlovski. “Our existing technology lacked those capabilities.” Retail-centric functionality Working closely with Old Firehall Confectionery to understand their requirements and timeframes, EC Advance recommended implementing LS Retail NAV, an end-to-end retail solution built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. With LS Retail NAV, the POS terminals, store systems, and all head office functions use the same application — making it possible to track individual transactions from the POS straight through to the General Ledger. Integration between LS Retail and

“EC Advance understands that we are investing today for long term benefits. They really cared and delivered the solution on time, which was refreshing.” Rob Kadlovski, President, Old Firehall Confectionery

Microsoft Dynamics NAV means that users require familiarity with just one interface, and administrators have only one system to manage. “EC Advance understands that we are investing today for long term benefits. They really cared and delivered the solution on time, which was refreshing,” states Rob Kadlovski, President, Old Firehall Confectionery The LS Retail solution is equally effective in a single store environment or a complex, multi-store operation — a perfect fit with Old Firehall Confectionery’s plans to start with a one store implementation and phase in future locations over time. LS Retail’s solutions integrate to Microsoft Dynamics NAV - delivering end-to-end control and visibility across the enterprise. “From our assessment, it was clear that Old Firehall Confectionery needed a POS solution to work with their existing technology and to accommodate their forecasted business growth,” explains Reno Capano, CEO, EC Advance.

What’s in store? The biggest rewards are yet to come. Old Firehall Confectionery is eager to phase in the LS Retail NAV solution to their future stores. Ms. Kadlovski explains, “Return-oninvestment for this solution is not measured on a one store implementation. It’s all about future benefits based on the roll-out to all stores. Then we will have huge upsides.” For Old Firehall Confectionery, making the most of the right technology is icing on the cake. For additional information about EC Advance, visit www.ecadvance.com For more information about Old Firehall Confectionery visit www.oldfirehallconfectionery.com Please download the full Nicholby’s story on www.LSRetail.com.

“Old Firehall Confectionery was impressed with our understanding of retail management systems — specifically the LS Retail NAV software. We won the business by offering a single source solution for hardware, software, maintenance, and financing aspects of the project,” states Capano. LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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World-class pharmaceutical IT and pharmacy solutions

Logica Pharmacy Solutions The Swedish pharmacy market has been going through major changes lately. Up until 2009 there was a state-owned monopoly on the pharmacy market through a company called Apoteket AB. This company has now been split up. Of the original 900 pharmacies Apoteket AB kept 350, 150 were sold to local entrepreneurs, and the rest in clusters to four large private companies. Common and mandatory IT infrastructure (such as a prescriptions database) is still managed by Apotekens Service AB. Logica now offers Pharma Logica, a comprehensive IT - solution for the re-regulated Swedish pharmacy market. The 1st version of the solution was approved in by Apotekens Service in June 2010. Pharma Logica is currently being introduced at Kronans Droghandel, DocMorris and Apoteksgruppen. A few additional customers are in the pipeline. Pharma Logica makes it easy to run a pharmacy Pharma Logica is a new pharmacy solution that is based on the retail solution LS Retail and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides ERP functions that include general ledger, accounts ledger, purchase, warehousing, marketing and asset management. LS Retail provides assortment management, price control, campaign management, sales follow-up, logistics (ensuring products are

available), customer management (customer clubs), store functionality (cash, back office), among other services. Pharma Logica is the heart of our solution to provide an integrated system for the handling of medicine and prescriptions, according to Swedish regulations, with a complete integration with Apotekens Service AB. Pharma Logica is integrated with Logica’s EDI services for automated stock replenishment from distributors on the Swedish market. Support for Sweden is the first step for Pharma Logica. In a number of countries pharmacy markets are being modernized, for instance through the increased use of e-prescriptions. Logica’s long term strategy is therefore to adopt the solution for these changing markets. This will be accomplished through our modern and flexible solution together with

our strong partner and customer relations. About Logica Logica is a leading international IT service company which creates value by integrating people, business and IT. Today we have 39000 employees of whom about 5200 are in Sweden. We offer activity-oriented consultation services, system integration and outsourcing to our customers all over the world, including many of the Europe’s biggest companies and organizations. With long term collaborations and deep knowledge of the activities, we create innovative solutions to meet our customers’ business needs. Logica is listed both on London Stock Exchange and on Euronext at Amsterdam (LSE:LOG; Euronext:LOG). Further information available on www.logica.se [email protected]

LS Retail NAV certification exam For LS Retail, qualified partners are one of the key success factors. Later this year, staff from LS Retail NAV partners will have the opportunity to prove their product knowledge by taking an LS Retail NAV exam. The exam-taking is planned as classroom sessions during events and using our new offices. “We‘re seeing an increasing demand from prospects not only on customer references but as well on certifications. Both the LS Retail partner and the individual in question will clearly benefit from becoming LS Retail Certified,” says Jörg Schmikale, LS Retail Training Manager. Exam procedures and announcements will be provided on the LS Retail partner portal. [email protected]

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Domovoi selects LS Retail from Impactsoft The Group of Companies (GC) Domovoi and Impact-Soft have started to automate the retail network “Four Seasons” with the help of LS Retail based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV EXPRESS. In early 2010, the management of Domovoi took a decision to start a new business, selling electric tools according to seasonal demand. For this, a network of stores called Four Seasons was founded. Having analyzed the market of ERP-systems and industrial solutions for retail business, Domovoi chose the Microsoft Dynamics NAV EXPRESS system for their Four Seasons stores and the international end-to-end solution, LS Retail for their retail business. Impact-Soft was chosen as the implementation partner for this project. Fast Implementation The main reason for choosing this system was the possibility to implement the Microsoft Dynamics NAV EXPRESS system quickly and cost-effectively as it a system based on international standards. This system was developed with the Russian model parameters of

the financial management and warehouse, accounting policies for the financial and tax accounting. As the Russian localized versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 Express (Dec 2009) and LS Retail 6.1 were ready, the project could be implemented in a short period of time. In the future, cooperation between the company’s active development of the LS Retail system on the basis of Microsoft Dynamics NAV is foreseen. The brand Domovoi has been working successfully in the Russian market for over 16 years, offering a full range of garden and forest-park equipment, electric tools, washing and cleaning equipment, power tools, pumping equipment, generators, welding equipment and so on. Working directly with leading manufacturers, such as Bosch, Metabo, Husqvarna, Nilfisk, Alto, Alpina, Grundfos,

“We chose the Microsoft Dynamics NAV EXPRESS and LS Retail because we were convinced that it works effectively in the retail network of our partner – the company Pilotage and has the functionality capable of solving all our problems of business automation.” Jan Ezhov, IT Director, GC Domovoi.

Wacker, Mungo, Oregon, Stihl, Viking, Fimap and others, Domovoi guarantees the authenticity of the equipment and tools as well as attractive prices. [email protected]

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail training world tour The first half year 2010 was a very busy one for the LS Retail Training Team. On top of the broad spectrum of LS Retail NAV training, the summer release of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail added a huge demand of courses both on behalf of Microsoft and by partners. A dozen training sessions were done as part of the Microsoft Retail Readiness Program with more than 300 participants. In addition, a number of AX partners have held courses on their own. The Retail Readiness training program has two parts, one for consultants and one for developers, and in order to provide the best training quality, two trainers are involved. As the training courses took place in six continents, good organization was the key to success. Another big challenge was the participants’ different expectations regarding both the product and the course. On one hand there were people from consulting and development as well as from sales all with their own information requirements. On the other hand there were participants with background in POS 2009, Retail Management System, Retail Chain Manager and even AX Standard, with no retail knowledge whatsoever, all trying to figure out the pros and cons of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail.

The retail industry experience of the LS Retail trainers was very much appreciated when it came to discussions about different retail verticals like fashion, electronics and food stores. At the end of the world tour the trainer team deserved their summer vacation very well.

But this seems not to be the end but just the beginning. Based on the good experiences with the trainings, four additional courses are already in the pipeline for September and October. So the world tour continues. [email protected] LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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The Largest Mountain Resort in Ontario selects LS Retail Blue Mountain, Ontario’s largest mountain resort is nestled on the shores of Georgian Bay, 90 minutes north of Toronto. Spanning over 700 acres, Blue Mountain has become the four-season destination of the North, visited by more than 1.5 million guests a year. Enhancing the guest experience is central to the corporate mission at Blue Mountain, but tasks like buying a ski lift pass or ski lessons were often time-consuming, not to mention costly for the company. Prior to implementing LS Retail NAV, no structured solution was in use at the resort. The company used an extensive number of different vertical applications, which did not consolidate data. Raise the bar Blue Mountain knew that disparate, standalone systems could no longer meet its requirements. So when the company needed to replace the aging and disparate systems used, they saw it as an opportunity to raise the bar in how they interact with customers, as well as to improve the overall customer insight capabilities. Hence, it decided to update its infrastructure and processes to support the continual growth process. The company sought a solution to take care of best practices and Data consolidations at head office, handle billing at all stores, manage multiple POS terminals, supervise stocks and store-wise profitability, define promotional offers and schemes, manages its hospitality business, as well as to provide online, on time information.

The Winner – LS Retail To manage their diverse needs, Blue Mountain Resort considered different solutions. After a detailed evaluation of the product, Blue Mountain Resort chose to implement LS Retail 2009.1 and LS Hospitality, built on Microsoft® Dynamics™ NAV 2009 with Service Pack 1. Vastly enhanced efficiency in operational practices as well as profitability The Blue Mountain Staff is more efficient and can quickly attend to customer requirements. Attendance is quicker, with significantly improved transaction time. Since one unified application is used throughout the whole cycle, employees only need to be trained in using one system, and can be moved around to different divisions easily and thus training costs are reduce significantly. The LS Hospitality system is easy to use and a part of the LS Retail system, which also reduces training time. In addition, the call centre is set up to manage its operations and communications with the customers through LS Retail NAV, and license cost is considerably much less than previously, as the company had formerly used a third party call center solution.

“LS Retail represents a true paradigm shift for Blue Mountain. We can now service our guests with a fully integrated solution replacing what previously required five vertical market applications. We have achieved significant returns but even more importantly, the staff loves it.” John Gowers, IT Director, Blue Mountain Resorts.

Overall, licensing costs and hardware costs are greatly reduced, as Blue Mountain only has one complete integrated system. By implementing the new solution, Blue Mountain Resort now has business management software that controls processes from store to head office level and vice-versa. It stores sales information for analysis and reporting purposes and also follows sales trends. Furthermore, it is easy to use, ensures good connectivity and consistent operating speed, is rich in features, is reliable and, most of all, is cost effective. [email protected]

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A New Connector – The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship “This will be a standard solution, ready to use without further integration. Partners will be able to offer it as one integrated platform that covers design, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail.” Francis Adams, CEO of The Concept Group.

Early in 2010, LS Retail and TRIMIT entered into a strategic partnership to create the world’s leading Microsoft NAV solution for the fashion retail. Now the first technical steps are being taken towards integration in this innovative solution, and further steps are being planned. COO of TRIMIT, Steen Wæver Poulsen, says: “The combination of TRIMIT Fashion and LS Retail will be the first Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution to give the fashion industry complete control of the entire process from initial design to final (retail) sales. It covers everything from design, (outsourced) production, purchase orders, supplier portals, B2B, B2C, ROE portals and streamlined inventory control with complete Business Intelligence.” For the partners of TRIMIT and LS Retail this means they’ll be able to reach a wide range of customers in design, production, retail, and wholesale, including larger customers who operate in all areas. Before, it was necessary to integrate two different systems to cover the entire chain for their clients. Now there will be a ready-to-use solution that is both easy to implement and customize. The end customers will have a great tool for strategic and day-to-day planning. Retailers can make sure they restock the fastest selling models. Designers can keep an eye on sales and fashion trends. And the system provides all the data needed to prepare for short and long term changes in customer behavior and to minimize expensive mistakes. The Logical First Step The logical first step in creating this solution is a connector that makes sure all data is converted and synchronized within the merged apllication. For instance, LS Retail and TRIMIT have different ways of support the style matrices, registering barcodes, etc. With the new connector, it is possible to use features from both LS Retail and TRIMIT fashion, so that end users have to enter data only once. “We expect the connector to be ready second half of September,” says Steen Wæver

Poulsen. “And we’re planning further functionalities in the combined solution to make it even more fitting for Fashion retailers.” A Unique Opportunity The connector is being developed by The Concept Group, who specializes in fashion solutions. The Concept Group has also been working with LS Retail for a long time, making them very experienced in both Fashion and Retail and the combination of the two. This makes them the perfect partner for the development of this connector. Francis Adams, CEO of The Concept Group, says: “Both LS Retail and TRIMIT are taking this project very seriously. It’s a huge opportunity for them, and they are working very professionally on the technical issues, as well as behind the scenes with marketing, documentation, etc.”

When asked what benefits TRIMIT’s and LS Retail’s partners will gain from the solution, Francis Adams doesn’t hesitate: “This will be a standard solution, ready to use without further integration. Partners will be able to offer it as one integrated platform that covers design, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail.” TRIMIT and LS Retail – a Natural Partnership TRIMIT is widely known for its solutions in fashion, furniture and product management, while LS Retail has 20 years of experience with solutions for the retail industry. Both companies have common partners around the world, and together they aim to offer their customers the best Microsoft NAV-based solution on the market. [email protected]

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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PT Multi Citra Abadi Gains Competitive Advantage with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail Solution Delivered by Tectura PT Multi Citra Abadi is a retailer in Indonesia with two stores in Manado along with two distribution centers in Jakarta and Manado. The company faces the constant challenge of keeping its strong market position while at the same time effectively growing its business within a very competitive market. For four years, PT Multi Citra Abadi used an in-house system based on an Oracle database. However, over time and multiple customizations, the database became quite unstable, unreliable and wasn’t able to scale. The company’s existing system could no longer support the large amount of data they needed to manage, was unable to perform real-time, and could not be leveraged across more than one store. Synchronization had to be done at night, with the majority of the process being done manually – step by step. Great Example of Teamwork After opening a new distribution centre in Jakarta, PT Multi Citra Abadi knew that their existing system could not only not support the level of data and information they required, but that the continued manual processes of getting information out of the system would only get more and more complicated. PT Multi Citra Abadi began evaluating worldwide solution providers, including Tectura. PT Multi Citra Abadi ultimately selected Tectura because they demonstrated how Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail could meet all key business requirements, while ultimately improving performance and enabling their business to support future growth.

plementation was delivered on time and per the initial schedule. As an immediate result of their new solution implementation, PT Multi Citra Abadi gained real-time access to their critical business information. They can now see all items that are inputted from across their multiple locations. Their analysis of Purchasing is much more accurate due to the fact that the merchandiser has clear visibility into inventories and sales across all locations in one single view. The new business solution has also had a positive impact on the productivity and efficiency levels of the company’s employees. Purchase order estimation can be made with visibility into exact inventories, making the company’s calculations more accurate. Even more, the membership program available with LS Retail makes it easier for Multi Citra Abadi to arrange its promotions.

From that point forward the teams worked together successfully. “Our teams worked very well together throughout the entire implementation process. It has been a great example of teamwork,” said Ms. Caecilia Mei. Hatjandra, General Manager of PT Multi Citra Abadi. As a result of this teamwork, the im18

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

“Our teams worked very well together throughout the entire implementation process. It has been a great example of teamwork.” Ms. Caecilia Mei. Hatjandra, General Manager of PT Multi Citra Abadi.

engaged and helped us through this process, not minding to spend a long night to support our need to migrate our data,” commented Ms. Mei. “And because of their dedication and support, we finished this daunting, large task in only one night.”

The biggest challenge faced during the implementation was moving PT Multi Citra Abadi’s inventory records, which involves data totaling in the millions.

PT Multi Citra Abadi’s new business solution has helped them to remain ahead of their competition and sustain its position in the marketplace. “This is a huge benefit of working with a partner like Tectura,” said Ms. Mei. “They are professional, have strong expertise and possess friendly attitudes that truly make their client feel comfortable and assured that the new solution will be accepted by the user and ultimately, bring good results to the company.”

“Even though it was not necessarily within the scope of work for the Tectura team, they fully

To read the entire case study, please visit: www.tectura.com

Data Totaling Millions

LS Retail moves to new Headquarters LS Retail has moved to a new location in one of Reykjavik’s landmark office buildings – Hofdatorg. The new location, conveniently located in the financial district of Reykjavik, is on the 7th floor of the Tower and offers a panoramic view over the sea and Hofdi, the venue of the Reykjavik Summit where U.S. President Ronald Reagan and SecretaryGeneral of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev met on October 11-12, 1986.

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

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LS HOSPITALITY

Hospitality Solution for Microsoft Dynamics LS Hospitality provides management and employees with necessary tools to keep the customers satisfied, thereby ensuring repeat business. LS Hospitality is specially designed for managing • Restaurant Dine-in and Takeout • Pubs and Bars • Fast food – Delivery, Takeout, Drive thru • Catering LS Hospitality supports the use of handheld devices for taking orders and even finalizing a sale, all wireless at the table. LS Hospitality provides extensive reporting capabilities and advanced Statistics to keep your overview of the Business. LS Hospitality streamlines operations and reduces cost.

Meet us at Convergence Europe 2010 14 - 15 October - London | 18 - 19 October - Prague | 20 - 21 October - The Hague 20

LS RETAIL NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2010

Quick highlights • End-to-end Hospitality solution • Reliable and easy to use • Scalable and flexible • Low total cost of ownership • Extensive Fine Dining and Fast Food Functionality • Recipe Handling • Wide-ranging Kitchen Printing Functionality • Delivery and Takeout with Call Centre • Supports Drive thru • Menu Planning for Catering - Basics