Dreams, a bed and bedding retailer, is using
3G mobile technology and voice over IP (VoIP) as part of a rapid
expansion programme that will see it open 50 stories at the rate of
one a week.
Lee Felton, Dreams IT director, said the firm aimed to staff,
stock and link up each new shop within seven days, in a move that
is intended boost Dreams' market share to 25% and double sales,
which reached £250m last year.
Felton said Dreams could not afford to wait until BT provided
fixed ADSL lines to new stores. Instead, it was using high-speed
digital mobile as temporary connections to transfer electronic
point of sales data, stock data and other information between the
store, head office and distribution centres.
Once BT had installed fixed lines, Dreams used VoIP technology
(
SIP trunking ) to network all the stores to a central customer
care hub and to one another. This saved Dreams £750,000 a year in
line costs, Felton said, as well as speeding up the flow of
information.
Better communications between stores and customers made for a
better customer experience, Felton said. Not only did it enable
Dreams to make 9,500 deliveries a day accurately and ensure optimal
use of the delivery fleet, but it improved Dreams' reputation with
customers.
Dreams delegated technical responsibility for communications to
communications systems integrator Corporate
Communications (Europe), Felton said. The intimate working
partnership between the two enabled High Wycombe-based Dreams to
rebrand, stock and open a small chain of Scottish stores 48 hours
after it bought the chain out of administration, he said.
CC designed and implemented Dreams' IP virtual private network,
which is based on an Multiprotocol Label Switching network, and
uses ADSL access for Dreams' 160 stores and eight distribution
centres.
Box
Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, is using a similar packaging
concept to ensure a fast roll-out of new stores.
"Tesco in a Box" is a suite of bespoke systems developed by its
Turkish business, with help from Tesco Korea, India and UK. It
provides new stores with all the systems necessary to operate key
processes, such as supply chain and replenishment. "Tesco in a Box"
went live in Turkey in March 2005. Others using it include Tesco
operations in Japan and China, and the new Fresh & Easy venture
in the US.