34
CASESTUDY
CARPETRIGHT LAYS DOWN FUTURE
PLANS WITH K3’S SUPPORT
Since its inception in 1988, Carpetright has grown to nearly 600
stores in the UK and Ireland and more than 125 in mainland
Europe. The company is in the FTSE 250 and has a turnover of
approximately £500 million.
A
lthough the marketplace for retail � oor sees a customer walking around the store who may
coverings is not a fast growing sector, want some guidance from the salesperson. After this
Carpetright is looking to � nd new customers, the customer and salesperson sit down and work out a
With our
areas and territories and increase market share. deal. We wanted the sales person not to be frightened
previous
Following an acquisition, the retailer has more than 100 of the technology that they had to use to complete
technology it
stores in Belgium and Holland and has recently entered a deal, but to assist them. We didn’t want staff to
the Polish market. handwrite orders. It was important that we improved
would never
Despite Carpetright’s strong market position and the goods receipting process and in turn improve stock
have been
ambitious growth plans, the company had previously information and revitalise our replenishment processes.”
possible to
struggled through having no clear IT strategy to Carpetright chose Microsoft Dynamics from K3,
support the long-term objectives of the business. while SAP was selected for the central systems. Woosey
easily integrate
Ian Woosey, Carpetright Group IT director said: said: “We involved Microsoft and got its support and we
new companies
“When I joined the company in 2002 it was a project managed the deal ourselves. K3’s ability to work
into the
challenging time for both IT and the business. There was as part of a large team enabled us to deliver the project
a number of old bespoke, complicated and unreliable on time and to speci� cation.”
Carpetright
systems, which meant that staff were prevented from With the introduction of new systems the business
business
meeting the day-to-day requirements of the business.” can now trust the data it holds. Woosey added: “IT
Carpetright needed to bring in technology that would provides analysis regarding sales margins and the
support its long-term objectives and assist staff with their promotions we can offer. K3’s solution � ts neatly
duties. The business was implementing a new back-of� ce alongside the other technology we have introduced
solution, but it also needed a new in-store system. into the business. We now have a state-of-the-art
Woosey commented: “The business had two in- warehouse and most of the processes from once
store systems in the UK and another one in Europe. the carpet is ordered through to the � nal payment
This meant that we had three different systems polling to our suppliers are now automated. By automating
three different types of data. This posed operational the processes it improves the ef� ciencies across the
problems as staff in the UK would often have to work company.”
across different stores using different systems.” The technology also facilitates the process of
The business also needed a solution that didn’t acquiring new companies under the Carpetright
hinder staff, but assisted them in their roles. Woosey name. Woosey said: “With our previous technology
explained: “The sales process at Carpetright usually it would never have been possible to easily integrate
new companies into the Carpetright business. We
are currently going through the � nal stages of our
acquisition of Sleepright, a beds retailer, which has
concessions in our stores. Before the introduction
of K3’s system we would never have been able to
integrate another business so quickly and with such
con� dence.”
“We want to make sure when we come out of the
current economic downturn that our business as a
whole comes out much stronger and we have a bigger
market share. The technology we have introduced will
support us in achieving this goal. In the last six years
our business has doubled and we have gone from one
country into � ve, K3’s technology has supported the
business through this growth and will help us as we
look to pursue new opportunities,” concluded Woosey.
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY APRIL/MAY 2009
034 Case Study.indd 34 6/5/09 9:57:19 am
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