News

Microsoft Publishes Multiple Retail Case Studies Featuring Professional Advantage Customers

6 October 2008

Professional Advantage continues to see strong demand for end-to-end retail solutions with Microsoft Dynamics experiencing over 30% year on year growth. Customers ranged in size from a single store to over 300 locations and featured a wide array of retailers from home improvement chains to professional sports franchises.

Professional Advantage has recently been featured in a number Microsoft sponsored case studies including the following:

Lehigh Safety Shoes (Rocky Brands)

After installing Microsoft Dynamics RMS, Lehigh’s 2007 gross margin rose 18.8 percent over the average of relatively flat 2005 and 2006, to exceed $36 million. Similarly, Lehigh’s contribution to Rocky Brands rose 20.2 percent over that two-year average to reach nearly $71 million.

Key contributors were faster transaction speed, expedited cash flow, and company-wide inventory visibility thanks to Retail Analytics and Merchandise Planning from Professional Advantage.

“Across departments, Microsoft Dynamics RMS was unanimously our biggest improvement this year, per a company-wide survey,” reports David Sharp, Rocky Brands President and Chief Operating Officer.

“We save money several ways by tighter inventory tracking, better supply-line management, smarter purchasing, and lower employee hours,” says Lehigh’s Director of Operations, Nicole Zawerton-Wood. “Now that we have transaction data, RAMP (Retail Analytics with Merchandise Planning from Professional Advantage) tells us exactly what’s selling so we can stock stores and merchandise better.”

To view the entire case study please click here.

Peekay

Retail Analytics and Merchandise Planning (RAMP) from Professional Advantage maximize chain-wide availability of desirable stock while cutting the costs of excess inventory. Purchasing and stock management is done from Peekay’s head office.

Abramson says, “Purchasing starts with RAMP. It suggests product needs and offers a familiar spreadsheet interface. We buy more efficiently using min-max requirements we set for the stores and warehouse. Our buyers like RAMP because they see how its accumulated data provides better replenishment predictions.”

Peekay utilized RMS ConnectPro from Professional Advantage “Our stores connect seamlessly to Microsoft Dynamics GP to manage our warehouse, wholesale, Web business, purchasing, payables, banking, and financial reporting,” says Bratton. “We haven’t found anything this system can’t handle.

To view the entire case study please click here.

Capitol Nutrition

John Brooks, Chief Operating Officer for Capitol Nutrition, says the organization’s goal is to compete with much larger nutritional supplements companies by being aggressive on pricing. For this business strategy to work, Capitol Nutrition needs to closely monitor inventory levels at its stores. “Our products are discounted heavily across the board,” says Brooks, “so the margin for error is very small.”

As the company has grown over the past several years, it installed a number of different IT systems and applications to help manage the business. One of the products is Microsoft® Dynamics™ Retail Management System (RMS) business software, which provides retailers with a complete point-of-sale (POS) solution that can be adapted to meet specific retail requirements. Capitol Nutrition uses Microsoft Dynamics RMS to track the sales of more than 4,000 SKUs that go through both its physical stores as well as its Web channel.

Brooks notes that RAMP provides key functionality that he believes is critical for the company’s long-term business strategy—the ability to quickly and accurately monitor and forecast product levels in stores. Capitol Nutrition needed this in order to set up an automated system for replenishing inventory to minimize stock on hand and maximize inventory availability.

Capitol Nutrition tried to build a solution internally and found that maintaining the solution for its changing business was too difficult. The company hired outside assistance, but the resulting solution was not flexible enough and lacked features Brooks required.

To view the entire case study please click here.