Aurora Fashions expects to boost sales across its Coast, Oasis and Warehouse brands by a third as it introduces a stock management and order fulfillment system that it says will turn it from a ‘multichannel’ into an ‘omnichannel’ retailer.
The company found online product availability rose by 28% when it introduced the Anywhere Everywhere system in a six-week pilot project that involved only selected stores. Some £2.5m of extra sales were driven as a result, while online conversion rates doubled.
Now it is launching the system across its brands, and says that is likely to increase sales by a third as a result. Anywhere Everywhere is a new approach to stock management that makes stock inventory available across all sales channels. Thus, orders for items that are sold out online can be fulfilled from any store, saving sales that might otherwise be lost. Stock records are updated across each brand in near real time, rather than once a day.
Aurora describes this system launch as a move from multichannel to omnichannel retailing, merging digital commerce with physical retailing and creating a seamless customer experience.
Mike Shearwood, chief executive of Aurora Fashions, said: “With Anywhere Everywhere, we’re saying to customers ‘if we have it anywhere in the UK we’ll get it to you wherever you want it,’ which is a powerful message in today’s climate. It gives every store the opportunity to boost sales by fulfilling web orders and enables even the smallest stores to have access to the brand’s full product range, even much sought after limited edition pieces.”
Aurora’s investment in Anywhere Everywhere follows its launch of 90-minute deliveries in May this year. It is also rolling out iPad-based point of sale technology in its stores.
