Special report 2: Benetton adopts faster fashion approach
Fashion retailer Benetton is implementing a new technology solution as part of a major overhaul of its global supply chain and a move of up to 3,000 of its client-owned stores to the franchised model. By Glynn Davis in Germany
Speaking at Wincor World in Germany Daniele Fregnan, vice president of logistics and IT at Benetton, detailed how the company started the major IT project with Wincor Nixdorf in July and began the roll out to stores in November.
Having historically run a centralised solution, with manufacturing at the centre, Benetton wanted to move its systems to a model that placed the consumer at the centre: “We want a higher speed of change, with faster collections, and faster-and-shorter life-cycles of products. We wanted an increased frequency of service for stores.”
Part of this involved developing a new supply chain with Kuehne + Nagel that Fregnan says provides the capability to “track and trace products down every step of the supply chain”.
The company’s stores are also being connected – via the Wincor Nixdorf solution – whereby a CRM and omni-channel capability sits behind the Point-of-Sale. The new solution also creates a consistent end-to-end platform for the company to move towards enjoying greater control over the Benetton brand via the franchised route.
Fregnan says the company hopes to move 3,000 of its client-owned stores to franchised outlets over the next three years.
This will also help the company achieve its objective of more international expansion beyond its present 6,000 stores in 100 countries: “We needed a solution to deploy around the world and to help us enter new countries. We can’t be buying different software in each country. We wanted a standardised solution.”
