Network Uptime Solution Helps Shoppers' Stop Overcome Downtime

Shoppers’ Stop, a leading fashion and lifestyle store has been a pioneer of organised retailing in India. Its stores are present across India in cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Kolkata. It has a national presence of over 6,00,000 square feet of retail space, stocking over 250 brands of garments and accessories. Being at the helm of a customer centric business, there is a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction, which in turn translates into taking all aspects of the business very seriously.

Avoiding Downtime

The front end and back end have to be effectively integrated to ensure smooth supply chain efficiency. This includes integrating Point of Sales Systems, Distribution Systems, Data Centre Systems, and Logistics to enable uninterrupted service to customers walking in every minute.

Power cuts result in distortions, power disturbances including spikes, surges, brownouts and blackouts from sources both internal and external affecting the IT loads. Moreover, as the desktops are used for online billing and feeding customer data, any sort of downtime is completely unacceptable. Any loss of information could result in stock outs and increased inventor, giving rise to customer dissatisfaction.

Anil Shankar, manager, IT, points out, “To remain focused in serving customers we are using many critical applications. Critical applications, which streamline our supply chain, require a steady and stable power back up to ensure consistent flow of information. It is necessary for us to run the centrally networked infrastructure to avoid any kind of downtime. Hence, the emphasis on Network Uptime.”

Emerson’s Network Uptime Solution

On undertaking an overall countrywide power audit, Emerson found that the existing UPS systems installed at Shoppers’ Stop were not favourable to work under extreme power conditions. So, when the input 3 Phase Power went below 360V AC, the existing UPS at Shoppers’ Stop used to transfer the entire load on the battery and discharge the batteries. After the batteries were completely discharged, the UPS would run on bypass mode. When a UPS runs in bypass mode, it gives raw power which doesn’t give full protection. This led to the PCs, servers and other systems dependant on the UPS coming to a grinding halt. After identifying the problem, Emerson offered its Network Uptime Solution Super 400 UPS.

“We evaluated the solutions of other leading vendors like APC while deciding to deploy a power-conditioning solution. But we went in for Emerson’s solutions, due to our past experience with them. With a centrally networked infrastructure, the retail business cannot afford any kind of downtime. Network Uptime offers precise information related to merchandise, logistics, online customers and helps in reducing the turnaround time required to take quick decisions," mentioned Shankar.

High Availability

Post deployment, the power fluctuations are now taken care of without disrupting the IT infrastructure. The solution has ensured a more planned and regulated sales forecasting and accelerated transaction time. While the front-end of the business is always taken care of, it is the invisible back-end that acts like a life-support system for the smooth functioning of day-to-day operations. Shoppers’ Stop brought in the single-phase output as against three-phase output, ease of load distribution and overload capability three times greater than a three phase UPS.

“We have noticed high availability after the deployment. The deployment has resulted in accelerating transaction time, better sales forecasting and reduced inventory. We are presently using high-end servers from IBM and it is very much essential to keep them running 24/7. We are also using SAN and NAS boxes from NetApp and ERP solutions. Power conditioning is taking 20% of our total IT investment,” concluded Shankar.

Shoppers’ Stop is looking at deploying a CRM solution in the future.