Samsonite Unifies India Ops With Polaris iStore

Polaris Enterprise Solution Limited (PESL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Polaris Software Lab Ltd, has announced that Samsonite, the lifestyle luggage brand, has gone live with PESL’s iStore in 80 stores across India. iStore is built on IBM’s Retail Integration Framework (RIF).

Implemented over a period of six months, the solution has enabled Samsonite to centralise operations, integrate stores resulting in better control and response capabilities to market situations and give a uniform, consistent and enhanced user experience for its customers across all stores.

Prior to this implementation, Samsonite stores were running various applications and packages which did not allow integration for centralisation at the head office. The previous solution also made it difficult to implement marketing promotions and gift vouchers.

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Polaris iStore’s rich modules such as Integrated Advanced Retailing Solutions enhanced the brand’s customer retention engine, accelerating its ability to execute loyalty programs, promotions and marketing campaign modules and provide a uniform experience while executing dynamic promotions centrally to all the stores. iStore interfaces helped Samsonite integrate its solution with ERP (Baan), allowing near-real time purchase and inventory data upload, thus avoiding delays and inaccuracies.

“Modern format retail requires scalability, performance and flexibility to address our rapidly growing business operations. We have selected iStore from PESL for its Superior Technology and Contemporary state of the art Architecture. iStore on IBM’s Retail Integration Framework (RIF) has advantages of scalability and flexibility that a next generation retail solution and an open operating environment provides. Some of the product platforms that power our business today are WebSphere Server, DB2, and MQ Messaging Middleware. iStore will help us offer enhanced customer delight in our exclusive stores through an unmatched ‘Customer Retailing Experience’ by enabling us to have a ‘Single View of each Customer’ across our organisation,” said Subratta Datta, MD, Samsonite, South Asia.

“We are extremely excited about our implementation at Samsonite. iStore’s next generation retail environment has provided Samsonite the most efficient retail services in the country. The solution has equipped their stores with enhanced technology, allowing them to stock the right items in right quantities at the right location and on time. Our solution has also provided the brand a highly customisable promotion engine that offers its customers a unique and uniform experience across its stores. Our successful implementations globally have placed PESL among the leading retail solution providers in the country,” said Vikas Misra, Head, PESL.