Parasuco

The Challenge

To be successful in today's economy, you've got to be on your game. In retail, that entails either offering a commodity for less than everyone else or offering a unique product that drives customers to your store. But, products and prices alone aren't what keep your customers satisfied. If you keep them waiting too long at the checkout line or run out of the things they want, they may not give you a second chance to get it right.

Running A Threadbare POS

Parasuco Jeans Inc. (Montreal) is a privately held avant-garde fashion retailer that sells its products via six stores in Canada and globally through wholesalers. Take one step into a Parasuco store, and you'll observe Greek and Roman architecture and gorgeous models staring down from the store walls to remind shoppers that Parasuco is all about sex appeal. Before upgrading its POS, however, Parasuco's customers didn't find the retailer's checkout lines very sexy. Due to an outdated architecture, Parasuco's legacy POS had a myriad of problems. To begin with, the system regularly had issues processing credit card transactions. "The TCP [transmission control protocol] stack inside the system wasn't very accommodating to dial-up [56 KB] lines," recalls Roberto Iannuzzi, IT director at Parasuco Jeans. "It wasn't uncommon for the system to freeze in the middle of a credit card transaction, which could take time to resolve." Sometimes, checkout lines would get so backed up that customers would return their merchandise and walk out.

To make matters worse, the legacy POS was unpredictable at performing nightly data polling tasks. Iannuzzi reports that data had to be segmented into batches less than 500 KB and electronically sent to headquarters via a dial-up connection.

Another downside to the legacy system was that it used primitive forecasting tools, which required much manual intervention. "Each store had to send certain information as a hard file to headquarters, and someone from headquarters had to manually put all the data together," says Iannuzzi. "Several categories were created and someone had to manually check the parameters in each category, which required nearly five hours of labor a day." Because of the limited metrics captured by the legacy POS, Parasuco had a difficult time predicting which SKUs (stock keeping units) were the hottest sellers. A final point of contention with the system revealed itself at the layaway counter. Due to the transaction problems already mentioned with its legacy system, Parasuco had to create a paper-based layaway solution and perform duplicate data entry as a workaround for the ailing POS.

Reduced Labor, Faster Checkouts Yield Short Payback Period

By the end of 2001, Parasuco realized it was time to upgrade its POS system. After speaking with several vendors, the chic clothier selected Raymark's (Montreal) Xpert Series, which comprises a Web-enabled architecture, forecasting and reporting tools, and workforce optimization functionality. Besides replacing its POS software, Parasuco simultaneously upgraded its dial-up connection with DSL (digital subscriber line), and purchased Citrix servers. "We installed four Citrix servers at our headquarters to host our database and Xpert Series application," says Iannuzzi. "Our stores access the application and database via a VPN [virtual private network], which we built using IPsec [Internet Protocol security]." Using the 128-bit encryption VPN, Parasuco stores can access the POS solution from their PCs via Xpert Citrix connections.

With the help of an always-on DSL connection, Parasuco can send more than 10 times the data without having to segment it into chunks, as it had to do previously. Also, the Xpert Series application is able to capture dozens of additional data elements, compared to the legacy POS. This extra information provides the retailer with valuable merchandise management reports on a daily basis. For instance, Parasuco can see its sales throughput for every piece of clothing or accessory it sells - which can be further segmented by color, size, and style - and it can determine the peak output of its merchandise. "The critical reports we used to generate took five hours to create," recalls Iannuzzi. "Now, we can print out reports that contain more than twice as much detail in only a few minutes."

Long lines at the checkout counters have become a thing of the past as well, thanks to its POS system's Web-enabled architecture combined with Parasuco's DSL connectivity. Iannuzzi reports that the combined benefits of reduced labor - both on the IT side and the clerical side - and improved credit and debit transactions easily gave the company a full return on its investment within a six-month time frame. Those are the kinds of results that make companies happy ... and keep customers coming back.

About Parasuco

Renowned for fashion forward style, Parasuco has grown to become a recognizable brand name worldwide through its unique fabric finishes and leading-edge designs. Parasuco’s strength and success lies in its ability to know what today’s consumers want - merchandise that combines innovative styling, high quality, phenomenal fit and excellent value.

With sex appeal being the essence of Parasuco, the extensive line features something for everyone. The world-famous jeans make a statement for individualism, as each pair feature a personality of their very own. Offering form-fitting, form-flattering cuts and intricate detailing such as cutouts, studs and embroidery, Parasuco is a true nirvana for jean-lovers.

In recent years, the Parasuco brand has developed a cult-like following, complete with celebrity interest and mentions in a multitude of rap songs. Celebrities are not the only ones recognizing Parasuco. Sportswear International, the prestigious international trade publication, named Parasuco one of the top 10 most influential denim designers in North America, and awarded the company for “Most Innovative Denim”. Italy’s famous “Donna Italia” magazine also recognized Parasuco as one of the top ten hottest denim brands.