"Our success was the result of solid planning, extensive testing and a great deal of user involvement throughout the project. The Helzberg team and Raymark team have really worked well together to minimize any business interruption. I don't believe I have seen such a collaborative IT/user effort in my entire IT career."

- Orlando "Butch" Jagoda, Helzberg Diamonds

This quote is extracted from the feature case study in this month's RIS News, which depicts why Raymark and Helzberg Diamonds have formed such a successful relationship!

Read the complete case study in the June print edition of RIS News, online, or here: Case Study-Making ERP Sparkle RIS News June 2009.pdf (81.36 kb)

Raymark is pleased to announce the appointment of its new President, Marc Chriqui, new Vice-President of Business Development, Steven Quon, and new Vice-President of Raymark Europe Jean-François Codron.

Claude Chriqui, who will continue to assume his role as CEO and Chairman of the Board, states that “Raymark is currently undergoing significant client, resource and technological growth, fueling a need for a new upper management structure within the company. Marc, Steven, and Jean-François possess the combination of expertise, business sense and foresight necessary in guiding the future of Raymark.”

Marc recently addressed the company and spoke about his plans and vision for the future of Raymark. Check out the complete press release:Raymark Appoints New President, Vice-Presidents.pdf (97.52 kb)

 

 

Raymark’s Paris office has been conducting its Raymark Cafés, a gathering of Raymark employees, retailers and partners, for the past several years. The goal of these meetings, much like the aim of this blog, is to exchange ideas, concepts and visions around the present and future state of retail.

Roland Bermann, a well-respected Market Analyst, reflected on the importance of these gatherings and believes their value is directly tied to the principle that “knowledge generates profit” and that Raymark Cafés help:

• Transform information into knowledge
• Transform knowledge into action
• Transform action into sales and profit

Areas of discussion range from partnerships and new system functionality to issues, problems, product evolution and projects, with the most recent Raymark Cafés focusing on:

• CRM (mass and targeted)
• RFID (from the supply chain to the store)
• Multichannel
• Business Intelligence
• Epayment
• Distribution Channels
• Application Service Providers

May’s gathering took place at Le Palais Brongniart, a prestigious conference center originally built by order of Napoleon Bonaparte to offer a permanent home to the Paris stock exchange. The discussion centered around epayment, and those in attendance profited from discovering new solutions, reinforcing their current choices, and receiving concrete answers to their questions. The presentations, demos and shared experiences led to several conclusions regarding the growing importance of rapid, reliable and multichannel epayment, as well as the risk of fraud involved. Whereby wait times were uncovered as the primary epayment concern from a consumer perspective, retailers must weigh several factors before deciding on an epayment solution. Those mentioned included:

• Can it handle a multichannel operation?
• Does it accept multiple payment methods (bank cards, PAYPAL etc.)
• Does it operate independently from banks and other financial institutions?
• How can costs associated with acquiring and using dedicated servers be reduced?
• How can service continuity be ensured in the event of a power failure?
• How can security be guaranteed...

...and so much more!

Le Palais Brongniart

Thank you to all those who participated in this enlightening discussion; it is always interesting to hear what our European customers have to say and we look forward to seeing what the next Raymark Café will bring!

We have recently experienced significant growth in the number of employees at our Asian division. This increase in resources will help Raymark both better serve our Asian market locally and enhance the level of service we provide our North American and European clients. To accomodate the expanding team, our Shanghai office has relocated to a larger space at Fushan Road 450 Suite 98, Pudong, Shanghai, China, 200122. 

Check out more pictures of the new office and Raymark Asia’s dedicated team!

On April 30, 2009, we held our first art day, where employees were invited to contribute art work to be exhibited at the event. The exhibit took place at our head office in Montreal and contributions included paintings, pottery, photography, wood sculptures, sketches and poetry. The overwhelming number of pieces submitted reflected the diversity and creativity of Raymark’s team. We have some very talented people working for us!

During a special luncheon, Raymark’s president, Claude Chriqui, praised the staff’s recent accomplishments and declared Raymark Art Day a yearly event!

Thank you to all Raymark employees for making this a wonderful exhibit. We look forward to seeing what you create for next year.

Click here for more photos of the event,
taken by Raymark Project Manager Kamil Bohuslav

We submitted an editorial to Retail Solutions Online (RSO) to compete for the feature article in its Retail Solutions Update magazine. Around 70 entries were submitted to RSO for consideration in this competition - Raymark won!

The issue was distributed to more than 15,000 retailers and is a thought leadership piece on how they can use interactive digital kiosks to offer a personalized in-store, self-service shopping experience to their customers. In it, we emphasize the importance of connecting kiosk software applications to Point of Sale, Customer Relationship Management, and Business Intelligence systems to offer targeted promotions, discounts, and product recommendations to retail customers. Its concepts implement Raymark’s "never leave the store without a bag!" philosophy.

RSO was very impressed with our editorial and has already requested that we produce follow up articles for future editions of their magazine.

Here’s to Raymark’s continued success!

Check out the article: Kiosks Becoming the Bridge Between Online and Brick-and-Mortar Retail.pdf (134.97 kb)

Raymark is pleased to add yet another footwear retailer to its family!

The Shtofman Company, Inc., an independent, Texas-based footwear retailer, has selected Xpert-Series™ as its retail software solution. “As we continued to grow, we were searching for a solution that would improve our procurement, allocation and replenishment processes,” says Marvin Krasner, The Shtofman Co. Inc.’s CEO and President.

Read the complete press release: Shtofman Selects Raymark Press Release.pdf (404.99 kb)

Whether you’re thinking of expanding internationally, or just need a better way of managing your retail operations in your local market, we can help!

We’re excited about our new partnership with Toshiba TEC. This strategic partnership strengthens our presence in Asia and allows us to offer our Asian customers a strong, complete retail solution that is easier to deploy and support on a local level.

With offices opening up and partnerships continuing to develop around the world, we’re definitely winning locally and growing globally!

Read the complete press release: Raymark Toshiba TEC Partnership Press Release.pdf (131.35 kb)

There’s always something exciting going on at Raymark, so we decided it was time to blog about it! We want to share news, thoughts, ideas and experiences with you, giving you visibility into life at Raymark and fostering an open dialogue between our staff and our customers.

We hope you enjoy the blog, find it insightful, and engage in lots of open communication with us!