L'Occitane implements global retail system from Cegid

L'Occitane, which offers pure and natural cosmetics, perfumes and wellness products, has seen spectacular growth internationally in recent years, particularly in Asia. More than 90% of L'Occitane's sales* come from outside France and its retail network is continuing to expand, with more than 2,500** boutiques in total in approximately 100 countries.

Source: L'Occitane website.

To support its rapid expansion, L'Occitane needed a strong international technology partner and an all-encompassing, innovative management solution. In 2010, the company chose Yourcegid Retail after studying the solutions available on the market.

"Cegid's international experience and industry-specific expertise ensured that the solution would be implemented on a large scale across the globe in a secure, well-organised fashion," said Etienne de Verdelhan, VP Process Optimization & Chief Information Officer at L'Occitane Group.

He recalled having been won over by the robust functionality in Yourcegid Retail, as well as by Cegid's ability to offer retail specific innovations such as customer relationship management, omnichannel integration, optimised replenishment and in-store mobility.

A L'Occitane outlet in Raffles City mall, Singapore.

Given L'Occitane's international presence, large-scale deployment was required, with real-time access to centralised servers in Asia-Pacific, Japan, North and South America, as well as Europe, challenging both Cegid's subsidiaries and local partners.

"We had to automate the processes to keep to L'Occitane's tight deployment schedule," recalled Sylvain Jauze, Director of International Operations at Cegid.

Beginning in Australia in 2010, Cegid equipped 35 stores over three months. Then, Yourcegid Retail was deployed in 350 Asian stores, including Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and Thailand. In Japan alone, Cegid equipped more than 100 stores with a localised version of the solution. 

In the next step, the solution was deployed in more than 250 stores in North America.

"We finished with 350 stores in Europe, including 220 stores in eight countries in just one night!" said de Verdelhan. Although priority was given to L'Occitane's company-owned stores, over the long term, all its sales outlets will be connected to the new IT system. The solution is currently being deployed in Taiwan, Korea and Brazil, and in the near future, it will be deployed in more countries in Latin America, India and South Africa.

To see this large-scale project through to completion, Cegid relied upon its international infrastructure of more than 10 subsidiaries worldwide and the significant involvement of its local value added reseller (VAR) network. And more importantly, it worked in close partnership with its client.

"Significant synergies were created between our staff and L'Occitane's management team. Thanks to this collaboration, we were able to swiftly adapt the core model to respond to the business complexities L'Occitane faced in Asia, USA and EMEA," noted Jauze.

Today, more than 1,000 stores in over 25 countries are already equipped with Yourcegid Retail. L'Occitane now has a solution that meets its store management, CRM, merchandising and inventory management needs. "At the front line of business, the IT system plays a pivotal role in L'Occitane Group's brand development by improving operational productivity at every level and offering retail-specific innovation," stated de Verdelhan.

The solution is localised for each country (language, tax, regulations, credit card payments etc.) and also includes processes and industry requirements specific to each country.

"We now manage all our stores worldwide with a modern, international IT system. We are now able to standardise and optimise our processes at the Group level. And measuring operational excellence at each site has become easy," said the CIO of L'Occitane.

In line with L'Occitane's customer-centric approach, Yourcegid Retail offers high value-added customer relationship management (CRM) functions, such as a loyalty management engine adapted to the needs of each country, whether that be complex points programmes in Asia, customer relationship programs and special offers in Europe, or something entirely different. In-store mobility, omnichannel integration and biometric identification of sales staff can all be deployed.

"We can now enjoy more complex interaction with our customers, manage their loyalty points in real time across all sales channels, customise promotions, and offer services such as click & collect," commented de Verdelhan.

L'Occitane echoed this statement. "Cegid is one of the few, if not the only software providers capable of supporting companies worldwide by offering a single, international and localised solution," said de Verdelhan.

*L'Occitane was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2010. The L'Occitane Group reported a turnover of EUR1.04 billion on the financial year ending March 31st 2013; 92.1% of revenues came from outside of France.

**The number includes both owned stores and concessions. Of over 2,500 stores in 100 countries, more than 1,200 are company-owned.