Retail Directions gets intimate with Bendon lingerie

Australian retail specialists, Retail Directions, has broadened its relationship with lingerie brand retailer Bendon, implementing new back-end systems for its UK outlet.

Bendon, whose womenswear portfolio includes Elle Macpherson Intimates, Stella McCartney Lingerie, Bendon and Fayreform, has been a customer of Retail Directions since 2006. The integrator has provided and supported an end-to-end retail system, and has now brought the retailer’s first UK Elle Macpherson Intimates Outlet store onto the network.

Retail Directions managing director, Andrew Gorecki, claimed fashion offered some challenging requirements for IT solutions, that were not often done well.

“When you think about a store such as Coles – the product will have a barcode, or fresh fruit sold by the kilogram,” Gorecki said.

“However, clothing stores have different requirements – styles, sizes and colours are different. If you think about lingerie, there can be up to 46 sizes of the same bra.

“For such complex inventory management, a good system would allow merchants to manage that inventory at as high level as possible.”

Retail Directions is a specialist player, focusing on speciality retailers, and has a client base that includes food supplement, cosmetics, giftware, pharmacy and department stores.

The integrator has 50 staff, and customers in 20 countries.

The deal with Bendon is the second client in the UK for Retail Directions. The first was The Body Shop in 2001.

Gorecki said business continued to be brisk despite the economic climate.

“Some segments of the market do better than others when spending is discretionary,” he said. “However, customers of ours such as Cotton On, which has a mass market appeal, will always do well.”

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