Founded over 20 years ago, Maxi is a supermarket chain offering a variety of high quality products at affordable prices. Dedicated to high standards for food safety and customer satisfaction, Maxi aims to deliver a best-in-class shopping experience. Currently, Maxi employs over 1,000 workers who ensure the operation of 22 stores across Angola in the cities of Luanda, Porto Amboim, Sumbe, Lobito and Benguela.
The business case
Maxi had been using a retail POS system called TPlinux from Diebold Nixdorf. When the software solution was discontinued, the company started looking for an alternative. Considering increased use of mobile and shifting shopping behaviors, Maxi decided the new system should
- help them keep up with changing commerce trends
- fulfill legal requirements regarding VAT and SAFT files submission
- manage loyalty with personalized pricing, promotions and deals for loyalty members.
The solution
After considering several software developers, Maxi selected LS Central, to be implemented by LS Retail partner Arquiconsult. The company was happy to find a system that could manage loyalty and personalization, and which fulfilled Angola’s legal requirements. Arquiconsult was selected as implementation partner due to their proven experience in implementing similar projects in complex retail settings both in Angola and Portugal.
Just three months after the right solution was identified, the system was fully running in all stores, on more than 100 POS. “Overall, the implementation went well”, Maxi reported.
Benefits
Maxi has seen great advantages since implementing their new system. They can now add new functionality which they couldn’t have introduced before, such as APT integration. They can also now update digital shelf labels directly from LS Central, which enables them to rapidly update prices and activate offers.
Management now has a complete view of day-to-day performance of each individual store, and has reliable operational data which can be used to take informed sales decisions.
With LS Central, Maxi has the tools needed to minimize problems, meet demands, and focus on their mission in the mass market.
Although the company is not yet taking advantage of all functionalities of the unified commerce system, the possibility to continue to bring in new features and improve processes as the industry requires made LS Central the right decision. When talking about introducing new functionality to keep up with consumer trends, a Maxi representative said that “LS Central will help by providing a good and robust back-end”.
