Annabelle is a fashion retailer specializing in ladies’ and children’s night- and loungewear. Since opening its first store in the UAE in 2011, Annabelle has grown, and the company now counts 21 stores across the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt Annabelle’s collections focus on fun, comfortable, and trendy styles, a mix which has made the brand popular in the Middle Eastern retail market. Annabelle’s team of international fashion designers, based in Dubai and London, are responsible for designing fun and original collections for the company. The children’s designs include characters from Walt Disney and Marvel Entertainment, used through a direct retail license.
Challenges in managing operations
As the company grew, it became difficult to manage the increasingly complex operations. Annabelle was faced with having to handle a large amount of inventory without a robust system; it was especially difficult to distribute the stocks, keeping track of what was available at the warehouse versus the various store locations. Besides the rudimentary inventory management software, Annabelle had no system to manage their business critical operations, including financials, sales, and marketing. The legacy POS (Point of Sale) software would also need to be improved or replaced. These technical needs started to become problematic, as they were limiting the company’s ability to grow. Of all the solutions that we evaluated, the LS Retail software solution proved to excel in all the areas that were looking for,” says Rajan Gill, Annabelle’s Managing Director. “With the LS Retail software solution managing our retail operation, we will be able to define new processes, reduce our costs and focus on growing the business effectively.”
Support for a growing business
To the satisfaction of the project management team and business sponsors, LS Retail software was implemented in quick succession at all Annabelle’s new and existing stores in all four regions of the Middle East.
As soon as the LS Retail software solution went live, the company started noticing positive effects. Annabelle could finally rely on accurate sales and inventory data, and use this precise and up-to-date information to plan their day-to-day activities effectively. LS Retail software also helped considerably lower costs, as Annabelle now needs fewer man hours to complete the same tasks. The whole operation has become more efficient and innovative. The LS Retail software solution has become a powerful ally in Annabelle’s growth strategy, thanks to its great scalability. With the LS Retail software solution powering it, Annabelle can now become the company it had dreamed to be.
