Jeffery-West, manufacturer and retailer of some of the most luxurious and eye-catching men’s shoes, boots and accessories, has integrated the latest EPOS technology from two specialist suppliers into its five characterful stores.
Esperus, a specialist author and supplier of retail, wholesale, mail order, production and ecommerce solutions for Fashion, Footwear, Sportswear and Outdoor Leisurewear, reveals that it has secured the business of shoemaker Jeffery-West.
Esperus has installed its Cloud-based wholesale and retail management solution, Genesis Real-Time (RT), running on hardware from its partner AURES Technologies, across the five Jeffery-West stores located in Northampton, Leeds, Manchester, London City and London Piccadilly.
Says Greg Gregoriou, co-owner of Esperus: “We were delighted when Mark Jeffery approached us, as their premium brand is very much in keeping with our client base and our 30-year history of supplying technology solutions to the UK fashion industry. In particular, the fact that we had our own integrated wholesale and retail operation aligned us with their business needs.”
Adds Mark Jeffery, founding co-owner of Jeffery-West: “Crockett & Jones’ reference gave us a sense of comfort that Esperus understands the premium shoe market and is as focused on quality and customer service as we are.”
Jeffery-West was already using an EPOS system but it was no longer supported and being developed. “We needed something that could grow with us. Our existing system was purely retail but our business is both retail and wholesale and so we decided to look for a system that would work for the whole business.”
Jeffery-West looked at available EPOS solutions and found they were all ‘pure-play’ retail. “It was difficult to find something that covered both bases until we discovered Esperus, which could offer us retail and wholesale modules. This was a strong consideration in our decision.”
Not only does the Esperus solution cover both parts of the Jeffery-West business but it also enables the company to plan its future. “We aim to have a full multichannel system to include a transactional ecommerce site with integrated stock management,” says Mark Jeffery. “In the long-term, our goal is to bring our New York store into the system too.”
The initial Esperus demonstration was done on a YUNO, the latest PC-based touchscreen terminal from AURES Technologies. Comments Mark Jeffery: “We really liked the YUNO and asked Greg to quote for our business based on using YUNOs in all our stores. Particularly useful is the ability via the Esperus Genesis Real-Time (RT) EPOS till software to select products by barcode or by image. When you scan a barcode, it brings up the product as a thumbnail image. This is an extra for us.”
Mark Jeffery reports that the new solution is running well. Having used EPOS before, the manager of the flagship Piccadilly Arcade store, for example, immediately liked it and finds the functionality familiar. For the Northampton-based staff however, this is a first encounter with EPOS.
“It’s a departure for us all to have touchscreen terminals and staff have taken to them really well,” adds Mark Jeffery. Greg Gregoriou is enthusiastic too. “The YUNOs are good-looking machines, functional, fast and quiet. Our software works well and looks particularly good on them. You could say that Genesis Real-Time (RT) software and the YUNOs were made for each other.”
The Esperus software comes with numerous functions of which Jeffery-West is already making good use or is planning to do so. “Expanding the customer database via electronic receipts and rewarding loyal customers are very much areas of focus in the solution we’ve put together for Jeffery-West,” explains Greg.
Customer Loyalty – Jeffery-West currently operates its own loyalty scheme with customer details captured at the point-of-sale and from back-office processes; this is now being transferred into Genesis. Points will be attached to purchases and printed as a till voucher on the new-format receipts;
Electronic Receipts – About to go live is the ability for staff to capture the customer’s email address at the till to despatch a receipt. This information will be a great marketing and promotion tool, linking customers to the Jeffery-West web site and its social media, and helping to maintain engagement to encourage repeat business;
Live Sales Visibility – Mark Jeffery particularly values having live sales data from all the stores accessible on his smartphone via the new Genesis mobile RT software. “When you’re out and about at the weekend, it’s great to be able to call a store and congratulate them if sales have been strong or equally, to find out the reasons for a slow sales day. I like to keep an eye on what’s going on, 24/7, and it’s good too for staff to know that you’re keeping tabs on everything.”
Stock Management – With five stores, management and movement of stock are very important to Jeffery-West. With Genesis, sales transactions automatically update the back-office stock database. “Until now, we’ve not had real-time visibility at Head Office. Now that we can see everything as it happens across all the stores, we’re hoping to be more proactive, getting stock levels down and moving items to where they’re selling.”
Reporting – “The quantity and depth of reports in Genesis are excellent. We’re using standard reports right now and learning with the system, working out which ones are best for us. We can pull off reports in any time-frame, looking at our best and worst sellers and making informed decisions. Going forward if we need customised reports, Esperus will help us.”
Cloud Hosting – Moving to the cloud is another positive for Jeffery-West. “Too much data had built up over the years on our old server and it was difficult to clear out historical records. Now we’re starting with a clean slate, firstly entering our Northampton stock then moving out to other stores. We’ve tried to tailor our data categories so they mirror our web site. Knowing we have unlimited storage in the cloud is reassuring.”
“With our new Genesis ePoS RT system running on the YUNOs, EPOS really is going to be the hub of our business, capturing data and driving many functions. We had EPOS before but this is a richer solution,” Mark Jeffery concludes.
About Esperus Systems – www.esperus.com
Founded in 1986, Esperus Systems have now been developing retail, wholesale, mail order, production and ecommerce solutions for the Fashion, Footwear, Sportswear and Outdoor Leisurewear industries for three decades.
Genesis Enterprise Real-Time (RT) is Esperus’ own product, meaning the company can be flexible and cost-effective in tailoring it to client needs. EPoS, ecommerce, stock management, customer loyalty and marketing, business intelligence, and mobile POS are all part of this multichannel and multifaceted solution. Genesis Enterprise RT can be deployed as cloud-based or locally-hosted.
Solutions are optimised for operational performance and are rich in functionality, with customised software development available when needed. Comprehensive reporting is part of the standard package. Use of Genesis Enterprise RT is proven to improve the efficiency and management of any business, provide business intelligence for fast decision-making, saving busy owners and managers time and money.
About Jeffery-West – www.jeffery-west.com
The founding owners of this international shoe brand started their careers at the tender age of 16 in their home town Northampton. Now close to 30 years since it was created, the Jeffery-West business retains a niche that combines directional styling and traditional manufacture.
Success has not rendered the Jeffery-West brand bland and mainstream; it continues to carry the clear signature of its founders. Its unique designs are executed with the craftsmanship and high quality associated with manufacturing in the heartland of British shoemaking.
Jeffery-West shoes, boots and accessories are not for the faint-hearted. They are flamboyant, eye-catching and covetable. Not surprisingly, many icons of film, music and stage have adopted Jeffery-West as their favoured shoemaker.
