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: White Stuff turns to Retail Assist(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) RDATE:07012011 Modern fashion brand outsources its Out-of-Hours Help Desk to aid expansion. Award-winning fashion and lifestyle retailer White Stuff, which was named Draper's 'Retailer of the Year' in 2009 and was rated as one of the Sunday Times 'Top 100 Companies to Work For', has become the latest client to join Retail Assist's growing customer base. White Stuff will use Retail Assist for an out-of-hours Help Desk service to support its shop operations nationwide during evenings and weekends. The retailer has also retained Retail Assist to remotely monitor its servers and manage its critical SQL reporting schedules on a constant basis, 24x7, 365 days a year. These measures are designed to protect the consistency and resilience of business operations. White Stuff's expansion has included a fast-paced store opening programme. In 2004, it had 15 shops. Today it has 70 shops, with plans to open another 10 over the next 6 months; and it holds 100 wholesale accounts. Being a fully multichannel retailer, it also boasts a flourishing e-commerce site and a burgeoning catalogue business. White Stuff has succeeded in preserving the values and unstuffy style that characterised its early years, at the same time as diversifying and building a well-regarded corporation. White Stuff's Head of IT, Mike Padfield, was faced with the challenge of making sure the IT function kept pace with growth, whilst controlling central IT costs. He observes: "As the White Stuff shop estate expands and our trading hours become longer, our shop staff need to be confident that they can get support that they are accustomed to." Padfield decided to outsource to a specialist provider. "I knew Retail Assist was providing out-of-hours and 24/365 Help Desk services to many major retailers and had the skills to do this well. The service levels they offered us mean we can maintain the quality of our IT support, no matter how fast we grow. Furthermore, Retail Assist's 'shared service' model makes this cost-effective." This contract builds on Retail Assist's experience of providing an out-of-hours Help Desk for companies such as Jane Norman and Harvey Nichols. Its remote monitoring services are used by retailers such as Selfridges in the UK and A|Wear in Dublin. Concludes Retail Assist's managed services director, Dan Smith: "We're delighted to welcome White Stuff as a client, especially at this exciting time of expansion. By using the services of our experienced Help Desk Call Analysts, we can ensure that support calls from White Stuff store staff will be answered promptly and efficiently, whilst the internal IT team are free to shape the company's future." Retail Assist Limited www.retail-assist.com & www.merret.com Retail Assist is a leading retail-only solutions and services company, providing UK and international retailers with end-to-end business applications plus a comprehensive range of services that reduce costs, optimise retail operations and support higher revenues. The company was the first retail-only IT services provider to be awarded ISO 20000 accreditation by the BSI. Retail Assist clients include Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, WDF, A|Wear, La Senza, Paperchase, Whistles, Aurora Fashions, The White Company, Odin Retail, Tec7, Burberry, Mint Velvet, Jane Norman, Crew2000 and Jacques Vert. In Products, it excels in developing, integrating, deploying and supporting customised Head Office and Supply Chain systems that extend from merchandising through replenishment and finance to e-commerce. These include its award-winning Merret supply chain solution. Merret is a real-time, multi-currency, multi-channel merchandising, warehousing and stock control solution that covers all areas of the retail supply process with the exception of EPoS. Merret capabilities include product content, purchasing, warehousing, replenishment, inward and outward distribution, store back-office, retail financials, in-season planning, CRM data capture and reporting, and business intelligence and corporate performance management. Through working with third parties, Retail Assist also integrates and delivers EPoS systems. In Managed Services, Retail Assist's proven offerings include 24/7 Help Desk, Technical Services, Operations, Data Centre, Hardware Maintenance and Disaster Recovery. Professional Services cover Retail Business Consultancy and Project Services. The company's Managed Solutions offer hardware, software applications and services in a cost-effective Software as a Service package. Solutions are hosted and costed as affordable, revenue-based expenditure, designed around monthly payments over an agreed contractual period. This provides small to mid-sized retailers with the advantages and levels of service usually only experienced by large companies. White Stuff www.whitestuff.com The company was founded in 1985 by Sean Thomas and George Treves as a venture to sell 'Boys from the White Stuff' sweatshirts in bars around the French Alpine ski resort of Val d'Isère. The founders, keen fans of skiing, initially focused on outdoor garments, including skiwear and fleeces, for men. Over the following 15 years, the brand grew. It introduced womenswear, set up a home shopping and a wholesale business, and establishing 15 shops. Retail lines were no longer exclusively composed of outdoor clothing, but included smarter casual wear. In February 2004, Thomas and Treves hired Sally Bailey, ex-Brand Director of Miss Selfridge, as CEO to develop the business. The company expanded rapidly over the next five years and today owns 70 shops, has over 100 wholesale accounts, and operates a sales website and catalogue business. White Stuff was named Draper's 'Retailer of the Year' in 2009 and is one of the Sunday Times '100 Top Companies to Work For'. Its sister label, 'so glad and very', shares much of the same DNA as the White Stuff brand but has a unique styling, which it describes as 'dressed down dressing up'. Romain Consulting is a UK-based Marketing & Corporate Communications consultancy. Services including PR are delivered by a high-calibre, highly-experienced technology Marketer. Former Marketing Director of global group. Strategy, planning & execution. Full range of Communications & Product Marketing activities are available on a project or retained basis. Specialisms: technology, insurance & financial services, retail. French speaker. ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])). (c) 2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS |