Transcript
PeopleSoft Helps Hat Retailer Meet the Holiday Rush
The Customer Boston-based Lids is the world’s largest retailer of hats, operating 325 stores in 42 states. Lids, founded in 1993, sells lifestyle headwear, primarily baseball style caps, with licensed sports leagues and branded fashion styles. In 1999 Lids plans to expand into Puerto Rico and Canada.
Computing Environment • Database: Microsoft SQL Server • Hardware: Compaq ProLiant 6000 • Operating System: Microsoft NT
Service Partner Sudbury River Consulting Group
Implementation Time 10 weeks
PeopleSoft Products PeopleSoft General Ledger, Payables, Purchasing, Asset Management, Projects, Budgets, Human Resources, PeopleTools
Two young entrepreneurs who knew hats were hot have seen their initial idea blossom into a national chain with 325 stores in 42 states. In 1993, Ben Fischman and Douglass Karp, then 20 and 17 years old, identified an unfilled market niche for fashionable licensed baseball caps. They launched Lids as a temporary kiosk in the Atrium Mall in Newton, Massachusetts. Today Lids is the world’s largest retailer of hats —shoppers can’t seem to get enough of its merchandise which bears the licensed logos of professional sports teams and colleges, and branded fashions from Nike, Reebok, adidas, and others. To sustain Lids’ explosive growth, in 1998 an infrastructure of people and processes was put in place which eventually led to the implementation of PeopleSoft software— a rapid 10-week implementation that occurred at the same breathtaking speed as the growth of Lids itself. Third Time the Charm
“PeopleSoft is the third financial system we’ve implemented,” says Cathy Tsoukalas, Lids’ controller. “Initially we had a Windows-based application that was not integrated into our point-of-sale (POS) system. By 1996 we had 100 stores and the system was obviously inadequate to sustain our growth. We purchased another package that integrated POS and financials, but as Lids’ growth continued to skyrocket, this system proved not to be flexible or robust enough. Plus, it lacked a report writer which we needed for financial analysis and decision support.” Lids also planned to install a retail management system for replenishment, stock ledgers, and other key retail functions. A major requirement for the new financial system was the ability to integrate with this retail software. “We needed software and a server that would support Lids for the next ten years, whether we had 300 or a thousand stores, in the U.S. or overseas,” explains Tsoukalas. “The software and hardware had to provide a tightly integrated financial and HR system that was scalable and flexible enough to grow along with the corporation. We evaluated products from three of the leading vendors, and within two weeks we had made our decision — PeopleSoft Select was far and away the best fit for our company. We had to move fast — the 1998 holiday season, our prime selling time, was just around the corner. “PeopleSoft empowers users,” she continues, “and Lids is a user driven company.” We could see that the PeopleSoft software, with its clean
interface and built-in workflow procedures, would give our accounting staff the ability to move around the system with ease.” Lids also needed a strong platform to support the new software and found that Compaq’s ProLiant server best fit the bill. Says Tsoukalas, “We knew Compaq would give us system reliability and scalability over the long-term.” PeopleSoft Select and PeopleSoft Express to the Rescue
Tsoukalas says that PeopleSoft Select — a complete solution of software, hardware, and services designed for medium-sized companies — was a major factor in the decision. In particular, the PeopleSoft Express rapid implementation methodology was just what Lids needed to get the job done in the shortest time possible. Another key factor in the decision was the actual implementation team, including consultants from a PeopleSoft implementation partner, Sudbury River. “We met and were impressed by the team from the very first. We knew we could work with them.” The implementation took place in a PeopleSoft implementation center in Providence, and Tsoukalas, along with six of her colleagues, spent three days a week defining requirements and configuring the system in an intensive hands-on environment. “In the lab, we could crash the system and learn from our mistakes,” she recalls. “With Express we were able to bring the system online at Lids in only 10 weeks. We were ready for the holiday season with time to spare.” Included in the PeopleSoft implementation were six products: General Ledger, Payables, Purchasing, Asset Management, Projects, and Budgets — all running on the Microsoft SQL Server database. PeopleSoft Human Resources was scheduled for a second phase of the implementation. Also on tap was the integration of a retail management system with the PeopleSoft applications.
“…it used to take eight to 10 hours to compile store P/L reports— with PeopleSoft and Compaq it’s now down to nine minutes.” Cathy Tsoukalas Controller
Decision Support Made Easy
“We’re already experiencing a number of benefits,” she reports. “With PeopleSoft’s nVision reporting tool, our users can tailor their reports and have the information in minutes. For example, it used to take eight to 10 hours to compile store P/L reports — with PeopleSoft and Compaq it’s now down to nine minutes. We switched from manually handling purchase orders to processing them online using PeopleSoft’s built in workflow — a great savings in time, paperwork, and error correction. “PeopleSoft allows us to put decision support tools in the hands of our top management, district sales managers, and retail managers so they can access and drill down into information that was never available to them before,” she adds. “Lids is far ahead of its competitors and, with PeopleSoft’s help, we intend to stay that way. We’re positioning ourselves for the next century.” PeopleSoft, the PeopleSoft logo, PeopleTools, PS/nVision, PeopleCode, PeopleBooks, and Red Pepper are registered trademarks, and PeopleTalk and “We work in your world.” are trademarks of PeopleSoft, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Copyright © 1999 PeopleSoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
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