Sean John Techs Up Ops for Retail Push
Glendale, Calif.–based software distributor One Step Data Inc. has snagged New York–based menswear resource Sean John as its newest client. Sean John will use One Step’s Retail Pro software to handle sales and inventory management at its Fifth Avenue boutique. The clothing manufacturer is putting the technology in place to gear up for a big retail expansion over the next two years that will yield up to 15 new stores, including some West Coast units.
Sean John raked in $300 million in sales in 2004 and later this year is launching a women’s label as well as men’s fragrance and footwear collections. The company, led by Sean Combs, has about 2,000 wholesale distribution points in the United States.
“The opening of our first store [in August] has exceeded projections,” said Charles Soriano, vice president of retail. “This is the first of a planned 12 to 15 stores that we will be opening within the next several years.”
Sean John is using IBM’s SurePOS 563 for its hardware, which Soriano said the company chose for its flat, low-profile touch screen. For software, the company will use the Retail Pro POS inventory system, which addresses inventory management for the warehouse and performs merchandise analysis. It will also use the Retail Pro Extension Suite, which offers customer relationship management applications such as customer mapping and zip-code analysis, phone-number formatting, ship-to-customer receipts, automated price levels, bulk e-mailing and suggested sales prompts. Other parts of the systems address electronic data interchange, commission tracking, the open-to-buy process, purchase orders and credit card processing.
“Sean John’s system was designed for scalability and growth. It works superbly for their one-store and inventory operations now but is also completely versatile in application within a multiple-store architecture, which, of course, they are planning to develop,” said Scott Kreisberg, president of One Step Data. —Robert McAllister
