Optimising omni-channel operational efficiency

 Popken Fashion Group, an international, family-run fashion company specializing in plus-size fashion, uses Talend and expertise from QuinScape to optimize their omni-channel operational efficiency, increase revenue, and further improve internal processes. 

With brands such as Ulla Popken, GINA LAURA, Studio Untold, and JP1880, the company employs more than 3,600 employees in over 30 countries. The retailer recently shifted its strategy to an omni-channel sales approach —selling its clothing through its 540 retail stores, franchises, an online store, mail-order catalog, and business-to-business partners such as Amazon.

Starting in 2017 with QuinScape, Popken decided to implement a data hub strategy that would enable it to connect systems and share information easily in an API environment. With Talend, data is distributed, transformed, and exchanged within seconds instead of hours or days, delivering a vast advantage in the highly competitive retail market where every second counts. The metadata-driven data hub infrastructure will be the backbone of growth for the company’s entire business channel.

“It’s absolutely necessary for our omni-channel strategy to interchange all of the inventory information between our stores, the main depot, the online shop, and our partners,” said Stefan Rahner, Head of Software Development, Popken Fashion Group. “Prior to Talend, this interchange took place once a day. Now with Talend we are able to interchange this information in near real-time.  Additionally, because of its cloud integration capabilities, Talend will play a key role in supporting our long-term cloud strategy.”

Speed matters in the competitive retail market where companies must respond quickly to changing conditions and distribution channels. The decision to move to the cloud enabled Popken Fashion Group to scale and better serve its business needs. The first step included the replacement of its existing ERP with Microsoft Dynamics 365 on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Other applications will move to the cloud in the coming months. 

“Through our long-term partnership with Talend and proven expertise in application integration, Popken Fashion Group can now enable its customers to shop wherever they want while providing them with an optimum retail experience," said Dr. Gero Presser, CEO at QuinScape. 

"The retail industry has become one of the most competitive markets in the world and long-established retailers continue to face a growing number of competitors as well as new demands around customer purchase experience," said Ciaran Dynes, Senior Vice President of Products at Talend. "Together with QuinScape, we are proud to support Popken Fashion Group's cloud journey to enable a better and easier engagement with their customers.