At a Glance
- Industry: Apparel & Fashion
- Number of Stores: 100+
- Region: Pakistan and UK
Benefits
- Saved 1500+ person-hours in 6 months
- Reduced Visual Merchandising Review Cycle
- Real-time visibility of all stores
- Completely digital workflows
Solutions Used
- Visual Merchandising Audits
- Daily SOPs – Store Opening & Closing Checklists
- Task Management
- Modules & Chapters for L&D
Established in 2003 by Kamran Khurshid, Outfitters Stores is a fashion retailer whose success stems from its ability to reduce lead times and react instantaneously to trends. Over the two decades of operation, the retailer, with its brands Outfitters and Ethnc, has expanded to 100+ stores across 21 cities and has created a new category of accessible, fairly priced fashion in Pakistan. Now in its twentieth year, the retailer is poised to expand beyond borders into the UK, US, Canada, and the Middle East.
Outfitters Stores is digitizing its operations with Wooqer. We sat down with Bilal Arshad, Regional Head of Retail Operations at Outfitters, to discuss their journey with Wooqer and the road to operational excellence.
The Challenge
VM Implementation Challenges
Outfitters and Ethnc by Outfitters used manual workflows for VM changes and reviews.
Talking to the Wooqer Team, Bilal said – ‘(Before Wooqer) VM Picture submissions were shared across 7-8 different WhatsApp Groups. Our average store size is 10k sq ft+, hence manually reviewing pictures and sharing feedback was not scalable.’
Bilal goes on to say that other daily store processes also involved a lot of manual work, which was completely inefficient.
Daily Store Operations
As one of Pakistan’s top fashion brands, a consistent and delightful customer experience is a top priority for Outfitters. Placing the right SOPs and, more importantly, ensuring that the SOPs are followed religiously is the key to that perfect store experience.
Measuring compliance, and identifying bottlenecks quickly was the hurdle. “We swear by one motto in Outfitters, Committed To Excellence. Since we have huge stores, we needed the right systems to digitally track compliance for SOPs in real time,” Bilal says.
Solution
Bilal proudly says – ‘It’s a synergistic effort from both organizations – Wooqer and Outfitters. To stay at the top and grow rapidly, a great team and excellent technology are the two most important parameters. We have the best people in place and the technology belongs to Wooqer.’
Outfitters started by digitizing their manual VM workflows using Wooqer’s building blocks. With built-in strong checks like cut-off timings, real-time picture submissions, and geo-tagging, the company saw timely submissions of VM implementation and status.
To review picture submissions, Wooqer’s VE Gallery provided one single view of picture submissions from all stores. This made it easy for VM heads to review submissions and rectify any non-compliance using the one-click feedback feature. The Outfitters teams shifted all their Daily Ops processes to Wooqer and completely eliminated all manual workflows.
Bilal goes on to say – ‘Ever since we started using Wooqer, all the processes we have – Visual Merchandising, Daily Store Opening & Closing Checklists, Sales Campaigns, and others are going really well. The Wooqer team has been really amazing. In the next phase, we will shift our maintenance and support workflows, building a bridge between HQ and stores.’
Bilal emphasizes that the credit for this success goes to C-level executives, Operations & VM teams, and on-ground employees of Outfitters and Ethnc. Without a collaborative effort across the board, achieving success in terms of Wooqer adoption and running a tight ship for operations would have been incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
Benefits
- Faster VM Cycle: Significantly reduced time to review picture submissions using Wooqer’s VE Gallery and one-click feedback features.
- Phenomenal Usage: The Outfitters team saw great adoption across all their stores. Combined, the team saw a record-breaking 4 years of Wooqer usage in 6 months.
- Saved 1500+ person-hours: The Brand has saved 1500+ person-hours in just 6 months by shifting all manual workflows to Wooqer.
“We have a holistic view of all our stores on our mobile phones no matter where we are, from frontend to our back offices. All thanks to Wooqer!” – Bilal Arshad, Regional Head of Retail Operations at Outfitters.
Talking about the ‘aha’ moment in the Wooqer adoption journey, Mr. Bilal said – ‘Our C-level executives travel often and, despite a busy schedule, they are now always on the top of all our stores with Wooqer in just a few clicks.”
Future Outlook
Talking about expansion, Bilal says, “We are already available online in London and are looking to open stores in the US, UK, Canada, and Middle East markets in the next couple of months”.
Bilal excitedly says that our processes are on par with global leaders, and we look forward to what comes next with Wooqer. Bilal and team Outfitters are also keen on bringing other workflows on Wooqer, including maintenance, support, and other frontline/backstaff functions.
