Leading British fashion house, the Jacques Vert Group, having recently merged with the Irisa womenswear group formerly known as Alexon, has taken the decision to expand the Merret supply chain system already implemented at Jacques Vert across the entire group.

The merger of the two businesses has seen the group expanding from 4 brands to 9, almost doubling the size of the business, as the store count has gone from 1,000 to 1,900. In addition to their UK and international standalone stores, concession stores and web channels, the merger has made the Jacques Vert Group the UK’s largest concession retailer – demonstrating the scalability and the multichannel nature of the solution in place.

John Bovill, Commercial Director at Jacques Vert, said: “The decision to roll out Merret across the entire business was an easy one, as the solution is scalable, and has been built with multichannel capability as a core function rather than treating each retail channel as a separate entity. Merret had already been implemented into the existing brands at Jacques Vert, so we were keen to extend the solution across the wider business to fulfil our multichannel growth aspirations. In addition to this, Merret is set to reduce operating costs at Jacques Vert.”

Bovill continues: “Working closely with the Retail Assist team, we have managed two end-to-end system replacements in under a year. There was a strong element of collaboration between the Jacques Vert Group and Retail Assist since the Retail Assist team had a pre-existing relationship with the Irisa Group, and already had a good knowledge of the business and the industry.”

Merret is an integrated merchandising and warehousing supply chain solution that is proven, scalable and flexible, and covers all areas of stock control and retail supply.  It is currently supporting leading retailers including Whistles, Paperchase and ASOS.

Bovill adds: “The project has come out under budget and on time. We had to run the Jacques Vert systems at the same time as integrating the Irisa systems, but everything ran smoothly despite a considerable risk. I am very pleased with the way the Retail Assist team managed the integration and look forward to a continued partnership as we continue to grow.”

Alan Morris, Retail Assist’s Executive Chairman, concludes: “We’re very pleased to have worked alongside Jacques Vert at such an exciting stage in the company’s development.  With this merger, Jacques Vert is going from strength to strength, and we see it as a real credit that Merret has been such an integral part of the change.”

www.jacques-vert.co.uk

Retail Assist Limited www.retail-assist.com & www.merret.com
Retail Assist is a leading retail-only IT solutions and services company, providing UK and international retailers with end-to-end business applications and services that reduce costs, optimise retail operations and support higher revenues. The company was the first retail-only IT services provider to be awarded ISO20000 accreditation by the BSI.

Retail Assist clients include ASOS, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, WDF, A|Wear, Paperchase, Whistles, Aurora Fashions, Karen Millen, The White Company, Odin Retail, Tec7, Mint Velvet, Jane Norman, REISS, Crew2000, VUE, Signet, Jacques Vert, Precis, Windsmoor, Planet and White Stuff.

With its Retail Solutions Retail Assist excels in developing, integrating, deploying and supporting customised systems. 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. Through working with third parties, Retail Assist also integrates and delivers EPoS systems.

In Managed IT Services, Retail Assist’s proven offerings include 24/365 Help Desk, Technical Services, Operations, Data Centre, Hardware Maintenance and Disaster Recovery. Professional Servicescover Retail Business Consultancy and Project Services.

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