POLO JEANS TRACKS THE RACKS
Byline: Jeanette Hye
NEW YORK — Polo Jeans is using digital images to keep track of how 3,700 retail doors merchandise its products.
The technology gives the company access to comprehensive merchandise information at each retail site in one central database. It involves using two digital photographs per store, combined with detailed information about each in-store Polo Jeans shop.
Will Forrester, senior director of retail development at Polo Jeans, said the technology makes possible instant access to store information and enables the company to sort store-related information in a manner that makes it more valuable.
“This is a competitive tool that allows us to manage all the information and all the records in data form,” said Forrester.
The technology, developed for Polo Jeans by Image Info, New York, is called ShoPlan. A version of it will soon be available to the rest of the industry.
Using ShoPlan, Polo Jeans has been able to integrate the power of an image from each store with such information as address, square footage, Polo Jeans products carried, fixture allocation and layout.
The information is updated regularly by Polo Jean’s 52 retail coordinators, who visit each store that carries Polo Jeans products. The retail coordinators carry digital cameras and have access to and can update the files via the Web.
Having the latest information in both text and digital images makes decision making much easier, Forrester said.
“I can just get a better handle on the information,” Forrester said. “At any time, I can look at these files and determine whether my investment in a particular store is justifiable.”
Having the information contained in comprehensive files also improves communications with retailers, Forrester said.
“By looking at these images and knowing what’s going on in a store, we can help retailers when they need it,” he said.
In addition, the ability to sort store files means Polo Jeans can get a look at how an overall chain is doing on a store-by-store basis.
Forrester said Polo Jeans hopes to integrate its other systems into ShoPlan. Eventually, point-of-sale and inventory data could make it possible for Polo Jeans to know the exact status of each store, any time of the day.