How mobile POS, specialist apps and inventory management are helping a leading jeweller

The demands of specialty retail

Specialty retail offers a unique set of challenges and rewards, and generates its own set of demands. Customers who choose to shop in a speciality store – whether for candles, jewellery, eyewear, tea, babywear or any of the other numerous niche offerings – expect staff with in-depth knowledge and information, a personalised shopping experience and in many cases, additional specialised services.

This was exactly the position that Chateau D’Ivoire found themselves in – Chateau D’Ivoire is a specialty retailer known for jewellery, clocks and watches that showcase the exquisite craftsmanship of the Montreal area in which it is based. They have a large showroom with knowledgeable staff providing advice and guidance, as well as a full restoration and repair service. When they realised that their outdated retail point of sale system was impacting their customer service, Chateau D’Ivoire is turned to iVend, and I love the story of how they enhanced their business using our suite of products.

Personalised service is the heart of specialty retail

Chateau D’Ivoire understands better than anyone that specialty retail is all about delivering a unique and personalised customer service – in fact Suhail Kaidbey, the Director of Chateau D’Ivoire describes the purchase of a piece of jewellery as the beginning of a relationship with the business. Like any relationship, they want it to be based on understanding, trust and one-on-one time together. But they felt that they were limited by only being able to serve customers from a fixed POS terminal, and by the fact that the checkout process was cumbersome and long.

So when they started looking for a new POS system, this was one of their highest priorities, and iVend met the challenge. It also offered full integration with their selected ERP system, SAP Business One. The resulting fully integrated system offered a streamlined, swift and efficient checkout process. The inclusion of iVend’s mPOS meant that store staff could be with the client anywhere in the store, providing the advice that their customers value, and a full checkout experience – all in one place.

Unique differentiators

One of Chateau D’Ivoire’s competitive differences is the repair and restoration service it offers – a truly specialised and valued service. Until they implemented iVend, the repair service was run completely separately, as a stand-alone system. As a crucial part of the business, they really wanted to have it integrated into the retail point of sale. iVend’s open APIs were the perfect answer here, as they allowed Chateau D’Ivoire to engage their business partner, Forgestik, to develop a custom repair module that integrated into the retail point of sale.

Managing inventory

All retailers need to have the right inventory available at the right time, and this is particularly true when you are a specialist. The problem that Chateau D’Ivoire had was that their inventory reporting system didn’t allow them to show enough detail about the products, resulting in over-stocking, tying up cash unnecessarily and taking up valuable space.

Once they’d implemented iVend’s retail inventory software, with its sophisticated and detailed reporting and analytics, they had a whole new view of the business. They were able to get an accurate view of inventory and sales data, evaluating each product’s sales and profitability, eliminating dead stock and wasted storage and identifying items that turnover quickly and bring in customers.

Transforming the business

Chateau D’Ivoire are over the moon with their new system, which is why I wanted to share their story with you. They believe that iVend and SAP Business One delivers an integrated retail point of sale and ERP that gives them full visibility of their business and all the specialist functionality that they need. Leaving them to do what they do best – provide customers with delightful and unique jewellery that they will treasure forever.

iVend helped Chateau D’Ivoire and can do the same for your business – to find out how click here