11.06.2020
Before opening its first flagship store in Europe, the American outdoor equipment supplier Black Diamond was faced with the question of how the newly founded Own Retail subsidiary should be equipped with software and connected to the head office. In this context, Black Diamond had already had good experience in the USA with LS Central (formerly LS NAV) as a supplement to Microsoft Dynamics NAV. So it was obvious to rely on this product line also for its own stores in Europe and to use the POS solution from the same product family in the new flagship store in Innsbruck.
In TSO-DATA, Black Diamond found a competent and certified IT partner with extensive implementation experience in retail with Microsoft Dynamics and LS Retail products.
One of the biggest challenges was the time frame of the project. The first Black Diamond flagship store in Europe was to be opened in only three months: a sporty task, to implement all the client's requirements and the legal specifications within this tight schedule.
But the joint project team from Black Diamond and TSO-DATA approached the task positively and harmonized perfectly. There was absolute confidence in the project approach and above all in the timely implementation. The tight time schedule for the implementation motivated all project participants to perform at their best in order to meet the scheduled opening date.
We have very complex requirements and know the products Microsoft Dynamics and LS Central very well ourselves. TSO-DATA impressed us in our initial discussions not only with their deep technical knowledge but also with their high level of expertise in retail processes. We greatly appreciate the cooperation at eye level.
An integrated solution for cash registers and back office offers significant advantages for the dynamic requirements in retail. Merchandise management and cash registers are seamlessly integrated and the store employees always have an overview of which goods are available or have already been reordered from headquarters and when they will arrive. All processes of assortment planning and merchandise management are seamless from the head office to the store. System discontinuities can thus be avoided.
The project team decided to implement the latest LS Retail technology with LS Central and webPOS via browser. For this purpose, TSO-DATA set up a new instance of LS Central for Own-Retail GmbH and set up data exchange with the central systems. The automatic article upload with unchanged standard tables as requested by Black Diamond was implemented with the article attributes of LS Retail and special groups. It was a great advantage for the tight schedule that LS Central already fulfilled all basic process requirements without major adaptations and at the same time, with numerous expansion options, it also supports future requirements such as customer cards and loyalty systems in a future-proof manner.
TSO-DATA also supported the Black Diamond staff in setting up the POS solution. In the flagship store, in addition to a stationary cash register, tablets are used to select and sell the more than 10,000 articles in the store. Black Diamond's employees were particularly impressed by how quickly the solution can be adapted. If a functionality, selection option or simply a button was missing somewhere, this adaptation was provided by TSO-DATA at short notice. This allows Black Diamond to react flexibly to ideas for improvement from store staff or to changes.
As an extension of LS Central, the TSO Web POS Pay developed by TSO-DATA, a software extension for the control of external EFT terminals, was used for the POS systems. TSO Web POS Pay enables the automatic exchange of payment data between the POS and card terminal. It can be used for both payments and refunds via the card terminal. The connection transfers the amount to the EFT terminal and reports the status of the payment transfer back to the POS terminal. Typing errors at the card terminal are thus a thing of the past.
To meet the legal requirements for card payments, the Pepper solution from the Swiss provider treibauf was also integrated. Pepper links all common POS systems and payment terminals and supports 300 card types and 23 currencies in 40 countries. The ability to connect a wide variety of payment providers means that Black Diamond remains flexible and is equipped for the future.
The TSO-DATA team has absolutely convinced us with its pragmatism and know-how. Despite the tight schedule, all our wishes and legal requirements were met in full. Our employees were perfectly trained and the infrastructure prepared in an exemplary manner. We never doubted that we would be able to keep the planned opening date for our flagship store.
The legal requirements and conditions of the Austrian Kassensicherungsverordnung and the associated fiscalisation of the funds also had to be observed.
The latter is mandatory in Austria. According to this regulation, electronic cash registers must be protected against possible manipulation by a secure logging of the bookings and must be equipped with a technical security device (TSE) - a certified security module.
Although the registration process with the Austrian tax office took a little longer than planned, all legal requirements and conditions of the cash register security ordinance were fulfilled in time and the fiscalisation of the cash registers was adhered to, so that nothing more stood in the way of the shop opening on schedule.
At the beginning of November 2019, after only three months since the start of the project, all facilities and preparations had finally been completed, the implementation completed, the test phase successfully completed and Black Diamond's employees perfectly trained. The flagship store in Innsbruck was opened with great success and without complications.
After the successful start in Innsbruck, the TSO-DATA team is now ready as a reliable IT partner for the planned opening of further Black Diamond stores in Europe.
LS Central from LS Retail offers a wide range of functions for large and small retailers - without the need for different applications and interfaces. All applications, such as store back office, merchandising, checkout software, warehousing and the central back office are part of the standard scope and are the unique selling point of LS Central. With the help of LS Central, business processes can be simplified and optimized, costs minimized and sales increased. LS Central also supports the acquisition of new customers and can strengthen the loyalty and retention of existing customers.
As a Platinum Partner of LS Retail, TSO-DATA has more than ten years of experience and more than 1500 successful rollouts of LS Central in over 30 countries. In addition, TSO-DATA develops its own add-ons for LS Central - more information can be found here.
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