TRANSFORMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
TO BECOME A MARKET LEADER In association with
TRANSFORMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
TO BECOME A MARKET LEADER Written by Catherine Rowell Produced by Dennis Morales
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With vast experience in the retail industry, working for brands such as Marks & Spencer PLC and Kingfisher PLC, Chief Executive Offer for Home Centre Médéric Payne is passionate about the home and discusses how he is leading the expansion, growth and development of Home Centre through a number of exciting new markets and technologies
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ince joining Home Centre in 2014, Chief Executive Officer Médéric Payne has injected passion, energy and vision into the retail market in the Middle East. He has done this by providing a clear strategy, incorporating areas from business development and the management of day to day operations, to encompassing full endto-end accountability of running and leading the business, ensuring that Home Centre’s continual expansion
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delivers consistent results. Payne has worked for a number of large retailers which house a range of cultural environments. However, his international outlook has enabled him to work successfully with a number of key nationalities, with over 40 based within Home Centre alone. Operating under the Landmark Group umbrella, the company has come a long way, which Payne explains: “My job is more within the wider business to lead the expansion and the growth
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and development of the company in the markets we are in now and the new markets we are entering.” By joining such a successful company, Payne has streamlined and refocused the values within Home Centre’s vision in order to drive the business forward. Passion has become a core value, where Home Centre is keen to recruit individuals who exhibit enthusiasm: “When we recruit, we are looking for people with passion, which comes across in interviews. The passion and attitude is important,” comments Payne. Individuals have to provide accountability and ownership, show entrepreneurial experience and continually strive to achieve key results. “It’s not just about the work: it’s about effective results, whether it’s in supply chain, finance or commercial areas,” explains Payne. “Are you effective at your job and can you deliver the results that you’re being asked at any level in the business?” Although Payne acknowledges that “retail is like a journey - there is no end”, he is insistent that continuous improvement is vital for all teams and ways of working at Home Centre. The company aims to remain a market leader within the region, bringing new ideas and fresh thinking into the industry. An example of this would be the introduction of mobile POS into company stores, at which Home Centre has become the first market leading home retailer and company at Landmark to undertake the pilot scheme. This will enable the gradual phasing out of tills in stores and allow sales assistants to showcase products in
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HOME CENTRE (LANDMARK GROUP)
store, but also have access to the full catalogue and increased knowledge of products in the warehouse. This transformation will enable an improved service for customers, which Payne explains: “We can process the order for the individual right there in store, right by the product, rather than dragging the customer away to a till in the corner of the store and take payment. That’s quite a technological revolution in the home industry.” This new process also will enable the company to align its supply chain so the employee can ascertain the type of customer, reduce customer waiting time and ensure a positive outcome. Employee morale is also heightened. Following on from these technological investments, Home Centre is driving its online business and retail site, utilising Hybris and
Oracle to ensure it operates correctly and safely, with efficient reporting. Data is vital to the company’s continual growth, which is supported through the use of the Shrukran Rewards Loyalty Programme, the largest loyalty programme in the region. With over 15 million members, the programme covers all of the GCC and delivers a number of key benefits to customers. However, the loyalty programme also allows Home Centre to understand what customers are buying. Payne explains: “If they buy a bed, do they buy the bed linen with it? Do they buy pillows, or are they just buying the bed? We can do real data analytics. For me that is a goldmine, the real data that we have from the back-end of our programme.” This enables the company to understand its customer profiles and therefore
“If they buy a bed, do they buy the bed linen with it? Do they buy pillows, or are they just buying the bed? We can do real data analytics. For me, that is a goldmine”
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The number of match requirements living space. Payne Home Centre staff explains that such with what the company can source, whether investment has it is colours, styles, been increasingly or designs in order to valuable for both the cater to customers. “It’s customer and Home all about value in the industry. Centre: “It solves a lot of We are a mass market retailer offering problems for people - they can buy very good value that is very focused on furniture that will fit their apartment. local taste and styles”, Payne adds. Technology is helping us be more In gaining access to such valuable productive and providing better information, Home Centre is looking interactive services to the customer, to improve productivity, getting but data is the key to a lot of this.” products to market quicker, being However, with customers gaining an more accurate in terms of inventory increased awareness and access to management, understanding how to information on where to buy products get the right dosage of product in the which are priced more attractively, right place, and sourcing from a variety the market has become increasingly of countries and bringing products in competitive. Payne explains: “When on time and at the right cost. “Those customers shop online, they are also things are more important today, looking at other countries and how particularly as the customer has more much products might cost them. accurate information,” says Payne. They are comparing prices for goods In order to support customers in other markets, so you have to be further, Home Centre is now utilising competitive in getting your pricing and 3D rendering technology. This provides costs aligned, which starts to affect visuals of customer apartments with where our sourcing decisions come products so they can see how buying from. How much more local sourcing particular products will impact their can we do to reduce transportation
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“If they buy a bed, do they buy the bed linen with it? Do they buy pillows, or are they just buying the bed? We can do real data analytics. For me, that is a goldmine�
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Home Centre costs, reduce lead item, and it saves time was founded in times - it’s amazing and money in the long what effect that’s having run,” explains Payne. on the thinking and Alongside strategic sourcing.” technological To improve inventory investment, the management, which would then company’s logistics have positively affect areas such as cash been overhauled as a result of flow and shrinkage, Payne believes a company growth. Home Centre is number of new technologies will be aiming to build more cost effective, adopted within the retail market, such safe and productive warehouses and as Radio Frequency Identification upgrade their logistics systems. “In (RFID), currently utilised by a number the UAE we have a couple of sites of clothing companies, such as Marks that we are constantly tweaking to and Spencer, Decathlon and Zara. improve our productivity,” comments Replacing current barcodes, Payne Payne. However, it is vital to ensure the explains: “This is the chip in every quality of Home Centre’s products, product that has a unique number, in addition to ensuring employee so the idea is rather than knowing safety due to regional temperatures. that I’ve got 10 of an existing product The company is unlike many major in stock, in future it will show exactly retail stores, where Payne explains: which 10 they are and where they are, “a product goes from the warehouse, so you start having more traceability.” into stores, then into the customer’s This technology will ensure home. At Home Centre, we often have stock figures are correct, but customers ordering in store, then more importantly, it will support receive their delivery straight from the manufacturing errors which can occur warehouse. So, we aim to constantly with suppliers. “You will be able to trace improve our warehousing capabilities.” exactly which customer has had which Home Centre manages a vast
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P.O. Box 10310, Dubai, United Arab Emirates T +971 4 3474474 F +971 4 3478844 info@intercoil.com • www.intercoil.com
number of its services in house, such as a logistics team, as well as having a fleet of in house delivery trucks and ability to assemble furniture through its carpenters. Payne explains how the company is unique. “We are different to European markets where the deliveries you have to pay for. Here, there is an expectation that if someone orders a bedroom suite, we will come deliver it and assemble it.” Payne reflects: “The one thing that Home Centre and a lot of retailers have to get right today is their supply chain. If you can embrace technology
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in the supply chain in this new world that’s been changing in the last six years, then your future looks bright.” Although based in a number of different countries, Home Centre continually works as one multicultural unit, which can incorporate some challenges in working towards the same values, operations and policies. Through treating the GCC as one large network, rather than different countries, Home Centre has ensured consistent and successful communication through a mixture of channels such as email and tech video conferencing.
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HOME CENTRE (LANDMARK GROUP)
Payne ensures he is close to all teams, flying to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar and Bahrain to spend time with store teams and personnel, before flying back to the head office in Dubai. To ensure he is regularly in touch with consumers, Payne admits he even visits customers’ homes every quarter to gain insightful feedback. “Communicating those types of things back into the business helps us to learn,” he adds. Home Centre has undergone significant growth and expansion, with an increased number of stores built within existing markets, alongside the remodeling of current stores. The company is also looking at new markets and product categories. It has embarked on a transformational change, to deliver a new range of products and services, which has now come into fruition with the launch of their new concept flagship store, based at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. Payne comments: “If you ignore developments and the importance of managing stocks and inventories correctly, then it doesn’t matter how good you are, you will let your customers down and they will go and shop elsewhere. For me, supply chain is the key to unlocking the potential in the market.”
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Home Centre (Landmark Group) Landmark Tower Dubai Marina Dubai, Dubai 25030 United Arab Emirates www.landmarkshops.com