A disappointing third-quarter performance notwithstanding, David Dyer, CEO of women’s apparel merchant Chico’s FAS, remains confident after the company launched one of its biggest customer experience efforts ever.
Dyer discussed the new POS system during the company’s Nov. 24 earnings conference call.
“Last week, we completed one of our biggest customer experience initiatives, that is our new POS system,” Dyer said, according to Seeking Alpha. “It has been rolled out to all of our stores on-time and on-budget. Our previous POS system was installed in 2001. So this is really a landmark event, replacing the system that’s over 15 years old.”
Dyer is proud of the company’s dedicated teams that worked on this major undertaking.
“We’ve successfully implemented new systems at over 1,500 stores and we trained over 20,000 associates, clearly, a massive upgrade,” Dyer added. “The new system is foundational to other initiatives that will enhance customer experience and will allow our customers to buy wherever and whenever she wants. Our amazing customer service will even be more amazing.”
Chico’s FAS comprises the following brands: Chico’s, White House | Black Market, Soma Intimates, and Boston Proper. It’s a specialty retailer of private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, complementary accessories, and other non-clothing gift items.
“Our service proposition is best-in-class which enables us to build lifetime relationships with our customers,” Dyer said. “Our inventory position and our customer service proposition, in turn, help us maintain some discipline at our pricing decisions. Interestingly, as a side note, dresses drive nearly three times more website traffic than tops do. So with that natural traffic, we should be able to convert it to the higher rate, when the new product becomes available. As we sit here today, we’re pleased with the progress that we are seeing at White House/Black Market.”
Dyer noted that the company signed a new franchise agreement with Liverpool department stores for 31 Soma shop-in-shops in Mexico.
“As you may know, Liverpool franchise is the Chico’s brand in Mexico, as well,” he added. “We’ve been very pleased with our growth and our success there. We expect Soma shop-in-shops to open the first quarter of next year.”