APP Group
Enabling The Connected Store
Best in class omnichannel technology for APP Group's rapidly growing, high-fashion brands.
For over three decades, APP Group has been a leader in luxury outerwear, running a global, multi-brand business with some of the most recognizable and respected brands on the market. To ensure they continue to lead the pack with not only their product offerings, but their customer experiences as well, APP Group partnered with Orium to bolster their omnichannel capabilities. Orium worked closely with their teams to integrate a suite of omnichannel solutions with APP Group’s new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to create a flexible, customizable solution that fit the needs of their family of brands.
The Challenge
With 32 years in the luxury fashion industry, the APP Group are dynamic multi-hyphenates: designers, wholesalers, and retailers of quality outerwear, handbags, and accessories. Mackage and Soia & Kyo, two of their biggest brands, operate in nearly 20 countries across North America, Asia, and Europe. Their global reach also brings their products to high-end retailers in over 30 countries around the world.
Having begun an internal migration to a new ERP system, APP Group sought a curated suite of headless solutions to facilitate their wider international expansion and enhance their omnichannel capabilities. Orium teamed up with them to integrate a robust mobile point of sale (mPOS) and order management system (OMS) that would scale with their business.
The Strategy
APP Group recently made a considerable investment in their technology stack, updating their enterprise retail planning (ERP) system, e-commerce platform, point of sale (POS), and order management system (OMS). By selecting NewStore as their omnichannel platform of choice—and leveraging their out-of-the-box POS and OMS—APP Group was able to introduce both flexibility and customization to their omnichannel operational needs.
Our role in integrating and implementing NewStore’s POS and OMS into APP Group’s improved tech stack was both intensive and hands-on. With the intent of leaning into NewStore’s customizability, Orium and APP Group worked closely together to map out business use cases and requirements for the integration. After gaining a deep understanding of APP Group’s business operations and NewStore’s powerful platform functionalities, we identified and planned for technological gaps and decided to take a three-pronged approach to ensure we could meet their priorities within the four-month timeline.
The Solution
The first prong in the three-prong plan was to launch APP Group’s new POS. With the contract for their previous POS expiring and the projected POS launch coinciding with the ERP launch, the time crunch was real. Orium and APP Group had approximately eight weeks to develop and test an integration between the NewStore POS and APP Group’s new ERP, Infor M3.
With just six weeks for development and only two weeks to test before launch, the margin for error was small. To ensure there were no unexpected road blocks or last-minute issues, Orium and APP Group collaborated on an in-depth testing and launch plan. By working to mitigate risk up front, we were able to launch both the NewStore POS and the new ERP successfully by the deadline.
Prong 2 of the plan was the launch of the OMS, scheduled for just over two months later, and comprising both the go-live of the NewStore OMS and APP Group’s new e-commerce platform, Shopify. Once again, Orium and APP Group found themselves working up against a tight deadline. With seven weeks to develop and two weeks to test and optimize, we worked closely with APP Group to put together a launch plan and to identify feature prioritization. The e-commerce integration launched on time, as expected, and completed the loop between NewStore’s POS and OMS partnership functionalities. This also saw a streamline in reporting for the APP Group team.
The final prong in the plan was to enable NewStore’s omnichannel functionality. Armed with APP Group’s desired routing configurations, we were able to set up region-based omnichannel logic that allowed stores to pull inventory from both distribution centers and other stores to complete a single transaction. This logic also allowed e-commerce consumers to view global inventory availability and make larger purchases that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. What’s more, NewStore’s omnichannel functionalities also enabled end consumers to buy online and pick up in store, as well as to return online purchases at any brick and mortar location within the same region.
APP Group’s technology stack overhaul faced tight deadlines and a need for extreme organization, but by working closely together throughout, Orium and APP Group were able to meticulously plan each step of the integration process and meet those tight deadlines.
Outcome & Next Steps
Today, APP Group is operating internationally, both in-store and online, with over six online stores and nearly 20 brick-and-mortar locations. As of now, APP Group has plans to open new physical stores in Germany, France, and across North America. Gift card functionality and syncing to their new e-commerce platform, Shopify, were fast-follows that launched in-store and online in Q4 of 2022.
Feedback from store associates who use the POS, OMS, and omnichannel features daily has been nothing short of great. NewStore’s intuitive mobile application UI combined with our customized build has allowed APP Group to embrace modern omnichannel technology to better serve their customers. From implementing mobile POS that allow their associates to transact, look up inventory, and support customers anywhere in the store, to enabling a new OMS system that allows for international shipping and online returns in store, APP Group has cultivated a true omnichannel mindset throughout the customer experience.