Story highlights
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At a glance
- Industry - Retail
- Region - United Kingdom
- Company Size - 1,500+ employees
- Project - Omnichannel retail and e-commerce transformation
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Products & Services
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce
- Finance
- Supply Chain
- Advanced Warehousing
- Hitachi Solutions Application Support and Advise & Adopt services
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Results Snapshot
- 8 department stores unified on one platform
- 1 view single, accurate version of the truth across channels
- 24/7 on-call support protecting the live environment
The Customer
Fenwick is a prestigious British department store chain renowned for its luxurious product offering and exceptional customer service. Founded in 1882 by John James Fenwick in Newcastle upon Tyne, it has become a hallmark of quality in the retail sector, offering a wide range of high-end merchandise including fashion, beauty, homeware and gourmet food.
Operating eight department stores in the UK, including one of the largest retail stores in Europe in Newcastle, Fenwick’s commitment to curating exclusive and premium brands, combined with its heritage and distinctive shopping experience, makes it a key destination for shoppers.
The Challenge
The emergence of COVID-19 in the UK and the subsequent government restrictions presented a significant challenge for Fenwick, a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer. With the instruction to close non-essential retail, Fenwick had to cease all operations, including online orders, which could not be fulfilled due to the lack of automated systems and infrastructure.
“We have tried to keep our online business running to serve you, but we don’t have huge warehouses and automated systems. Instead, a group of our dedicated workers hand-pick the items you purchase from one of our designated stores.”
This closure period allowed Fenwick to review its e-commerce offering and recognise the need to adapt to a significantly changed retail landscape. On reflection, it became clear that the legacy systems were unsuitable for the demands of a modern omnichannel business model. Fenwick identified several key issues, including the absence of a unified customer view, inconsistent reporting and the need to improve global inventory visibility. The business embarked on a significant investment to overhaul its systems, modernise operations and enhance the customer experience, enabling it to trade while restrictions were in place and positioning it to thrive in a post-pandemic retail environment.
The Solution
Hitachi Solutions worked with Fenwick to explore Microsoft Commerce, a fully integrated module within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, a solution Fenwick already had in place. This allowed Fenwick to leverage the synergy between the two systems, enabling quick adoption of Microsoft Commerce without adding complexity to its IT landscape.
Integrating the e-commerce and order management systems transformed Fenwick’s operations by providing accurate customer data and a unified view across all sales channels. This has enabled Fenwick to understand its customers better, personalise its marketing and expand its omnichannel reach. The integration also gave Fenwick clear inventory visibility across all stores, crucial for optimising stock levels and fulfilling orders efficiently, while a unified financial reporting system ensured consistent, reliable data and a single, accurate version of the truth.
I’ve found working with the Hitachi Solutions team to be very successful. The approach to support and release management is excellent. Keep up the good work.
During the transition into service, Fenwick encountered a major incident on a Saturday with a limited team on hand, which quickly became critical. Using Hitachi Solutions’ 24/7 on-call service, the teams worked collaboratively with Microsoft to resolve the problem promptly, setting a strong foundation for the partnership.
Why Hitachi Solutions
Fenwick needed a partner with deep retail expertise, extensive Dynamics 365 knowledge and around-the-clock support for a busy retail environment, capable of managing large-scale projects while keeping operations running smoothly. Hitachi Solutions’ Application Support service provides both reactive and proactive cover, for example classifying a point-of-sale terminal issue as a Severity A incident and pushing a hotfix, while its relationship with Microsoft allowed Fenwick to extend a mandatory update timeline so testing could be completed properly. Alongside this, the Advise & Adopt service introduces new functionality, including business performance analytics that align with Fenwick’s data lake plans.
The Benefits
- A unified customer view and accurate customer data across all channels
- Clear inventory visibility across every store, optimising stock levels and fulfilment
- Unified, reliable financial reporting with a single, accurate version of the truth
- The ability to keep trading through restrictions and adapt to a changed retail landscape
- 24/7 on-call and application support protecting the live environment
- Advisory guidance that helps Fenwick adopt new Microsoft functionality as it emerges
What’s Next?
Looking ahead to the third year of the partnership, Hitachi Solutions and Fenwick will continue to embrace innovation and continual improvement, with a consistent focus on enhancing system performance for end users across all departments. Through regular reviews of the Microsoft product roadmap, the team will help Fenwick take advantage of new functionality and move custom code to standard functionality wherever possible. Work is also ongoing to improve Fenwick’s fulfilment system using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Advanced Warehousing, helping to maximise global stock and fulfil multichannel orders.
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