Home > Case Studies > Postie Plus Group

Postie Plus Group

Postie Plus Group businesses are longstanding, sound and complementary in terms of product range, target markets and locations.

Download PDF

Postie Plus Group Limited (PPGL) is a New Zealand success story. Made up of men's, women's and children's clothing specialist Postie+, Manchester specialist Arbuckles, baby product retailer Babycity and the successful school uniforms business ‘SchoolTex’, PPGL businesses are longstanding, sound and complementary in terms of product, target markets and locations. As one of the largest clothing retailers in New Zealand, PPGL has around 120 stores and employs close to 1200 people.

The Problem

PPGL realized that their existing systems were unable to support their plans for further expansion, through organic growth as well as acquisition within the Oceanic market. They were running multiple systems due to acquisitions, as well as a number of systems built in-house, which meant it was becoming expensive to maintain, unmanageable and not able to keep up with PPGL’s rapid growth, hence the need to look at a more robust and integrated solution like SAP.

In addition, the management team around CEO Ron Boskell realized that significant efficiency improvements in the supply chain could be achieved by improving their backend systems.

The Solution

CIBER ANZ was chosen to implement their novaRetail preconfigured SAP solution, based on worldwide retail best practice, with functionalities including complete Merchandise Management, Logisitics Execution and Data Warehousing as well as Implementation of the Financials module which, amongst others, includes Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger and Management Accounting.

The implementation project started on August 1 and after a record implementation time of only 15 weeks, SAP financials was live across the group. The remaining Retail functionalities went Live in April 2007.

The implementation process was a very standard one including a detailed scope, proof of concept, blueprinting, configuration, testing, training, Go Live and post implementation support. The project went live on time and within budget. IT Manager Claudio Ghirelli of Postie Plus Group said “The key to the project was due to the fact we kept to the original scope and we kept as close as possible to the best practice configuration as described by the CIBER consultants”.

Why CIBER?

A competitive appraisal of several outstanding systems led to selection of the novaRetail system from CIBER ANZ leveraging ‘mySAP ERP’ as the best fit for PPGL’s needs and providing streamlined realtime reporting across their retail spectrum.

CIBER’s novaRetail system leverages SAP’s mySAP ERP product in combination with a CIBER template-based methodology, which decreases implementation time and ensures adherence to established industry best practices, yet offers the flexibility to tailor the solution to PPGL’s specific needs.

“We regard the relationship with CIBER as a strategic partnership and will collaborate very closely with them now and in the future.” said Mr. John Burnell, Chief Financial Officer of Postie Plus Group. “CIBER added a lot of value to our business, not only through their expertise in SAP, but also through their international retailing experience.”

The Benefits

As a result of the implementation, PPGL were able to bring all of their information technology (IT) systems onto a common platform to enhance inventory management, reporting and sales forecasting activities and position the firm for continued strong growth. PPGL have also recognised improved back-end support for group merchandising and supply chain operations, not to mention a very successful working relationship with the CIBER team.

About CIBER ANZ

CIBER’s success in Australia and New Zealand has been built on the retail industry’s main priority today: integration of systems, data and processes to provide a seamless retail management and customer experience across multiple channels. Our customers include numerous high profile brand names such as B&Q, Direct Wines, Trade Depot, Dunelm Mill, French Connection, Goldsmiths, and Halfords.

CIBER ANZ is part of CIBER, Inc. (NYSE: CBR), a leading international systems integration consultancy providing superior value-priced services to both private and government sector clients. CIBER’s global delivery services are offered on a project or strategic staffing basis, in both custom and enterprise resource planning (ERP) package environments, and across all technology platforms, operating systems and infrastructures. CIBER serves client businesses from over 60 U.S. offices, 20 European offices, four offices in Asia and 3 offices across Australia and New Zealand, operates in 18 countries with 8,000 employees, and has an annual revenue of more than $950 million. CIBER is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index.