Argility’s Retail4U helps simplify Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store expansion

Shawn Wilsnach, Divisional Manager: Java at the Argility Technology Group. (Image: Supplied)

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Argility Technology Group’s Retail4U fully managed retail management software (RMS) solution is helping retailers like Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store innovate, run more efficiently and keep costs down as they rapidly grow their footprint.

This is according to Shawn Wilsnach, Divisional Manager: Java at the Argility Technology Group – a specialised retail technology organisation, Google partner and leader in predictive and prescriptive analytics within global enterprise, Smollan.

He says: “Retail4U is a niche product specifically designed for medium to large multi-brand retailers with many stores. Built on open source technology and written in Java, it is far more cost-effective than any similar solution on the market and is highly scalable and customisable. Available hosting options are on-premises or in Google Cloud for lower infrastructure and hardware costs, Retail4U replicates store data to a central data repository every few minutes, so decision-makers always have access to updated trading data. We are constantly enhancing Retail4U in line with market needs, and customers like Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store request custom features and functionality to build their own roadmap and become more competitive.”

Wilsnach explains that Retail4U differs from other solutions in that it supports point of service, back office and head office, including merchandise, suppliers, stock items and promotions. Its fully integrated, centrally managed head office environment centralises merchandise, promotions, debtors management and credit granting. With data consolidation and replication in near real-time, organisations gain much-needed live visibility of operations. Retail4U also integrates with third-party solutions such as financial systems like Accountability, Sage, Pastel and other inventory optimisation solutions like Netstock and Pyramid, e-commerce solutions and BI and analytics solutions.

Wilsnach, who has worked with Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store for over 12 years, says Retail4U is the ideal solution to support this innovative and growing company.

Retail4U has streamlined workflows for Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store for many years, says Wilsnach. “Over the past 12 years alone, there has been significant growth from 60 stores to 83 Dial-a-Bed trading stores and 24 The Bed Store, with the group now boasting a 107-strong store base.

“The Bed Store plans to increase its footprint five-fold over the short to medium term, and Retail4U will make it easy for them to expand. The architecture is all in the cloud, so they don’t need to install servers in-store, it takes just a few hours to spin up a new store.”

Argility partners with Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store to enhance and optimise Retail4U to help the businesses become increasingly efficient and customer-centric. Among its recent customisations and integrations are the roll-out of the UCapture feature to simplify customer onboarding.

“Instead of a sales representative capturing customer details, UCapture sends the customer a link where they populate a form with their own details. This improves data quality, efficiency and customer experience,” Wilsnach says.

Other recent enhancements were integration into MultiTRAX – a delivery management and scheduling application in the Argility portfolio, and the introduction of multiple additional payment methods other than the standard payment methods supported by default. Argility is also working with Dial-a-Bed and The Bed Store to integrate rewards programmes and store credit.