Luxasia Group (Luxasia Pte Ltd and BeauteOne Pte Ltd)

Retail management solution for beauty counter operator.

 

Company Background

Luxasia Group is the leading distributor of renowned global fragrance and cosmetics brands in Asia.  Formed in 1986 in Singapore, the company has grown into a regional business employing almost 800 staff in 9 countries, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The group’s headquarters in Singapore is located its own building at Tai Seng Drive.  

 

Popular brands carried by the company include Burberry, Jean Paul Gaultier, ST Dupont, D&G, Calvin Klein, Moschino, Escada, Bvlgari, Aigner, Celine, Lolita Lempicka & IPSA. 

 

In Singapore, Luxasia distributes its products to cosmetics and fragrance dealers, and also promotes them at its beauty counters set up in major department stores such as Tangs, Robinsons, and Takashimaya SC.        

 

Business Challenge

Luxasia is fully in-charge of its beauty counters at the department stores except for collection of payment.  Typical counter management tasks include stock management, merchandizing as well as hiring and training counter supervisors, beauty consultants and promoters.  The department stores collect payments for all its sales transactions and settle the accounts with luxasia’s head office in accordance with their agreement. 

 

Initially, stock movement records and daily sales were jotted down on notebooks for tracking purpose.  Back-end staffs at the head office would manually compile sales reports for each brand, salesperson and counter, as well as reconcile statements provided by the department stores based on the records on the notebooks.          

 

As the number of beauty counters increases, this task becomes more and more tedious.  It is also prone to error as manual recording is involved from recording transactions to compiling reports.  As a result, reconciliation cannot be done on time and performance reports were not produced on a timely basis, as more time is needed for tracing and correcting errors.  

 

Requirements

In 1999, Luxasia embarked on a project to implement the e-Solution Retail Management solution for the automation of the operation and reporting of its beauty counters. 

 

Unlike other retail users, Luxasia’s scope in implementation the system covers only its operations at the department stores, which is only a section of its entire operation.  Its objective is to achieve operational goals such as better inventory management at the counters, track sales, automate reports and to provide additional capabilities such as capturing customer details and checking customer’s sales history at the outlet.  The substance of its counter operations is such that goods are sold to consumers through the department stores and all recording of sales at the counters serve to update inventory, record sales that form the basis for commission calculation and analysis purposes.  Actual revenue is separately recorded based on statement provided by the department stores upon reconciling with its own records. 

 

Due to the number of counters Luxasia has, an important selection criteria for Luxasia is that the system must have a low operating cost per counter.

 

Integrated solution for retail and back-end operations

The system was rolled out in phases, starting with its counters at Tangs, followed by Takashimaya, Centrepoint and Raffles City.  Each counter is equipped with a notebook computer that stores product and customer data.  Users at the counter are empowered to create customer records, thus enabling them to capture customer details at the frontline.  The system comes with a retail sale module which allows sales, exchange and returns to be capture.  All transactions are stored in the notebook computer. 

 

During the night, data stored in the notebook computers at all counters are uploaded and merged into the back-end database sitting on a server at the head office.  At the same time, updated data are then sent to the notebook computers.  This data replication process enables the head office to receive new customer records captured as well as daily transactions entered at the counters.  At the same time, new products added and price changes done at the HQ are updated to the notebooks at the counters.

 

Data replication between the computers at the head office and the counters is done through the telephone line and can be scheduled to take place during the night. As such, it has a lower operating cost compared to other systems that use fixed communication lines.      

 

For maximum security, users at the counters are given sufficient access rights to carry out their work.  These include appropriate access rights in transaction entry, day-end reconciliation and printing of the relevant reports.  Most of the support activities such as product pricing, inventory control, creation of kits for promotions and creation of new products are done by users at the head office.        

 

 

 

Notebook computers deployed at beauty counters for recording and transmitting daily sales transactions back to the HQ.

 

With the system in place, staff at the counter no longer need to keep records of sale and inventory manually as their notebook computers show stock level and update them automatically whenever sales transactions are entered.  The data replication feature also enable daily sales at each counter to be available at the head office the next morning.  As data from each counter is received and merged, there is no need to compile reports manually.  Most reports can be printed straightaway using the built-in reports provided by the system.  A built-in report writer is also provided for customization of reports. 

 

Summary

  • The e-Solution Retail Automation Solution has enable Luxasia to enhance the efficiency of its beauty counter operations in terms of sales tracking, inventory management, marketing management and customer service.

  • Data communication between the counters and the head office for the transfer of information necessary for both sides to achieve operational efficiency.

  • The system provided feature-pack operational and business tools that enable users to be more effective in carrying out their tasks.

For more information on Luxasia Group, please visit www.luxasia.com 

 

Luxasia Pte Ltd
13 Tai Seng Drive
#06-02/03 Luxasia Building
Singapore 535219
Tel: 65 6280 9559
Fax: 65 6281 9559

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

 
Company:
Luxasia Group
 
Industry:
Cosmetics and Fragrance
 
Business Activities:
Retail and distribute cosmetics and fragrance products.
 
Business Challenge:
1. Lack of computerized system for the management of beauty counters.

2. Difficulty in getting performance reports as data have to be compiled from manual records.
 
Solutions Implemented:
Retail Sales Automation
 
Program Used:
e-Solution Distribution
e-Solution Retail