Stylmod Lingerie (VF Group)
Tablet PCs help salespeople optimize customer visits with mass merchandisers
In order to distribute its three brands of feminine lingerie, Vassarette, Variance, and Bestform, sold by mass merchandisers, Stylmod Lingerie (a subsidiary of the VF Group, a world leader in fashion and textile retail) is represented by some 20 salespeople. Since October 2004, as they travel the roads of France and the retail aisles of supermarkets and hypermarkets, making prospecting calls, presenting new collections, or restocking, the company’s representatives have been equipped with a Tablet PC from Motion Computing.
Stylmod Lingerie’s objective is to enhance convenience and improve productivity for its sales representatives while they’re on the road.
In addition, the company wanted to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by high-speed connections (wireless or via ADSL) in the field, so that salespeople can:
- optimize their use of time,
- have access to constantly updated marketing information (catalogues, price lists, promotions, etc),
- and easily exchange data with the company’s in-house departments (sales, accounting, etc).
All this was to be achieved with little or no change in their computing style. In this way, the time saved on administrative tasks enables sales representatives to have higher-quality contact with customers.
Lightness, ease of use
Previously, salespeople had laptop computers, which were too heavy and ill-suited for use in face-to-face meetings with department managers, who are most often encountered in the store aisle or in the warehouse. In the salesperson’s array of tools, the laptops have been replaced by Tablet PCs, which are three times lighter (1.5 kg). The sales force weren’t sorry to see them go.
“Since 2003, we’ve been aware that salespeople were dissatisfied with their computer tools,” admits Bruno Salomon, network administrator at Stylmod Lingerie. ““But their computers had been replaced less than three years earlier. Their dissatisfaction was not due to shortcomings in the software applications used; it was very clear that the hardware wasn’t adapted to meet the specific requirements of people’s jobs. For almost all of the reps, the laptop stayed in its case in the car, used only for daily capture of notes and orders taken on paper.”
So, for any equipment upgrade, the main criterion was that it had to be practical. The Tablet PC easily satisfies that requirement, as Bruno Salomon was able to confirm in summer 2004 when, at the suggestion of Motion Computing’s French operation, he was lent some equipment by MP Technologie, a distributor and integrator of mobility solutions. “For two months, I tested the product’s capabilities in every possible way,” explains Salomon.
Two devices in one
The first thing Bruno Salomon found was that, in addition to its lighter weight, the Tablet PC has the following advantages:
- The 12-inch screen is legible in all situations, at all angles, thanks to the back-lighting device that adjusts to the ambient light
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- Slate writing functionality, with stylus, allows users to make presentations as well as take notes, edit documents and save everything while on client visits, without the need for double inputting.
- A removable external keyboard (with USB jack), provides the capabilities of a laptop for office use: “Writing slate and PC – you get two in one,” remarks Bruno Salomon.
- Integrated wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), enhances users’ freedom in the field.–Above all, because it runs on Windows® XP, it is compatible with familiar business applications and doesn’t require users to change their work style.
In short, the ergonomics of the Tablet PC are captivating, even to those most resistant to change.
According to one of the salespeople, the Tablet PC was introduced to the entire sales force at the company’s autumn 2004 seminar after conclusive testing. The operation was taken over by the distributor, MP Technologie, which took charge of logistics until the solution was delivered. Some light training was necessary: in the use a stylus, for those who hadn’t used them with a PDA or other screen, and in a new messaging system (Lotus Notes, used for relations with central services), which was implemented at the same time.
The end of the paper catalogue
In addition to the ease of use, the time saved and with the ability to enter orders in real time while meeting face to face with customers, the Tablet PC quickly became an on-site sales assistant, particularly for taking personal hand-written notes with the stylus, transferred to the usual office applications (eg Microsoft® Office Word) for subsequent printing or e-mailing. “Some people really use it as a memory aid,” remarks Salomon.
The Tablet PC also serves as a marketing support tool, for presenting product sheets, advertising campaigns and catalogues. And that’s where the return on investment is the most obvious and immediate. Thanks to its ergonomics and the presentation quality it provides, the Tablet PC has enabled Stylmod Lingerie to move to an electronic catalogue. Thus, the on-screen presentation has very profitably replaced the paper catalogue. “At a rate of two catalogues per year for each line, in under three years, eliminating the paper catalogue paid for the purchase of the Tablet PCs” adds Salomon.
Return on investment and saved time
“The other return on investment, equally tangible although not possible to put a figure to, is incontestably the saved administrative time. For the salesperson, less time spent at the keyboard means more time with the customer. With real-time order entry and without re-inputting data,” remarks Salomon.
Time savings also come from improved connectivity. Each salesperson has an ADSL subscription and can take advantage of the increasing mobile resources, including Wi-Fi access, in public places such as malls and hotels (a service sometimes provided free of charge).
“An efficient sales force is made up of well-informed salespeople,” adds Salomon. Where previously making documentation updates and creating marketing messages were time-consuming, the change to all-electronic data provides up-to-date information for everyone daily, for reporting and placing orders.
So Stylmod Lingerie’s goal has been achieved with:
- increased ease of use and productivity for salespeople,
- improved communications between employees in the field and in-house,
- the major innovation of replacing the paper catalogue with an electronic catalogue,
- and a guaranteed return on investment.
These are all advantages of which the other lingerie sales forces of the VF Diffusion Group in Europe (LDB, which represents the Lou, Bolero, and other brands, as well as Vidal Vives in Spain) are aware.
Features of the Motion M1400 Tablet PC from Motion Computing:
- Centrino processor with Pentium M 1.1 GHz ULV (ultra low voltage) or Mobile Celeron 900 MHz processor;
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system;
- 256 MB to 2 GB of RAM and 20 to 60 GB of hard drive space;
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth, 10/100Base-T capability;
- 12.1-inch XGA screen;
- integrated digital fingerprint reader (biometrics);
- Microsoft OneNote® note-taking program, delivered standard;
- removable external keyboard with USB jack (optional).
About VF
VF Corp. (www.vfc.com) does 6 billion dollars in sales (income announced on 28 February 2005), with a staff of 65,000 individuals in the following divisions: jeans (Lee, Wrangler, etc.), lingerie (Vanity Fair, Vassarette, Bestform, etc.), outdoor (Jansport, Eastpack, etc.), sportswear (Nautica, Napapiriji, Van’s, etc.), and image wear. VF’s Lingerie division does 185 million dollars in sales world-wide, represented in Europe by VFII (Lou, Boléro, Gemma, Vanity Fair, Variance, Bestform, Vassarette). In Europe, the Lingerie Division employs 500 individuals.
About MP Technologie
A west Paris micro-computing sales and maintenance solutions company (Maisons-Laffitte), founded in 1995, active since 1997 in the area of mobility, which currently constitutes 80% of its sales (between 700,000 and 1 million euros), with a clientele of Major Accounts and Small Businesses, equipping their sales forces and mobile technicians.
