Mania Team manages business with LS Retail and Microsoft Dynamics NAV

The company

“With the integration of the business management solution we gained process precision and efficiency, speed of reaction, and improvement within all areas of our customer services. These have always been our priorities”– Sevdalin Spasov, Founder and Manager of MANIA TEAM

Spasov and Co. Ltd. was established more than 15 years ago in Varna, Bulgaria. With the opening of the first Mania store in 1996, the company’s management set itself the ambitious target of turning the brand into a leader in the second hand clothing business in the country.

Over the years, MANIA TEAM has significantly increased its product range. Today, the company implements a successful franchise business model with more than 35 stores in the Balkans. Mania has its own production equipment and a main warehouse in Varna, where the items undergo several stages of processing. Regional warehouses were also built in a number of Bulgarian towns to ensure daily deliveries to stores all over the country. Since its establishment, Mania has strengthened its position as the biggest chain of second-hand clothing stores in Bulgaria. The company is among the leaders in its field in Eastern Europe with several outlets in the Romanian capital Bucharest, as well as in Athens, Greece. Mania also works in close cooperation with many franchise partners from Bulgaria and Romania.

Situation

At the beginning, the management relied on various non-integrated software products to manage all the stores in Bulgaria and abroad, as well as the various internal business activities. As the company rapidly expanded in size and complexity, the scope and specifics of the business processes increased. The management faced many challenges due to the limited capability of the information systems. Some of the most common problems were improper calculation of the cost of goods sold, difficulty in tracking items on stock, limited options in conducting different marketing campaigns, promotions, etc. The necessity of extra data processing often caused delays, mistakes and inconsistencies. The lack of important reports and detailed overview of the company and stores’ activities turned out to be a great disadvantage for the operation.

“After a while, we came to realize that the demands our business significantly surpassed the functionalities of the software we were using. The lack of integration caused many delays and difficulties, and the information was often contradictive and incorrect. This had a negative impact on our business. The software we used could not provide the flexibility and efficiency we required. We needed an integrated system to comprise all processes and to provide us with optimal planning and execution capabilities, full control over the activities of each of our stores, and quick access to key reports and analyses“.

Sevdalin Spasov
Founder and Manager of MANIA TEAM

Solution

The MANIA TEAM’s management started to research the business software market. After an extensive analysis, the final selection was among three ERP systems developed by global leaders, including Microsoft Dynamics. After several meetings with ERP implementers MANIA TEAM chose Microsoft Dynamics, combined with LS Retail. The company selected Intelligent Systems, the leading Microsoft Dynamics Partner in CEE, for their implementation partner.

The implementation process started with the conduction of a preliminary analysis. The aim was to adjust the system so it could most adequately cover all business processes and requirements. According to the plan, the Head Office and warehouse, as well as all of the Mania stores, were to start using the system simultaneously. Within a couple of months, five different Dynamics modules had been integrated, as well as the special functionalities for managing retail stores – LS Retail Back Office and LS Retail POS. The ERP system combines, manages and controls the processes, and the integrated database provides quick and secure access to current information at any time. The implemented LS Retail functionalities provide flexible opportunities for smooth management of back and front office store activities.

In relation to the active retail schemes in all Mania stores, Intelligent Systems developed a specific LS Retail functionality that tracks the movement of items within different retail cycles. This allows accurate price-formation depending different criteria such as weekday, different campaigns, promotions and discounts, as well as possibilities to choose a type of sale – per kg or per piece, for example.

For the “Mania Bonus Card” loyalty card scheme, a specially designed LS Retail module guarantees correct data on each client – points, discounts with every purchase made, different discount policies, and more. The goal of the functionality is to increase customer satisfaction and to facilitate the provision of different management reports that were not available before the integration of Microsoft Dynamics.

The Dynamics Warehouse Management functionality replaced the inefficient processes in the central warehouse. It efficiently administrates zones and items on stock, gives optimal organization of the logistics and transportation, etc.

Benefits

A couple of months after the Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Retail were implemented, the management felt a number of improvements in the company’s business activities. Meanwhile, all the difficulties and discrepancies connected to the lack of actual data were overcome. Among the benefits and advantages that Mania has experienced are:

• Support of centralized database with fast real time access
• Improved data security
• Increased business process efficiency in the company, the central warehouse and the retail stores
• Accurate calculation of the cost of the products sold
• Tracking of the exact number of the items on stock
• Flexible opportunities for managing promotions, discounts and other marketing campaigns
• Tracking of transportation routes and assurance of timely deliveries to every Mania store
• Enhanced employee productivity and customer satisfaction
• Detailed reports and analyses on KPIs