Background + Business Challenge
Headquartered in Toronto, Indigo is Canada’s largest book, gift, and specialty toy retailer, operating over 180 stores in all ten provinces and one territory, with annual revenues exceeding $1B.
Indigo was replacing its point of sale (POS) system, needing to find a solution that could meet its ever-changing promotion needs into the future. Promotion execution code was complex and costly to extend for each Indigo sales channel.
Indigo runs promotions across multiple channels including POS, mobile POS, eCommerce, kiosks, and mobile, with multiple loyalty programs. iRewards is a paid program providing discounts when you join, Plum points provides points for each dollar spent and Plum Plus is a paid program with a mixed points and percentage off program. Finally, corporate discounts provided a tiered structure for discounts based on level and product type being purchased.
As Indigo sells both gift items and book products, promotions were mixed. Promotion complexity could range from a simple NY Times bestseller % off item promotion, buy 3 get the 4th free, to more complex programs like corporate sales which provided different discounts by hierarchy based on the approved level of a corporate customer.
We needed a single solution that could support our omni-channel promotion strategy, our brands’ unique loyalty and business requirements, and our various head-office, in-store and online systems.
Sumit Oberai, CIO & EVP Digital, Indigo Books & Music
The existing ERP promotion solution could not create the complex promotions Indigo required to meet the promotion demands of the business. At the store level, many promotions were manually executed by the cashier resulting in loss and inconsistent execution of promotions. To support promotion calculations, each channel deployed custom code and required management of multiple projects simultaneously.
Due to the complexity of promotion application, speed of service became a factor at high traffic periods causing long line ups and walk offs.
Indigo also required a solution to support its Magic Gift card program, a program that allowed customers to receive an unknown amount from a gift card when they spent more than $50, which could have a value of $5 to $5000.
Our Solution
Indigo implemented the XCCommerce Promotion Solution Suite (PSS) to support its marketing teams’ efforts to create promotions to increase sales and revenue, as well as to support its coupon-based reward promotions. The XCCommerce solution was deployed across all sales applications, including traditional POS, mobile POS, kiosks, ecommerce, and mobile application.
When Indigo launched net new customer programs and promotions, it simply created these new promotions in XCCommerce’s centralized promotion solution and was able to execute these programs without having to change its promotion infrastructure.
XCCommerce’s Central Coupon Module (CCM) was deployed to support the Magic Gift Card program and setup coupons centrally.
The Promotion Engine Module (PEM) from XCCommerce enabled Indigo to deliver its complex promotions automatically and consistently across all sales channels.
Summary of Value Delivered
- Promotion Effectiveness Indigo leverages XCCommerce’s rich functionality and fast externalized service, supporting complex overlapping offers without any burden on store operations, eliminating limitations and inconsistencies.
- Increase Conversion Rates Fully automated execution of promotions has resulted in significant improvement in throughput at checkout for Indigo customers, reducing the number of customers leaving the store due to the long wait times.
- Sales Associate EffectivenessFully automated execution of promotions has resulted in significant improvement in consistency and throughput at checkout for Indigo.
- Product DemandPopular book clubs (Oprah, NY Times Best Sellers, Heather’s Picks) will greatly increase market demand for specific books, however the demand is extremely time sensitive. XC’s promotion solution provides Indigo with the ability to create and deploy promotions almost immediately, increasing the demand and sales for these targeted products.
- Customer LoyaltyUsing the rich functionality from the XC promotion solution, Indigo supports multiple loyalty programs offered, and design targeted and dynamic promotions tailored for each known customer. The XC solution delivers a unified, seamless, and consistent platform across all sales channels generating a positive experience for all Indigo customers.
- Increase Basket Size
With the rich functionality from the XC solution, Indigo uses quantity based, bundle, combo, and tiered offers to increase customer basket size.
- Marketing Campaign EffectivenessXC’s Promotions Solution Suite delivers the complex promotions and automated conflict resolution required to support Indigo’s critical marketing campaigns such as Back to School, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. The vast functionality capacity of the XC solution supports Indigo’s unique marketing requirements for POS, mPOS, consumer mobile & eCommerce channels.
- Centralized promotions & coupon ManagementIndigo supports promotion definition and evaluation across all brands and channels, including POS, Mobile POS, E-Commerce, Kiosk, and Consumer Mobile resulting in a consistent application of promotions and a positive customer experience.
- Automation SystemsXC’s Promotion Engine Module provides a new paradigm for promotion handling by eliminating the need for manual intervention for resolving promotional overlaps during checkout, resulting in reduced margin leakage for Indigo Store Operations. In addition, the increased throughput at checkout enables Indigo to reduce the number of POS lanes in store and checkout staffing levels.
- Reduce Total Cost of OwnershipXC’s product architecture provides flexibility on deployment options, enabling Indigo to utilize common and existing infrastructure components while delivering a robust, evolving, and scalable solution. In addition, the ability to rapidly integrate and implement the XC promotion solution within the existing Indigo environment reduces the ongoing costs to support and maintain the overall Sales application solution across all channels.
Results + Value Delivered
The implementation of the XCCommerce PSS enabled Indigo to run the promotions it could not previously achieve, as well as expand its promotion offerings over time without needing to change its applications. XC’s Central Coupon Module was deployed to support Indigo’s Gift Card program and setup coupons centrally. When Indigo launched new customer loyalty programs and new promotions, it simply created these new promotions in XCCommerce’s centralized promotion solution and were able to execute these programs without having to change its promotion infrastructure.
With the fully automated XCCommerce solution, Indigo eliminated the need for Sales Associates to make decisions about whether or not a customer met the requirements of a promotion, resulting in reduced margin loss across the chain. The XCCommerce solution shortened checkout times to such a degree that lane counts were reduced in large format stores. XCCommerce’s PSS has been deployed to all channels, supporting POS, eCommerce and Mobile sales applications.
For more information about our advanced promotion solutions and how they can support your marketing and promotions strategies, contact us.
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