Department store group Myer is readying a AU$99 million merchandising system as it builds IT operations independent of former owner Coles Group.
The Myer business, divested from Coles last year, will pilot its Mymerch system in April before going live in May, according to its half-year financial report.
Based on IBM and Oracle infrastructure, Mymerch will allow Myer's distribution centre network to order goods from suppliers based on daily, as opposed to weekly, stock-on-hand data.
As part of separating from Coles, Myer will have a new supply chain network later this year. The business has had to acquire four distribution centre sites in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Mymerch will also provide buying forecasts based on consumer buying habits, and reduce manual data entry, according to the report.
Other systems Myer will move from the Coles Group this year include:
- payroll for 20,000 staff by May
- 240+ applications and systems by July
- warehouse systems throughout the year
Myer negotiated a five-year outsourcing contract with IBM late last year as part of plans to separate from Coles.
Its about time that Myer gave its frontline staff a bit of a hand, when I left we were still struggling to give our customers the service they deserved and having a system for stock counting that was as troubled as the previous one was at the time was a major cause of delays and customer dissatisfaction.
This improvment will be one that brings Myer Back to the forefront of the old values of customer satisfaction first.