Retailer Improves the Success of Its Merchandising System Implementation

The client is a $4.5 billion specialty retailer of apparel for women and ‘tween’ girls, operating multiple brands in the U.S. and Canada.​ Several years earlier, the retailer began a core merchandising system replacement initiative involving two of the company’s brands, covering 1,200 stores in 46 states. The project experienced multiple delays due to acquisitions and related organizational changes. Further complications included the replacement of a 35-year-old mainframe and integration to over 40 legacy systems. ​​

The retailer restarted the core merchandising replacement project, but six months away from the forecasted go-live date, company leadership was concerned about the outcome. The retailer determined that it needed an objective team to perform a quality assurance and risk audit to improve the chances of a successful core merchandising system implementation.

Parker Avery worked closely with the client to review the merchandising system implementation project’s status and overall viability. Parker Avery’s team focused on the following key areas: ​​

• Project planning, status tracking, resource management​​
• Issue and risk management​​
• Process design and solution fit​​
• Testing (system, integration, conversion, UAT)​​
• Training preparation​​
• System security, role clarity, and controls​​
• Go-live support plans​​
• Contingency planning ​​
• Ongoing project monitoring and auditing ​

The team collaborated with the retailer in the following key activities: ​​

• Interviews with key team members​​
• Project document and methodology reviews​​
• Assessing project plans, testing, and deployment strategies​​
• Validation of security and controls​​
• Assessing future-state roles and responsibilities ​​
• Recommendation of deployment readiness, including priority and timing for specific actions​​