Shoe City (ESCO Ltd.) operates 28 stores across Maryland, in the District of Columbia, and in Richmond and Tidewater, Virginia.

In recent years, ESCO has concentrated its efforts on integrating more rigorous control systems into their merchandizing and store operations.

“We are proud of our success. Ten years ago, we chose ACCEO Retail-1 for our IT solutions and we never regretted our decision. From the outset, ACCEO Retail-1 has allowed us to increase our gross profits through improved merchandizing processes and inventory management,” said Michael Fortwengler, Chief Financial Officer.

“The integrated Open-to-Buy (OTB) procurement planning system has provided the discipline to keep our inventories at an optimal level, and the Executive Information System (EIS) lets us track key performance indicators relating to stores, suppliers and products. We can manage our priorities with easy access to performance tracking for our goals every week.”

“We reassess how we use our systems on a regular basis and are always looking for new ways to improve our bottom line,” said Michael Fortwengler.

“Our relationship with ACCEO Retail-1 allows us to improve constantly. ACCEO regularly reviews how we utilize the system and provides written recommendations identifying areas where we can leverage potential improvements. We have recently implemented improvements in two areas: customer flow management and warehouse management. Tightening up our inventory management processes has given the opportunity to evaluate other areas of the organization that could contribute to increasing our bottom line.
Being able to analyze peak hours and align staffing requirements precisely by store, based on customer flow, has created significant savings while continuing to meet our customers’ needs. We also optimized our warehouse management system using the ACCEO Retail-1 E-Shipper module. This allowed us to computerize our warehouse and significantly reduce handling errors when distributing stock to our stores.”

When e-commerce became a priority for ESCO, they once again turned to ACCEO Retail-1 for their solution.

“The e-commerce project was the logical next step for us. Partnering with ACCEO Retail-1 was an easy decision because they already have a back-end solution. Since we needed ACCEO in order to interface with an e-commerce provider, we decided to simplify our supplier structure by giving them the opportunity to meet our e-commerce needs. We are confident that ACCEO Retail-1 will meet and even surpass our expectations,” commented Michael Fortwengler.

Customer loyalty, a user-friendly environment and an effective shopping experience are the key components of a successful website.