Retail was one sector hit hard by the pandemic and for New Zealand clothing group Hallenstein Glasson the multiple lockdowns forced store closures and impacted revenue streams.

However, for Chris Reid, Chief Information Officer at Hallensten Glasson group, the period allowed his team to rethink retail and look at how the company’s physical stores would operate in a new and challenging environment.

“Hallenstein Glasson is extremely focused on technology and digital, with a large majority of our customers being digital natives we have the need to innovate fast,” says Reid.

“We act like a startup – by this I mean we don’t let scale get in the way. We find a solution and then work out how to scale it.  This in itself influences the business as they are constantly seeing positive change come from technology.”

In focusing on how to improve their stores post-lockdown, the team developed a native IOS app called Live Stock that is used by store associates to better serve customers.  

“All functions of our store associates’ day are driven by this app,” says Reid. “What started as a solution to a very simple customer question ‘do you have this in a size x?’  transformed the Hallenstein Glassons group for good.  Our store associates now serve customers, manage their days and perform all facets of retail through an iPod Touch.  On any given day we have approximately 1,400 iPods in play with just over 38,000 barcodes scanned.”

The app has enabled the business to better serve and understand the customer and streamline processes. 

“One particular metric we are proud of is we can process a customer web return in under eight seconds through the Live Stock app,” adds Reid.  

Taking the complication out of things

Reflecting on a mistake he’s made in his career and what he learned from it, Reid cites allowing complication to creep into a solution.  

“Complication will eventually catch up with you and put your organisation at risk.  I had a CEO continuously say to me when I would demo a solution that it ‘sounds complicated’, to which I would respond ‘it has to be’.  Not realising that while a complicated solution may work, it will put you at risk later down the track.”

“I now see complication as the root of all evils. A complicated integration is a broken integration, regardless of its success.”