One of the largest specialist retailers of video games in the world, GameStop, is rolling out a new retail management system across its 25 Irish stores as part of a broader plan to springboard into the European marketplace, siliconrepublic.com has learned.
GameStop has more than 1,800 stores in the US and so far Ireland represents its first foray into the European market. The company employs 200 people across Ireland.
It has signed a deal with Microsoft partner Alpha Landsteinar to rollout a new integrated retail-management system called Socius, which will manage its product portfolio from purchasing to managing its centralised warehouse and even distributing product to every store. Alpha Landsteinar is a subsidiary of K3 Business Technology Group, which rolls out Microsoft Business Solution-based services to financial, retail and distribution-based businesses in Ireland, the UK and Dubai.
The system automatically uploads sales information from the various Irish stores daily and the technology automatically calculates how much product GameStop needs to purchase, creates the purchase orders and sends them to suppliers. The system then calculates and creates transfers from its central warehouse to stores, leading to more efficient stock management.
GameStop Ireland’s finance director Paul Hennessy explains: “With more than 1,800 stores across the US and 25 in the Republic and Northern Ireland, GameStop has moved from Take 5 Enterprise and other tools because although the systems worked well when we were smaller, as we grew they could not cope with the added complexity and volume of information.
“Landsteinar Retail has already made the management of our product file and movement of product from supplier to warehouse to store much more accurate and efficient, while also simplifying and speeding up our ability to produce timely accounts.
“Sales-based automated purchasing from suppliers and distribution from our warehouse to stores, coupled with the integration of this with the financial side of the system, has been hugely beneficial to us,” Hennessey says.
GameStop has already embarked on Phase II of the implementation, which adds even further features to the original system and is currently assessing Phase III.
By John Kennedy
