Kijkshop
Kijkshop, an exclusive Dutch retailer, offers a broad assortment of gift articles through innovative store formulas
Kijkshop store display cases feature what is on offer and then customer selections are picked directly from the Kijkshop warehouse.
Beside its own ‘bricks & mortar’ stores, Kijkshop also has ‘mini-stores’ in supermarkets and an important presence on the Internet for online shopping. Kijkshop is also considering starting a mail-order formula. Kijkshop has more than 120 stores in the Netherlands and Belgium. Its yearly revenues exceed 225 million euros.
The Challenge
Kijkshop’s most important business strategy is to be a multi-channel retailer. The company wants to exploit every sales channel to its optimum. Until recently, Kijkshop focused its activities exclusively on business-to-consumer markets. A plan was put in place to also use the Internet for Business-to-Business activities. Subscribing companies would use Kijkshop as a portal to offer its own assortment of gifts to employees through the Internet site. To realize this Kijkshop needed an e-commerce solution. In accordance with its IT strategy it would have to be a simple concept that could be expanded at a later stage. Kijkshop needed a partner that could develop this e-solution in a short time period.
The most important requirements were controllability and scalability. Kijkshop wanted to:
- offer service to hundreds of clients, varying from small to large companies.
- respond quickly to client’s questions or demands.
- provide ‘quick to apply’ and flexible solutions.
Capgemini Approach
Kijkshop chose Capgemini as its partner for this project. Kijkshop opted for a leader in management consulting and IT services, to be confident of project consistency, reliability and continuity. It also chose Capgemini owing to Kijkshop’s positive experiences in the past with an SAP implementation. Capgemini was able to offer to Kijkshop the complete range of its services, from consultancy to development and implementation.
The project was divided into three phases: functional design, development and completion. As a start, the project team, comprising consultants from Capgemini and Kijkshop employees, took a critical look at the business case and made the necessary improvements. The solution would have to connect using the Internet technology that Kijkshop was already using: Microsoft Commerce Server. Kijkshop opted for Microsoft VB as a platform because this package offered the best guarantee for the functional requirements.
Kijkshop can now manage its own site. It is very important to be able to respond quickly to an assignment. A new website can be launched within one week of planning and concept.
Value Delivered
Kijkshop now possesses a solution with which it can enter the Business-to-Business market. The company can offer every client a tailor-made website. Clients can not only choose different graphic appearances for their site but can also choose certain price categories or personalize gifts by opting for special themes.
Experiences so far have been very positive. The solution was ready for use a few weeks before Christmas, which immediately resulted in a couple of sites featuring Christmas gifts. It was a successful initiative from the beginning.
The solution has become a new sales channel for Kijkshop. The e-gift shop is an additional activity in its online strategy. Kijkshop has established a basis on which it can build and expand. The simplicity of the concept makes it flexible, no matter what direction Kijkshop wants to take it.