The Men's Wearhouse, Inc. (NYSE:MW) has always been good at tracking important trends. When the retailer saw the average man replacing his khakis and t-shirts with a more refined "dress casual style," it adjusted sales and inventory. The company also sprang into action when it recognized a market opportunity for groundbreaking POS technology.
As Men's Wearhouse rolled out one of the industry's first retail applications of a Java®-based POS system in 477 stores, EPSON® TM-H6000 multifunction thermal printers also helped save money and provide outstanding customer service. Founded in 1973, The Men's Wearhouse of Fremont, Calif. is one of North America's largest specialty retailers of men's apparel. It operates more than 650 stores, including Men's Wearhouse Stores, Moores Clothing for Men, and K&G; Men's Superstores. The stores carry a full selection of designer, brand name and private label suits, sport coats, dress casual clothing, furnishings and accessories.
To help Men's Wearhouse fit all the POS system pieces together, the company worked with DataMax System Solutions of Boca Raton, Fla., an EPSON Acclaim Strategic Business Partner. The system integrator is a recognized leader in retail technology, offering innovative POS hardware and software solutions to large retail chains. With solutions installed in over 25,000 POS stores, DataMax maintains one of the largest installed bases in the country.
Working with Men's Wearhouse, DataMax played a key role in orchestrating a solution combining Dell™ PCs, Sun® Microsystems® servers, EPSON® TM-H6000 printers with MICR check readers, ELO touch-screen monitors, Symbol® scanners, MCI frame-relay networking and KeySource keyboards.
Men's Wearhouse also became a development partner with Chelsea Market Systems to create ChelseaStore™, a Java-based POS system. The Houston, Texas-based software firm was built on decades of retail experience and research to combine Java-based architecture with the features that retailers need to manage business their own way. Chelsea's products include the ChelseaPlatform enterprise foundation, ChelseaStore, and a variety of application development and management tools.
The result of the Men's Wearhouse development effort is a low-cost solution that works well with Legacy systems and meets the need for scalability, store networking and real-time data transfer. The retailer now has store-level Internet access, international currency transactions, a more effective user interface, better user access security, and an industry-standard platform for future growth.
Working with Java, the software language developed by Sun Microsystems, Men's Wearhouse increased the size and capability of its computer system without straining the budget. Because Java runs on so many different platforms, it enables retailers to sidestep costly hardware upgrades.
To help Men's Wearhouse save even more money, DataMax recommended hardware like the EPSON TM-H6000 printer. "One of Men's Wearhouse's criteria for a store-level printer was that it could support different technologies," said Bill Kesl, vice president of marketing, DataMax. "Because Epson actively supports the JavaPOS standard, we knew Epson printing technology would be there each step of the way."
Men's Wearhouse already sees the return on its investment. "The Epson printers were a cost-effective choice. They are fast, quiet and easy to operate," said Marshall, Men's Wearhouse. "So they are virtually invisible to us, which is exactly what they should be."
Because Men's Wearhouse takes pride in maintaining loyal customers, the printer was a good fit. "We're very sensitive to the amount of time that people have to spend at checkout," said Marshall.
The TM-H6000 thermal printer brought a new level of high-speed printing to Men's Wearhouse stores, producing thermal receipts, graphics and validations in record time. QuickPass™ check processing shortens check processing time up to 30 percent over "flip check" processes.
The Epson printer also simplifies employee training. The printer's ease of use contributes to happier store-level sales personnel, another reason why Fortune magazine continues to select Men's Wearhouse as one of the 100 best companies to work for in the U.S.
Men's Wearhouse also laid the foundation for future new technology including Internet, Intranet and e-mail accessibility from the store, electronic signature capture, electronic forms and HR self service. "Working with partners like DataMax and Chelsea, we reduced our total cost of ownership," said Marshall. "Our stores report that the system, complete with the Epson printer, is easier to use and more fault-tolerant than our Legacy system."
"Despite the positive results, we also believe our strongest asset isn't part of the balance sheet," he said. "Men's Wearhouse went to Java and deployed technology that includes the Epson printer so it could provide more information to the valued individuals who are servicing our customers."
What really drives Men's Wearhouse's bottom line is its success in creating an environment where people take pride in developing loyal customers through outstanding customer service. The EPSON TM-H6000 printer has proved to be a cost-effective means to help maintain that high standard.
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