Best&Less Group is in the early stages of a technology program that will deliver better product lifecycle management and a new customer data platform.
Announcing the retailer’s first-half 2023 financials, executive chair Jason Murray said the group needed to be better at both data and digital.
The company is trialling a new point-of-sale system in one store, which Murray described as a “cutting edge POS” that delivers transactional efficiency, and “also gives us real-time data for inventory management, and customer management”.
More broadly, the company’s technology plan remains relatively nascent, with Murray saying the group isn't "yet in a position to flesh out” details such as technology partners and expected costs.
At the time of the group's IPO in 2021, Murray said, it was "working on individual parts of the program, and the board encouraged us to look at it more holistically.
“There’s a whole stream of work to create that roadmap, and we’re not committed to changing systems if we don’t have to," he said.
Cloud offerings mean “you can get best-of-breed that costs you less in total”, and it also means that implementations can be “paced differently”.
“Nothing compared to the costs in days gone by, where you’d write a ten million [dollar] cheque and hope," Murray said.
"We would expect it to be much less than that, over a longer time.”
The other key program of work is to rework the Best&Less mobile app and website, both of which are expected to be finished before the end of 2023.
Two key appointments were announced today to underpin the company’s digital and data strategy.
Best&Less has secured the services of Bruno de Sousa as group head of strategy and insights. He is formerly of DoorDash, WooliesX and Woolworths.
In addition, Bridie Commerford will join Best&Less as chief marketing and digital officer from The Travel Corporation, where she was chief marketing officer from March 2020 and chief marketing and digital officer from May 2022.
In spite of headwinds caused by Covid, including now-easing supply chain disruptions, Best&Less and its New Zealand operation, Postie, turned in revenue 13 percent higher than the first half of 2022 at $324.8 million, with a net profit after tax of $13.7 million.
