Charming Charlie turns to Oracle to keep up with growth

Houston - When consumer demand for the latest trends surges, fashion retailers must move quickly to engage with shoppers and ensure they have the right product mix on the shelves. The fast-growing women’s accessory retailer Charming Charlie has met widespread consumer demand with an upgrade to Oracle Retail Merchandising solutions to support both its immediate needs and its international expansion plans.



Opening an average of 55 stores annually, Charming Charlie now has more than 350 locations across the U.S., Canada and Dubai. Along the way, growth outpaced its IT systems and Charming Charlie launched an initiative that would establish scalable, modern retail operations on new Oracle Retail systems.



“With the complexity of a lot of product SKUs, ongoing store openings, and international expansion, we needed a technology foundation from Oracle Retail that would be able to grow with us,” said John Hnanicek, CIO, Charming Charlie.



During a 13-month period beginning in late 2013, with the help of systems integrator OLR, Charming Charlie implemented Oracle Retail Merchandising System, Oracle Retail Trade Management, Oracle Retail Price Management, Oracle Retail Invoice Match, and Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management. The integrated Oracle Retail systems support best-in-class operations across critical areas such as inventory management, sales forecasting, and pricing/markdown management.



Charming Charlie was already using Oracle E-Business Suite Financials, and the Oracle Retail Merchandising solutions are integrated with this and an array of in-house systems, which increases the speed at which informed decisions can be made.



In addition to helping drive both U.S. and international growth, the Oracle Retail solutions provide world-class retailing capabilities. The Oracle Retail solutions automate and streamline pricing strategy execution, adding the ability to set regional pricing and meet competitive pricing targets, and they simplify key operational processes such as reclass and markdowns.