The cloud offers Dylan’s Candy Bar sweet growth possibilities

An information technology modernization effort at innovative candy retailer Dylan’s Candy Bar saw the company convert to the cloud and now the sky’s the limit.

Founded in 2001, Dylan’s grew to 16 flagship and licensed locations, but along the way it outstripped the capabilities of a hodgepodge of on premise legacy systems. The quirky retailer who provides shoppers a whimsical experience began to encounter what a lot of small, rapidly growing companies experience. As the business prospered, disparate systems limited visibility into the business, required cumbersome and error-prone manual work that impacted efficiency and left the business without a single source of reliable, real-time data. There were also struggles with multi-location inventory management and a lack of customer insight hindered the business from providing an innovative, omnichannel shopping experience.

To address the situation, Dylan’s made the switch to the cloud and went with Netsuite as its solutions provider for applications such as financials, inventory and order management, warehousing and customer relationship management. As a result, Dylan’s said it now has a platform to support rapid growth, streamline business operations and fulfill its mission to transform the brand experience for shoppers.

“With NetSuite, we’ve undertaken radical change to transform the shopping experience at Dylan’s Candy Bar and bring joy and wonder to our customers’ lives,” said Erica Stevens, vice president of supply chain and information technology. “The insights we gain from a single source of data are profound and provide a data- and relationship-driven approach to serving our customers.”

Although still relatively small, Dylan’s has expanded rapidly since implementing Netsuite, going from four flagship stores and three licensed shops to what will be 16 flagship and licensed locations by January 2016.

“Before NetSuite, we didn’t have the insight into our business that was needed to innovate and grow. We really needed the unified system that NetSuite provides to capitalize on our momentum,” Stevens said.

Among the benefits Dylan’s said it has achieved are more personalized cross-channel marketing programs to a database that has doubled in size, a 66% decrease in e-commerce order processing times despite a 32% increase in order volumes, greater order accuracy and expanded retail partnerships with Nordstrom, Barnes & Noble and Neiman Marcus.