Ratner Salons: Sun and Tomax Fashion a Bright Retail Future

Ratner Companies had been using a legacy system based on Microsoft DOS and implemented at the local salon level. The system was outdated and unable to provide the necessary level of data collection and support required for Ratner's growing operations. After evaluating over twenty-five software products, Ratner selected Retail.net from Tomax Corporation. The Retail.net suite of applications includes thin client architected solutions for corporate headquarters, store back office, point of service (POS), order management, kiosk, Web support, workforce management, advanced pricing, forecasting, and optimization. Each of these applications are capable of running from a single database and provide real time access to all data--regardless of the user's location. Tomax's Retail.net suite of applications helps retailers improve associate productivity, enhance the customer experience, and reduce IT infrastructure support requirements. Retail.net helps reduce the cost and complexity of traditional retail solutions, and can deliver up to 50% reductions in IT lifecycle costs. Customers have realized a dramatic ROI in associate productivity and merchandise/customer profitability.

Ratner Companies, founded in 1974, started with one salon and two stylists. Dennis Ratner, founder, opened the first Hair Cuttery in West Springfield, Virginia. Today, the family oriented company has seven salon brands and more than 10,000 stylists—with over 800 salons on the east coast, in the Chicago area, and in the United Kingdom.

Ratner had been using a legacy system based on Microsoft DOS and implemented at the local salon level. The system was outdated and unable to provide the necessary level of data collection and support required for Ratner's growing operations. "We wanted a robust system that could provide everything necessary for headquarter functions, as well as merchandizing, inventory management, and scheduling at the salon level," said Robert (Bob) Ampula, chief information officer, Ratner Companies. "We needed a platform that could scale to meet our needs, while helping us take advantage of new customer relationship management (CRM) solutions that could be leveraged to improve other aspects of our business."

After evaluating over twenty-five software products, Ratner selected Retail.net from Tomax Corporation. The Retail.net suite of applications includes thin client architected solutions for corporate headquarters, store back office, point of service (POS), order management, kiosk, Web support, workforce management, advanced pricing, forecasting, and optimization. Each of these applications are capable of running from a single database and provide real time access to all data—regardless of the user's location.

"Retail.net from Tomax is the only product that satisfies our needs for having a single software system capable of supporting seven brands with over 800 locations," said Ampula. "Retail.net is flexible enough to address Ratner's business needs and offers Web-based solutions that the previous system was not capable of handling. The Sun platform helps ensure reliability and stability, making it an ideal environment for the Tomax Retail.net solution suite. Sun offered the best cost benefit ratio from the platforms we evaluated." Sun Enterpriseservers and Javatechnologies provide resiliency that support true real time data management.

The new system allows Ratner to reengineer labor-intensive work flow processes, making them more efficient and helping lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while increasing productivity. Sun' s network-centric thin client architecture concentrates the relevant salon applications economically at a central location, using the stable and uniform Sun Solaris"! Operating System. Tomax delivers the Retail.net solutions via their application services provider (ASP) hosting service, positioning Ratner to support expansion without incurring additional cost, and providing new controls and disciplines to improve operational and financial performance.

Engineering Solutions that Meet your Goals

Ratner and Tomax teamed to ensure the system meets Ratner's business requirements at each stage of the phased implementation rollout. "We've spent a considerable amount of time and resources to ensure that every goal is met," said Ampula. "The acceptance of the system in the pilot salons has been very positive, once they made the adjustment from a DOS based system to a Web-based system."

• Schedule client appointments and requests based on the respective business units' requirements. These needs range from managing walk-ins in a value-based environment, to full appointment booking in high-end salons.
• Administer the flow of client services upon arrival, including services performed by different associates on the same client.
• Manage service and retail pricing by business unit and market.
• Deliver POS transactions for both services and retail products and audit cash management.
• Capture data for commission payments for services and/or retail sales.
• Record client historical data relative to services performed and chemical formulations used for hair treatments.
• Provide performance data to support stylists in setting financial goals.

• Track and report time and attendance.

• Send client email reminders for scheduling appointments.
• Automate inventory re-stocking processes at both the salons and distribution center for retail items sold.
• Audit and accelerate manual re-ordering for supplies used to support performed services.
• Deliver human resource tools that allow salons to hire associates and have supporting HR paperwork completed electronically.
• Provide performance reporting, by salon or group of salons, for field leader and corporate evaluation.

• Support automatic replenishment for the company's consumed items.
• Implement a Work Order System connecting individual salons to the corporate facility management group in order to increase maintenance efficiency.
• Install a Workforce Management application to support associate scheduling and help meet individual stylist and company-wide financial goals.
• Interface individual salon and business unit Web sites to Retail.net to support universal appointment scheduling, gift certificates, and merchandise sales.

Ratner Companies was conceived with a business plan sketched on a cocktail napkin. Today, that groundwork is supported by leading edge technology. By teaming with Tomax and Sun, Ratner is well positioned to address their growing business needs and expand their market reach on a global basis.

Addressing Retail Industry-Specific Business Needs

Tomax has been delivering leading edge technology for both mid-size and large-scale retail enterprises since 1981. Today the company is an industry leader, with over 100 retail chains running Tomax solutions. The company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, has regional sales offices in Philadelphia, PA, Minneapolis, MN, and Houston, TX.

Tomax has spent over 20 years solving retail industry-specific challenges, including: disparate systems running across stores and at headquarters; inadequate and untrained instore system administration and support personnel; lack of integration between purchasing, pricing and POS; inaccurate and untimely information; the lack of true multi-channel integration; and no personalization for associates and customers.

Providing Cost Reduction Benefits

Tomax's Retail.net suite of applications helps retailers improve associate productivity, enhance the customer experience, and reduce IT infrastructure support requirements. Retail.net helps reduce the cost and complexity of traditional retail solutions, and can deliver up to 50% reductions in IT lifecycle costs. Customers have realized a dramatic ROI in associate productivity and merchandise/ customer profitability.

The Tomax solution supports almost every software function necessary to run retail brickand- mortar chain stores, as well as instore and online commerce. Applications can be delivered either through their ASP hosting service, on a self-hosted basis, or as a combination of services. Tomax, a Sun iForcepartner, considers the Sun platform the front-runner for system robustness and reliability. " Sun' s architecture addresses our needs for security, as well as scalability, availability, and manageability," said Steve Shubella, vice president delivery services, Tomax. Sun and its Sun Partners are dedicated to helping businesses of all types and sizes around the world reduce costs and expand their market reach.

Get the details.

To find out more about Tomax and Sun, contact your local Sun or Tomax sales representative, or visit sun.com, tomax.com, or retail.net.

About Sun For years, customers have turned to Sun Microsystems to help them expand their business, lower their costs, and gain competitive advantage. Sun is a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software, services, and technologies that power the Internet and enable companies worldwide to take their businesses to the next level. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at sun.com.