Stepping up to the challenges of footwear retailing in the 21st century.

Betts Group Pty has been manufacturing and retailing shoes for generations. Starting in Western Australia in 1896, the company has grown to become a retail success story with brands such as Betts, Betts Kids and Airflex.

Along the way, Betts has invested in retail-specific systems to support its growth. However, the Group’s experience with technology has not always been an easy one.

Robert Knyn, Betts’ Business Systems Manager.

“We have deployed a number of systems over the years but we always had issues with integration. The other problem was when vendors made big promises but never delivered. After trying a few different vendors we thought, ‘There’s got to be a better way.”

The advantages of an end-to-end platform.

In 1998 Betts deployed its first Retail Directions software. More components of the Retail Directions platform were added in the 2000s, including RMS, WMS and SMS.

Because all parts of the platform have been designed to work seamlessly together, Betts experienced none of the integration headaches that had plagued its implementation of other systems.

“We were initially sceptical of going for a complete Retail Directions solution but it’s been a smooth and pain-free process,” says Robert Knyn. “The Retail Directions platform is robust and stable, which is exactly what you need when your business depends on selling products quickly and efficiently.”

The company depends on RMS as its ‘single source of truth.’ Integrated with SMS and other components of the platform, it enables Betts to concentrate on business without continually tinkering with IT. In fact, the Group runs its entire operation with just three people in IT.

Going to the next level with online sales.

The latest initiative was a successful relaunch of Betts’ online presence. After some disappointing (and expensive) experiences with other providers, Betts opted for Retail Directions’ Web Shop module. This was successfully implemented within a tight timeframe of just four months.

The new web store went live on 24 May 2016 without a hitch. Within a week, the Betts IT team was already on a new project, as the web store implementation had been so smooth.

Robert Knyn says this is typical of Betts’ experience with Retail Directions’ platform.

“The system just works and the support is so professional. Retail Directions staff have years of experience and they know retailing inside out. Now we’ve gone end-to-end with Retail Directions, we never have to worry about tracking customers through different systems. It’s a stable and reliable system – perfect for retailers.”