Cole Buxton adds new tech for "faster and better service"

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
May 26, 2022

Cole Buxton is introducing what it calls “queue busting” technology to support the UK luxury sportswear brand’s global physical expansion beyond its core digital model.

It’s part of a wider expansion programme that will take in new store locations, with the firm currently considering New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Berlin. Ahead of this, Cole Buxton has deployed Cegid Retail’s mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution system at its flagship store in London’s Soho.
 
The store was viewed as the ideal platform to allow designer/founders Cole Buxton and Jonny Wilson “to communicate directly with customers about their values as they grew the business”.

Cole Buxton said the mPOS system helps its store associates “serve customers, check stock and process payments from anywhere in the store”, using iPhones.
 
Amar Dehal, head of operations, said the new technology “was essential in reducing waiting times for customers.”
 
Dehal added: “You can’t keep customers waiting too long. You need to be able to check them out then and there. Or, if a product isn’t available, have it delivered to their preferred location, whether it’s at home or a hotel.”
 
Prior to opening its first physical store in 2020, the brand experimented with pop-ups in 2019 and relied on “a fairly basic” fixed POS system that “wouldn’t have allowed the business to grow internationally, or allow staff to serve customers effectively while on the move.”
 
Under the brand’s “redefining contemporary sportswear to suit the modern man’s lifestyle” banner, the eight-year-old company has seen physical store sales now account for around 15% of annual sales.
 
In 2021, 70% of sales were direct-to-consumer and the brand wants to keep sales through wholesale partners and department stores down to a minimum.
 
The retailer projects annual sales of £20 million in 2022 amid rising sales abroad — notably up 15% in the US and 10% in Germany.