Leading footwear retailer, Pavers Shoes, steps out with new hardware from J2

'Europe Top 500 Retailer' improves POS performance with J2.

York-based Pavers Shoes, one of the UK’s leading comfort footwear specialists, has upgraded its point-of-sale hardware. The company, recently designated one of Europe’s Top 500 Retailers, has invested in the latest and most powerful PC-based touchscreen EPoS tills from Warrington-based J2 Retail Systems and has installed them in its own-fascia stores as part of a nationwide upgrade programme.

Pavers has 100+ outlets in the UK, including high street shops, discount concessions and designer outlets. It recently acquired leading online shoe retailer, www.shoe-shop.com. It also has a thriving mail-order business and sells through the Ideal World TV shopping channel.
Pavers was using two ranges of EPoS hardware but increasingly finding that performance was slow due to the demands of its front-office software application and large product database. Inhouse EPoS specialists were unable to provide a software solution which mitigated poor performance. The retailer then turned to Nebula Systems to consider wider options. It was not strategically or financially viable to replace the software. However, internal benchmarking suggested significant improved performance could be achieved by replacing its incumbent hardware with J2 across its retail estate.

Says Stuart Paver, Managing Director of Pavers Shoes: “Pavers has always been innovative, and this has helped us to grow substantially in a declining and very competitive market. We pride ourselves on the way we interact with customers in-store and we realised we needed to invest in our tills so staff could offer a faster and slicker check-out service.”

Nebula Systems was able to use its knowledge of the EPoS hardware market to propose a machine that had been recently launched and was offering exceptional performance when running memory-intensive software.

Explains Managing Director of Nebula Systems, Simon Geraghty: “We were able to demonstrate our understanding of the issues that Pavers was facing and could recommend J2’s new 650 touchscreen EPoS which we knew would be up to the job. We have since provided an optional outsourced hardware installation service across the UK and Eire which includes the J2 650s, and Pavers has chosen the option of onsite hardware support.”

Continues Geraghty: “We’ve used J2 hardware for some years and had found it to be very reliable and hard-wearing. The J2 650 was expandable to the specification required to run Pavers’ software, to the point where memory intensity appeared to be minimal.”
Pavers store staff find the system a lot quicker than in the past. Whilst they would regularly have to wait for the system to ‘gain its legs’, especially in the morning, they can now get straight to work with their EPoS software.

Adds Simon Geraghty: “Apart from the performance benefits enjoyed in store, the Head Office EPoS team has benefitted from a far more reliable hardware system. We’ve provided a flexible and cost-effective installation and repair service, which has proved to be a valued optional resource. This task previously fell solely to a small number of dedicated personnel who would have been stretched, to say the least, to roll out as many tills as they already have using their previous installation model.”

Concludes Stuart Paver: “With our machine performance resolved from the outset by using the J2s, we’ve been able to embark on an upgrade programme across all our stores. We’re replacing our older, slower machines at a manageable rate, confident that our new tills can run any EPoS software application effectively, now and in the future.”

PAVERS SHOES www.shoe-shop.com

Pavers Shoes, founded in 1971, has a reputation for high-quality, comfortable and value-for-money shoes with a sense of style. With a turnover in excess of £50m, it has 100+ outlets in the UK, including high street shops, discount concessions and designer outlets. It sells a wide range of well-known brands such as CAT, Hush Puppies, Timberland, Merrell, Flyflot, Padders, Equity and Clarks and has also created a successful own label range. To further its ambitions to become a global multichannel retailer, the family-owned firm integrated Shoe-shop.com into the business earlier this year. Shoe-shop.com has grown to become one of Europe’s largest online shoe stores with a turnover of £10m, in excess of one million customers and selling a multitude of brands.

NEBULA SYSTEMS www.nebulasystems.net

Nebula is the author of specialist software for the retail industry. Its expertise has been built up over 10 years and its staff have had hands-on retail experience. Its Eskimo EPoS solution covers all point-of-sale front-office functions, and Eskimo Shuttle manages back-office operations such as stock management, product ordering and accounting. The Eskimo Echo package allows a retail business to be run from any central office, warehouse, store or home. It also synchronises critical data between stores, covering sales, product files, stock, orders and PLU history. To complement sales of its software and to create an integrated solution for its retail clients, Nebula Systems can supply and support the latest PC-based touchscreen EPoS tills from leading brand partners such as J2 Retail Systems.