Citizen Finds Cyber Monday Success with Quadrant
December 6, 2011 Alex Woodie
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In the cutthroat retail business, one company’s IT challenge is another’s opportunity. So when clothing retailer Kohl’s presented Citizen Watch Company with new document requirements to be used when drop-shipping timepieces purchased at Kohl’s website, the 93-year-old watch company responded to the challenge with an IBM i development effort utilizing the Formtastic package from Quadrant Software. Kohl’s hoped to have many of its suppliers up to speed with its new drop-shipment program in time for Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, which officially kicks off the western world’s annual end-of-the-year consumption binge. Citizen was asked to create customized invoices and packing lists for Citizen watch orders placed on Kohls.com and drop shipped by Citizen. The idea behind the change was to ensure that all of the orders had the look and feel of being from Kohls.com. This created a significant challenge for Citizen. Not only would it need to change the consumer-facing documents to present a unified Kohl’s look and feel, but it would need to revisit the shipping documents, invoices, and purchase orders it generated for watch repairs and order requests from retailers. It had also received a similar request from JCPenney. Citizen’s response to the challenge was to use Formtastic, a forms design tool from Quadrant Software that automatically formats the output from its IBM i-based ERP system. According to Quadrant, Citizen was able to complete the Kohl’s project two weeks early, which translated into increased holiday sales. Citizen’s systems and technology manager Bobby Sy explains the work. “Major department stores like JCPenney and Kohl’s require customized invoices for all products being ordered from their online site,” he says in a press release. “We used Quadrant Software’s document management solutions to address these requests and help us meet their tight deadline. We were able to make changes in real-time and create and print the documents needed to fulfill the order easily and two weeks before the busy holiday season started.”
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