Case Studies: Retail

Best Buy for Business, an expanding unit of Best Buy Company, has more than 1,000 consultants who sell, implement, and support solutions for small-business customers. Saddled with a home-grown business-management tool originally designed for its retail business, the growing business unit sought a solution that would support its extensive outside sales force and would provide a commercial CRM solution it could sell to business customers. Best Buy for Business found both in Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM. It rolled out Microsoft CRM to more than 150 consultants in the field and has plans to extend this to its entire team of consultants. Today, the company has a robust solution that supports its complex sales cycle and integrates easily with the business tools employees use every day. In addition, the company has a solution that it will soon add to its own IT services and solutions offerings.

Chuck Ruwart and his brother Bob operate auto dealerships in Wyoming. They wanted to integrate their marketing to look bigger than either dealership could look on its own. That required a way to get auto information from both dealerships onto a single Web site—and keep it current. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 provided the solution—and the Ruwarts are seeing Web traffic climb 20 percent.

Quelle is a major German mail order firm and part of the Quelle Neckermann Spezialversand Group. The firm supports its customers with a team of field service staff responsible for providing information and ensuring payment arrears are settled quickly. To support these employees, Quelle historically provided customer-related information using an Oracle-based system, which was difficult and expensive to manage. To address this issue, and reduce the time required to send key customer information, the company cooperated with Impetus Unternehmensberatung to roll out a new solution based on Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005. As a result, it has cut licensing and system administration costs by 40 percent. Customer data can also be compared, synchronised, and exchanged between head office and field service notebooks in real time, maximising sales opportunities and enhancing the decision-making process.