Pakistani footwear and tyre tube manufacturer unlocks holistic view of retail business with Dynamics 365

In 1953, a group of friends established Service Industries Limited (SIL) in Pakistan, going public six years later. Today, the company has world-class shoe, tyre tube, technical rubber, and armor production facilities in the country. SIL is the largest footwear and tyre tube manufacturer in Pakistan, with a presence in more than 30 countries.

In 2015, the company introduced the Shoebox brand as nationwide chain of fashion footwear and accessory stores. A multi-brand shop carrying international and local labels, today Shoebox has 65 retail outlets and an online store. It generates an annual revenue of PKR 2 billion (USD 12.5 million). SIL’s ambitious goal is to have 400 Shoebox outlets by 2025, generating PKR 10 billion (USD 62.8 million) in revenue.

Shoebox soon saw that its existing on-premises infrastructure isn’t enough to scale the business. "When we were budgeting for the year 2020, we realized that our expansion meant plenty of annual spending on servers and infrastructure," recalls Faisal Rizvi, Head of Finance at Shoebox. "After an evaluation with our partner Confiz Limited, we decided to move to the cloud. We went ahead with a solution based on Dynamics 365 because it could cover the future we envisioned."  

Opening new stores remotely

The new cloud capabilities made SIL's expansion plan more than possible. "To achieve our goal, we need to open 40 to 50 outlets per year. It used to be that with each new store, our team had to be on-site to provide technical support. Now, everything is cloud-based so we don't have to travel. The new stores can just access the systems and start their operations almost immediately," says Rizvi.  

With the new system, management can see the stores’ data from day one. "Sales are updated on a real-time basis. New stores are set for success with relevant data being collected continuously. It completely changed the way we do business," he adds.  

Harnessing the power of data in real-time

The shift led SIL to see the business from a fresh perspective. "Previously, we spent a lot of time fetching, analyzing, and preparing the data. Now that we’re using Dynamics 365 Finance, reporting is a lot quicker and more accurate. We can see the numbers in real-time and take action immediately," says Rizvi.

The benefits also apply to supply chain management. "Timely delivery of a product is essential in our line of business. Yet, we used to have zero visibility on our inventory from the supply chain warehouse—whether they have sent it or not, where it is, whether it has been delivered to the shop. All this wasn't visible to us, and we had to spend a lot of time on tracking,” explains Rizvi. “Now, thanks to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, all this info is available to us from a simple report that tells us the status of each delivery at all times.”

“We have also fully automated our receiving and dispatch at our warehouses,” Rizvi adds. “This automation has not only enhanced overall efficiency but has also increased the accuracy of our records.”

A fully integrated business

Another feature of Dynamics 365 that Shoebox has used extensively is Distribution Order Management (DOM). “In the new paradigm for commerce operations, retailers are expected to provide personalized customer engagement, omni-channel experiences, and frictionless interactions,” Rizvi shares. “DOM enables smooth order processing for our ecommerce platform and optimizes order fulfilment across our online network. We used to miss orders because they were available on external platforms but weren't uploaded in the system.” Shoebox then prioritized sales integration across different platforms onto one central database, to better manage their online sales.

“With Dynamics 365 Commerce, the order process and order fulfillment from online platforms has become a lot smoother. This improved customer satisfaction, and we can see our sales going up,” Rizvi enthuses.

SIL also leveraged the distribution utility in Dynamics 365. Shoebox can now easily monitor stock levels in its stores for timely product replenishment. “We can view stock in terms of sizes and sales in one page. This helps our planning department distribute merchandise efficiently and even automate our transfer order process,” Rizvi explains.

While things changed for the better in all SIL's operations, they are not resting on their laurels. The pattern of continuous improvement is set to continue well into the future. "We’re looking to use Power Apps to automate our in-store sales and expense management processes," shares Rizvi. It seems that the journey has only begun.