Kiddicare has worked with K3 to completely transform the way that it's ten new stores and their existing Peterborough flagship store, look, operate and engage with customers.

Part of parent company Morrisons' aggressive plan for expansion to generate £250 million turnover in the next three years, Kiddicare has further developed its Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution from K3 Retail to support its growing network of superstores across the nation.

Opening an average of one store a month throughout 2013, the retail estate will continue to be supported by Dynamics NAV software and K3 Retail, managing in store PoS, stock replenishment and on site warehouse operations, linking everything to head office. The network will include ten ex Best Buy stores Kiddicare acquired in 2012 in addition to Kiddicare's Peterborough HQ store.

Paul Allen, Multichannel Programme Director at Kiddicare, said, "It was important to us to have an IT infrastructure in place with the scalability to enable continual growth. This project demonstrates that NAV is more than capable of handling such a large scale implementation under the management of K3 Retail, even though the project has only just begun we are confident that our goals will be met on time and fulfilled by 2014."

Each new store will have between six and ten points of sale and will also come complete with a host of in store technology for customers to use. Paul commented, "Our technology ranges from gift cards to interactive self-service browse and order (B&O) points and advanced digi PoS and electronic shelf labels. This is fully integrated, with automated on site warehousing capability.

Self-service kiosks display an extended range of Kiddicare products and information, including; written and video reviews, aiding the customers purchase decision and allowing them to browse the full range of products before purchasing in store that day, or if they prefer reserving for home delivery."

Customers can pay via the B&O point and collect in store, or if they wish to browse the store for other items they can reserve the product by printing a receipt, which can simply be taken to one of the tills to complete the transaction once the customer has finished shopping. If a product is out of stock, customers have the option of purchasing via the kiosk for home delivery.

Once a product is reserved at a 'browse and order' point, the warehouse is sent a 'demand' notification. A label is then automatically printed and an automated voice protocol requests that the product is picked and processed ready for collection. Once the product is ready for collection, the customer is notified by text and on the video screen at the collection desk. "This system is quick and efficient, but to ensure that our customers are provided with an enjoyable end-to-end experience all our new stores will be equipped with a Kiddicafé, for customers to enjoy whilst they wait for their order to be picked," Paul said.

Kiddicare remains consistent and competitive on price across every channel, enabled by an automatic daily roll out of price and product promotions across its entire retail estate. This is supported by Electronic Shelf Edge labelling, which will be used throughout all the new stores. The electronic labelling will also automatically update stock levels and provide an accurate stock count in real-time.

John Little, Sales Director at K3 Retail, said, "We have continued to push the boundaries in terms of delivery throughout this project, updating Dynamics NAV to support a full multi-store environment, when it was originally architected for a single store. We have implemented a whole host of additional functionality into the existing platform from Advanced Promotions software, to multi-site replenishment to support Kiddicare's new requirements and current expansion plans."

As the project progresses, further developments will be made to the central NAV system and in store technology. Kiddicare is already considering a trial of loyalty cards in conjunction with existing promotions.

Paul concludes, "Kiddicare's ambitious expansion plans saw us open three new tech-enabled super stores in 2012. 2013 will see a further seven open, taking us to a total of 11 stores, including our flagship in Peterborough. All of which will be fitted with the full range of new technology, including NAV which wi