Published on the 03/03/2015 | Written by Clare Coulson
Today, the outdoors equipment and clothing company has announced that it has taken another step on its journey of international scalability…
Kathmandu has selected Dimension Data to provide its Managed Cloud Platform that will support the retailer’s global growth with up-to-date business information. Dimension Data already provides a compute-as-a-service (CaaS) solution to Kathmandu, and will now augment that with a managed hosting service to support its ERP system. This will allow Kathmandu to monitor and take action on key metrics such as global stock levels in real time.
This is not the first time the home-grown company has aligned itself with global vendors to support its international expansion plans. In 2013 it implemented Microsoft’s Dynamics AX ERP and CRM systems to enable a better omni-channel retail experience. At the time Kathmandu CIO Grant Taylor said the company chose Microsoft Dynamics because it could not only deliver every core component required, but is also an easily scalable, international offering which fit the global expansion plans for Kathmandu.
The Kathmandu Group has at least 150 stores in Australia, New Zealand and the UK with plans to increase that number to 180 at a rapid pace. In 2013 alone it opened an extra 15 stores, and, after launching its international shipping offering in 2014 its online store now ships to 40 countries worldwide. Kathmandu’s new CEO Xavier Simonet, whose appointment was announced in January this year and has a proven track record in building brands and developing successful retail businesses, says the potential for further growth at Kathmandu is strong, particularly internationally.
Dimension Data has over 60 offices across 14 countries in Asia Pacific alone and 13 managed cloud platforms around the world, meaning that Kathmandu will get the benefits of locally-hosted data and a local team, along with the flexibility to expand to more locations as the business expands globally, explains James Walls, Dimension Data New Zealand’s chief technology manager. “Kathmandu gets the benefits of locality – no matter where ‘local’ happens to be” he says. “It’s a solution that truly allows Kathmandu to take its business to the world.”
Taylor says Dimension Data was “the obvious choice” because its Managed Cloud Platform is built specifically for corporate and enterprise businesses.
“We are able to craft custom solutions for specific parts of our business, which is extremely valuable. This means we can scale rapidly to meet the demands of our business, especially during our major sales, to place the right products in the right locations at the right times.”
