The Foschini Group (TFG) has adopted Pure Storage solutions, empowering more than 23 000 employees with the technology and tools they need to build meaningful and lasting relationships with customers while intelligently managing stock levels through the group’s TFG Infotec service division.
With more than 4 000 outlets in 32 countries, and annual revenues of around R34-billion ($2,3-billion), TFG is a leader in South Africa’s clothing-retail segment.
Modern customers, who are digital natives, represent the majority of TFG’s consumer base. This audience expects multiple options for engagement, including a brick-and-mortar presence, online shopping, apps and social media.
Delivering this superior experience and accompanying customer support is no mean feat.
In order to satisfy the needs of these shoppers, employees must have access to up-to-the-minute intelligence. The information ecosystem required to realise this must be built on speedy, reliable access to data, and modern infrastructure that provides high performance, while offering cost-effectiveness.
By choosing Pure, TFG made significant gains in the performance and availability of business-critical applications.
“We now have the ability to run critical workloads without having to worry about performance issues or bottlenecks. This is the level we need to be at to remain relevant in our market,” says Conrad Roos, senior department manager at TFG. “The solution allows us to deliver the kind of experience our customers demand, and gives us the ability to seamlessly engage with them at multiple touchpoints, whether in store, online or in app.”
With Pure Storage, TFG now has a modern solution that is reliable, and with Pure’s Evergreen business model and Pure1 management console, TFG can proactively manage any performance issues and easily scale storage in line with business needs, without any forklift upgrades or disruption to the business, delivering a superior customer experience in the process.
“We’re delighted to support TFG with our technology, as it aims to deliver a more personalised and modern experience to its shoppers,” says Rupert Brazier, country manager: South Africa at Pure Storage. “The competitive nature of retail in the digital age requires an always-on solution, something we’re pleased to be helping TFG deliver for its customers through our technology.”
TFG plans to use Pure’s solutions as it grows its footprint and meet the changing needs of the business. Looking ahead, the group will use Pure’s software to ensure increased availability of systems to employees, and take advantage of the Evergreen model to expand and modernize its infrastructure as required, without disruption or downtime.