Hertford, UK, April 13th, 2005. The Unwins Wine Group, the independent specialist drinks retailer, has selected Retail-J's web-enabled EPOS and store management system for its 385 UK stores. The company began rollout of Retail-J's Estate Manager, Store Back Office and POS software in June 2003 and has 101 stores live.

Richard Rotter, IT Director, explains the company's decision; "Our IT strategy is to move away from in-house systems to best-of-breed packages. Retail-J offered the best functional fit and a highly flexible and scalable architecture."

Unwins' change programme involved integrating Retail-J to SAP. The combined solution utilises Retail-J's Estate Manager to provide an online central repository of audited data from Unwins' store estate - for transfer to SAP and other enterprise applications. With sales, tender and inventory data supplied to SAP in both batch and real-time, trading performance can be monitored more frequently and business decisions taken immediately action is required.

The new store system allows Unwins' staff to perform traditional store back office functions such as stock management directly at the POS. Goods received into store for example can now be scanned during quieter periods reducing the need for staff to leave the sales floor.

As well as an urgent need to improve the reliability of the company's store systems, Unwins' drivers for change included Chip & PIN. "We were looking for a modern platform which could support future initiatives, from the deployment of Chip & PIN, to new e-commerce and promotion activities," comments Rotter.

For a retail business that is highly promotions-driven, and with competition from the High Street and the supermarkets, promotions functionality is crucial to Unwins' business. Now the company can drive new promotions, and respond quickly to competitors' activity with special volume discounts and complex best deal and near-miss promotions.

Retail-J is completely web-based, with communications between POS, Store Back Office and Estate Manager taking place in real-time. With faster information flow, stock control and margins can be improved.

"In an average week each store can save up to 4 hours administration - a significant cost saving when replicated across the whole estate", continues Rotter.

Unwins plan to complete rollout to all 385 stores during 2005. The next phase of the project will focus on implementing additional core Retail-J functionality.

About Unwins
Unwins is the largest off trade drinks retailer in the South East of England with 385 stores. Established in 1843, Unwins is now a leading drink retail specialist with sales of over £175m and over 2,100 employees.

About Retail-J
Retail-J was formed in 2000 by a team of leading retail systems architects to develop a modern, integrated and network-centric suite of in-store and central applications for medium and large-size retailers. Using the Java 2 Enterprise Edition open platform and standards, the Retail-J system offers true on-line retailing, greater functionality and resilience, giving retailers lower cost of ownership, flexibility and choice. Retail-J software is distributed in the UK, Europe and North America through a network of specialised dealers. For more information about Retail-J, readers can visit the company’s web site at www.Retail-J.com.

Interviews, photography and further information are available from Tony Hammond.

Retail-J
Tel: 01992 538074
tony.hammond@Retail-J.com

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