"We needed a branch system environment that includes not only our own shops but also affiliate models. Retail Pro allows us centralized control and visibility even over our affiliate shops, which is key for reporting and managing inventory efficiently."

- Yann Rambla, Head of Retail, Boards and More

Boards and More gets centralized control and unifies data with Retail Pro

Boards and More Head of Retail, Yann Rambla, and CFO, Gregor König, share how they build their retail on Retail Pro.

Tell us a little about Boards and More.

Boards & More is the world's leading company for windsurfing, kitesurfing, and paddle boarding equipment. In 2012, we enlarged our product range with mountain biking.

Boards & More was founded in 2000 to design & deliver products under our brands Fanatic, ION and Duotone. Each and every component has been tested by some of the world's best professional athletes under the hardest conditions.

Our products are in 89 countries around the world.

As for us, we have 3 of our own shops – two in France and one in Spain. We also have 3 affiliate shops in Spain and are planning to launch affiliates in the USA and Germany. We're also planning to deepen our ecommerce presence.

For what specific business challenges did you choose Retail Pro? What business challenges are you solving with the software today?

We needed a branch system environment that includes not only our own shops but also affiliate models. Retail Pro allows us centralized control and visibility even over our affiliate shops, which is key for reporting and managing inventory efficiently.

We also wanted to get visibility across each of our channels and connected the warehouse to interface to the ecommerce shop using data from the Retail Pro database. We've integrated Retail Pro to our online solution, Shopify, using the RD Ice interface.

Retail Pro was also extended to implement special data fields for data transfer from our ERP system and to transfer the cross-matrix structures of our B2B system via the interface to an external web shop.

What do you love most about Retail Pro?

The functionality and stability of the system are impressive.

Many of the retail requirements can be met in the standard out of the box version and it is clear that Retail Pro is a POS system that has grown from experience.

To be honest, Retail Pro has more depth than we've begun to use in the actual functionality of the system. But in the areas we own, it is one of the best systems for us.

Customer engagement is key to us as well. Retail Pro keeps the customer database in our physical stores.

What has been your experience with your Retail Pro Business Partner in launching Retail Pro for your stores?

Two words – Successful partnership.

In addition to the technical knowledge, POS Partner is a reliable Business Partner for us in questions of retail processes and possibilities. Projects are implemented within a flexible framework which allows all the possibilities of the Retail Pro system in this environment to be created, processed, tested and finally successfully implemented.

Having gotten to know Peter & Benjamin Reich as Business Partners has been one of the greatest benefits that Retail Pro brings to our business.

Tell us about your target customers.

Our target group addresses itself from the beginner in Fun Water Sport to the sporty Best Ager who travels with his equipment to the preferred top spots for Kite and Surf countries.

Boards and More is global leader of the Water Fun Sport Branch and does not have any competitors. We are "King of the road," so to speak.

How do you engage your customers and keep them coming back to you?

We reward our customer for their loyalty. But beyond that, it's the experience with us which counts most. Boards are not impulse purchases. This is something you have to take time to consider, weigh the options, research the benefits.

We take a consultative approach in our stores to give clients special advice and service that's tailored to their specific needs.

For our online customers, we actively strive to build a community where the customer can ask questions among like-minded people and get help.

In the future, a company will have to provide more customer satisfaction in an omnichannel environment, and we're paving that foundation today.

We try to keep both our in-store and online customers connected with our brand by generating the offline and online content in the same way and in real time. We bring the digital world into our stores as well by curating the same picture and video material in the store as online.

What does the future look like for your company? What are some of your plans for growth, expansion, customer initiatives, etc.?

We stand for global leadership in our sport and take responsibility for the customer and the environment. It's important for us to keep our customers informed on sustainability and the status of development.

Through brand responsibility, one of the key initiatives will be to stabilize the market through sustainability and even more customer satisfaction, and to strive for healthy growth. In the future, the customer should also receive added value within our community. We provide information about development and technology to shape our customers' decision in advance of a purchase.

One of the biggest changes and challenges in our industry will probably be the question of how to lead the customer back to a company in his loyalty. Through digitalisation, the customer is always able to find the best price, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the best price is not always the decision criterion.

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