Date:27/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/05/27/stories/2005052701110400.htm

Back Pantaloon Retail bid to build IT infrastructure

Our Bureau

Mumbai , May 26

PANTALOON Retail (India) Ltd has announced it will invest Rs 100 crore in information technology infrastructure for the group.

According to a company official, the bulk of the investment is intended to help the company in the logistical aspects of business, especially with the number of its retail outlets growing fast.

The infrastructure will be crucial to the company in employing mind-to-market techniques and assessing and replenishing stock turnovers on a real time basis. The investments will also enable the company to manage its product line effectively.

It will also go towards hardware, software, business connectivity infrastructure and skilled IT manpower.

According to a company press release, the company has entered into a strategic relationship with SAP, the business software solutions provider, to implement its mySAP Business suite, SAP Advanced Planning Tool for Merchandise Planning and SAP Apparel & Footwear Solutions across the organisation.

The company has already implemented a company-wide network (VPN) connecting all the stores, warehouses and offices. The network is capable of handling heavy traffic of data, voice and video and is in the process of building the capability of transmitting relay of all CCTVs at stores to zonal offices to get live feeds of store action. There would also be video conferencing capability between store managers and category teams at HO for highly personal and interactive discussions.

In the second phase, the company plans to implement a fully integrated transaction system.