Cotton On – where fast growth and agility never go out of fashion.

The Cotton On Group has enjoyed a meteoric rise. When they first talked to Retail Directions about systems back in 2005, they had just 53 stores. Today the Group operates more than 1,500 outlets across seven retail brands in 18 countries. The retailer is a quintessential Australian success story.

In 2005, Cotton On was looking for a new retail management system with horizontal and vertical scalability, as well as the flexibility to meet the continually evolving needs of a growing business. It’s a set of requirements that aligned well with the way our retail software has been engineered.

After working with a number of systems in the past, Cotton On’s Director Ash Hardwick commented that Retail Directions delivered,

“Finally, a solution that we could stay with for the long-term. An excellent system with outstanding support that has provided Cotton On with a reliable and agile IT base which has enabled the rapid growth of the business. If you are looking for a new retail system – look no further.”

A fast-moving fashion business needs an IT system that can keep up.

The Retail Directions Platform has been purpose-built for the business of retail, with the ability to manage the whole spectrum of retail functions – all run using a single, shared database and designed to provide mission-critical redundancy.

Because Cotton On is a business with high transaction volumes, it needs its core system to handle transactions efficiently and at a high speed. The superior architecture of the Retail Directions Platform delivers the transactional strength required to keep Cotton On’s operation running smoothly.

Glenn Keast, the Cotton On senior executive in charge of Operations and Technology, says our Retail Management System helps maximise the Group’s turnover.

“We have the ability to sell stock today, pick replenishment stock and get it back in store in a really fast time frame.”

Cost-effective, easy to deploy and a foundation for growth.

Talking about Retail Directions, Cotton On CEO Peter Johnson said that,

“We have chosen the right company to help realise our growth plans. There aren’t many system providers in the market that could say they have been on a journey with a business from one brand, one country and 50 stores to seven brands, 18 countries and 1,500 stores – all on a single system. And, we’re not done yet.”

Glenn Keast sees the simplicity and resilience of Retail Directions’ Platform as an important factor that has enabled the Group to expand its store network with ease.

“Loading the POS software is bomb-proof,” he says.