Near-real-time store reporting and inventory operations across a large retail estate.
One client, three operational challenges
VPZ has more than 100 stores across the UK and a large customer base. Slynk has delivered and continues to support several integrations for the business, covering omnichannel stock, store analytics and loyalty automation.
Omnichannel inventory and orders
VPZ used Linnworks to manage listings, inventory and orders across Amazon marketplaces, eBay, Shopify and other online channels, while Epos Now remained the master stock system across its stores.
Slynk connected Linnworks and Epos Now so inventory stayed aligned and online orders were recorded in Epos Now. Keeping availability synchronised across the channels reduced the risk of overselling.
Footfall and sales analytics
To help VPZ understand in-store conversion, Slynk built a service linking Epos Now sales with StoreTech footfall data. It aggregates anonymised sales for each store in half-hour intervals and sends the results to StoreTech every 30 minutes.
The resulting reports stay current to within the latest reporting interval, helping the team assess opening hours, promotions, footfall and conversion by store or group of stores.
Loyalty competition automation
For a loyalty campaign, eligible customers needed to be contacted when they passed a points threshold and entered into a competition after buying a specific product.
The integration checked balances, sent each eligible customer one branded email through SendGrid, detected the qualifying purchase and then sent confirmation while adding the customer to the entrant list. It removed the manual administration from a campaign that generated a large volume of loyalty sign-ups.
The outcome
VPZ gained supported services that connect stock and orders, keep store reporting current and automate customer campaigns across a large retail estate.