A more sustainable business for Safilo and its wholesalers

More than 5,000 points of sale, mainly across EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Latin America, benefit from SMILE, a business model created by Safilo to automate replenishment, improve service levels for end customers and reduce supply chain complexity by creating a joint business plan with wholesalers that delivers value for both sides.

Since the first retail chains joined the programme, the project has continued to grow, with new channels such as e-commerce, department stores and distributors also asking to take part.

Given the scale and diversity of the customer base, it was not enough to have a system capable of collecting sales (sell-out) and stock data to manage replenishment automatically. It also became essential to support each individual point of sale with a team of professionals combining language skills with in-depth knowledge of each brand’s operating processes. This led Safilo to strengthen the integration between Safilo and its wholesalers even further.

Today, the entire process for standardising data flows relating to sales, stock, shipments, order confirmations and receipt confirmations is managed through the AMP software platform (Aton Modelling Platform) and Aton’s Service Desk:

• the AMP platform handles data cleaning activities, such as removing duplicates and blocking unexpected data, as well as normalisation — reconstructing complete information from partial data — and data consolidation
• Aton’s Service Desk supports the entire process, from onboarding a new point of sale to the day-to-day service required to ensure that the data collected complies with Safilo’s operating procedures and that the timelines linked to automated replenishment processes are met

All of this translates into stronger customer relationships, higher wholesaler sell-out and Safilo sell-in, lower stock levels thanks to more targeted replenishment, and a reduced workload for both Safilo and its wholesalers.

Across the retail chains that have adopted SMILE, Safilo has recorded an average 10% increase in sales and a 15% reduction in stock.

Safilo now aims to extend the model to North America and the Far East, supporting a more sustainable business for both Safilo and its wholesalers.