Making a global technology transformation work at the local level.
Leading change and program management as new technology rolled out to stores worldwide.
A worldwide technology transformation that called for anything but a one-size-fits-all approach.
A global athletic retailer’s store technology was reaching the end of its life. Point-of-sale systems were aging, store teams couldn’t see inventory from the sales floor, and customers could only pay at the cash wrap.
The company set out to replace the technology worldwide with a new mobile point of sale, a new inventory management system, and an upgraded register platform. Store teams could then check out a customer, find a size, or order from the full online catalog from anywhere in the store.
Our founders supported the rollout across four markets, beginning in North America, then Europe and Greater China, and later Korea, where a vendor exit left just 18 months to move an entire market onto the global platform.
Scaling technology presents plenty of challenges. Getting thousands of part-time store teams across different cultures to adopt that technology is an entirely different beast.
Global change with local realities
This global transformation had to account for every market’s unique language, culture, decision norms, and store realities. Store teams were largely part-time, couldn’t leave the floor for long training sessions, and had no hands-on access to the tools before launch. In Korea, the stakes were higher still. The vendor’s exit date couldn’t move, and teams were giving up familiar local tools for global ones that, in some cases, did less than what teams were accustomed to. It wasn’t just an unfamiliar change, but an unwanted one.
Partners from first build to implementation
A global rollout needs people who carry what they learn from one market into the next. Our founders supported the platform across numerous markets, from building the first mobile point of sale to launching in Korea, adapting the approach to each market's culture, team, and timeline instead of forcing one playbook onto all of them.
Bringing local voices to the global table
Before any new platform reached a store, we took the time to understand both the global tools and each market's nuances. Stakeholder analysis and from-to mapping showed us exactly what was changing for each group and where teams would need the most support. We then brought that back to the global teams, representing each market so the tools were built around what store teams truly needed.
From there, we equipped the local teams with training materials and communications, so they could train their own stores. Rather than long form training, we gave them short, direct communications to bring into daily huddles, all in their local language. Every rollout started with pilot stores, and once the approach was proven, we scaled in waves.
The outcome
Successful platform use and localized ownership
Store teams across North America, Europe, Greater China, and Korea now work on a single global platform. They can check out customers anywhere on the floor, see inventory in real time, and sell from the full online catalog. Every transition was delivered on time, and each region finished with a trained local team and the materials to keep managing change on its own.
4
regions moved to one global platform
300+
stores rolled out across Greater China
64
korean stores launched on mobile POS and the new inventory system in 18 months
100%
of transitions delivered on time
We worked between the global and local teams in every region, as well as alongside retail technology, regional and in-market leaders, store operations, and consumer support.
The goal was never to run the change for them, but to build their ability to run it. While running the change would have been simpler in the short term, every decision was made to let each team move forward on their own.
Few teams get to see a platform from its first build to one of its later market launches. Each region taught us something that made the next rollout better.
Korea was the hardest test: a change some teams didn’t want, delivered remotely on a deadline that couldn’t move. It worked because we treated each market’s people as the center of the change, not the last step of a technology rollout.
"It was a huge project to move to a global platform and harmonize Korean local business practices to global standards and systems, and Jessica took the time to understand both sides. Jessica's work helped the leadership team make decisions that were difficult and required a new tool development only for Korea.
She also worked side by side with our local team to build the training content and prepare them to train our store employees, so we were ready for every launch. Most of all, she listened and made sure our voice was heard by the global teams."
KyoungMin Lee
Global Apparel Company, Korea Omni-Channel Director
The biggest challenges in retail digital transformation are getting store teams to adopt new tools and fitting global technology to local market realities. In our global store technology rollout, store teams were often part-time and couldn’t step away from customers for long training sessions. We solved this by piloting before scaling and built short, huddle-based communications, so the teams could learn new tools without disrupting the sales floor.
Examples of digital transformation in retail are: replacing aging point-of-sale and inventory systems, seeing inventory in real time, and selling from the full online catalog anywhere in the store. That’s the type of platform we helped roll out across North America, Europe, Greater China, and Korea. Korea also added in-store fulfillment such as buy online and pickup in store and ship from store.
Retail management consulting firms help retailers with strategy, operations, technology, and organizational change across stores, supply chain, and digital channels. When Alder45 works with retailers, we focus on the needs specific to the situation we’re facing, often tied to the region and store-specific challenges that inevitably arise.
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