Consumer trends in fashion are constantly shifting so it is vital that Retail Integration continue to innovate its offering to enable customers like Louis Copeland to stay ahead of the competition. With the longevity and strength of their retail business, they are familiar with the need to keep evolving their business practices.
Since starting out in 1933, Louis Copeland has been synonymous with high-quality tailoring and leading men’s fashion brands. With eight locations across Dublin, Cork and Galway their mission is to provide the highest quality men’s fashion and an unrivalled level of customer service.
Staying ahead of the competition
Louis Copeland has stayed at the forefront of Irish fashion retail by always looking to stay ahead of consumer expectations. They began developing their eCommerce presence in 2011 and had their existing stock photographed and in place online. This put them in a prime position to weather the challenge brought about by the pandemic, and take full advantage of the increased eCommerce trade.
Developing customer loyalty
Before the pandemic, 70% of Louis Copeland’s sales were made up of suits, with 30% being smart-casual. During the pandemic, there was a shift to 95% of their sales being smart casual. They now expect this to return to 60% smart-casual and 40% suits moving forward.
Though footfall to their city centre stores was still low in 2021, they maintained a strong online presence. As weddings were beginning to feature again in late 2021, the men’s fashion retailer looked to drive business during this period. They ran an online wedding show in 2021, with wedding experts offering a range of advice to over 550 customers. As a result of this online event, Louis Copeland found over two-thirds of the customers subsequently shopped with them.
Changing trends
Despite the day-to-day impact of the pandemic receding, online trade is still an important part of their business and they will look to keep growing their online presence. Louis Copeland still looks to stay ahead of the competition, with their high levels of customer service being a strong driver of new services.
With tailor made clothing being an important staple of their business, they look to make this service as smooth as possible. Part of offering a seamless customer experience is by offering appointment shopping through their website, with online appointment booking available for their made to measure tailoring service.
Louis Copeland, MD of Louis Copeland & Sons had this to say:
“Before we started using Meridian Retail from Retail Integration, we’d been using an EPOS system provided by a UK company. We encountered a lot of issues with this system and were fast to learn that the company did not share the same values we have. We also had major issues with the integration of the POS with our website and it was always very difficult to get any issues resolved.
From the very beginning, Retail Integration have been great to work with. The installation of their EPOS system was easy and their support team is always on hand to help resolve any issues we may have. The system just works fantastically for us and we rarely have any issues which allows us to do what we do best and provide a first class service to our customers.”
Working together with our customers
Retail Integration Managing Director, Pat Heslin said:
“Since the pandemic, eCommerce has become of vital importance to Irish retailers like Louis Copeland. By using Omnishop to connect platforms like Shopify to our Meridian Retail EPOS we ensure that customers can get trading online with only a few clicks. Working with customers as passionate as Louis Copeland & Sons is what drives us to continually provide new features for our customers.”
With over 25 years of experience, Retail Integration is the first choice partner for many of Ireland’s leading specialty retailers, including EJ Menswear, Lisa Baker Boutique, Kenny Wollen Mills and Skechers. Our Meridian Retail EPOS provides the full functionality customers like Louis Copeland need to run their fashion retail business. Features include multi-branch functionality, powerful reporting, fully integrated till system and payment integration, etc. When coupled with our OmniShop system, retailers can manage every aspect of their business, both online and in-store. Our proprietary ticketing system, Meridian Experience also provides the functionality needed for all appointment shopping needs.
Contact us today to see how we can help your retail business stay ahead of the competition at +353 1 429 6800 or info@retail-int.com.
