Strategic alliance between Galeries Lafayette and IBM

 Paris 07 Jul 99 Galeries Lafayette through its LaSer division, and IBM have announced a strategic alliance encompassing leading-edge e-business information technology solutions for the retail industry. The underlying 15 year agreement has two parts : the development of retail services offerings in six areas as well as a Strategic Outsourcing contract worth 1.1 billion euro. This is the largest outsourcing contract ever signed in France

Mag-Info-LaSer Informatique, a newly created company, will focus on six strategic areas:

  • A range of seamless sales floor solutions, down to point-of-sale system outsourcing
  • International promotion of dedicated retail software suites, including the Mag 50 point-of-sale software package
  • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) consulting and integration services for retail companies.
  • Information technology outsourcing in the retail sector
  • Customer Relationship Management analysis and integrated sales and product mix management to help retailers better target their customers' needs and optimize their inventory flows by implementing market intelligence techniques and data mining tools.
  • Lastly, top-tier technology consulting services to optimize and secure the operation of systems based on IBM Sysplex or Geoplex multiprocessing architectures.

The Galeries Lafayette Group, through Mag-Info-LaSer Informatique, has signed an outsourcing contract with IBM covering the entire information system deployed by Galeries Lafayette department stores and by its subsidiary Cofinoga, one of the leading suppliers of consumer credit and credit card solutions.

This contract illustrates the Galeries Lafayette Group's aim to strengthen the role of its information system in creating value, benefiting from top-quality service and optimum cost control. The decisive factor in the choice made by Galeries Lafayette and Cofinoga was IBM Global Services' proven ability to deliver and apply tried and tested methodologies to the entire information system.

The Galeries Lafayette Group has revenues of 35 billion francs and employs 34,000 people. The Group comprises three retail store divisions (Galeries Lafayette/Nouvelles Galeries ­ BHV ­ Monoprix/Prisunic) and a diversified services division, LaSer (Lafayette Services), dedicated to developing next-generation technological solutions for the retail trade.

LaSer offers scaleable strategies and service solutions to meet the needs of French and European companies in the fast-changing retail industry. Its aim is to become the leading provider of services in France and Europe in activities that are key to the industry's future success. The company is composed of Cofinoga, a leading supplier in the private credit card market, Mag-Info, a benchmark company in IT solutions for the retail trade, and e-LaSer, which brings together the Group's full spectrum of customer relationship management and electronic commerce expertise. LaSer's strategy, supported by sizeable R&D investment, is anchored in fostering synergies between these diverse skills in order to derive maximum benefits from commercial applications of new technologies and thereby create value for the retail and distribution industry.

 

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