Munro Footwear Group (MFG) has created an integrated data foundation platform using the Boomi AtomSphere Platform from intelligent connectivity and automation leader, Boomi, to support its e-commerce transformation agenda.
MFG, Australia’s largest privately-owned footwear company, offers a portfolio of brands such as Midas, Django and Juliette, Colorado, and Diana Ferrari.
When MFG was forced to temporarily close its stores during Covid, the company identified an urgent need to strengthen its existing online offering. To accelerate its digital roadmap, MFG chief technology officer, Keng Ng prioritised building an intelligent digital backend that would connect every facet of the business to deliver a positive customer experience.
“While a slightly too small or large top may not result in a return, the same cannot be said about footwear. For this reason, footwear remains one of the last retail categories to fully embrace online sales,” Ng said.
“This, along with the internal complexities faced after conducting eight acquisitions over the last decade, prompted us to engage a specialist to help connect our data requirements, integrate multiple systems, and provide us the flexibility to unplug and connect new ‘things’ so that changes to the business aren’t open-heart surgery each time.”
MFG selected Boomi’s low-code, cloud-native integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to integrate the systems that make up its brick-and-mortar and e-commerce operations to bridge its in-house retail application with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and ordering systems, in less than a month.
As a result, MFG enabled ‘ship-from-store’ capabilities across 26 pilot stores in a space of four weeks with plans to roll out this service across its remaining retail network by the end of 2022.
“The Boomi AtomSphere Platform enables us to connect operations, so we have visibility and control over our data, allowing us to make real-time decisions and furthering our expansion online. These connections also helped us mitigate supply chain issues by enacting quick, tactical changes while some of our containers were held up in Asia for several months,” Ng said.
Boomi head of business development for Australia and New Zealand, Nathan Gower said, “Traditional retailers experienced a battering during Covid, with in and out lockdowns across the country testing the business viability of those heavily relying on brick-and-mortar.
“By using Boomi to create a central nervous system for its systems and data, Munro Footwear Group overcame these hurdles and kept pace with the digital economy. From here it’s onward and upward for the company, with the integrated data foundation primed to drive intelligence and embed personalisation across the business.”