With M&S shedding staff, Debenham and Next reporting weak sales over Christmas, Zavvi in receivership and others major stores in freefall, there is one retailer notable for its positive results&hellip New Look. Instead, the UK’s third largest womenswear retailer have seen like-for-like sales rise by 2.8pc over the 14 weeks to January 3, bucking the downward trend that has been the leading feature of the high street over this period.

Amongst one of the tools allowing them to grow is a new software system installed in 2008 called Q by Quantum Retail that allows retailers to achieve their merchandising goals for every product, in every store. In layman’s terms this means an intuitive system that detects when one size is selling faster than another, when a line is not moving or when a certain item is flying off the shelf and adjusts the buying accordingly so that the customer gets what they want, when they want, every time.

‘Q has placed the customer at the heart of our stock management and delivered impressive financial paybacks,’ says New Look chairman Phil Wrigley.

Quantum’s goal is to see their software installed not just on the High Street but in every mom and pop shop around the world guaranteeing that all inventory is sold off and that wastage is reduced to zero meaning the end of seasonal sales, clear-outs and bargain racks.

Founded by a world class team of retail industry experts, technologists and scientists who believe that there is a better way to leverage technology to solve retail’s age-old challenges. Quantum Retail’s Q software addresses:

Out of stocks
Unproductive inventory
Disparate processes and goals
Historic data and reporting
Costly and complex systems

It may not be a great start to 2009 for most of the high street but at least for New Look, the future is looking very good indeed.

Editor’s Note: About Quantum Retail Technology, Inc. Quantum Retail Technology, Inc. is a leading provider of software solutions that enable demand driven supply networks. Quantum’s flagship solution, Q, allows retailers to optimize inventory availability and supply network performance with low risk and high ROI. Q helps retailers continually achieve the merchandise and financial goal for every item in every location. By leveraging item assortment strategies and goals, Q links the art of merchandising with the science of inventory fulfillment. Q is available as an annual subscription and Quantum Retail offers low-impact pilots to ensure value delivery, alignment of investment to benefits and rapid ROI. Q can be deployed in either hosted or customer deployed environments. Quantum Retail’s customers include Guitar Center and New Look. For additional information email info@quantumretail.com or visit www.quantumretail.com.

About New Look New Look has 590 stores in the UK and Eire, and 263 stores in France trading under the name Mim. In addition, New Look has 13 New Look branded stores in France and Belgium, and has recently opened franchise stores in Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In the UK New Look has a 4.8% market share, making it among the leading womenswear retailers in the UK (Source – TNS). New Look also has a growing market share in Mens & Kidswear. New Look is now the number 1 retailer of women’s shoes in the UK by volume, with a market share of 7.3%. (Source – TNS). 25% of British women have bought an item of outerwear from New Look – amounting to over 6 million customers (Source – TNS). New Look’s competitors include H&M, Next, Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins. The average age of shoppers in New Look is 30. Further information can be found on www.newlook.co.uk and Product and Management photos are available upon request.

To find out more about Q and how it can give your company the unfair advantage click here