At a glance

In 2014 Australian cosmetics brand Aēsop was operating 50 stores in six countries and supporting 400 employees. To increase their international footprint a rapid global expansion plan supported by Annexa’s software solutions, saw four new markets and 50 stores added every year. Today Aēsop are operating approximately 350 stores in 22 countries, with 2,000 staff around the world.

The client

Established in Melbourne in 1987, luxury cosmetics retailer and e-tailer Aesop is a brand honed in on the customer experience. Their physical stores don’t just sell products they aim to create havens where customers can fully experience their products. This doesn’t make them anti-tech. Aēsop’s use of ‘invisible’ technology has been key to efficient business operations and global expansion.

The key driver for moving to NetSuite was our rapid international growth, as well as the need for flexible scalability. Our legacy systems spread across multiple markets were ill-equipped to deal with our international expansion plans and limitations quickly began to show.
Troy Smith, Global Head of ICT, Aesop

The challenge

Aēsop approached Annexa to assist with a new cloud-based ERP system. High levels of historic and projected growth had alerted Aēsop to the growing limitations of the company's 12 disparate on-site software systems. To support their speed of global expansion and bring global real-time visibility into their inventory, data and operations across the world, they required a unified solution. The answer was NetSuite OneWorld.

Watch Troy Smith, Global Head of ICT at Aesop, onstage at SuiteWorld 2018 in Las Vegas.

Automated retail Point of Sale integration

Automated integration to multiple 3PL warehouse providers globally

1mil+ customer records captured

5mil+ transactions processed

The results

NetSuite OneWorld was deployed to manage Aēsop’s core business processes —financials, supply planning, inventory management, order management, manufacturing and retail POS interface. The solution also provides multi-subsidiary, multi-language and multi-currency support, which allows Aēsop to manage its global operations in real-time by consolidating financials in 6 languages, 20 Countries, and 21 different currencies. It also automates reporting and performing cost of sales analytics for all countries.

With accurate data, the enhanced visibility is lending itself to confident strategic operational planning. As NetSuite’s integrated system supports consolidated reporting across regions, the cloud-based platform has eliminated time-consuming exchange of information from multiple stores and regions.

Annexa people, and resources, were also key factors in our decision to make the switch. Aesop is renowned for its highly relationship-driven approach to customer, employee and partner activities. This is of paramount importance to us and we were delighted that Annexa and NetSuite proved to be superior in technology, people and expertise.
Troy Smith, Global Head of ICT, Aesop