2015 SuperNova Awards Winner, Technology Optimization & Innovation: Erica Stevens, Dylan's Candy Bar

Walking into a Dylan’s Candy Bar store, you might think you’ve stepped into a modern version of Willy Wonka’s factory. 

The retail chain—which was founded by Dylan Lauren, daughter of designer Ralph Lauren—found itself in a bind during 2013. It was using a series of on-premises applications that had grown into silos, making it difficult to track important metrics and run the business in a flexible manner. 

Problems included the lack of a single, reliable data source, inventory management across multiple locations and an inability to deliver an omnichannel customer experience.

After an evaluation period, Dylan’s Candy Bar decided to adopt NetSuite’s cloud CRM and ERP systems. It now serves as the chain’s platform for financials, inventory, warehousing, CRM and back-end processes for e-commerce and POS (point of sale) systems.

The move to NetSuite has enabled Dylan’s to grow from four stores to 15 by the end of this year, including both company-owned and licensed locations.

Order processing has been sped up by a factor of three, and during the first year on NetSuite Dylan’s experienced a two-thirds decline in inventory “shrink.” Employees now have access to real-time sales data on their mobile devices, giving them insight into customer spending as it happens.

There’s much more to know about Dylan’s award-winning project, and you can read the full case study here.