The Estee Lauder Companies

Representing some of the world’s most famous beauty brands The Estee Lauder Companies’ retail teams are equipped with iPads, which assist with the provision of an enhanced service to customers.

The organisation uses iPads for a range of essential store management and customer service activities. The sourcing and delivery of Apple technology across the EMEA region was previously managed at local level by each country, which hindered central efficiency, insight and control.

The Estee Lauder Companies selected CDW as a partner with the scale, agility and Apple expertise to consolidate the supply of devices.

Central control of ordering and logistics, via CDW’s unique ServiceTrack solution, has reduced deployment timelines, costs and pressure on internal resources.

The Estee Lauder Companies represent more than 25 famous brands specialising in prestige make-up, fragrances, skincare and haircare.

The EMEA region contributes 39% of the organisation’s global net sales and comprises of 800 free standing stores and thousands of points of sale for customers at retail outlets and online.

Beauty brands within The Estee Lauder Companies include Clinique, DKNY, MAC, Bobbi Brown and Jo Malone.

A hallmark of The Estee Lauder Companies’ retail operations is the delivery of outstanding personalised services to customers. The organisation’s store managers, counter managers, beauty advisors and make-up artists are committed to connecting consumers with leading brands, guiding them to the right products and advising on their usage.

To facilitate this, employees are equipped with iPads as their intuitive user interface, vivid Retina® display, and long battery life make them ideally suited to a wide range of management and customer service tasks. The powerful devices also feature numerous bespoke apps such as online ordering, skin diagnosis, colour matching, trend analysis, augmented reality mirrors and staff training tools.

“The reason we use Apple is the exemplary user experience,” says Gareth Hughes, Executive Director of Retail IT The Estee Lauder Companies across EMEA. “It is just so simple for our staff and their customers to use an iPad.”

Historically, ordering and deployment of the devices was being handled at local level across multiple countries, which restricted the ability of regional service delivery managers to gain an overview of status, logistics and supply chain activity.

The Estee Lauder Companies recognised the potential to secure cost efficiencies and establish greater control by consolidating the management of iPads across the entire estate.

As an Apple Authorised Reseller with strong vendor relationships and international capabilities that very few organisations could match, CDW was selected as the preferred partner for this project.

Global collaboration capabilities were central to the decision and a seamless set of solutions was quickly developed by CDW to help The Estee Lauder Companies embrace the full potential of Apple technology.

CDW’s unique ServiceTrack platform enabled The Estee Lauder Companies to consolidate procurement, logistics and supply chain management into a multi-currency console for greater clarity and control.

From that basis, CDW created a bespoke online catalogue of iPads and accessories for each country in the organisation, providing them with centralised purchasing and local invoicing.

As part of this service, CDW ensured the availability of iPads in colours that were closely aligned with the design guidelines of the brands themselves, and supplied customised accessories, including carry cases, to deliver an elegant in-store experience.

In addition, CDW enabled The Estee Lauder Companies to speed up the deployment of new devices by adopting the Apple Device Enrolment Programme (DEP) globally.

This unique programme significantly simplifies the process, providing an efficient way of deploying all new devices automatically, omitting the need for manual configuration to help new users achieve optimal productivity from the outset.

To meet the diverse requirements within the organisation, CDW provided configuration services where required, ensuring the Apple devices arrive on site fully enrolled, configured, secure, and ready to use.

This has simplified Mobile Device Management across the EMEA business, generated time-savings when it comes to getting the device to employees in the stores and reduced pressure on internal resources.

“We didn’t previously have visibility of what was being purchased,” says Gareth Hughes. “CDW created a rapid process that has streamlined the way in which we purchase and deploy iPads, with a regular reporting mechanism to give us insight into the assets in each country and site.”

The Estee Lauder Companies in EMEA is now benefiting from having a single provider for all the essential Apple technology they need to enable efficient running of the organisation.

Using ServiceTrack as a central portal and integrating it with their existing resource planning software, the wider organisation now has a global relationship with CDW, which streamlines the supply of Apple technology.

ServiceTrack provides the regional service delivery managers with full visibility over the Apple technology deployed across all outlets in their area, enabling easy management and monitoring of new requests.

“The ServiceTrack portal is really changing the way we work and although I have seen a lot of suppliers attempting to replicate it, I haven’t seen anything as good,” says Gareth Hughes.

With centralised control, the organisation has improved its ability to manage Apple technology deployment, refresh cycles and associated services.

An important advantage of the collaboration with CDW is that The Estee Lauder Companies now has a clearly defined cost model and has realised significant savings as a result of consolidating the supply chain.

Furthermore, the delivery of iPads to retail outlets has become more efficient, reliable and straightforward across the region. This streamlined approach to deployment translates to improved productivity on the store level, as employees now have the technology they need, configured as required, to provide a personalised shopping experience to more customers each day.

Customer feedback on the organisation’s use of Apple technology to enhance customer service has been wholly positive and helped further cement the reputation of The Estee Lauder Companies as cutting edge brands.

The full-scale deployment of iPads has also unlocked new opportunities for innovation within The Estee Lauder Companies. Employees across the organisation are actively exploring new ways to use the devices to add value to their core tasks and to further improve the store experience for customers.

“With CDW, each country can select their Apple technology and have them supped directly to site including pre-configuration included if required. That has reduced our costs considerably,” says Gareth Hughes. “When we initiated this process, nobody else could offer that service.”

David Chapman, Vice President of Sales at CDW says: “We are immensely proud to be the number one provider of Apple technology to The Estee Lauder Companies globally, who are taking full advantage of our ServiceTrack platform to simplify the purchasing and delivery process. The companies recognise us as a reliable partner with the agility, scale, and expertise to deliver solutions, which make a difference to the way employees work and the way consumers interact with these iconic brands.”