Chocolala Customer Success Story

Chocolate Retailer Hits Sweet Spot in Middle East

Chocolala, a retailer and manufacturer of handmade chocolates, cakes and ice-creams, has over 30 retail outlets across the United Arab Emirates and plans to open more stores and expand into other countries across the Middle East. The business has an increasingly complex retail and manufacturing business to manage as it grows, including 95 different flavours and 200 varieties of chocolate designs, all made freshly to order.

COMPANY

Chocolala

LOCATION

Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

INDUSTRY

Retail, Manufacturing

EMPLOYEES

360

NUMBER OF USERS

SYSTEM REPLACED

Local Arabic software

NETSUITE PRODUCT IMPLEMENTED

NetSuite Mid Market

IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER

Foresee Solutions

LOCATION

Dubai

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“The implementation partner Foresee was able to support with proper planning and execution in order to quickly improve efficiency across the business without much downtime. Foresee, being one of the experienced and knowledgeable NetSuite ERP experts, was able to accelerate the implementation process and provide continuous support post implementation.” Kashif Raza, Financial Controller, Chocolala

Synchronising Production with Demand

A taste for growth: Over the next year, Chocolala will open new stores in Oman and Turkey, followed by further expansion of the business into Kuwait and other countries across the Middle East. A new ecommerce venture is in the cards to help increase distribution.

Avoiding implementation delays: The company selected NetSuite’s cloud-based financial, warehouse and order management solution over a client-based, on-premise solution to avoid lengthy implementation delays and having to employ extra IT people. Easy integration with a cloud point-of-sale solution gives management real-time access to stocks and sales with reliable costings and ability to evaluate financial risks and opportunities. The implementation partner, Foresee, was able to support the project with proper planning and expert execution skills in order to quickly improve efficiency across the business without much downtime.

Cutting waste and costs: Chocolala has increased efficiency at its three warehouses, which employ around 300 people and produce more than 2,800 chocolate treats a week. After deploying NetSuite in 2017, the company is already on target for cutting waste by 10 percent and has saved over $50,000 during the last seven months alone—mainly by offsetting currency fluctuations caused by having to import 80 percent of its raw materials from abroad (for instance, chocolate from Belgium).

Production and distribution planning: Chocolala intends to improve its demand forecasting capabilities for synchronising production with demand, as well as use NetSuite’s order management module when the ecommerce business takes off.