NILE fashions a sustainable future with Dynamics 365

NILE started in 1983 with a limited run of ten hand-sewn blouses that quickly sold out, marking the beginning of an iconic brand known for its detailed and unique designs. The Swiss company has grown into a well-known name in the fashion industry with a blend of sustainability, signature design, and high-quality materials. Facing challenges with disconnected legacy systems, manual processes, and poor data visibility, NILE turned to Microsoft Dynamics 365 to streamline finance, retail, and warehouse operations and improve data efficiency.

In need of a new design

NILE’s stylish footprint encompasses 26 retail stores in Germany and Switzerland, more than 300 points of sale in major department stores and boutiques, and B2B and B2C e-commerce channels, requiring the company to balance complex retail operations with delivering the superior quality its customers expect. But with homegrown legacy systems that were disconnected and highly customized, manual processes that made intercompany transactions and administrative tasks time-consuming and error-prone, and difficult and inefficient data analysis, meeting operational and sustainability goals was more challenging than it needed to be.

The company had outgrown its old ways of doing business. It needed a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that was sustainable and would grow with it into the future. Dynamics 365 is designed to be versatile, durable, and sustainable, just like NILE’s clothing, making it the perfect fit for the forward-thinking, environmentally conscious firm. Scalable, fully integrated, cloud-based Dynamics 365 Finance, Commerce, and Supply Chain Management replace multiple legacy solutions for finance, retail, warehouse and operations with out-of-the-box functionalities that support an international model and meet the unique needs of the fashion industry. Dynamics 365 streamlined NILE’s operations and improved data efficiency and accuracy, elevating function to meet the company’s stylish, distinctive form.

Fashion forward for a greener tomorrow

As a family-owned company, explains Richard Maier, CFO/COO at NILE Clothing, “ethical practices are at the heart of every decision the company makes, among them, our staunch commitment to sustainability.” The company is a member of Sustainable Textiles Switzerland 2030, a multi-stakeholder program with the mission to make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on promoting environmentally, economically, and socially responsible business practices in the Swiss textile and apparel sector. NILE uses sustainable resources such as renewable and solar energy for its products and stores, packs without plastics, and ships using climate-neutral transport. For its fabrics, NILE sources high-quality materials that consume as few natural resources as possible. The company’s dedication to sustainability has earned its Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, meaning that NILE’s textile production chain is verified to be environmentally and socially responsible and transparent. Visibility into and control over its supply chain are essential to upholding NILE’s high ethical standards and maintaining its certification. NILE uses product attributes in Dynamics 365 to easily designate certified products and ensure that designation is visible throughout the system, on invoices, and in online catalog descriptions for customers.

Finance that fits

Dynamics 365 Finance fully automates NILE’s billing and accounts receivable operations and intercompany transactions. Processes are more efficient, with less need for repetitive manual tasks, and invoices are delivered quickly, improving cash flow. Through an integration, payment company Adyen seamlessly manages B2C credit card transactions and reconciliation, while operations like authorization, capturing, and checking the balance of a credit card are done automatically in Dynamics 365. Sales postings and delivery notes trigger automatic credit card confirmations to prevent sending out unpaid goods. And refund operations, which were previously manual, are now fully automated, making NILE’s finance workflow much more efficient and keeping it in sync with inventory levels.

Many points of sale, one unified POS

NILE’s previous point-of-sale (POS) solution was disconnected, limiting the company’s multi-channel retail operation, including consignment. NILE wanted a more robust and integrated POS system, and Dynamics 365 Commerce provides the flexibility, scalability, and stability that this growing company needs. Reporting is better now, too, with insights into transaction values and inventory turnover across retail locations. “[The Dynamics 365 Commerce POS solution] was really a game changer for us and our in-store operations,” says Maier.

Along with its 26 branded stores, NILE operates as a store-within-a-store at major Swiss department stores like Globus. Consumers can also find NILE clothing in boutiques around Europe and Canada thanks to the company’s wholesale channel. The challenge with the consignment and wholesale models was that NILE was handling inventory that wasn’t in its POS solution, so there was a gap between the payment system and actual inventory count. Now, Dynamics 365 Commerce manages the consignment channel as if it were one of NILE’s own brick-and-mortar stores.

NILE integrates its own product information management system with Dynamics 365, creating a single, accurate view of merchandise regardless of location. When a customer purchases a sweater from NILE in a Globus department store, for instance, the Globus POS sends the sales data via EDI to Dynamics 365, which creates a sales order that triggers master planning in Supply Chain Management to update inventory and replenishment orders. Unifying the order process has been crucial to NILE’s efficiency gains. “Now that we have Dynamics 365, we have one way of handling orders within the warehouse, which makes everything move faster and more smoothly,” explains Maier.

More accurate and efficient inventory planning

Before Dynamics 365, planning wasn’t part of the replenishment process. Store replenishments simply replaced products sold. However, this didn’t account for orders in progress, making the data unreliable. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management master planning ensures that every store always has the right stock automatically. A clear schedule of what needs to be picked, packed, and shipped is refreshed daily for warehouse workers.

The old system couldn’t provide a unified data source from which to make the comparisons and analysis required for the precise planning and decision-making necessary in the fast-paced fashion retail market. Dynamics 365 consolidates the company’s business data, and NILE now keeps an accurate account of inventory and manages stock levels and sales performance data in a single, easily accessible source of truth. Inventory snapshots tell the company exactly which products, and even which variants are being sold and how quickly, giving the team better information with which to plan ideal inventory levels.

Intercompany transactions are more efficient, too. In the past, invoices had to be manually posted to different legal entities. Now posting happens automatically, and the accounting and finance teams can easily handle the increase in intercompany transactions without having to add resources. “One of the main benefits of implementing Dynamics 365 throughout the organization is the significant efficiency gains in our accounting and end-to-end intercompany procedures,” says Maier.

Next up on the runway

Dynamics 365 has transformed NILE Group’s operations with a unified and efficient system that supports its complex retail channels and sustainability goals—but NILE isn’t stopping here.

The company is exploring using the Supply Chain Management Inventory Visibility Add-in to enhance its e-commerce capabilities, including buy online, pick up in-store options, and options for shipping from warehouses. It’s also integrating a third-party e-commerce solution with Dynamics 365 Commerce Scale Unit (CSU) using a truly headless and composable architecture to create new omnichannel shopping experiences for its customers.

NILE is also excited about the possibilities of using Microsoft Copilot for AI-enhanced analysis and demand planning and for more engaging customer service that connects customers to the answers they need faster and more easily.

For NILE, Dynamics 365 is a garment that fits perfectly right out of the box and will look and feel great for years to come.