Kazım Ağca

Elegance Optik Shop | Chairman of the Board

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“We have increased our productivity thanks to Nebim’s integrated software.”

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Elegance Optik, Turkey’s biggest optical retail chain, was created with the investments of companies that have been active in import, production and distribution in the optical industry for over 25 years. Respectable optician companies have come together and opened the first shop in February 2010. In a short period of time, Elegance Optik opened 70 stores in 29 cities. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kazım Ağca, talked about when and how Elegance Optik and Nebim have met, and what happened during the transition and adaptation process.

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Would you please tell us about the history of Elegance Optik?

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Elegance Optik Shops is a project that started in 2008 in line with the changes in the optical retail sector. Elegance Optik Shops, Turkey’s biggest optical retail chain, was created with the investments of companies that have been active in import, production and distribution in the optical industry for over 25 years. Respectable optician companies have come together and opened the first shop in February 2010. In a brief period of time, Elegance Optik opened 70 stores in 29 cities. During this short time, the stores which joined the project have undergone a corporate transformation, and all staff at the stores and all store owners were included in training programs. With the power derived from the member stores, the project started to grow quickly, especially in regards to supply, advertisement and CRM activities. The Elegance Optik Shops have had considerable turnover increase.

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When and how did Nebim and Elegance Optik meet? Could you please talk about this transition and adaptation process?

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Our history with Nebim dates back to 2006. We met the General Manager of Nebim Gold Solution Partner Verimsoft Software, Serhat Duras, at the optical fair. Verimsoft focuses especially on the optical sector within the Nebim family. The know-how of Duras included various aspects such as the importance of software use in the optical sector, the barcode system and many others. When he shared his knowledge and experience with us, our collaboration with Nebim started as Opak Glass and Elegance Optik Shop.

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At the meetings that we organized with the opticians with whom we carry out sales operations, the team of Nebim has not left our side and shared their experiences with us. Their business system impressed us. Thanks to the solution-oriented approach of Nebim Solution Partner Verimsoft team, our staff and our departments were swiftly able to focus on and to adapt the software we use at our company.

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What were your targets as you selected Nebim?

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Above all, it was vital for us that it is a system which can function easily and without problems in multi-store structures. From the beginning, there was awareness of the possible difficulties caused by the fact that our store chain is created by independent optical entities. Another target was to establish an efficient infrastructure and to have it supported quickly, in accordance with our fast growth. Other targets were to create the online structure, and to apply barcodes on the entire inventory in all our stores. In line with our multi-store approach, the software had to support us in transfers from headquarters to the stores, in reporting, and in counting.

Thinking about all these integrated solutions that we wanted to achieve in our entity, and also taking into consideration Nebim’s vast experience in the sector, collaborating with Nebim was nearly obligatory. At this point, we can say that we have reached our goals one by one and that we can manage our business processes in a healthier manner.

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Nebim application are you using most efficiently? Could you mention its benefits?

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We especially make efficient use of inventory management and retail sales management. Nebim business intelligence solution Halogen should be mentioned here as well. We can analyze data, make many strategic decisions, use CRM applications quickly and obtain results. With Nebim inventory management all stores function online, and effective product query screens, controlled transfers between the headquarters and the stores and product acceptance are among the convenient aspects which increase the productivity.

Concerning the retail side, we can mention the eyeglass prescriptions monitoring, CRM applications which increase customer satisfaction, and the sales analyses with the details that we want. Additionally, the salesperson performance monitoring analyses are among the functions that we use most often and that increase our productivity considerably.

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Nebim business intelligence solution Halogen is also used very efficiently in our entity. We can see the sales analyses of our stores multi-dimensionally and based on performance, thus we can access vital and accurate data. Thanks to this application, we can detect various issues quickly and this becomes a factor in our decision-making abilities. The comparative data of the current and previous year in our stores, and the category analyses are quite helpful in our enterprise.

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Could you please talk about the plans of Elegance Optik for the future? Also, what are your plans regarding Nebim?

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By then end of 2011, Elegance Optik will reach 100 stores. According to the targets in the beginning, stores will be opened outside Turkey as well, starting with Georgia in 2012. We aim at 300 stores within Turkey in three years. Stores outside Turkey will contribute to our growth. Especially in shopping malls, investment plans are going to be implemented, and our aim is to be one of the 10 biggest optical store chains in the world. Elegance Optik Shops have a training program planned for three years, and all staff is planned to improve and to comply with world standards. All management is under one corporate roof, and all managing will be done by a sleek organization at the headquarters. Elegance Optik will grow to be the most well-known optical store chain in Turkey by outsourcing IT, retail management, issues regarding becoming a corporate entity, marketing, advertisement and PR to experienced companies.

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Parallel to these growth targets, we improve the software infrastructure in the best way and create the foundation of a long-term, sustainable relationship with Nebim. Nebim’s retail experience and know-how cannot be ignored. We can easily observe this know-how and experience in the applications specifically designed for the optical sector. In the upcoming periods, we expect from Nebim more applications that are industry-specific.