LS Central customer story
Although Croatia is best known for its natural beauty, rich history, and culture, its influence on fashion has also been significant. Croatia became renowned for its fashion accessory - the necktie.
While the Thirty Years' War was raging in Europe (1618-1648), Croatian soldiers, fighting under the leadership of their ban, arrived in Paris. Interestingly, as part of their traditional dress, Croatians tied picturesque scarves around their necks in a distinctive way. This "Croatian style" was adopted into French fashion under the name "à la Croate," which later evolved into the French word "cravate," now used worldwide for neckties. Croatia can therefore boast about its contribution to global fashion.
The brand CROATA, made by the company Potomac Grupa d.o.o., quickly gained popularity thanks to its focus on quality, handmade craftsmanship, and modern design. CROATA is known for its connection to heritage, craft skills, and exclusivity in the domain of luxury silk products. The company has developed a complete production process - from selecting materials to finishing products - while its commitment to quality and use of modern technology supports the art of craftsmanship, which is a living tradition that connects the past, present, and future. The brand's philosophy is deeply rooted in the courage of its design studio and the principles of high quality and modernism. CROATA has always avoided mass production, production lines, and outsourcing. Every product that bears the brand name CROATA represents hard masterful work. The brand's designers draw inspiration from various sources, including Croatian tradition, nature, and contemporary fashion trends. The result is a collection of fashion accessories that are stylishly attractive, unique, and of top quality.
Croatia has a long tradition of producing silk handcrafts, which reached its peak in the early 20th century when it was the third country in Europe in terms of silk production. Events of the 20th century, as well as the regimes that ruled until the fall of the Iron Curtain, led to a scarce supply of neckties, scarves, and handkerchiefs, and the fashion industry was neglected in terms of quality. Since its beginnings, CROATA as a brand has always wanted to revive this industry and around the year 2000 it began investing in its own raw silk production. The goal was to control the quality in all stages of the production process and bring back the culture and tradition of silk production to Croatia. With our partners INRA, Poznań Institute, and the Faculty of Textile Technology in Zagreb, we aim to offer the best quality silk to our customers.
Mr. Marijan Bušić, one of the founders and visionaries of the company, best describes the situation at the time: "On the international market, the necktie as a symbol did not possess its own story, it had no substance, no spirit, and its fashion expression was poor and uncreative. Fashion brands have been repeating the same visual image for decades, indirectly connecting individuals instead of emphasizing individuality. Over time, the necktie obviously lost its original function and universal meaning." The brand CROATA promotes a centuries-old tradition of making neckties, scarves, and shawls and promotes the basic values that the necktie represents, such as dignity, respect, self-awareness, love, ceremonialism, and business success, as well as its Croatian origin.
CROATA, as a leading producer of silk fashion accessories, enjoys a great reputation worldwide and successfully resolves challenges facing the fashion industry, and attracts clients who are interested in quality and unique products. Its focus on quality, craftsmanship, and modern design allows it to stand out among competitors and win the hearts of customers worldwide. In addition to the brand CROATA, Potomac Group d.o.o also owns other fashion brands - BaN, Šestine, and SUVENIR. Each of these brands represents different styles and approaches to fashion, but is based on the same values promoted by Potomac Group d.o.o.
One of the key factors that contributed to the success of CROATA as a brand is its focus on quality. All products are made in Croatia using the finest materials and traditional production techniques. Additionally, it stands out in its method of combining design and tradition with the aim of preserving memories of Croatian cultural heritage, which is being blended with the demands of today's fashion industry. Given the growing popularity of the Croatian fashion industry and its contribution to this trend, we can expect CROATA to continue growing and expanding its influence on the global fashion scene.
Despite the competition, CROATA has had a significant impact on the fashion industry. Products from this brand appear in many prestigious fashion magazines and are worn by celebrities and influential people around the world.
In today's world, companies must also face the challenges of digital transformation. Online shopping has become an essential part of the fashion industry, and companies that do not have a presence on social media and online marketplaces risk losing a large number of customers. Therefore, companies must have high-quality and attractive online content and actively use social media and online platforms to promote their products. The Croatian designer brand CROATA uses LS Retail as its primary business management software. Due to all the challenges they face, they require appropriate and reliable support, which is why they have been using the LS Retail system for 14 years. Prior to switching to LS Central, they used the Vips system for help with their business operations, but the lack of practicality and comprehensiveness in all aspects of their business, and the fact that some tasks had to be done manually, which was expensive and demanding, prompted them to find a system that would meet their needs, reduce costs, and increase productivity, so they decided to switch to LS Retail. Even after certain changes, such as updating their business and changing the structure and organization of the company, CROATA decided to use the new version of the LS Retail system because of their satisfaction with the way it works, with its technology, new possibilities, and services provided by the partner. What attracted the brand to LS Retail is that this system offers complete integration between sales points, warehouses, finances, procurement, and other operational processes. This method of integration allows the brand to easily monitor and manage various aspects of their business in real time. The LS Retail system provides customization options to its users. They can easily adapt processes such as inventory management or pricing policies to better suit their business needs, because the system offers flexible customization processes. One of the key features of the LS Retail system is its intuitive interface, which is easy to use, even for employees who are not familiar with this type of software. This significantly reduces employee training costs and increases productivity at all business levels. Additionally, with good partner support, the system is stable and secure, reducing the possibility of data loss and business interruptions, which is crucial in this digital age.
What distinguishes the LS Retail system are its precise and detailed analytical reports that help customers understand their business better, discover new trends more easily, identify new sales opportunities, and successfully optimize business processes. One of the main advantages of LS Retail is scalability, allowing the addition of new sales locations, products, or business processes without significant impact on existing operations. The system also enables CROATA to track inventory quickly and easily, which allows for better planning and inventory management. In addition, LS Retail offers the ability to add information codes for products, customers, or other items of the system, which enables the insertion of additional information such as size, colour, or comments. The simplicity of data entry into CROATA’s system has helped it save time, reduce costs, and opene up new opportunities and channels for expanding the business.
The LS Retail system brings significant benefits as it integrates all systems, including LS Retail, NAV, and e-commerce, allowing its customers to use only one channel for all sales, both wholesale and retail. This enables all sales parties to obtain all inventory and previous purchase information from one place.
Upgrading the system was not an easy task due to the expansion of CROATA’s business and the implementation of new features in the latest version of LS Retail. The planned implementation period was six months, but the system was later upgraded to a newer version and the necessary features were developed, which took eight months to complete. One of the most challenging tasks was integrating the system with e-commerce and adapting business policies from different countries.
CROATA currently does not use cloud services because it has its own infrastructure, but they are slowly realizing that using the cloud could be a better and more useful option. In the future, the brand believes that LS Retail can significantly help its business in several ways. One way is to improve inventory management, which allows the brand to reduce storage related costs, which can lead to increased profits. Additionally, the LS Retail software can help CROATA provide better customer service, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. LS Retail has become an indispensable tool for CROATA, enabling it to successfully compete in the challenging retail market. This software system has allowed the brand to adapt to rapid market changes, increase business efficiency, and meet the needs of its customers. In conclusion, it is not surprising that more and more companies are turning to LS Retail as a solution for their business challenges.
Deciding to change your business software is not an easy decision in today’s market, and choosing a partner is even more difficult. However, if you make the right decision, which is sometimes not only based on numbers but also on your gut feeling, your company will have great potential for growth.