About C&A
C&A is one of Europe’s leading fashion companies. Every day, C&A welcomes millions of visitors to its stores in Europe and to its online shop. C&A offers high-quality, durable fashion at affordable prices for everyone.
The history of the traditional company goes back to 1841, when the brothers Clemens and August (C. and A.) Brenninkmeijer opened their first store in Dedemsvaart, the Netherlands. In 1911, the first branch outside the Netherlands was established in Berlin; today there are 450 branches in Germany alone.
Challenges
The use of smartphones is extremely practical for advice and service on the sales floor: in C&A stores, employees can use the company devices to take orders, scan barcodes, or check stock levels in other stores. To do this, proprietary apps run on the devices in kiosk mode. The devices are delivered with a multi-user setup so that there are always enough devices for the employees on a shift.
Requirements
C&A employees should be able to use the devices without needing technical expertise. Android smartphones will be used, which will be equipped with the mobile device management solution Microsoft Intune. The smartphones will be operated in kiosk mode, which means they are intended for business use only (COSU usage model = corporate-owned, single use).
Project planning and roll-out
With “device as a service”, C&A stores are equipped with smartphones as needed: Everphone takes over the procurement of the smartphones as well as the staging. During staging, the respective national language is set – depending on the country in which the device is delivered.
After that, the Microsoft Intune MDM solution is installed. MS Intune pushes the necessary apps to the device when it is started up, so that employees receive a fully configured and functional end device.
All they have to do is turn it on, log on for their shift – and off they go.
Find out more about MDM solutions here.
Ordering via the Everphone portal
Everphone handles the provision of the devices fully automatically. If a new device is needed, or if one of the existing ones is damaged and needs to be replaced, C&A registers the requirement with a few clicks in the Everphone portal.
We then take care of the procurement and configuration of the required model, as well as the dispatch to the correct store.
No high initial investment
Since Device-as-a-Service is included in the monthly operating costs, no high initial investments were necessary for the devices. Despite the extensive roll-out of almost 10,000 devices, there was hardly any significant overhead in the C&A departments (IT, procurement, office management, etc.).
Ready-to-use devices
The smartphones are delivered to the stores fully configured. After they are turned on, they only need to be connected to the store Wi-Fi to complete the setup.
The package also includes a silicone case to prevent damage from knocks, as well as a holder with a loop that is attached to the device by the silicone case. A lanyard can be attached to the loop.
Thanks to the lanyard, C&A employees can wear the device around their necks, leaving both hands free.
Sustainability
With its “Circular Fashion” approach, C&A shows that sustainability plays a key role in its corporate philosophy. The smartphones rented from Everphone are also part of a product cycle: when damaged devices are returned to us or used devices are taken out of service, we don’t just throw them away. On the contrary: after a certified deletion of the data on the returned devices and the removal of the kiosk mode, these are reprocessed (“refurbished”) and start a second life cycle somewhere else.
Only if the devices are too badly damaged for refurbishing are they sent for recycling, in order to recover as many components and materials as possible.
Find out more about sustainability in mobile devices.
