Competing in the commercial field from Action, the French decoration and gadgets giant is seeing its activity slow down, and is seeking to renegotiate its debt with the support of Bercy.
And the cause of this slowdown is a catastrophic IT migration that occurred last June to a new ERP (enterprise resource planning), reports Le Monde.
As a result, products are missing from stores, or orders do not arrive at the correct points of sale. And therefore less turnover.
These IT issues are nearing resolution
From accounting to purchasing, all sectors of the company have been affected since the second half of 2023 by integration problems with the new solution. Enough to put in difficulty a structure which lists 600 points of sale in Europe and 6,800 employees and achieves 1.3 billion euros in annual turnover.
For the past ten years, the company has used Aurea’s GCE ERP solution as its ERP, according to LinkedIn profiles of IT department employees. Evolution of the ERP? ERP change? The company’s current setbacks call into question SI’s strategy. Contacted by ZDNET, Gifi management has not returned to us on this point for the moment.
These IT problems are in the process of being resolved, but management is considering the possibility of demanding penalties from its supplier.
Renegotiate the debt
Because the impact of this IT project had a strong impact on the financial structure of the company. Already weakened by the COVID period, which saw its activity plunge, the company must face significant banking deadlines. Gifi asked the interministerial committee for industrial restructuring, a Bercy entity, to help it renegotiate its debt with the banks.
In an email, Philippe Ginestet (“Gi” for Ginestet and “Fi” for Philippe), the founder and boss of Gifi, explains that the company “took advantage of the challenges caused by the complex implementation of a new ERP to relaunch a new dynamic for the Group”.