Canadian pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group plans major Microsoft Dynamics for Retail deployment in 2014

Canadian pharmacy chain the Jean Coutu Group Inc. (PJC) selected Microsoft Dynamics for Retail to manage all its retail operations, from its headquarters down to the point of sale (POS) devices in stores, and the implementation will start in 2014, Microsoft announced this week The win was first discussed publicly in March as an important and sizable retail win.

PJC will deploy Microsoft Dynamics to more than 400 stores, 3,000 POS (point-of-sale) systems and 11,500 devices.

"We knew we wanted a system that we could scale for future growth and gave people across the company the information they need to do their jobs. Microsoft Dynamics provides that flexibility along with an easy, familiar interface," said Alain Boudreault, vice president and chief information officer, Jean Coutu Group, in a statement. "This will help us better serve our customers now and in the future."

PJC, which has more than 19,000 employees, operates a network of more than 400 franchised stores in the Canadian provinces of Québec, New Brunswick and Ontario under a variety of company names. Additionally, PJC also provides technical and professional support services, as well as the supply, warehousing and delivery of products, for its network of franchises.

PJC needed a new, integrated system to manage its retail operation because its legacy system was reaching the end of its life. And the company wanted to find one solution that could cover its end-to-end retail operations. Initially, though, Dynamics AX wasn't part of the mix.

But Microsoft partnered with Dynamics AX partner Eclipse Consulting, and in March 2013, when Jean Coutu were already ...