Mvision rolls out video service at Poundland

Consumer goods clearance stores get into video conferencing

Dwyer: Video as a service boosting communications at £1 consumer goods discounter

Mvision has deployed video conferencing as a service for discount retailer Poundland, which hopes to accelerate the speed of approvals for Far East imports and cut costs.

Terry Dwyer, managing director at Mvision, said the video offering is aimed at boosting communications between Poundland’s Hong Kong and UK offices.

“It allows colleagues including members of the executive board to use video conferencing for meetings, encouraging the whole team to connect more regularly and productively,” said Dwyer.

Poundland imports primarily from China via Hong Kong. According to the discounter, the sampling process previously involved posting products to the UK for quality assurance checks and approval.

Video conferencing shortens the approval cycle for some imports, enabling samples to be viewed and selected without physically sending them to the UK, which potentially saves about £28,000 every year on postage and relabelling, said Poundland in a statement.

Mike Gray, head of IT at Poundland, said it had been seeking something that would work with its current infrastructure.

“We have a variety of IT support services, but really wanted a solution that the business could operate itself without IT support,” he said. “Mvision’s service was an infinitely more attractive option. It’s always on, available and works with whoever we want to communicate with by video.”

A few initial connectivity issues were easily resolved because the system was a managed service, he added.

Poundland has room-based Cisco systems on trolleys in its Birmingham and Hong Kong sites, connected to Mvision’s dedicated video network. The discounter plans to use the service to talk to its suppliers as well.