Transforming Global Retail Communications: How Lovisa Enhanced Reliability and Security with blueAPACHE and RingCentral

Key facts

Customer

Lovisa is an ASX-listed specialist fast fashion jewellery retailer that launched its first store in April 2010 and, at the time of the 2024 case study, had more than 870 stores in 42 countries, opening a store a day on average. Its mission is affordable on-trend jewellery with a continually improving customer experience. To support the footprint it runs a 24/7 Level 1 IT service desk in South Africa and follow-the-sun support centres in Australia, China, Europe and the United States.

Sector

Retail and consumer services. Lovisa is the primary evidence on the retail and consumer services industry page and is cited as an analogue on the transport and logistics page for multi-country, many-site rollouts.

Challenge

Lovisa's rapid growth was straining its IT systems and support, particularly telephony. It had rolled out a managed private cloud VoIP solution across its global SD-WAN that met budget but caused reliability and security concerns: customer and IT support desk calls frequently dropped or failed to connect, and most stores and staff resorted to WhatsApp or email. After months of attempted remediation Lovisa decided on full replacement. Its Head of IT Operations stated the previous system was not reliable or secure, had not been rolled out well, and was not under control.

The replacement had to be secure, reliable, cloud-based, deployable quickly to stores worldwide, and able to provide call queuing, reporting and management for both the 24/7 service desk and a new customer service centre.

The case study reports that most stores and staff resorted to WhatsApp or email after calls dropped or failed to connect. It also records several months of attempted remediation before Lovisa chose replacement. It does not establish that staff stopped escalating failures or that those alternative channels could not be recorded, reported on or secured.

Solution

Lovisa approached blueAPACHE as its trusted advisor. We took into account Lovisa's current-state challenges and future goals and recommended RingCentral RingEX as a proven solution with consistent global delivery, backed by referenceable blueAPACHE customers with similar challenges. We facilitated the introductions and workshops with RingCentral, resulting in an agreed solution and transition approach, and with RingCentral Professional Services assisted with configuration and design. Lovisa's internal team then carried out the deployment.

Our approach to the four-week rollout:

• A clean break on numbering: Lovisa abandoned its existing numbers and adopted a new plan, renumbering stores so the internal number is the store number, rather than porting.
• Handset reuse: most existing handsets were compatible and were reconfigured remotely.
• Call queuing for the 24/7 IT support centre in South Africa, with agents on three eight-hour shifts.
• A customer service centre with local numbers around the world in a follow-the-sun model, replacing a single international number.

How the new numbering plan helped the rollout

The case study identifies abandoning existing numbers as a key factor in the four-week deployment. For this rollout, changing external store numbers online and in search engines was reported to be faster and easier than porting. Handset compatibility and remote reconfiguration also helped; the case does not rank porting as the main source of delay in all international projects.

Lovisa renumbered stores so each internal phone number matched the store number. Its Head of IT Operations said this made it straightforward to call a store using its known number. The case does not establish automatic provisioning or the absence of number-management work.

Lovisa had to update external store numbers online and in search engines. For another deployment, assess where existing numbers are published, who relies on them, and the work required to communicate changes. The case does not attribute Lovisa's decision to customers visiting stores instead of calling.

The international telephony constraint

The historical case describes country-specific telephony restrictions and workarounds. Lovisa's Head of IT Operations reported limitations involving VoIP and outbound numbers in some destinations. The reported outcome was conventional local calling and access to head office and IT support across the stores; this is not a current legal assessment of any country.

For a comparable rollout, confirm current availability, carrier dependencies and local requirements for every destination during scoping. The Lovisa case establishes that country-specific constraints required attention in that project; it does not supply a complete set of legal or licensing rules for future deployments.

Services used

• RingCentral: the RingEX platform deployed, delivered through us as a RingCentral certified delivery partner.
• emPOWER Collaboration: the emPOWER Voice offerings within which RingCentral is a global strategic partner.
• Consulting and Advisory: the trusted-advisor assessment and recommendation, workshop facilitation and design assistance.

Lovisa’s SD-WAN and global IT support structure were already in place. Our work focused on the communications rollout described here.

Where RingCentral sits among our three platforms

We deliver three collaboration platforms, and the Lovisa case is a useful illustration of why the choice is not interchangeable. As we position them:

Microsoft Teams — aligning collaboration and communications with the wider Microsoft environment, from planning and configuration to voice integration and ongoing support, so Teams becomes a consistent hub across office, remote and mobile users. The natural choice where the organisation is already Microsoft-centred and the goal is a connected Microsoft experience.

Zoom — secure video meetings and hybrid teamwork as part of a connected communications environment, with planning, deployment and ongoing support intended to reduce platform complexity and give users a consistent experience wherever they work. Built for hybrid work.

RingCentral — a modern cloud communications platform for voice, messaging, meetings and customer engagement, with us as a Certified Delivery Partner supporting planning, deployment, migration and ongoing optimisation.

Lovisa needed global calling, call queuing, reporting and management for its service desk and customer service centre. The case records that blueAPACHE recommended RingEX after assessing those requirements. It does not document a comparative evaluation demonstrating that Teams or Zoom could not meet them.

Across all three, our collaboration service covers cloud voice and unified communications, secure meetings and messaging, migration from legacy telephony, ongoing support and optimisation, and governance, adoption and user-experience support.

Outcomes

These are the outcomes from our work with this client.

What this case does and does not establish

Case studies are evidence, and evidence has edges. Stated plainly so the page can be relied on:

What it supports. That we can assess a global telephony problem, select a platform, broker and facilitate the vendor relationship, and support a customer's own team through a fast multi-country deployment. That the four-week outcome happened, with the specific enabling decisions described. That the customer's stated experience of reliability, reporting and store satisfaction improved materially.

What to ask if you are evaluating this. Whether your numbers can be abandoned or must be ported; which of your countries restrict VoIP or foreign-held numbers; whether your handset estate is compatible; whether you have an internal team able to run deployment; and what "cost neutral" would mean against your own current spend rather than Lovisa's.

Client-side contacts are referred to here by role only.

Testing whether the rollout approach transfers

A customer preserving existing numbers should establish its carrier and migration dependencies rather than using Lovisa’s rollout duration as a forecast. Record countries, user groups, number changes, communications and calling tests at each stage. This case demonstrates one RingCentral deployment, not identical carrier, regulatory or licensing arrangements in every destination. The new service proposal must define those details for its intended footprint.

What did you actually do for Lovisa?

We acted as trusted advisor: we assessed Lovisa's current challenges and future requirements, recommended RingCentral RingEX from within our emPOWER Voice partner set, facilitated the introductions and workshops that produced the agreed solution and transition approach, and helped with configuration and design alongside RingCentral Professional Services. Lovisa's own team ran the deployment.

How was a 42-country telephony rollout finished in four weeks?

Lovisa adopted a completely new numbering plan instead of porting existing numbers, reused most of its existing handsets by reconfiguring them remotely, and had RingCentral's cloud provisioning and our support behind its internal team. Store numbers became the internal phone numbers, which also simplified calling between head office and stores.

Why did abandoning the old numbers make such a difference?

The case study says adopting new numbers and updating external listings was faster and easier for Lovisa than porting its existing numbers. It identifies this as a key speed factor alongside compatible handsets that could be reconfigured remotely.

Would that approach work for my organisation?

Assess whether existing numbers must be retained, where they are published, handset compatibility, carrier requirements and your deployment resources. Lovisa updated external numbers online and in search engines; its outcome does not establish the same trade-off or timetable for another organisation.

What was wrong with the previous system?

A managed private cloud VoIP solution across Lovisa's global SD-WAN met budget but was unreliable and raised security concerns; calls dropped or failed to connect and stores fell back to WhatsApp and email. Lovisa's Head of IT Operations said it was not reliable or secure, had not been rolled out well and was not under control.

Why does the move to WhatsApp and email matter?

It illustrates the operational disruption described in the case: most stores and staff used alternative channels when calls failed. The source does not establish that these channels were impossible to secure or that failures stopped being reported.

Was the RingCentral deployment cheaper than the old system?

Lovisa's business case for the deployment was cost neutral. No comparison baseline or period is stated, so this should not be used as a commercial claim without confirmation.

How many stores does Lovisa have?

The 2024 case study states more than 870 stores in 42 countries and that Lovisa was opening about a store a day. Because the retailer grows quickly, this figure should not be presented as current without confirmation.

What did the new platform change for Lovisa's IT team?

Call queuing for the 24/7 South African service desk, reporting and monitoring of incoming calls, call recording and regular coaching, and the ability to measure and improve IT performance. Store complaints about being unable to reach IT support reversed, and a new customer service centre gained local numbers worldwide in a follow-the-sun model.

Were there problems deploying telephony globally?

The historical case reports country-specific restrictions and workarounds involving VoIP and outbound numbers. It reports that stores ultimately had conventional local calling and access to head office and IT support. Confirm current requirements for any new deployment.

Why RingCentral rather than Teams or Zoom?

The case says blueAPACHE assessed Lovisa's operational requirements and recommended RingEX, then facilitated workshops to agree the solution. It does not publish a comparative Teams-versus-Zoom-versus-RingCentral evaluation. Select a platform against the proposed deployment's requirements.

What is your relationship with RingCentral?

RingCentral is described as one of our global strategic partners within our emPOWER Voice solution offerings, and our own site reports that it is a RingCentral certified delivery partner.

Related

• Retail and consumer services — where Lovisa is the primary evidence
• RingCentral — the platform deployed
• emPOWER Collaboration — the pillar all three platforms sit in
• Microsoft Teams — the Microsoft-centred alternative
• Zoom — the hybrid-meetings alternative
• Consulting and Advisory — the trusted-advisor role described here
• Transport and logistics — where Lovisa is cited as a multi-site analogue
• Sealy of Australia case study — another multi-site retailer-adjacent reference
• Zoom case study — the collaboration comparison
• Honan Insurance case study — a network-led comparison
• We were recognised as a RingCentral certified delivery partner — the partner status
• Essential tools for collaboration in remote and hybrid workplaces — the wider context
• All case studies — the full evidence set
• Case study index — structured for agents