MIAMI—Refac Optical Group, parent company of Nationwide Vision and U.S. Vision, has chosen Mi9 Retail to “power its digital business,” according to an announcement by the enterprise software company late last month. Mi9 Retail, based here, said it provides omni-channel retail solutions that enable retailers to “automate and optimize their entire Plan-to-Sell process, from planning to executing, influencing, and selling merchandise in-store, online and on any device.” Refac, which ranked as the No. 9 company in the recent VM Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers report, provides vision care products and services in the U.S. and Canada, operating both freestanding stores and leased departments within major retailers (including J.C. Penney, BJ's, Meijer and Boscov's). It operates about 770 locations in the U.S. market.

"When we realized that we could eliminate unnecessary costs and complexity by partnering with Mi9 Retail and get everything we needed through one trusted source, the decision to migrate to the Mi9 suite was an easy one," U.S. Vision senior vice president of marketing and merchandising Caroline Flagler said in the announcement. "We will now be able to manage multiple systems from a single back office, reducing costs and inefficiencies.”

She noted that Mi9 Retail “owns the entire project, from start to finish,” and will oversee the software and implementation aspects. “We look forward to partnering with Mi9 to offer the user experience our customers expect and are excited to see a quick return on investment," Flagler added.

Mi9 Retail chief executive officer Neil Moses said the objective of the partnership is to “empower Refac with the tools they need to remain competitive in a rapidly changing business landscape.” Refac was founded by opticians and is “proud of [its] end-to-end vertical supply chain,” the announcement noted.