KoKo Pet: The digital transformation journey for a retail chain 

After 6 years of establishment and growth, KoKo Pet has evolved from a single pet supply store into a chain across Hanoi. As a result, the number of employees and the workload have increased exponentially. To address the challenges of human resource management and work processes, KoKo Pet’s management decided to implement 1Office software.

From a Single Store to a Retail System

Ms. Ngo Luan – Founder of the KoKo Pet brand, shared the idea behind its creation: The concept for KoKo Pet emerged in 2016 when the Vietnamese market, particularly in Hanoi, had limited investment in pet services. Recognizing this opportunity, Ms. Luan started building the KoKo Pet brand to provide a wide range of pet care products, including diverse food options, clothing accessories, cages, as well as grooming and vaccination services.

KoKo Pet began with a single store in the Long Bien area, mainly retailing supplies and offering spa services for dogs and cats. During this period, as the staff and workload were still small, Ms. Luan was directly involved in sales, customer service, and managing all aspects of pet care services, finances, and inventory.

However, as KoKo Pet grew and expanded its scale to a system of 4 spas and stores across Hanoi, the number of staff also increased. Ms. Ngo Luan said: “In the first 5 years of KoKo Pet’s development, I encountered many difficulties in operations and financial management. I began to investigate the cause and realized it was because KoKo Pet had not yet undergone digital transformation or established a clear direction for its stores“.

HR and Work Management with the 1Office Digital Solution

Today, KoKo Pet has a team of over 30 employees, spanning various departments such as sales, marketing, and product development. At this scale, coordinating personnel and work across the chain of stores needs to be smart and flexible.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tu, HR and Development Strategy Manager at KoKo Pet, shared: “In the early days of the company, when we had fewer than 10 employees, tasks like managing records, contracts, timekeeping, and changing employee shifts were not overly difficult. However, as our staff grew, these tasks required the support of technology to optimize processes, save time, and streamline all operations. 1Office is the partner that KoKo Pet trusts to solve these challenges for us.

Employees at the stores don’t need to meet with a manager or use a physical time clock when their shift starts; they simply use the GPS time clocking feature on 1Office. This allows me to monitor employee work hours without needing to visit each location to verify.”

1Office integrates all HR-related data on a single, permanently stored platform. This helps managers monitor everything anytime, anywhere, and automatically calculate salaries, bonuses, or penalties for employee payrolls. This data can then be used to conduct performance reviews at the end of each period.

In addition, KoKo Pet also utilizes the task management feature within the 1Office Workplace module. This allows managers to assign tasks—such as sales, contacting suppliers, running advertising campaigns, or managing financial and accounting statistics—to the right people in their respective positions.

Regarding the 4th wave of the pandemic, KoKo Pet transitioned from offline to online work, synchronizing and tracking all work processes directly on the 1Office software. The company implemented humane policies, such as a COVID-19 support fund for employees facing hardship, and enhanced online training to improve pet care knowledge and skills. All of KoKo Pet’s internal activities were communicated through the company’s internal social network.

Applying 1Office software to HR and workflow management at KoKo Pet serves as a catalyst for more thorough management across its locations, reducing operational costs and maximizing time savings. Mr. Tu noted: “Since implementing 1Office, all tasks—from task assignment and record management to payroll and work processes—are synchronized and centralized on this platform. As a result, departments are working more efficiently, and performance has noticeably improved”.

KoKo Pet is one of the retail chains that has successfully applied digital technology to its business administration. Hopefully, this will be a significant step for KoKo Pet to focus on strengthening its internal capabilities and expanding further in the Vietnamese market. 1Office will continue to enhance its product to deliver the most optimized value to its customers.