A Canadian retail icon, built to scale

Browns Shoes is a privately owned Canadian footwear retailer headquartered in Montreal, operating 70+ stores nationwide. With 2,400 employees across corporate, distribution, online and retail teams, Browns places a strong emphasis on consistent communication and a modern, bilingual employee experience.

 

Growing pains in a fragmented digital workplace

As Browns Shoes continued to scale, its digital workplace environment became increasingly fragmented. Employees relied on multiple systems, email-heavy workflows, and manual searching to find information. More tenured staff were accustomed to “clicking around” to locate resources, while newer employees expected an intuitive, centralized intranet experience — “Of course we have an intranet.”

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Key challenges included: Communication silos between corporate teams, inconsistent access to content, limited mobile accessibility, and increasing IT complexity.

SoleTrain Project Context

Browns Shoes
Retail – View Case Study
  • Communication silos between corporate teams
  • Inconsistent access to content across departments and regions
  • Limited mobile accessibility for managers
  • Increasing IT complexity due to a non-standardized digital workplace stack

A major driver behind Browns’ SharePoint and Powell initiative was the need for consolidation and standardization of the digital workplace — accelerating onboarding, simplifying IT management, and creating a scalable foundation for future enterprise applications.

 

One hub to run the business: Enter SoleTrain

StitchDX, a certified Powell solutions provider, partnered with Browns Shoes to design and implement a modern intranet platform powered by Powell on Microsoft SharePoint, giving Browns a flexible, governed platform that keeps up with retail speed. Branded internally as “SoleTrain” the platform has become the central hub for communication, knowledge sharing, and operational efficiency.

The rollout followed a phased deployment strategy:

Phase 1 – Corporate
Focused on headquarters and support functions, establishing the core intranet structure, governance, and standards.
Phase 2 – Frontline
Extending key functionality and governed access to corporate systems, including training and onboarding.
Core Strategy
Consolidation and standardization to create a scalable foundation for future enterprise applications.

Key capabilities included:

  • A centralized branded home site for enterprise communications
  • Department and function-based sites for structured content management
  • A bilingual (French/English) information architecture
  • Seamless integration with Microsoft Teams, so corporate teams don’t have to leave the tools they already live in to get answers.
  • Enhanced search and directory experiences for faster discovery

Mobile accessibility played a critical role in adoption. Leaders can now access SoleTrain directly from Teams on their phones.

“Mobile access has changed the game. Information is always available, whether in the office, in transit, or visiting a store.”

— Tony Ichkhan, Vice President of Buying Strategy and Operations, Browns Shoes

 

From adoption to impact: The numbers that matter

SoleTrain quickly became the single track for company-wide communication, delivering measurable impact across corporate and frontline teams.

📊 Adoption & Usage

88%
Adoption rate (up from 35% within 12 months)
45%
Of total intranet sessions via mobile access
-30%
Reduction in average time to find key documents
-25%
Decrease in email-based internal communications

✨ Operational Impact

  • Centralized Access — Reach policies, training, and operational resources in one place.
  • Faster Onboarding — Standardized content for new hires.
  • IT Efficiency — 45% reduction in support tickets related to content access.
  • Enhanced Visibility — Improved link between corporate and retail operations.

“Before SoleTrain, finding the right information often meant clicking through multiple sites or emailing colleagues. Now, everything our staff needs is right there in Teams; accessible, searchable, and mobile thanks to Powell.”

— Eric Wagstaff, Browns Shoes

 

What’s next: scaling experience, not complexity

With a solid, governed digital foundation in place, Browns Shoes is preparing for future phases of its digital workplace roadmap, including:

  • Advanced analytics to better understand employee engagement and content usage
  • Expanded employee engagement features and targeted communications
  • Greater personalization based on geographic and linguistic needs across Canada’s bilingual workforce
  • Extension of enterprise applications through SoleTrain in a secure, governed manner
  • Store deployment

SoleTrain is now more than an intranet; it is a strategic platform supporting Browns Shoes’ growth, culture, and modern employee experience.

Jordan Washington

Jordan Washington

Regional Marketing Manager