✓ Replenishment & inventory management
✓ Customer & employee management
✓ Available on iOS, Android, and Windows
✓ For mobile, laptop, and desktop devices
✓ Robust pricing & promotions
✓ Store operations & back office
✓ Performance & KPI reporting
✓ Intuitive, tailorable POS
After two years of isolation, customers are ready to visit retailers, and stores are more than ready to greet them as they look to expand operations.
Anticipating pent-up demand, retailers are looking at not just beefing up their square footage but also global expansion to meet customers’ demands for exceptional selection and outstanding experience.
The recent past has been tough on retailers: COVID magnified existing weaknesses, accelerated emerging trends of increased online shopping, and forced organizations to adopt new technology faster than they had anticipated.
Approximately 40 million workers were furloughed or laid off as demand dipped and factories and offices were closed to prevent the spread of the virus, according to Deloitte.
Additionally, people stopped traveling and leaving their homes to shop: Business Insider reported an 82.6% year-over-year foot traffic plunge for the week ending April 18, 2020. E-commerce took hold as brick and mortars complied with government mandates to close.
Retailers that had entertained physical expansion plans in 2020 quickly course corrected and invested in online sales platforms to try to make up lost revenue. That strategy – which included click and collect and curbside pickup — helped many physical locations remain in business.
As the pandemic waned and retailers reopened, they started streamlining operations to ensure that their physical stores were in sync with their online systems, which had become more robust during the last 24 months.
Retail Pro Prism’s omnichannel retail management platform gives retailers the tools to monitor their inventory across channels, keeping in-store and online records in sync. The operations were often merged into a hybrid store/warehouse, in which online orders could be fulfilled by the stores’ brick and mortar locations.
With those new logistics in place, retailers are once again considering and moving ahead with physical expansion. But, for the largest, most well-known names, creating more big stores isn’t in the game plan.
Instead, smaller, more boutique-type stores that focus on the customer experience is the winning strategy.
Take Nordstrom’s, which even prior to the pandemic offered curbside pickup and has continued to strengthen its integration between online and offline channels.
Nearly five years ago, Nordstrom Local launched. The stores are roughly 3,000 square feet and do not carry dedicated inventory, but instead are focused on service: Amenities include complimentary personal stylists, eCommerce order pickup, returns, alterations, gift wrapping and complimentary refreshments.
Betting that less space could pay off more was a good gamble: On average, a Nordstrom Local customer spends 2.5 times the amount of a regular Nordstrom customer.
The retailer sees the locals as a way to complement their existing larger stores, and cater to customers more conveniently.
Post COVID, many shoppers are looking for convenience, particularly when at brick and mortars.
The fundamental reasons for shopping in person haven’t changed: They enjoy social interaction and they want to interact with products before purchasing.
However, shoppers may now be a bit more exacting in what they expect from retailers’ service.
Businesses looking to expand their physical footprint must be certain that their existing software can handle the new load.
POS software, in particular, must be scalable in order for the business to remain efficient.
Retail Pro Prism is a scalable, comprehensive software package that can be cloud-based and offers remote support — ideal for an expanding company.
For example, Miniso UK currently has seven stores and has plans to grow its business with Retail Pro Prism to 50 stores in five years. “As you grow, you need clear visibility on all parts of the business and we want to ensure we’re not letting down one side of the business at the expense of the other,” said Miniso UK’s Chief Operating Officer, Saad Usman. “To be successful, we have to develop the online and offline experience simultaneously, which we’re trying to do.”
Once software requirements have been established, retailers should consider their support options. Having local IT partners can help ease concerns and create an atmosphere of camaraderie.
Retail Pro has a Global network of local IT support partners in 130 countries, helping their clients with implementations, integration of retail solutions including loyalty, ERP, ecommerce etc.
Local partners also know the region better than anyone, so they can assist with localization of the software for language and branding, and are familiar with legal requirements, such as fiscalization (fiscal law aimed at preventing retailer fraud) as well as tax reporting.
Retail Pro is compliant with regional fiscal and tax requirements such as VAT used in many regions globally, India’s GST, Canada’s GST/HST and Brazil’s ICMS, and various tax zones.
In addition, any software that a growing retailer selects should be “expansion-friendly.”
Retail Pro’s robust API provides centralized flexibility that adapts to local regulation variations, allowing retailers to customize their retail POS systems to specific regional requirements.
For more than 30 years, Retail Pro has provided a base platform and API that supports regional requirements, which are specific to a retail management system and point of sale.
From the UX –where local language support is key– to the more complex needs of taxation and reporting requirements, localization has and continues to be part of Retail Pro’s DNA.
Globally, language can also be a business barrier. Because all languages have a vernacular, idioms and regional “quirks,” Retail Pro has a fully translatable user interface, so translations can be tailored toward local dialects for a given region, specific business or vertical type.
Finally, partnering with the right IT solution provider is critical for retailers’ success domestically and abroad – and the right fit can help both companies grow, especially if they operate with similar values.
Authorized partners are not only trusted technology advisors, but they are also serving as IT project managers for store launches in different regions of the same country as well as coordinating store launches in new countries.
Establishing mutually-beneficial goals motivates all parties. Post-COVID, analysts expect the global retail market to reach $39,933.3 billion in 2030, up from nearly $20,331.1 billion in 2020. Retail implementation of regionally-savvy software and partnerships with local solution providers will be crucial for success.
Your team really stepped up to meet the sudden flux of online shopping during COVID.
Shoppers got the benefit of omnichannel purchasing, but retailers bore the brunt of making it happen – fast, and without actually integrating ecommerce and inventory management system data.
Two years into it though, many retailers are seeing their data disparities grow with an online presence that isn’t integrated to their in-store systems. And the disparities won’t end with COVID.
Request your consultation now >
Request your consultation now >
In the shopper’s mind, your website reflects your store, so they look online for stock availability.
Some may complete the purchase online, but others may want to see the products in store first or pick it up as one to-do item on a longer list.
Save your customers from the poor experience of showing up at your store with the website’s promise of having the product they need – only to find that you’re out of stock.
Request your consultation now >
Request your consultation now >
It was a long time coming: Retailers have for many years positioned themselves with the technology and supply chains to become not simply multichannel, but omnichannel.
Whether shopping through an app, their computers or by walking through the door, customers are shopping again.
As a result of COVID, consumer behavior has changed, with e-commerce gaining steadily in popularity. During the pandemic, online buying increased by leaps and bounds: A survey from PYMNTS found that roughly 36% of consumers were buying goods online in the second half of 2020, up from 29% in mid-April when most brick-and-mortar stores were locked down.
The Statista Digital Market Outlook reports that total revenue from e-commerce in the United States came to $431.6 billion in 2020, and estimates that by 2025, revenue will rise to $563.4 billion.
Combine that with the U.S. Census Bureau’s findings that consumers spent $211.5 billion online during the second quarter of 2020– a 31.8% increase quarter-over-quarter–and it’s clear that shoppers have embraced the convenience of e-commerce.
While COVID-19 propelled brick and mortar retailers to get creative with their approach to sales, it was the catalyst for some shoppers to take their business digital.
According to a March 2020 consumer survey by Statista, nine percent of U.S. consumers bought a product online for the first time ever due to physical distancing and quarantine mandates during the pandemic.
And although brick and mortar retailers may have long had online components to their shopping experiences, COVID-19 forced many to try to integrate them into the in-store experience, including buy online, pick up in-store offerings and curbside pick-up.
For some retailers, omnichannel operations were assembled quickly as a way to keep revenue coming.
Now, as retailers are reopened and slowly lengthening their hours of operation, they have the time and experience to make adjustments for the long-haul, rather than just meeting the needs of the moment.
To standardize operations and make them scalable, retailers will need to optimize use of their technology. The Retail Pro Prism POS and retail management software acts as a platform for unifying data across channels and helps retailers manage omnichannel tasks in-store, including curbside pickup and order management.
With the web-based Retail Pro Prism software, retailers get full POS functionality on the mobile device of their choice and integrated EFT to complete the transaction where it began – whether on the salesfloor or sidewalk.
Retailers with using Retail Pro Prism POS on mobile devices can be ready at any time and in any place to take credit or debit card payment for items, and the shopper can stay outside.
mPOS systems can also be used for curbside pickup, a solution crafted out of necessity but now — without a doubt– certain to stay. The ease of convenience of curbside pickup is not lost on anyone who has ever done errands with a toddler.
Around the globe, people have changed their shopping habits in response to COVID, and retailers are needing to streamline order management across channels.
In Vietnam, more customers are shopping online and ACFC as the market leader is doing its best to bring a convenient shopping experience to its customers by launching the company’s eCommerce platform, Magento, as part of its New Retail program.
ACFC has more than 200 stores in major city centers across the country, and it plans to expand soon to 250. It is the exclusive retailer of well-known brands including Nike, Gap, Banana Republic, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Old Navy, Mango, Dune London, Cotton: On, Typo, Owndays, Parfois, Mothercare, Fitflop, OVS and French Connection.
With service from their Retail Pro Business Partner, LBC International, ACFC has successfully integrated Retail Pro Prism with the company’s eCommerce platform, helping the retailer satisfy the increased demands of shoppers who prefer to buy online and pickup in-store through the interface between the two systems.
“With data integrated between Retail Pro Prism and our ecommerce, it is easy to keep track of inventory and display online whether an item is out of stock or ready to be picked up, resulting in less frazzled associates and happier customers,” commented Vo Thi Phi Phuong, Managing Director at ACFC.
“When customers buy and pay on the eCommerce website, that order information is sent to Retail Pro Prism at the store, and the goods will be picked and packed, ready for customers to collect. The transaction data is also being captured, so stores will collect data on which styles are popular, which will influence product orders in the future,” explained Ms. Vo. An omnichannel retail strategy strengthens the customer experience and provides more avenues for shoppers––whether it is on mobile, web or in physical stores.
26-27 April 2022 | Olympia, London | Stand 6e28
Founded in 2015, Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions is a family-run business offering retail solutions, specialist management consultancy and IT services. Our company is UK based, with offices in London, and a client base across the globe.
We work with all levels of business to define and develop strategies focused on our clients’ needs and objectives. Our tailored solutions are developed and optimised to fulfil your key business demands.
Over time we have added to our 20 years’ experience in the field and built up a team of experts, with a wide range of experience and in-depth knowledge, who are eager to help your business succeed and grow.
Datascan Retail Systems are a leading UK and European supplier of solutions to the retail sector, from small businesses through to mid-tier and international enterprises. We have vast experience in the analysis and design of retail IT and the implementation of EPOS and Stock Control Systems and provide all the services required to plan, implement and maintain an effective Retail Management System. We are committed to match the Retail Pro System to the exact needs of the retailer, utilising our development, training and help desk teams.
RIOT is turning traditional RFID solutions for retail on their head with RIOT Insight. Insight is RIOT’s real-time inventory accuracy service offered as a simple but powerful add-on to a retailer’s existing systems. 100% inventory accuracy to support Omni-channel is now yours on demand.
PAR Technology Corporation provides industry leading software and hardware solutions that are always there when you need them but never in your way.
XRETAIL is a Global leader in Unified Commerce solutions, with a prime mission to empower enterprise retailers by helping to boost their sales and retain their clients. Through state-of-the-art technologies, integrations, and solutions, the XRETAIL platform creates unified sales channels including eCommerce, Mobile commerce, and Social commerce. XRETAIL’s Cloud-based platform creates seamless end-to-end solutions allowing enterprise retailers to blend brick-and-mortar and digital retailing into one unified platform, with notably enhanced customer experience both online and offline.
Combining leading technology with the richest data, Loqate provides several solutions to help bring businesses across the globe closer to their customers:
Address Validation
A faster, easier way to capture and verify addresses in real-time for your online forms and checkouts.
Email validation
Increase email delivery rates, boost customer marketing and reduce bogus registration when you verify email addresses upfront.
Mobile & phone validation
Take the guesswork out of reaching customers. Capture the right phone number, mobile or landline at the point of entry.
Data maintenance
The foundation of any customer management strategy, Loqate’s cleansing and maintenance software helps build lasting customer relationships.
Retail Pro Prism is fully customizable, integrable POS and retail omnichannel operations management software that helps retailers improve efficiency in inventory, customer, and store operations management across channels.
Whether you operate as a franchise, corporate store, outlet, or multi-subsidiary retailer, you can overcome data fragmentation and configure Retail Pro to your exact workflow, branding, and business needs.
Full-Featured Enterprise POS
Expand what your POS can do with complete access to customer details, gift card balances and promotions while benefiting from native offline capability and enhanced security.
Integrated Software
Use open APIs to integrate data from third-party solutions including ecommerce, loyalty, ERP, CRM, accounting, and any other tool you use.
Omnichannel Order Fulfillment
Create sales at one location and fulfill the order at any other location, as part of your BOPIS, Click and Collect or other omnichannel efforts.
Browser-Based POS for Uncompromised Mobility
Empower associates to complete transactions and inventory tasks anywhere on the sales floor with your choice of Windows, Android, or iOS devices.
Configurable User Interface
Increase transaction speed and efficiency by customizing
the user interface with your exact checkout workflow
and preferences.
Centralized Inventory Management
Save time on inventory management with robust style definition grids and centralized control that allows you to have complete visibility across all locations and online.
Automated Replenishment & Transfers
Increase inventory turn and keep your shelves fully stocked with automated inventory transfers between stores and best replenishment features.
Ecommerce helped retailers get through a rough 2020. But sudden growth in digital operations also exacerbated the resource costs and inefficiencies of working with unintegrated inventory and customer data.
Retailers will need to evaluate their needs and gaps to determine the best way to unify data & operations across their organization.
Named top POS for mid-market retail by IHL Group, Retail Pro is the proven, globally localized platform to build omnichannel operations for today’s tough retail market.
Didn’t get to meet with us at #NRF2021? Request your consultation now >
Connect all data in Retail Pro Prism for omnichannel visibility & total control over inventory, customers, orders, pricing, promotions, back office, & store operations.
Maximize your data’s value with operational reports, dimensional analytics, & KPI dashboards.
Increase stock accuracy to 98%+ & finish physical inventory in minutes with affordable RFID.
Unify social media, sales, merchandise, & other data sources into 1 holistic view for intelligent insight.
Leverage AI in marketing campaigns to understand & trigger your customers’ buying behavior.
Mobile POS systems can give sales-floor associates and customers flexibility, boost productivity and improve customer satisfaction.
Mobility with Retail Pro Prism supports creative ways to sell and promotes faster queuing. Both are likely to appeal to the ways today’s customers prefer to shop.
Remember back before the pandemic lockdown, when sidewalk sales were typically an annual summer event?
Now, with occupancy restrictions limiting the numbers of shoppers allowed in a store at a time, sidewalk sales are commonplace, bordering on routine occurrences.
Retailers with mPOS can be ready at any time to take credit or debit card payment for items, and the shopper can stay outside.
mPOS systems can also be used for curbside pickup, a solution crafted out of necessity but now — without a doubt– certain to stay. The ease of convenience of curbside pickup is not lost on anyone who has ever done errands with a toddler.
With the web-based Retail Pro Prism software, retailers get full POS functionality on the mobile device of their choice and integrated EFT to complete the transaction where it began – whether on the salesfloor or sidewalk.
An entire afternoon spent outdoors no longer necessarily involves hiking trails when the neighborhood’s finest restaurants are serving gourmet food under tents, and boutiques have set up popup stores next to Farmers’ markets.
The best sales associates act as a customer consultant: they are close at hand if help is desired, never overbearing and always pleasantly knowledgeable.
Retail Pro Prism mPOS lets associates walk around the floor, free to interact with and assist customers rather than be tied to the cash wrap, as they were in years gone by.
That ability to be in the customer’s orbit from the moment they arrive until they pay for their items helps enhance the customer experience because it builds rapport between shoppers and employees.
In some cases, returning shoppers ask to be helped by specific associates. Those retailers rightfully consider their excellent service “an offering.”
A retailer can also pull up user manuals for higher-consideration items and marketing materials that explain product features to answer customer questions.
In addition, mobile devices can help make Endless Aisle solutions a reality.
A limited showroom selection can easily be supplemented by a complementary selection of items available online, in colors, sizes and other variations too numerous to fit on a retail floor.
Retail Pro Prism mobile POS speeds up the ordering process. The moment a customer decides to purchase something, the associate takes the payment right on the floor.
No more waiting in line, and often the interaction is completely paperless, as receipts are sent to email accounts.
During particularly busy seasons, mobile POS software can be used for “queue busting,” in which associates take payments within checkout lines, providing much-needed respite for overburdened cashiers.
And in Retail Pro Prism retailers can check out purchases, order out-of-stock or specialty items, and complete returns all in one transaction, saving everyone time.
mPOS makes the entire purchase process efficient and is in-tune with the customers’ preferences.
Customers can have a quick shopping experience with surgical precision and speedy curbside checkout, or a longer one, in which they view curated selections in an Endless Aisle, ask in depth questions about features, compare options and ultimately leave with the desired product ordered and accessories in–hand.
Flexibility is the name of the game.
The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated retailers to turn to technology to help their businesses plan better, increase productivity, and service their customers.
Contactless payments are one of the areas that, because of COVID-19, will change forever the way retailers do business.
These RFID-enabled payments have been available for years but have surged in popularity during the pandemic.
Not only is contactless more hygienic – in the time of COVID-19, no one wants to touch cash that’s been touched by hundreds of strangers – but it also streamlines the entire checkout process.
While the pandemic may have provided a strong push toward a cashless society, customers could still choose to use a traditional payment card, rather than NFC technology, and be safer from virus exposure during the transaction because they are operating the card reader rather than handling cash.
However, because they use radio-frequency identification, contactless payments reduce time waiting in lines.
The “tap-and-go” process generally results in speedier transactions. While the transaction time for a chip-enabled card can take as long as 30 to 45 seconds, a contactless transaction can be as short as 10 to 15 seconds.
Contactless transactions build upon RFID and typically use NFC technology, the foundation for services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Globally, this method of payment is very popular.
The United States, however, has been slow to adopt contactless payments.
In 2018, only 3% of cards in use in the United States were contactless, compared with 64% in the United Kingdom and up to 96% in South Korea, according to global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
Even prior to the pandemic, Juniper Research reported that contactless payments would triple to $6 trillion worldwide by 2024, up from roughly $2 trillion this year.
OEM mobile wallet transactions were predicted to increase as banks expanded the use of contactless cards.
In the U.S. market, contactless transaction values were expected to rise at an even higher rate than the global market, reaching $1.5 trillion by 2024, compared with the approximated $178 billion in 2020.
Once COVID-19 hit, contactless payments began to surge.
By August 2020, the global contactless payment market was valued at $ 1.05 trillion by 2019 transaction value, and is now predicted to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 20.01% between 2020 and 2027.
Today, the global contactless payment market value is expected to surpass $ 4.60 trillion by 2027.
Customers have enough friction getting out to the store today. By offering contactless payments, retailers can provide an efficient, safe method for purchasing goods and services while enhancing the customer’s overall experience.
The uptick in online sales due to COVID-19 has been explosive.
Listrak reports a 40% increase in ecommerce revenue since the United States declared a state of emergency in late Spring.
Research from Klaviyo shows a sudden spike in demand for product categories that help people make the most of time at home, such as the “new essentials” that include electronics, housewares, and office supplies.
Order values of electronics this June 15 was approximately $8 million, for example, compared with roughly $4 million one year ago.
Retailers in the home goods industry are likewise seeing an impressive increase in sales, likely because shelter-in-place laws have made people a bit more conscious of their home environments.
As demand surges, many manufacturers are finding it difficult to keep up. Retailers are faced with figuring out how to efficiently manage inventory during production slowdowns when products are in high demand.
No retailer wants a repeat of the infamous “toilet paper shortage.”
With the uptick in sales, retailers are keeping a closer watch on orders to ensure satisfied shoppers.
Having accurate inventory data is crucial to survival for retail, which is where retail management solutions such as Retail Pro Prism fit in.
Because many physical stores are not yet opened at full capacity, a greater percentage of sales are being funneled through e-commerce platforms.
However, as states and nations reopen commerce, curbside pickup and in-store purchases are being added to the mix even for non-food retail, making it increasingly important that inventory counts across channels are accurate.
But many retailers were only on the path to omnichannel when COVID-19 hit and have had to accelerate digital efforts to create somewhat of a make-shift omnichannel to fill moment’s need.
As the platform for omnichannel data connectivity, Retail Pro Prism also helps retailers fill in the gaps as they transition toward fully integrated data across systems.
Retail Pro Prism gives retailers full visibility into their inventory at each location, whether the goods are at the warehouse, in transit, in the back room, or on the sales floor.
This kind of detailed visibility gives retail managers greater accuracy in tracking inventory, helping minimize unprofitable overstocks and the opportunity cost of shortages.
Automated replenishment capabilities based on minimum and maximum values in Retail Pro also ensure purchase orders are placed in time to prevent shortages.
Integration with retailers’ ecommerce platforms gives a threefold benefit:
Proper inventory tracking processes not only guarantee items are on hand when requested but can also help with employee staffing.
With less shoppers in stores during COVID-19, certain support staff jobs are not being performed at the same rate, so stocking up on the materials used for those jobs isn’t imperative.
Reduced foot traffic means moving resources and shifting focus. Warehouse workers may need to adjust schedules and workloads to accommodate.
Using reports and visual analytics in Retail Pro, you can compare staffing levels to number of transactions completed per hour, including the number of items per transaction and foot traffic counts.
These kinds of data together will help determine whether an increase in staff would be needed to improve the experience for shoppers as they are coming back to your stores and wanting to find items quickly.
Levi Strauss credits smart inventory management with helping it to remain strong during the COVID-19 crisis.
In the first quarter of 2020, the company reported inventories were 7% lower than the prior year’s.
During an investor call, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh said that Levi’s strategy will continue to focus on inventory management and added that a significant majority of its inventory is core replenishment.
That includes stock it can carry over into future seasons: More than 70% of Levi products are so-called “evergreen products.”
In addition, the retailer plans to increase its ship-from-store capabilities, allowing retail outlets to fulfill e-commerce orders.
When they do venture into a store post Covid-19, customers will want to see well stocked shelves and will not want to wait for shipments to arrive.
With a more proactive approach to tracking inventory and stocking shelves, retailers can keep existing customers happy — and attract new ones.
