Retail Business Technology Expo 2011
Connecting with customers is increasingly vital for all retailers
By Glynn Davis
Retailers are facing many challenges and creeping up their packed agendas is addressing the issue of connecting with their customers across multiple channels and through social networking media.
This is is one of the key themes for retailers, according to Dilip Popat (pictured), global industry director of Retail at Microsoft Business Solutions, who suggests driving more connections with their customers is vital.
This has been thrown under the spotlight as a result of rapid technology changes that have increasingly placed multi-channel, mobile and social media into the hands of consumers. “Retailers have lots of data, maybe in silos, so how do they do personalisation. It’s very complicated. Do you use your existing technology solutions or add to them?” he asks.
Such decisions will be determined by each retailer’s legacy systems but the underlying factor will be whether they have a connected view of the customer and are able to “connect all the parts [of their businesses], from stores right the way through the supply chain”.
To address the silo-based infrastructures at most retailers Popat says Microsoft has developed ‘AX for Retail’ – that consists of retail-specific functionality – to sit atop its Dynamics AX platform. It gives merchants the capability to not only run their core processes but the newer modules enable retailers to run all aspects of a multi-channel business.
The product is initially being targeted at existing AX customers, who can seamlessly add the retail-specific components to their ERP, as well as being recommended to merchants who might be running Oracle or SAP in their key markets and could utilise Dynamics AX for Retail as the solution within any new markets they enter.
Mobile PoS could be coming of age
Mobile till systems have been discussed for many years but only with the development of smart phone platforms does the next generation of PoS look to be close to revolutionising payments.
Among the solutions demonstrated at RBTE was the VeriFone PAYware Mobile device that comes in two formats and both are scheduled for release later this year.
Based on the iPhone, the initial model will be available from May and is aimed at very small merchants and sole traders who do not accept card payments. The solution combines a smart card reader, magnetic card reader and contactless reader housed in a unit that simply clips onto the Apple device.
Raja Ray, director of product management software solutions at VeriFone, says: “It meets all the standards for cards, EMV/PCI and PED and is a cost effective, fully-mobile device that acts just like a card payment terminal.”
Later in the year the sole trader unit will be joined by VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile Enterprise solution for retailers of all sizes. This is also iPhone-based and has all the functionality of the more basic solution but also crucially comes with a barcode scanner.
“It replaces tills, scanners and payment devices,” says Ray, who adds that like an increasing number of solutions on the market it will be available on a subscription model. As well as the hardware, VeriFone will also provide the payment application, and the necessary payment gateway services.
