UK Retailers Seeking Efficient POS Investments
In the UKĘs post-chip and PIN environment, retailers are investing in marketing initiatives such as prepaid cards and in other projects to achieve differentiation from their competitors. Ultimately, UK retailers want to use their IT budgets to improve daily efficiencies and customer service while reducing ongoing costs. Since 2002, e-procurement has been the biggest area of IT investment after POS upgrades, with 32 per cent of respondents to a survey by business process firm Martec International prioritizing this ahead of time and attendance applications (20 per cent).In short, as retailersĘ margins decrease, they will invest in applications that automate procurement or customer management to enhance their profit without having to increase sales. As research firm IDC has noted, POS investment that is driven by chip and PIN upgrades can support value-added applications or other benefits in a retailerĘs customer-facing operations. Retailers that add an electronic gift card program to a new or recently-upgraded POS infrastructure can for example improve customer relations and reduce costs by dropping a paper-based gift certificate program.
Consistent, integrated multi-channel operations will be important to retailers, with Waitrose for one, recently re-launching its web site both as an eCommerce channel and a marketing tool. Value-added POS systems also enable retailers to easily view data from a central repository or to better manage a supply chain for replenishment purposes. As transaction data is recorded in great detail, retailers are increasingly using data-management tools to analyze this information for store profit/loss accounting, fraud containment and to accelerate financial report completion. Related Links:
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