06 NEWS
CO-OPERATIVE GROUP APPOINTS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PARTNER
The Co-operative Group has appointed Manchester Science Parks-based Gödel Technologies Europe (GödelTech) as the strategic software development partner for its instore electronic point- of-sale (EPoS) solution, InControl. InControl is deployed in over 4,500 retail outlets across the UK on 14,500 point of sale units and is responsible for processing over 1.5 billion transactions per year with a value of over £200 million per week. GödelTech will provide software
development, quality assurance and project management expertise to the Co-operative Group’s software development team in order to deliver continued enhancements and maintenance of the PoS service software. Chris Sproston, head of software
development at the Co-operative Group, said: “In 2009 we embarked upon the commercialisation of our award-winning point of sale software, InControl Evolution, and offered it to other retailers. As a result we have seen a huge surge in demand and needed to identify a software development partner to compliment our own in-house team. “We required a fl exible delivery model that allows us to scale development and quality assurance expertise dependent on the requirements and deadlines identifi ed by the business and, after carrying out a period of due diligence on a number of suppliers, the Co-operative Group chose GödelTech for a number of compelling reasons. “The Co-operative Group prides itself on only working with suppliers whose values mirror our own and, with its mix of unique delivery model, team expertise, UK presence and use of high defi nition video conferencing for project communication, we were confi dent from the outset that GödelTech would be the right company for the project.”
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY MARCH/APRIL 2011
DELOITTE BETS ON RETAIL TABLETS
industries would test tablet PC use for their employees this year. Jolyon Barker, global lead for
M
Deloitte’s technology, media and telecommunications industry practice, commented: “We predict companies in the retail, healthcare and manufacturing sectors will buy more than 10 million tablets for their staff to take advantage of the ease of use and longer battery life of these devices.” It said a signifi cant number of
fi rms may be willing to pay for their employees’ tablets and data plans, millions of ‘prosumers’ will have their tablet data plans at least partially subsidised by their employers; and millions more tablets will be purchased by companies as PC alternatives. Enterprise software providers are rapidly responding to business customer requests for tablet specifi c software. Large enterprise resource
anagement consultancy, Deloitte recently predicted retail and manufacturing
planning, content and customer relationship management vendors are collaborating with desktop virtualisation providers to create secure enterprise- grade apps that can be rapidly deployed into business IT environments. However, the consultancy warned that this also presents a challenge for companies, as the devices are not particularly robust and price could also be an issue in the current economic environment. The cost of developing bespoke applications, which ranges from $5,000 to $500,000 (£3,000 to £30,635), and securing the devices could also be a hurdle.
ROBERT DYAS OPTIMISES SPACE, RANGE
Robert Dyas has increased sales and profi ts, as well as instore effi ciency after implementing new space, fl oor planning and range management software.
The UK homeware and gardenware retailer installed store planning, assortment and database management products from JDA Intactix over a year ago to build a dynamic view of how effectively it was using the space in its 100 outlets spread across the South of England. Dave Cooper, space, planning and merchandising manager at Robert Dyas, told Retail Technology that retail space is an expensive commodity. “The new systems have allowed us to make more effective use of our space with products that have the best-selling price, allowing us to make the most of our best-selling items,” he explained.
Cooper added that the company
“liked the look and feel of the software interface,” but wanted keep the implementation “as close to out- of-the-box as possible”. One particular challenge that he said the software addressed was that of rebalancing store layout and stock in preparation for the Christmas and summer trading seasons: “This used to be quite a disruptive time instore, but we’ve now reduced the amount of work needed by 50% and increased our profi t per linear metre [of store space].”
The retailer has optimised over half of its total range and working to carry the effi ciencies through to the rest. “We want to make sure the SKU [stock-keeping unit] range is aligned to store stock levels and ticket printing processes,” Cooper concluded.
◆ Speciality pet products retailer Petbarn has selected a new instore signage solution from Episys to produce high-quality labelling and merchandising materials to boost promotional effectiveness and customer communications across its 55 stores in Australia and 17 stores in New Zealand.
◆ Westmorland, the motorway services, hospitality and leisure group, is investing in an integrated Accord retail system from solutions specialist Business Computer Projects (BCP) for its retailing operations.
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