Technology
expanding into new areas
Technology in retail spans a myriad uses from essential shop floor functions such as point of sale and inventory management to the more fluid aspects like branding and customer communication.
As systems become more sophisticated, the number of staff required for certain roles is decreasing and costs are falling. This is particularly important for smaller businesses.
Retail Jeweller Beaverbrooks, is transforming the in store signage in its 65 stores and also reducing costs by implementing Immediate Impact™ from Episys, a global information technology services company. The system will reduce time taken to create signage James Anderton, IT manager at Beaverbrooks, explains: “We currently print and post all signage from our head office. Tickets are a mixture of printed, hand written, paper and plastic. Our signage needs to look the same to maintain our professional approach. This solution allows each store to run promotions with short notice.“
Peter Lewis, marketing director at Episys, adds, “Beaverbrooks understands the importance of brand consistency, so the experience is the same no matter which branch you decide to purchase from.” Another jeweller, Tatty Devine, with over 100 stockists worldwide, is installing Cybertill‘s retail system to manage its stores, ecommerce and wholesale business. Rosie Wolfenden, co-founder and partner at Tatty Devine, explains. “We manufacture, wholesale and retail our products and needed a system able to cope with these areas. Over the past year we’ve managed stock manually – a nightmare due to the number of products and different sales channels. We’re confident the Cybertill
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solution will overcome these challenges.” Cybertill’s ability to integrate with
Magento ecommerce websites was critical for the jeweller which sells high volumes online. Ian Tomlinson, chief executive at Cybertill, adds: “Cybertill is cloud-based, providing Tatty Devine with real-time sales figures.” British fashion brand Gio-Goi, has chosen K3 Retail to manage its EPOS requirements and back office functionality in its first UK store in Aberdeen. Alan Swain, finance director at Gio-Goi, said, “We wanted one system to manage all our store requirements both retail and wholesale.” The retailer plans to open a further ten stores in 2011 and will look to K3 to implement a new finance and wholesale system to support this growth. John Little, sales director, K3 Retail, explains, “Gio-Goi is a well respected brand and one way to showcase their brand is by having a presence on the high street. This requires a system that will fully support the business.”
One area where technology is
having a huge impact is in online marketing and nowhere is this more evident than social media.
As the traditional past time of going out shopping as a family leisure experience dwindles, retailers across all sectors are having to focus increasingly on building a strong online presence. A victim of the pressures of life and reduced disposable
income, the shopping experience is also being affected by the change in the way consumers prefer to shop. One of the fastest growing channels for boosting the brand online is through social media but merely having a presence, and having a presence that reaps rewards, are two totally different things. Many companies are setting up Facebook
and Twitter pages to communicate with customers but not following through. The result, say industry experts, is that 90 per cent of fans only visit the page once, throwing into question the value of social media as a marketing tool. There are, however, retailers bucking this trend.
www.a1retailmagazine.com
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