Seven things to look for in a retail technology partner

Can your retail system keep up with customer demand for omnichannel experiences?

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Consumers now see both the online and offline shopping experience as part of the same buying journey and not one versus the other.

This is introducing more complexity into the business, with channels becoming less physical and more digital. And that’s why unified commerce is now retail’s top priority, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to build a customer-centric approach to retail.  

But at a time when 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data, many retailers are looking at how to rebuild their businesses from the bottom up for their unified commerce business model.

They know that working with the right people and the right technologies will make the roll-out of new customer experiences much easier and deliver results much faster.

If you’re developing the roadmap or requirements for your next point of sale or retail platform, start here.

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There are seven important indicators of a good technology partner:

1

Maturity and market responsiveness

With a mature platform you can focus on delivering innovation because the critical functionality you need already exists.

Look for a partner who’s been around retail for a while, with a platform built on a modern architecture and sound business model and proposition. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable.

Their people will have the capability to help you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future. When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists.

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2

Real-world customer experience

A strong track record and referenceable customer base means less risk.

Make sure your partner has a recent and proven success record for planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.

Have they implemented unified commerce systems or are they just unifying digital commerce channels? Ask for evidence of the relationships, products and services that help their clients to be successful, including the consultancy, customisation, integration, training and support services you’ll need.

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3

Flexible and innovative mindset

Seek a partner that can pivot quickly as markets change.

You want a partner who’s got the people and processes to move fast, while cultivating an environment where innovation flourishes.

Check that they have a history of responsiveness and the ability to assess and quickly correct any unforeseen issues. Can they change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve.

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4

Broad product capability

Choose a partner that can give you a holistic portfolio and expansive retail ecosystem.

Offering a unified experience means unifying all the backend systems that run POS, inventory, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide portions. You’ll need all your core requirements out-of-the-box plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.

Your partner should let third parties connect via APIs and cultivate a vendor ecosystem to reduce risk and increase flexibility. You also need to know that your partner has a strategic roadmap and investment committed for new capabilities. 

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5

Consulting and market understanding

Ensure your partner can translate your business needs into functional solutions.

Find a partner that will guide you in the right direction and tune technologies to fit your individual business needs. Do they have consultancy skills that span business and technical knowledge? Can they advise you on business processes as well as how the software works? Make sure they understand your wants and needs (as well as those of your customers) and can translate them into products and services.  

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6

Exceptional operations

Make sure they combine experience, processes and systems for faster ROI.

Check that your partner can meet their goals and commitments, and that they have the organisational structure, skills, experiences, programmes and systems to operate effectively and efficiently. That includes agile — make sure they’ve done the training and really understand agile principles, methods and practices.  

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7

Local and committed to your success

A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and expect faster turnaround.

Retailers are developing a customer-centric mindset and building new skills and capabilities to compete with new competitors. They recognise the risk that comes with global vendors with an indirect model of engagement and support.

A local business means you can enjoy direct engagement with on-the-ground people focussed on your needs, and not distracted by offshore business activity. With direct access to second and third level support and simple processes, you’ll enjoy leaner, faster support services.

Biggest isn’t always best. A mid-sized company will have fewer layers of bureaucracy, giving them more agility and responsiveness. It also means that you’ll be an important customer of influence to your partner - they will value your business and work hard for it.

This blog was originally published on 21 January 2019 and updated 07 October 2024.

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Want help to innovate and scale new services, faster?

Triquestra has been delivering retail management systems in multiple industries and geographies for more than 25 years. Our product and people are supporting award-winning retailers delivering disruptive, world-first customer experiences that build loyalty and grow sales.

 If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you digitise your business to create the unified experiences your customers now expect.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

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Turbocharging delivery: why you start with unified inventory

How well is your business geared to deliver the fast fulfilment options consumers now expect? Retailers with a single view of inventory across all locations can slash delivery times, profitably.

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Over recent years, retailers have adapted to changing consumer demands, evolving channels and rising customer expectations around convenience, choice and speed.

And now they’re turbocharging their digital and physical fulfilment to help differentiate the CX.

Why is delivery speed so important?

Customers now expect retailers to provide multiple fulfilment options, ranging from same-day shipping (for a fee) through to free delivery over a longer timeframe and everything in between.

They consider reliability to be just as important as speed when it comes to delivery, preferring their orders to arrive when they expect them, rather than promised a same-day or next-day delivery that never appears.

And the time is right to use stores as mini-distribution centres. Soon, up to half of all online purchases are expected to be fulfilled directly from physical stores, and up to 50% potentially being returned to these locations.

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The challenges of omnichannel delivery

However, omnichannel fulfilment can be the source of many inventory optimisation challenges.

Compressing delivery times and introducing store-based fulfilment means adjusting inventory management, allocation and replenishment strategies. It requires careful analysis of the destination of products, distinguishing between those that will be sold on the shop floor and those designated for fulfilment, and adjusting replenishment processes to ensure optimal stock levels for both.

In addition, many retailers can only access rudimentary sales and inventory positions, and have complex systems that are fragile, inefficient and costly to integrate.

So, what is required to compress delivery times and introduce omnichannel fulfilment?

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1. Real-time inventory visibility in every location

To provide the speed and convenience consumers expect, retailers are moving from multichannel silos to unified commerce platforms that provide a unified view of inventory across all stores and DCs.

 Real-time data on stock levels can benefit your business in many ways:

• Reduce inventory costs by ensuring you’ve got the right inventory available in each location, without carrying the cost of overstocking or ‘buffers’

• Optimise your product range by matching stock to each store’s location and demographics

• Create dark stores for online order fulfilment, turning physical locations into temporary or permanent fulfilment nodes to enable faster delivery and keep retail staff working

• React to trends quickly and forecast demand based on historical data, sales forecasts and seasonal variations

• Extend your range across more sales channels such as in-store kiosks, shoppable screens, pop-up stores, concessions and mobile devices.

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2. Optimise store fulfilment processes

Once your inventory is under control, you’re free to extend your omnichannel delivery.

By using your stores for fulfilment or pick-up, you can increase the amount of inventory for sale while reducing inventory cost and slashing delivery times. Many potential online sales previously lost to inventory shortages can be saved when stores also function as fulfilment centres. And the return on investment can be spectacular. With endless aisle fulfilment, our clients have achieved a 200 to 300% growth in online revenue.

Target USA is one high profile example. It consistently fulfils the majority of its sales, including online orders, directly through its physical stores. In Q2 2024, 97.9% of Target’s orders were fulfilled by its stores, which are a ‘one-stop’ for fulfilment, including returns in store, kerbside returns and even kerbside returns and pickups.

Store-based fulfilment also presents a unique marketing opportunity. Consumers are more environmentally conscious, and using stores as hubs allows customers to make more sustainable choices in the way they purchase products. Store fulfilment allows retailers to streamline packages for more efficient last-mile delivery - minimising the numbers of trucks on the road, reducing environmental impacts, boosting profit margins and enhancing the overall customer experience.

And even better, store fulfilment doesn’t demand that eco-conscious consumers pay extra. Retailers just need to guide customers toward using the more sustainable and, importantly, often faster fulfilment options that are already accessible through their stores.

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This post was originally published on 15 December 2021 and updated on 19 September 2024.

If you’re urgently revamping your omnichannel delivery capabilities and want advice on which projects to tackle first, our checklist could help. It will let you assess where you are at against retail leaders and decide what you need to improve. Download it here. 

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

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Changing your POS? 7 critical tests your software must pass

Is your point of sale system good enough for today’s omnichannel environment?

In a recent blog, we talked about how changing consumer expectations are disrupting legacy point of sale technology and shared five areas to focus on to differentiate the store customer experience.

If you want to ensure your next retail platform will grow and evolve alongside your needs, here we look at the challenges retailers experience when making the shift to a new POS, and the important tests the new tech needs to pass.

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For many omnichannel retailers, the rise of online shopping has set higher expectations for in-store experiences.

Physical stores now play a key role in driving demand and profitability - even when the final purchase happens online.

Shoppers today view their online and in-store interactions as part of a unified buying journey, not separate channels. And by speeding up delivery, increasing share of wallet, and providing hands-on product experiences, stores are enhancing and differentiating the overall customer journey.

Yet, a significant challenge persists: many retailers find that their outdated point of sale systems are unable to meet the needs of today’s omnichannel shoppers, especially with the ‘phygital’ experiences that tech-savvy consumers now expect.

And making the shift to a new point of sale is complicated:

•  Many retailers defer upgrades because of concerns about potential disruption to current operations, the resources required for successful implementation and the task of staff training.

• Compatibility issues with existing and future systems can make the transition to a modern POS seem a daunting task. 

• This can be amplified by a fear of not achieving the anticipated return on investment, especially if they’ve previously been burned by failed tech projects.

• In the past, retailers who got behind on their store technology investments frequently focused on catching up to current standards. However, now the focus is on future proofing – choosing platforms that speed up innovation, with the flexibility to change direction as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer expectations evolve.

You don’t want a project that fails to deliver the desired returns because the wrong product was selected.

So at a time when point of sale software is undergoing a surge of disruption, innovation and investment, how do you select the right system for your business requirements? 

Here are the 7 tests a point of sale purchase must pass, with the first being the most crucial of all:

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Test 1. Can it be rapidly implemented and deployed?

The number one priority for most of the retailers we speak with is speed of deployment.

The complexity of upgrading legacy POS infrastructures can present significant operational challenges. This means you need a platform built on a modern architecture, with all your core requirements out-of-the-box plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.

When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists.

Check the provider has recent and proven success planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable. And their people will need the capability to help you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future.

Our client GAS took only 10 weeks to rollout Infinity across 127 stores – a masterclass in POS deployment. GAS now has a modern retail system that supports its retailers to provide great customer experiences and drive growth.

“That is what Infinity point of sale system is able to deliver to us, a system which is fast, reliable, secure and on a modern architecture and platform.”

Nahid Ali, GAS General Manager

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Test 2. Will it support your unified commerce business model?

Today, the store is mission control for a seamless omnichannel customer experience, making the POS the anchor for unified commerce.

That means you’ll want a point of sale system that will not only work with your existing systems, but also provide an end-to-end solution for a unified commerce business model.

The POS needs to be the hub for unified experiences spanning endless aisle, click and collect, store fulfilment, pricing and promotions, clienteling and loyalty, as well as functions that allow customers to search, transact, acquire and consume products across all your channels.

You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide portions.

“The reason unified commerce resonated with me is that it would give us one core platform do the heavy lifting and a single source of truth to manage the customer data, inventory and order orchestration, rather than relying on too many systems to push and pull data everywhere.”

Shane Lenton, previously Cue’s Chief Information and Digital Officer

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Test 3. Will the system work offline?

No matter how exceptional your retail customer experience is, it becomes irrelevant if you're unable to complete a sale.

When inevitable network outages happen, you need to trust that your POS will keep all your stores operational without any disruption.

When implemented correctly, the offline POS experience should be so seamless that your staff may not even realise the system is offline.

Though some features may be limited, it's essential to know what transactions can still be processed during the loss of connectivity. For example, the system should handle card and cash payments, process returns, capture customer data and link it to profiles, and continue scanning products for smooth checkouts. 

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Test 4. Can it grow with you, and adapt to change?

Whether you're expanding into new locations or launching pop-up stores, it's crucial to ensure your POS system can scale quickly and adapt to changes in customer expectations. While it might seem obvious, scalability can easily be overlooked in the excitement of cutting-edge technology.

Your growth plans should account for how your physical stores can complement your online presence - not just to drive online sales but also to strengthen customer loyalty. Your POS solution must be able to function anywhere your ecommerce platform can.

POS adaptability means having a system that can quickly adjust to evolving customer preferences. It should operate seamlessly across tablets, phones and fixed tills, allowing transactions to flow between devices effortlessly. This flexibility not only opens up possibilities for innovative store layouts and experiences but also provides the practical benefit of better backup strategies for your devices.

Your partner should let third party solutions connect via APIs so that you are free to focus your development efforts on the front-end. You can be more agile and create a community of third-party apps and systems that work together in an ecosystem. As a result, you’ll reduce integration and maintenance overheads, increase real-time accuracy and enjoy virtually limitless scalability and agility. 

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Test 5. Does it have an intuitive UX for a better EX?

Today, any innovation within the store must minimise friction for store teams because this directly contributes to delivering a superior customer experience. The focus is now on speed and simplicity to maximise staff productivity, no matter where they are in the store.

An easy to use UX and straightforward setup will enable new employees to quickly learn the system and begin selling almost right away. By removing the frustrations caused by complex technology, you'll also help lower staff turnover.

In addition, many retailers run multiple systems within stores, forcing their teams to juggle between different apps and screens as they serve customers. By consolidating store technology onto a single POS-based retail system, your teams can do everything in a single view, from sales transactions, customer loyalty, pricing, product and promotions through to virtual appointments and endless aisle access to stock. 

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Test 6. Will it make complex sales simple?

For enterprise retailers with multiple brands, B2B operations or franchises, you’ll need a POS system that makes complex sales simple.

You’ll want to control everything from either head office or at store level to set pricing and promotion rules, permissions, return and refund validation, discounting and cash management.

 And ensure it supports complex sales like charge-to-account, quote management by channel, debtor management, loyalty and all types of pricing, including retail, trade, contract, promotional, project, customer-specific and rules based.

“Infinity is one of the few platforms able to accommodate our diverse business model, with both retail and wholesale customers requiring multiple volume breaks and bulk purchasing. And Infinity’s New Zealand presence gives us an out-of-the box solution with local capabilities that can be customised to our requirements.”

Amanda Thompson, General Manager of Moore Wilson’s

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Test 7. Can you rely on the vendor for new functionality and ongoing support?

Working with the right people and processes will make the roll-out of your new point of sale much easier and deliver results much faster.

A local partner means you’ll have direct access to second and third level support, with direct engagement with people on the ground committed to your success (and not distracted by offshore business activity).

It means you can have more influence on the product roadmap, with fewer layers of bureaucracy giving them more agility and responsiveness. And a mid-size partner is more likely to view you as an important customer of influence.

“As a Kiwi owned and operated business, we really pride ourselves on supporting local businesses and communities. The Triquestra team’s responsiveness and flexibility gave us the confidence that we’ll get the swift, on-the-ground support and reliability we need.”

Louise Mitchell, NPD’s Senior Category Manager

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Want help to modernise your point of sale? 

As you transform your customer experience to deliver the seamless and personalised buying journeys your customers crave, your point of sale system must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to shape your strategy and extend your omnichannel capabilities, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the solutions you need now and guide you to where you’re headed next.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

Tagged: agile, analytics, API, Bricks and mortar, click-and-collect, complex sales, culture, customer experience, customer management, customers, data, ecommerce, experience, employees, evaluation, fulfilment, Infinity, Infinity POS, integration, inventory management, Local, loyalty, omnichannel, order management, point of sale, pop-up store, POS, promotions, relationships, retail, ROI, software, staff, strategy, support, team, technology, Triquestra, trends, unified commerce, upgrade, values

Retail remix: Six moves to make to match unpredictable consumer behaviours

There's been a significant upheaval in the approaches retailers take to attract, retain and incentivise their loyal customers. And the catalyst for this change is the increasing volatility in consumer behaviours.

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Consumers are defying economic predictions by behaving in unconventional ways. They’re more selective, preferring experiences over products, while also looking to get maximum value from their dollar. And even if something's made sustainably, it must be priced competitively or they're not buying. 

This is keeping retailers on their toes, because all the old approaches for keeping customers coming back just aren't cutting it anymore. 

The retailers that build a clear picture of customer activity, behaviours and preferences – to deliver more personalised and seamless experiences - will be best positioned to succeed. 

Here are six strategies to help your retail business meet the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s consumers: 

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1. Adjust inventory based on anticipated demand  

Soon, up to half of all online purchases are expected to be fulfilled directly from physical stores, and up to 50% potentially being returned to these locations. Now’s the time for retailers to refine their strategies for inventory management, allocation and replenishment. 

Consider lowering your safety stock levels, while still complying with existing merchandising rules and practices. Implementing this one change alone can lead to considerable savings on inventory costs. To optimise your inventory effectively, focus on the destination of demand rather than just the fulfilment of demand. This ensures that your initial stock placements mirror historical buying patterns as closely as possible. And transform selected stores into mini-distribution hubs. By choosing a handful of well-positioned stores that have the right storage capacities, you can streamline the pick, pack and ship processes which help to maintain profit margins and adapt to the fluctuating demands of omnichannel retailing.

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2. Revamp pricing and promotion strategies  

Most shoppers are concerned about costs and heavily influenced by promotional strategies when making their purchasing decisions. However, with rising input costs many retailers are finding it necessary to increase prices to protect margins. And despite price sensitivity now at an all-time high, 35% of retailers have inconsistencies in their pricing across channels. In addition, few retailers integrate their loyalty programmes and pricing strategies and are missing out on opportunities to create a cohesive and distinct customer experience.  

There are simple ways to provide value to customers while also managing costs. Implementing value promotions can provide compelling reasons for customers to make purchases more frequently. Price pack architectures can be changed to align what consumers want with what they’re prepared to pay. By synchronising loyalty and pricing strategies and developing tailored pricing tiers and product assortments specific to local and channel needs, you can not only address cost of living pressures but also enhance overall value perception among customers. 

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3. Maintain commitment to brand loyalty  

It might seem appealing to dial back brand marketing efforts to focus on performance marketing where results are directly attributable. However, it's crucial to keep investing in strategies that enhance consumer acquisition and foster brand loyalty. Cultivating brand advocacy is critical for standing out from the pack and encouraging wary shoppers to direct their purchases your way.  

Increase your loyalty programme's membership by introducing rewards and experiences that not only retain current members but also broaden its appeal. Implementing exclusive pricing promotions, such as discounts for loyalty members, can significantly boost customer retention. These loyal customers are typically more inclined to make frequent and larger purchases compared to their non-member counterparts. 

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4. Enhance microtargeting capabilities  

Retailers are moving away from putting consumers in predefined and sometimes outdated segments and adopting microtargeting strategies to gain a deeper insight into individual consumer preferences.  

This approach uses detailed consumer data to pinpoint very specific groups of customers with similar shopping behaviours and preferences. Using generative AI, retailers can efficiently scale these efforts, boosting the creativity of their campaigns and automating much of their marketing outreach. By connecting with high-value consumer demographics, such as millennials in emerging markets or affluent seniors, retailers can deliver highly personalised experiences that foster brand affinity, enhance loyalty and encourage repeat purchases.   

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5. Elevate the social-digital connection  

It's critical to actively engage customers via social media and other digital channels. This strategy requires choosing the most effective channels and platforms, crafting compelling content and adapting these strategies to keep pace with consumer needs as they evolve. This is becoming increasingly vital as boundaries between industries blur - for instance, when retail ventures into services such as consumer finance - and as cross-industry ecosystems gain importance.  

We are seeing innovative clients experimenting with new approaches to social commerce to forge deeper local connections. For instance, Cue Clothing is at the forefront of 'contextual commerce', integrating buying options into regular daily activities and settings to make shopping a seamless part of life. And using social media and private messaging platforms like WeChat, retailers can maintain constant interaction with their customers, enhancing engagement and loyalty. 

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6. Refine product assortments  

As consumers preferences become more thoughtful, reassess your product lineup and investment strategies. Consider phasing out products that no longer align with consumer demands or intensifying focus on categories that are seeing increased interest.  

This strategy might involve broadening your range within certain price brackets or popular sectors like health and wellness. In addition, introducing high-end items for consumer segments that indulge in impulse purchases can be beneficial. You could also explore exclusive online merchandising options that vary in size or packaging compared to their in-store counterparts and cater to a distinct online market segment. 

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Want help to modernise your ability to match unpredictable consumer moves?  

As you transform your customer experience to attract and retain loyal customers, your retail systems must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to meet the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s customers, get in touch. We’d love to help you keep pace with changing consumer demands.  

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If you’re driving the CX transformation at your retail business, our unified commerce maturity model is the perfect tool to create your roadmap. Learn about the capabilities you need to create a rich mix of omnichannel experiences. 

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Why unified commerce is the nirvana of omnichannel

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There’s a profound shift unfolding right now in the way retail technologies are assessed, implemented and integrated. And the primary force behind this upheaval is changing consumer expectations for a “phygital” shopping experience.  

Many retailers have had to take a ‘just get something done’ approach to creating seamless customer experiences that span digital and physical channels. Now they’re struggling with omnichannel set-ups that only link systems together and can’t keep pace with changing consumer behaviours.   

Many also face a technology cliff, with legacy solutions so old that they’re no longer fit for purpose or unable to support their phygital ambitions.  

In addition, around 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data to create the omnichannel experiences consumers now expect.  

But omnichannel should not be the end goal. It’s just one approach to getting a single view of your customers that will help you deliver unified experiences.  

Instead, a unified commerce approach will break down your channel silos and move your retail business toward the holy grail of holistic, real-time, personalised customer experiences spanning in-store, online and everywhere in between.  

To help explain why unified commerce is the nirvana of omnichannel, here’s a look at where we are now and where we’re going. 

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Multi-channel

To keep pace with new technologies and changing consumer demands, retailers are giving customers access to new mobile and online channels. In a multi-channel approach, each touchpoint and channel operates independently, with separate people, processes and technologies existing in functional silos.  

But when you only add and don’t actually integrate new channels with the rest of your organisation, you create bad service experiences that frustrate internal teams and customers.  

Silos mean that your customers have to deal with inconsistencies and gaps, such as incomplete sales histories, different tones of voice or having to start conversations afresh in each channel. These silos inevitably lead to disappointment and frustration, a lack of trust and even a sense that your organisation is incompetent. 

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Omnichannel

With an omnichannel approach, you’re connecting numerous backend systems so that customers can seamlessly interact with your brand. However, your channels are still operating in functional silos.  

That means most attempts to offer unified experiences fall short.   

You’re likely to be struggling with legacy technologies that have been customised and are infrequently updated, and then you bolt on new solutions that don’t easily integrate. These omnichannel systems are fragile, inefficient and costly to maintain.  

And things can easily unravel. Adding new channels and tools requires additional custom integrations that are complex and slow, adding significant costs and curbing the agility and scalability you require. 

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Unified commerce 

Unified commerce provides a central hub that breaks down the silos between channels and backend systems to deliver truly seamless experiences, while also solving omnichannel’s biggest weakness – operational complexity. Rather than building custom integrations to unify different systems, you can easily use all the tools and services within a single unified platform.  

With a unified commerce approach, you can achieve retail nirvana by creating immersive and frictionless experiences for customers across all channels, touchpoints and locations. It gives you a single source of truth for inventory, order and customer data. With this one view of the customer, and all channels and engagement points connected in real-time, you can deliver a personalised and consistent customer experience.   

You can also quickly respond to changing customer expectations and new technologies by using microservices and APIs to expose data and connect third-party services.  

Unified commerce has been a game changer for our clients.  

It eliminates the customer journey pain points and amplifies the ‘wow’ moments. Now you can treat each customer as an individual, all the time – one person with one account, interacting with one brand.    

Unified commerce can benefit your business in many ways:  

1. Simplify your technology 

   A single commerce platform gives you a leaner and more flexible architecture to deliver greater agility, increased efficiency, more control and cost savings.  

2. Accelerate speed to market  

   These improvements in IT efficiency and flexibility let you launch new tools and services to meet business demands and start seeing revenue benefits faster.  

3. Optimise inventory and availability  

   Your most significant benefit will be increased sales generated by ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels).   

4. Boost in-store productivity and sales  

   By arming your store staff with the right customer data and tools, combined with AI-driven recommendations, they can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store.   

5. Personalise your customer experience  

   With a holistic view of your customers, you can better plan your pricing and promotion strategies and get the right offer or message to the right customer, at the right time and right place.   

6. Create relevant and agile experiences 

   With a single source of truth and powerful analytics, you can turn large amounts of data from disparate sources into insights that help you to attract and engage customers in new ways and improve your bottom line.  

The result is the ability to deliver the personal, ubiquitous and unified experiences your customers expect, fostering loyalty, driving growth and improving profitability. 

This post was originally published on 3 March 2020 and updated on 08 August 2024.

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Want help to plan your next steps? 

We can help you define your goals, develop a business case and create your roadmap to deliver the unified experiences that are best for customers, and most profitable for you. Get in touch. 

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:  

New in Infinity – August 2024

Here’s new functionality across the Infinity platform that will help you and your team unify physical and digital channels to provide the convenience, speed and variety customers now demand. 

Infinity is a modular platform and you may need additional components or licencing to access some functionality.  

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INFINITY API

Expand purchasing options using Products API 

The Products API now lets you retrieve information relating to alternate suppliers. This is useful if you ordinarily buy a product from one supplier but there are alternatives. So, for example, if you are a convenience retailer who ordinarily purchases Coke 355ml cans from Coca-Cola, you can use this new functionality to purchase them from a local supermarket or wholesale distributor.  

Filter product search results by purchasing rules 

The Products Search API now lets you restrict the scope of your search based on the product's purchasing rules, ensuring that products that should not be purchased are not returned in search results. 

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INVENTORY

Streamline reporting and ordering with custom item searching 

You can now use additional custom fields to search for items, meaning you can search the inventory using criteria that make the most sense for your business and allowing you to better target item searching. Taking full advantage of this change will reduce the need for more complex reporting and allow you to make more informed stock ordering decisions.  

Protect profits with enhanced PO receipting details 

We’ve enhanced the information you see when receipting purchase orders by optionally adding the target gross profit margin (TGPM) and the current gross profit margin (CGPM) to the receipting screen. Having these details front and centre allows you to make timely updates to retail pricing and to protect against an unexpected reduction in profit.   

Manage refunds efficiently by restricting open department returns 

If you use Infinity’s extended returns function, you can now optionally block the return of open department items. This means you won’t have to accept the return of products that you can’t easily on-sell to other customers. It’s also useful if you manage the refunds for those items outside Infinity, such as direct from supplier. 

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ORDER MANAGEMENT

Expand printing options for Pacific region’s TaxCore documents 

Businesses in the Pacific that use Infinity’s TaxCore registration module now have more flexibility in choosing how to print relevant documents. The latest enhancement allows you to print traditional order and quote documents to A4, while still using a thermal printer for all other documentation.  

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CUSTOMERS & LOYALTY

Speed up sales transaction reviews with customer names displayed 

We’ve streamlined how you can use the Sales and Credits function to monitor customer transactions by adding customers’ first and last names to the information displayed. This saves you having to manually search by customer code if you want to identify the person involved in a transaction, improving the time it takes to investigate a range of sales activity.  

Customise CPL discounts at branch and sale levels 

Fuel businesses with cents-per-litre (CPL) discounting programmes now have even more flexibility in shaping the offerings. You can allow customers to redeem their discount even if a transaction is below the minimum spend. You can also operate save and spend options on a branch-by-branch basis, so that one branch might allow customers to save or spend their discounts, while another might allow them to spend and not save.   

Additionally, you can choose to discount only the first fuel line in the sale up to the maximum volume regardless how many fuel lines are in the sale, or to discount all fuel lines in the sale up to the maximum volume. Where multiple lines are discounted, the discounts are applied based on the line volume in the order they are added to the sale. 

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PRICING & PROMOTIONS

Quickly calculate profits for single product promotions 

If you use rules based pricing to run single product promotions, you can now quickly and easily identify an item’s gross profit based on those promotions. Note that this excludes items offered as part of an active multi-product, multi-buy product set, such as buy-two-get-one-free.  

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POINT OF SALE

IStreamline cash handling with recycler dispensing capability 

Businesses that use Infinity’s cash recycler integration can now dispense notes and/or coins from the cash recycler machine, further streamlining your cash-handling tasks and giving you the ability to use the recycler in the same way as a cash drawer for things such as petty cash.   

Accelerate item searches for faster sales 

If you use our advanced item search function with a large number of items and pricing rules, you’ll find we’ve enhanced the speed at which search results are returned, allowing you to complete sales more quickly and offer a more seamless customer experience.    

Provide unique customer booking numbers with agency module 

If your business sells products on behalf of a principal, you can now use Infinity’s agency module to provide a compact, unique and incrementing booking number to customers.

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TECHNOLOGY

Improve resilience of Infinity environment with new endpoint additions 

Two new health endpoints have been added to the Infinity API suite to enable you to monitor issues. Calling the Orchestration Service endpoint gives you detailed information of any issues with the API services running on the API server, while calling the Sync Service endpoint allows you to get the status of the service and the underlying processors to assist with monitoring the Infinity environment.  

Simplify back office rebuilds using new command line tool 

A new command line tool lets your ICE trained engineers resolve table linking issues following a Back Office rebuild without having to do a re-synchronisation of each POS terminal. Contact us to find out more about the minimum requirements you need to have installed in order to use this tool.  

Streamline web pricing service with automated DLL Loading 

The Web Pricing Service upgrade has been streamlined by automatically loading the latest DLL that matches the installed Core major database version. This removes the need for manual intervention in renaming the latest DLL and reduces the risk of failure if this step is missed.    

Support extended email address lengths 

Infinity Messaging now supports email address lengths that comply with RFC1035.

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To find out more about any of these enhancements and add them to your Infinity platform, contact us. 

If you’d like to get our regular ‘New in Infinity’ updates in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter.

6 omnichannel retail painpoints unified commerce solves

With rising customer expectations for a cohesive and consistent shopping experience, many retailers have hit a wall because their omnichannel efforts can’t meet today’s retail demands. Here Kelly Brown describes six major challenges you will face in omnichannel retail, and how to solve them.

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Customers today are delightfully unreasonable, and expect to transact when, where and however they want. They don’t care how you achieve it and will reward you if you have it - or shop elsewhere if you don’t. 

Retailers are responding by building a customer-centric approach to retail, using technology and experiences to enhance the brand, drive sales and grow loyalty.  

However, it’s complicated.  

Many omnichannel retail solutions can look smooth on the surface but have rough patches underneath. They include legacy solutions that are no longer fit for purpose, and channels operating in functional silos. Things can easily unravel.  

And when 75% of retailers are unable to connect their online and in-store transaction data, most struggle to create a unified user experience that traverses easily between online and offline channels.  

If you’re looking at how to keep pace with changing customer expectations, here are the most common challenges retailers face as they build their omnichannel systems, and how they can be remedied with a unified commerce approach. 

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1

Inventory that isn’t real time

Managing inventory is a retailer’s biggest challenge — no matter their size. It’s also the biggest cost. Many retailers launched digital commerce channels without getting their inventory right and can only access rudimentary sales and inventory positions. That prevents them from offering the ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ options that are best for customers and most profitable for them.  

The solution: Optimise inventory and availability  

One of the most compelling benefits of unified commerce is a single view of stock across all stores and DCs. This means you can quickly see where inventory is and therefore the fastest place to fulfil from. You’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and get products to customers faster. And you’ll increase sales by using ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels).  

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2

Blending physical and digital experiences 

Services such as click-and-collect, ship-from-store, find-in-store and returns anywhere are all just table stakes today. Many retailers implemented quick-fixes to swiftly get new capabilities up-and-running, but now need a long-term unified solution to connect backend systems and deliver the omnichannel experiences customers expect. 

The solution: Create relevant and agile experiences 

With a unified inventory you can increase your purchasing, ordering and fulfilment options to provide customers with frictionless experiences and access to your entire range from any location. A single platform gives everyone across channels and stores the ability to view all customer touchpoints in real time. And you can extend your range across more sales channels such as in-store kiosks, shoppable screens, pop-up stores, concessions and mobile devices. 

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3

Obtaining a single view of the customer  

Today consumers don’t think in terms of channels. They now expect a “one-brand” experience that lets them shop at any time, using any channel, from any device, at the best price. But if you’ve got siloed backend systems and processes that mean your customers must deal with inconsistencies and gaps, you simply cannot offer a seamless customer experience.  

The solution: Personalise your customer experience  

The ability to see each customer’s shopping preferences and purchase history across all channels is critical for building personalised shopping experiences. With a unified commerce platform providing a holistic view of your customers, you can better plan your pricing and promotion strategies and get the right offer or message to the right customer, at the right time and right place. By creating remarkable customer experiences that meet or even exceed consumer expectations, you can ensure customers return, again and again. 

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4

Integrating data silos

Retailers use multiple customer-facing and back-office systems, spanning POS, mobile apps, inventory management, ecommerce, CRM, fulfilment, finance, marketing and more. Often loosely connected with manual processes and custom integrations, these omnichannel solutions are fragile, inefficient and costly to maintain. 

The solution: Lower cost of ownership 

A single commerce platform gives you a leaner and more flexible architecture that reduces the need for reconciliation and manual processes to maintain and manage data and functions, and there is only one system to secure. Exposing data and functions (rather than moving and replicating them) makes integration faster and standards-based, improving efficiency, decreasing errors and increasing accuracy. Third parties can easily plug in, building the ecosystem of retail software, tools, resources and devices you can add and change to match your business needs.  

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5

Adding modern technologies and capabilities  

To keep pace with consumer demands for omnichannel services, retailers need to create and deploy new apps, services and channels. However, connecting legacy systems with modern technologies requires custom integrations, and creating new brand experiences is complex, costly, time consuming and risky.  

The solution: Accelerate speed to market  

With a single platform, there’s less work required to plug in and implement new functions across channels, test cycles are reduced, and you’ll use development capacity more effectively. You can run experiments to test new customer experience innovations and easily move the successful experiments into enterprise-wide operations. These improvements in IT efficiency and flexibility let you launch new tools and services to meet business demands and start seeing revenue benefits faster. 

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6

Unifying employee experiences 

After years of underinvestment, many retailers are playing catch-up with the employee experience. Their stores often lack the tools and systems that enable their people to deliver the relevant and personalised customer experiences that match online shopping’s price, speed and convenience.  

The solution: Boost in-store productivity and sales

By arming your store staff with the right customer data and tools, combined with AI-driven recommendations, they can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store. You’ll enhance customer interactions, improve the employee experience and increase conversions.  

This blog was originally published on 13 December 2022 and updated 20 May 2024

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Can you keep up with your customers’ expectations? 

Retailers are unifying their backend systems to create the seamless and convenient experiences customers now expect. If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your physical and digital experiences, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the ability to create a compelling in-store experience harmonised with a digital offering for competitive advantage.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

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New in Infinity – April 2024

Here’s new functionality across the Infinity platform that will help you and your team reduce operational complexity and create a differentiated omnichannel customer experience.

Infinity is a modular platform and you may need additional components or licencing to access some functionality.  

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PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Simplify item data updates to Wedderburn Scales at POS

Businesses using supported Wedderburn scales at the Point of Sale can now send updated item data to the scales via the Atria Wedge software automatically using Windows Task Scheduler, saving you the time and effort involved in updating pricing and other data manually. If you run the Wedderburn integration at the Head Office, price updates made using the Batch Updates function will also be sent to the scales.

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INVENTORY

Enhance efficiency of EDI purchase orders

We’ve improved purchase ordering using EDI files by allowing you to identify suppliers that can be sent purchase orders plus items that can be ordered using this method, so you won’t waste time and risk stock shortages by sending EDI orders to the wrong supplier or by ordering products not on EDI.

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ORDER MANAGEMENT

Streamline order documents for debtor customer accounts

You now have the option of customising your A4 customer order documents by suppressing the payment section. This feature reduces visual clutter on the documents when you process orders for debtor customers who pay on account.

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CUSTOMERS & LOYALTY

Meet privacy law obligations by anonymising inactive customer data

As part of our programme of giving you options for managing your Personal Identifiable Information (PII) risk, we’ve developed a Windows service that anonymises information for inactive loyalty customers. The Infinity Loyalty Anonymisation Service allows you to anonymise inactive customers’ personal details held in the Loyalty database, as well as details of their order deliveries. It will also delete any messages that were sent to inactive loyalty customers using Infinity Messaging.

Simplify management of fuel discount programmes

If your fuel business operates a cents-per-litre discount (CPL) programme, you can now require that customers spend their CPL balance when they buy fuel, instead of allowing them to choose whether to save or spend it. You can also set a minimum amount a customer has to spend before the CPL discount applies. This simplified offering has the advantage of lowering the overhead involved in managing stored balances while still giving your customers the benefit of fuel savings.

Reduce fuel sales leakage with secure refund options

Fuel businesses wanting to support their commercial customers in reducing fuel sales leakages can now require that refunds be made to a credit card or fuel card instead of to cash or another media. Note that this feature requires the Vault payment and extended returns modules in order to work.

Improve auditing of manual fuel discounting

Your Head Office staff can now add a note when manually adjusting a cent-per-litre fuel balance, allowing you to view and audit the reasons why balances are being adjusted in your business.

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POINT OF SALE

Improve customer experience with faster age validation checks

If you use Infinity’s advanced age check function to make sure you’re complying with legal age requirements when serving customers, you’ll find we’ve made age validation quicker and easier, improving the customer experience and speeding up sales processing at busy times.

Improve permissions for manual fuel price changes at POS

We’ve made some enhancements to the way fuel price changes can be made at the Point of Sale to minimise the chance of the wrong price being applied. You can now use permissions to determine who can make manual price changes, and you can set a maximum amount in cents by which a fuel grade can be manually adjusted.

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REPORTS & ANALYTICS

Identify irregularities in fuel prepay sales and refunds

Fuel businesses can use the new Fuel Prepay Refund Report to spot irregularities in the payment medias used in prepay sales and refunds. So, for example, you can see if a prepay fuel card was used to purchase fuel but the refund was processed as cash. It complements the new functionality that requires refunds to be made to credit or fuel cards (see above), but it applies only to prepay sales made using those cards.

Improve financial compensation for stores running fuel discounts

The CPL Redemptions Report gives your stores and head office staff an understanding of cents-per-litre discounts that have been paid out as a way of supporting financial processes tied to discounts and financial compensation. Stores can use it to see what they have paid out in CPL discounts, while head office can use it to audit store activity, and make sure that stores are being adequately compensated for those payouts.

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MOBILE

Infinity quotes and orders app

The Infinity Quotes and Orders mobile app (iOS and Android) has been retired from the product suite as at end of May, 2024. 

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To find out more about any of these enhancements and add them to your Infinity platform, contact us. 

If you’d like to get our regular ‘New in Infinity’ updates in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter.

How a single view of customer and inventory data translates to happier customers

How do you keep up with customer expectations when consumer demands are rising – and often shifting?  

As inflation and cost-of-living increases put pressure on consumer spending, shoppers are becoming more discerning and deliberate, rapidly switching between brands in the search for what they want. 

That’s why customer retention has become an important strategy for retailers wanting to capture market share and maximise profits. Retaining customers costs less than acquiring new ones, and returning customers are more likely to spend than new customers.  

By taking the time to develop relationships with customers, provide excellent service, reward loyalty and stay connected, businesses can retain customers and drive sustainable growth.  

But at a time when only 25% of retailers can connect their online and in-store transaction data, many retailers struggle to deliver the unified experiences they need to meet customers where they are now.  

Unified commerce solves this by unifying online and store experiences with back-end systems so you can attract, scale and earn the most from loyal customers. It’s now retail’s top priority, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to make their businesses stronger, smarter and ready for the future.   

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So how does a single source of truth translate to better customer satisfaction and retention?  

If your retail management system has been built up organically and relies on complex dependencies, you’ll know how difficult, slow and expensive it can be to integrate with modern technologies and create new customer experiences.  

A unified commerce platform can take that pain away. It bypasses the limitations of legacy and omnichannel systems by breaking down the walls between internal channel silos, using a centralised commerce platform that combines point of sale, inventory, ordering and fulfilment, loyalty, pricing and business intelligence.  

With one platform, you gain the single source of truth that gives you real-time visibility of your customer, inventory and fulfilment data across all your stores and channels.   

You can offer customers the easy purchase, convenient delivery and stress-free return options they want, while recognising and rewarding the shopping they do with you.   

Here’s how: 

Optimise inventory and availability 

Infinity lets you consolidate your inventory from all locations – warehouses, call centres and physical, mobile and online stores – and make it available for customers to buy anywhere, at any time. You can extend your range across more channels - marketplaces, in-store kiosks, shoppable screens, pop-up stores, concessions and mobile devices. And you’ll reduce costs, cut stock requirements and increase margins. 

Fulfil orders the way customers want 

When your data is unified, you can offer a range of fulfilment options no matter what channel an order comes in from. Click-and-collect, store-to-door delivery, drop shipping, returns anywhere and ‘endless aisle’ fulfilment are all possible. You get to choose what’s best for customers and most profitable for you. 

Reward customer loyalty 

It’s getting harder and more expensive to get a clear picture of customer activity and behaviours as more customers opt out of being tracked. However, loyalty programs offer a compelling reason for consumers to identify themselves in-store and online. With customer details captured and stored in single unified commerce hub, you can recognise customers consistently, wherever they shop with you. Using that data and Infinity’s loyalty capabilities, you’ll know which customers are most profitable and what their preferences are. Your store teams can view this information to offer personalised service and encourage conversion at point of sale. 

Localise pricing and promotions 

Pricing is shared across channels so customers can trust that they’ll see the same price whether they shop with you in-store or online. You can make better decisions about store product assortments, by matching breadth and depth to demand, trends and local demographics. And by customising products, prices and promotions nationally, regionally and even by individual sites, you’ll increase conversions and maximise profits. 

React smarter and faster to demand changes 

Using APIs on an open platform, you can expose data in real time, rather than replicate or move it. That lets you add specialised functionality across various systems and provides a fast and easy way to plug in and deploy new services, channels and devices. You’ll innovate quicker, keep up with customer demands and build your competitive advantage.  

This blog was originally published on 17 March 2020 and updated 28 February 2024

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See what a single source of truth can do for your customer retention!  

If you want to unify your data to offer a seamless blend of physical and digital customer experiences, contact us to get started. 

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:  

What is unified commerce and why is it so important to retail success?

As more sales channels and touchpoints emerge, the customer journey from awareness to purchase becomes more complex. Customers want to hop between channels in one seamless interaction. They want more options and less friction.  

That means retailers need a strategy that lets customers shop, buy and receive goods how, when and wherever they want. 

The only way to meet demands for a truly unified experience is to move to a unified commerce approach that delivers seamless customer journeys across all channels, touchpoints and locations. 

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Unified commerce is the term used for a retail software platform that provides a central hub for data from every system and channel across your organisation.  

It breaks down the walls between channel silos to deliver frictionless customer experiences, while reducing integration and operating costs, and increasing efficiency and accuracy. 

At a time when only 25% of retailers are able to connect their online and in-store transaction data it’s gaining momentum, with 20% of retailers heavily investing in it, 32% beginning to invest and 36% considering doing so. Retailers who use unified commerce have seen a solid 7% revenue boost over those who did not. And Australian retailers can tap into a $44 billion opportunity when they connect online and in-store sales channels via unified commerce.  

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So what exactly is unified commerce?

Unified commerce is a retail management system that unifies all your customer and inventory data on one open, centralised commerce platform that exposes one version of truth to all channels.  

That means all your data stays in sync – across point of sale, websites, apps, call centres, field staff, DCs and warehouses, kiosks, pop-up stores, concessions and marketplaces – and transactions can be viewed in near real time.  

With all these customer touch points connected, unified commerce lets you deliver a holistic and personalised customer experience more consistently. You can make purchasing online and in-stores more seamless and convenient through endless aisle, digital payments and ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ services. And you can treat each customer as the individual they are – one person with one account, interacting with one unified brand. 

A unified commerce platform also helps you and your technology partners innovate quickly, maximise margin and deploy new services – efficiently and profitably. 

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Here’s how unified commerce helps you retail better

Optimise inventory and availability 

When you have an accurate, real-time view of your inventory, you can quickly see where inventory is and therefore the fastest place to fulfil from. You can increase sales by using ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels). You’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and get products to customers faster.  

Fulfil orders the way customers want 

With a ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ strategy and centralised unified commerce platform, you can give customers and staff real-time visibility of inventory, order and customer data across the business. That means you can offer a range of fulfilment options like click-and-collect, ship-from-store and split shipments – whatever suits your customers best.   

Attract, scale and retain loyal customers 

You can capture customer details for your loyalty program via any channel and then analyse purchase and browsing histories to develop the personalised experiences customers now expect, with rewards and offers that are timely and relevant. Store and call centre employees can also see this information to offer tailored services and encourage conversions at the point of sale. 

Localise pricing and promotions 

Pricing is shared across channels so customers can trust that they’ll see the same price whether they shop with you in-store or online. You can make better decisions about store product assortments, by matching breadth and depth to demand, trends and local demographics. And by customising products, prices and promotions nationally, regionally and even by individual sites, you’ll increase conversions and maximise profits.   

React smarter and faster to demand changes 

Using APIs on an open platform, you can expose data in real time, rather than replicate or move it. That lets you add specialised functionality across various systems and provides a fast and easy way to plug in and deploy new services, channels and devices. You’ll innovate quicker, increase speed to market and build your competitive advantage. 

This blog was originally published on 13 January 2020 and updated 2 February 2024

If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your sales, service and marketing channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the ability to create unified retail experiences for competitive advantage.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook: