ATLANTA, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In continuing evidence of its leadership as an enterprise software provider of choice in the worldwide retail sector, SAP AG today announced further strides in advancing the integrated retail point-of-sale (POS) solutions that are helping retailers around the world boost sales in a highly competitive market. In addition to completing the integration of Triversity POS solutions into the SAP for Retail portfolio, SAP is expanding its successful global alliance with IBM to jointly provide an industry-leading enterprise-level POS solution. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE(R) '07, SAP's international customer conference, being held in Atlanta, Georgia, April 22 - 25.
In the ultra-competitive retail space, retailers must provide a differentiated shopping experience and greater operational efficiencies. To achieve these objectives while also managing both the customer experience in the store and the overall retail business process, an integrated enterprise POS system is critical. Enhanced point-of-service features, including accurate and timely data about customer demand, multi-language/multi-currency support and secure, integrated returns processing combined with seamless integration into core merchandising and supply chain processes, give retailers using SAP software an unparalleled ability to understand their customers, anticipate and respond to demand and inspire loyalty and brand differentiation.
A growing number of retailers worldwide are utilizing POS applications from SAP. U.S. retailer Kenneth Cole Productions, Canada-based The Beer Store and international luxury travel retailer DFS Group are among the retailers benefiting from SAP's integrated software to improve store performance and customer service while providing a quality shopping experience for their customers.
Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., a world-leading designer and retailer of footwear, handbags and accessories, is one of the latest customers to deploy the integrated POS software from SAP. The POS implementation went live in all U.S. Kenneth Cole stores this year.
"Since the go-live in March, we have been able to enhance our customer's shopping experience and increase our visibility into customer behavior through a faster and easier system," said Harry Kubetz, COO, Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. "With the go-live of the SAP Merchandising system this summer, we will be able to seamlessly link our corporate activities with customer behavior, delivering a differentiating shopping experience that aligns merchandise mix and promotional activity with our insight into customer demand."
SAP and IBM Expand Joint Offering
SAP and IBM have expanded their global alliance to offer an industry leading enterprise-level POS solution embedded with IBM's Store Integration Framework. The IBM Store Integration Framework encompasses a seamless set of middleware technologies, packaged specifically for retail, that integrates all devices and applications. It provides bundled, enterprise-class software and services that are pre-integrated, packaged and configured to help retailers attract more customers, increase customer loyalty, gain increased sales from larger shopping baskets and increase the productivity of employees.
SAP for Retail offers retailers an innovative, enterprise-based retail POS solution that allows deploying functionality at corporate and local store level. Configuration and software updates are instantly synchronized with all POS workstations without an intervening layer of administration. The joint SAP and IBM offering provides retailers with pre-packaged solutions at a lower cost. One of the features of the easy-to-install solution from SAP and IBM is remote POS monitoring. POS software from SAP with embedded IBM Store Integration Framework is available as a standalone solution or as an integrated offering with the SAP for Retail solution portfolio.
Retailers Benefit from Enhanced SAP Point-of-Sale Solution
One of the early adopters of the joint offering from SAP and IBM is DFS Group, the world's leading luxury retailer for international travelers, which implemented POS software from SAP and IBM Store Integration Framework across stores in Japan, China and Guam, with plans to enter more countries later this year. By utilizing POS applications from SAP, which are integrated with IBM Store Integration Framework, DFS Group has created a seamless and convenient shopping experience for customers in its airport and Galleria locations.
Another adopter of POS software from SAP is The Beer Store, the primary distribution and sales channel for beer in Ontario, Canada, offering more than 330 beer brands from over 75 brewers worldwide. The Canadian retailer is planning on rolling out the new solution in 200 of its stores in 2007. The implementation will help The Beer Store enhance its positioning in the highly competitive beverages market in Canada by improving ability for real-time inventory visibility for marketing initiatives. The Beer Store is proud of its 80-year history of social responsibility and environmental leadership including its bottle deposit-return system and commitment to recover 100 percent of beer packaging, as well as all wine and spirit containers through the new Ontario Deposit Return Program. One of the advantages of utilizing SAP software is that The Beer Store can better monitor its bottle return systems, setting another standard of corporate social responsibility through the use of innovative technology for the industry.
"True integration of point-of-sale transactions into the enterprise has always been at the center of store operations, and SAP is leading the way," said Rick Chavie, senior vice president of Industry Solution Management, Trading, SAP AG. "SAP offers the only truly integrated POS solution on the market that seamlessly connects what happens at the register to enterprise business processes. Not only is it an integrated and scalable solution -- from one to thousands of stores -- it also provides the most economical platform for future innovation and growth, assuring the functionality is in place for retailers to offer a differentiated shopping experience that inspires customers to shop with the retailer again and again."
POS Systems Rise to Supermodel Status in North America
According to a new study by IHL Consulting Group, a global research and advisory firm for technologies deployed in the retail and hospitality industries, North American retailers will spend $5.8 billion on POS systems in 2007.
"Retailers continue to see the POS as more than just a method for accurately recording sales," said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting Group. "Added functionality at the POS, through capabilities like customer returns, inventory look-up, or workforce management, help retailers see POS as the central system in the store."
About SAP for Retail
SAP for Retail is a solution portfolio that helps retailers understand their business, anticipate the needs of their business and inspire their customers, employees and shareholders by delivering results. The portfolio comprises an end-to-end set of retail solutions; demand management, merchandise management, sourcing and buying, supply chain, customer shopping experience and enterprise management which covers HR and finance solutions. SAP for Retail helps retailers of all sizes to create shopping experiences that their customers will want again and again, by providing the ability to make the right decisions quickly and profitably (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/retail/).
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP(R) applications -- from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.
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