Home > Resources > Articles > Hilco flies in HMV savior Ian Topping to help turnaround Homebase

Hilco flies in HMV savior Ian Topping to help turnaround Homebase

HMV’s former chief executive Ian Topping has been brought in by Homebase in the hopes he can deliver a turnaround.Topping has been appointed as non-executive chairman by Homebase’s owner Hilco Capital, which also owns HMV.It is hoped that Topping can repeat the turnaround he brought about at HMV, taking the company from near collapse back to profitability during his five-year tenure as chief executive.The embattled DIY retailer was purchased by Hilco Capital in June for just £1 after a disastrous attempt by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmer’s to use it as a springboard into the UK market. After purchasing the company in 2016, Wesfarmers began to convert Homebase stores to its Bunnings fascia, resulting in a loss on the disposal of between £200 million to £230 million and forcing it to jump ship and sell the UK arm of company to Hilco for £1.

Spotlight

Bershka

Bershka was set up in 1998 as an innovative fashion retail concept that targets young fashion oriented customers. There are currently more than 1000 stores in over 70 markets.

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POS Solutions, Ecommerce Merchandising

Adapting to the changing times

Article | June 7, 2024

Retailers are rapidly adapting their businesses as covid-19 continues to hinder sales. The most successful are shifting towards online experiential retail. As a business owner, you’re probably hearing a lot of ways that small businesses can adapt to the changing times. The most common that we’ve seen are: Move your store online, or improve your online sales processes. Offer on-the-go product deals Shift product focus to hands-on usage and activities. While these are definitely great starting points, they aren’t really specific to any industry. We’ll cover different ways you can adapt your retail business using the tools from right within your Erply account. We’ll even cover examples specific to a variety of industries so you can be inspired to change up or improve your covid-19 sales strategies. The strategy: Adapting your retail business Retail adaptation can seem overwhelming at first, especially if you’ve never undergone large-scale product changes before. A good place to start to is to think: what would you want to see in a retailer during the covid-19 shutdown? Think about yourself as a consumer, not a store owner. Life might be slowing down, but it’s not coming to a standstill — you probably want to find more ways to maintain safe, healthy protocols when shopping for necessities, looking for gifts, or seeking entertainment. As a retailer, your customers will be looking to you for ways to do all of these, while also minimizing the risk of coming into contact with covid-19. There are plenty of creative ways to shift your business offerings to fit these fast-changing times. We’ll first give examples of how your existing Erply tools can be used to adapt your business, then will cover industry-specific examples. Create special deals Remember, short-term value translates into long-term customer relationships! Loyalty points Looking to boost sales without discounting your products? Try offering loyalty points at an increased rate to encourage shopper support during covid-19. Loyalty programs are a great way to encourage repeat business by incentivizing customers to repeatedly choose your store over competitors in exchange for rewards. Bundles and assemblies Product bundles and assemblies can be used to sell items together in a group. Product bundles can be used to sell large items together at a slightly discounted price or to help sell slow-moving inventory. Think subscription boxes, holiday-themed gift sets, or even items commonly purchased together. Promotions Seasonal, event-based, or brand collaborations; there’s never a bad time for a sales promotion! They’re a great way to encourage customer sales by offering enticing product discounts. Erply’s powerful promotions builder enables you to set up flat discounts, percent discounts, BOGO-type deals, and more. Price lists An alternative to promotions, price lists allow you to create highly specific discounts for any sales campaign. Price lists can target specific product groups, store locations, or even customer segments (think VIP pricing). Coupons Coupons can offer one-time, redeemable rewards. They tie into promotions, but aren’t available to every customer, only the ones who have a coupon or a coupon code. Improve customer service Customer service is more than just employee-to-customer interaction; it also includes accessibility and streamlined shopping. Buy online, pickup in-store Offer flexible, health-conscious ways for your customers to purchase products in your store. Our e-commerce options allow customers to buy products online, then purchase them in-store. Flexible retail tools mean you can offer a variety of pickup order options that suit the needs of you and your customers. Purchases can be paid in full, partially paid, or can be paid once the customer arrives for pickup. Offline mode for sales anywhere Covid-19 regulations might mean that you’re not able to sell out of your store as you normally would. Maybe you need to make sales on-the-go or from an outside location. Erply’s offline POS ensures that all sales are accounted for, even if you have no internet access. Once connection resumes, all sales data will sync up to your back office to keep your records accurate. The ability to make sales and perform basic POS actions without wifi connection means you can think up creative ways to service your customers outside of your physical store. Contactless payments Depending on your payment hardware, you may be able to accept contactless payments like NFC tap-to-pay, ApplePay, GooglePay, and SamsungPay. This allows you to offer flexible payment options for your customers, while also protecting them (and your employees) from physical contact. See if you own a contactless payment-enabled device. E-commerce for paid online classes and services Webstores are a great opportunity to boost sales when your physical store locations are closed or operating at limited capacity. Can’t sell your products in-store? Try demoing them online instead. Maybe you occasionally host in-store events. Those can be moved to the web, with an e-commerce solution to help you keep track of attendance (online passes can be sold for $0, if needed!) Right now, you can get set up with Shopify, WooCommerce, or ShopZ. Remote payments If you’re offering curbside pickup or phone orders, you can charge customers remotely through your payment processor. This can be done for curbside pickup phone orders, deliveries, or other unique payment processes that you might be implementing. Right now, customers using Global Payments (formally TSYS, Cayan) as their payment processor have access to theGenius Vault to charge customers remotely. Recurring billing If you’re setting up subscription services, you might want to set up recurring billing in your Erply account. Recurring billing automatically creates product invoices at set increments, which can be billed for any predetermined length of time. Erply does the hard work for you so you can focus on servicing your customers. Industry-specific retail adaptation ideas Below, we’ll list some industry-specific ideas on how you can adapt your retail business to the changing times. Be sure to check out all of the sections, even if an industry does not match your business, you might gain inspiration on how certain ideas can be adapted to your specific store! Most, if not all of these ideas can be implemented online or in-store. Be sure to contact our team if you need e-commerce set up on your Erply account, Remember, although people are spending more time indoors, those numbers will decrease as states open up and as the weather improves. Try to envision how your products can be used outdoors or during seasonal events while still adhering to social distancing policies. Fireworks stores Areas particularly affected by stay-at-home orders are seeing an increase in one-off fireworks usage, This will, of course, only increase as the weather warms up and we inch closer to summer holidays. Recommend setting up fireworks bundles to encourage sales, to new and existing customers. Starter packs can be used to help sell slower moving items and introduce new audiences to your store.. Depending on your state’s fireworks regulations, you might also want to set up subscription boxes, or a “fireworks of the month” bundle. Customers can pick up a box each month or sign up for delivery. Both options can take advantage of contactless payments or recurring billing. Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of promotions and coupons during those summer holidays to increase sales! Gardening stores Quarantined or not, your green-thumbed customers will still be looking for your expertise on plant care and gardening tips. We recommend providing online gardening classes with Q&A sessions. These can be paid for in your online store, which may also encourage customers to make additional online purposes. You also can set up bundle and assembly products in your Erply account to create planter kits or herb sets. Some gardening stores have been offering creative options too, such as a paint your own planter kit. Sports stores Sporting events might be cancelled, but that doesn’t mean your customers won’t have a need for your merchandise in the future. Warm weather encourages at-home practice, even if full on competitions are off the table. Now is a great time to take advantage of sales and coupons to keep inventory moving in preparation for season reopenings. These can come bundled with online training classes that give customers tips and tricks for different sport techniques, stretches, etc. Online video game sporting alternatives, like NBA 2K and FIFA, can be used to keep your customers engaged with your brand. Try partnering with local schools or recreational leagues to form online brackets, then charge online entry fees for players looking to participate. Arts and crafts shops The arts have seen a huge boom during state-wide quarantines. From therapeutic activities to creating artwork that supports good causes, such as Healthcare Heros or Rainbow Hunt, there’s a place for craft shops in every home. You might also want to consider bundling items that can be used to create drive-by signage. Online classes or video tutorials are a popular indoor activity that you can sell to your customers through an online webshop. Maybe your shop hosted paint and sip nights. You can either take these to the web, or provide customers with resources and ideas to host their own. Apparel stores Did you know that the color red is the hardest color to capture on photo and video? As more and more people adjust to working from home, promotions and coupons can be used to highlight webcam-friendly clothing and accessories. If you want to take on a more hands-on response to covid-19, you can try to repurpose inventory items to create protective face masks. What’s more, you can offer online classes on how to transform different clothing items into face masks. All of the above can be done using a basic e-commerce platform! Beauty brands Wellness is a huge focus during these coronavirus times, which means you can attract new customers by offering different wellness-themed bundles and packages. You may want to set up subscription boxes using Erply’s recurring billing tools. Brainstorm creative ideas for your products, such as webcam beauty tips for women and men. Bonus points if you can partner with actual customers or a local influencer and work a creative social hashtag to build a sense of community. You can even use coupon codes to encourage more of these sales, and commission an influencer from right within Erply.

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POS Retail

How field research can help retailers reach untapped sales opportunities

Article | May 10, 2024

When you think of field research, you might think of an archeologist bent over a dig site investigating civilizations from the past, excavating the terrain and sifting out important artifacts. In marketing, field research is also about the study of the human experience and uncovering those important pieces of knowledge — but as they pertain to your business. Field research can give you insights into your customers' pain points, what they need to solve their problems, their thoughts on how your product helps or even what where they feel your services might be improved.

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POS Solutions, POS Retail

How to optimize your webshop and boost online sales

Article | January 12, 2024

We all know that retail is moving online. E-commerce presents a great sales opportunity for retailers moving their brick-and-mortar shop to the web and brand new online businesses alike. However, it’s not enough to just create a webshop. The most successful retail webshops are optimized to reflect their products, brand, and customer interests. It’s an important part of the digital sales process.

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How AI is changing the face of modern web design for retailers

Article | April 15, 2020

Consumers take just 50 milliseconds to decide whether your website is worth staying on. It's therefore important for websites to be of high-quality in order to make sales. For online retailers, items need to be presented in an enticing way that convinces customers to buy. Web design plays an important role in this. While a website needs to appeal aesthetically, it also needs to provide a simple user experience from landing on the page through to purchase.

Read More
POS Solutions, Ecommerce Merchandising

Driving Success with Localization of Global E-commerce Platforms

Article | June 7, 2024

Retailers are rapidly adapting their businesses as covid-19 continues to hinder sales. The most successful are shifting towards online experiential retail. As a business owner, you’re probably hearing a lot of ways that small businesses can adapt to the changing times. The most common that we’ve seen are: Move your store online, or improve your online sales processes. Offer on-the-go product deals Shift product focus to hands-on usage and activities. While these are definitely great starting points, they aren’t really specific to any industry. We’ll cover different ways you can adapt your retail business using the tools from right within your Erply account. We’ll even cover examples specific to a variety of industries so you can be inspired to change up or improve your covid-19 sales strategies. The strategy: Adapting your retail business Retail adaptation can seem overwhelming at first, especially if you’ve never undergone large-scale product changes before. A good place to start to is to think: what would you want to see in a retailer during the covid-19 shutdown? Think about yourself as a consumer, not a store owner. Life might be slowing down, but it’s not coming to a standstill — you probably want to find more ways to maintain safe, healthy protocols when shopping for necessities, looking for gifts, or seeking entertainment. As a retailer, your customers will be looking to you for ways to do all of these, while also minimizing the risk of coming into contact with covid-19. There are plenty of creative ways to shift your business offerings to fit these fast-changing times. We’ll first give examples of how your existing Erply tools can be used to adapt your business, then will cover industry-specific examples. Create special deals Remember, short-term value translates into long-term customer relationships! Loyalty points Looking to boost sales without discounting your products? Try offering loyalty points at an increased rate to encourage shopper support during covid-19. Loyalty programs are a great way to encourage repeat business by incentivizing customers to repeatedly choose your store over competitors in exchange for rewards. Bundles and assemblies Product bundles and assemblies can be used to sell items together in a group. Product bundles can be used to sell large items together at a slightly discounted price or to help sell slow-moving inventory. Think subscription boxes, holiday-themed gift sets, or even items commonly purchased together. Promotions Seasonal, event-based, or brand collaborations; there’s never a bad time for a sales promotion! They’re a great way to encourage customer sales by offering enticing product discounts. Erply’s powerful promotions builder enables you to set up flat discounts, percent discounts, BOGO-type deals, and more. Price lists An alternative to promotions, price lists allow you to create highly specific discounts for any sales campaign. Price lists can target specific product groups, store locations, or even customer segments (think VIP pricing). Coupons Coupons can offer one-time, redeemable rewards. They tie into promotions, but aren’t available to every customer, only the ones who have a coupon or a coupon code. Improve customer service Customer service is more than just employee-to-customer interaction; it also includes accessibility and streamlined shopping. Buy online, pickup in-store Offer flexible, health-conscious ways for your customers to purchase products in your store. Our e-commerce options allow customers to buy products online, then purchase them in-store. Flexible retail tools mean you can offer a variety of pickup order options that suit the needs of you and your customers. Purchases can be paid in full, partially paid, or can be paid once the customer arrives for pickup. Offline mode for sales anywhere Covid-19 regulations might mean that you’re not able to sell out of your store as you normally would. Maybe you need to make sales on-the-go or from an outside location. Erply’s offline POS ensures that all sales are accounted for, even if you have no internet access. Once connection resumes, all sales data will sync up to your back office to keep your records accurate. The ability to make sales and perform basic POS actions without wifi connection means you can think up creative ways to service your customers outside of your physical store. Contactless payments Depending on your payment hardware, you may be able to accept contactless payments like NFC tap-to-pay, ApplePay, GooglePay, and SamsungPay. This allows you to offer flexible payment options for your customers, while also protecting them (and your employees) from physical contact. See if you own a contactless payment-enabled device. E-commerce for paid online classes and services Webstores are a great opportunity to boost sales when your physical store locations are closed or operating at limited capacity. Can’t sell your products in-store? Try demoing them online instead. Maybe you occasionally host in-store events. Those can be moved to the web, with an e-commerce solution to help you keep track of attendance (online passes can be sold for $0, if needed!) Right now, you can get set up with Shopify, WooCommerce, or ShopZ. Remote payments If you’re offering curbside pickup or phone orders, you can charge customers remotely through your payment processor. This can be done for curbside pickup phone orders, deliveries, or other unique payment processes that you might be implementing. Right now, customers using Global Payments (formally TSYS, Cayan) as their payment processor have access to theGenius Vault to charge customers remotely. Recurring billing If you’re setting up subscription services, you might want to set up recurring billing in your Erply account. Recurring billing automatically creates product invoices at set increments, which can be billed for any predetermined length of time. Erply does the hard work for you so you can focus on servicing your customers. Industry-specific retail adaptation ideas Below, we’ll list some industry-specific ideas on how you can adapt your retail business to the changing times. Be sure to check out all of the sections, even if an industry does not match your business, you might gain inspiration on how certain ideas can be adapted to your specific store! Most, if not all of these ideas can be implemented online or in-store. Be sure to contact our team if you need e-commerce set up on your Erply account, Remember, although people are spending more time indoors, those numbers will decrease as states open up and as the weather improves. Try to envision how your products can be used outdoors or during seasonal events while still adhering to social distancing policies. Fireworks stores Areas particularly affected by stay-at-home orders are seeing an increase in one-off fireworks usage, This will, of course, only increase as the weather warms up and we inch closer to summer holidays. Recommend setting up fireworks bundles to encourage sales, to new and existing customers. Starter packs can be used to help sell slower moving items and introduce new audiences to your store.. Depending on your state’s fireworks regulations, you might also want to set up subscription boxes, or a “fireworks of the month” bundle. Customers can pick up a box each month or sign up for delivery. Both options can take advantage of contactless payments or recurring billing. Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of promotions and coupons during those summer holidays to increase sales! Gardening stores Quarantined or not, your green-thumbed customers will still be looking for your expertise on plant care and gardening tips. We recommend providing online gardening classes with Q&A sessions. These can be paid for in your online store, which may also encourage customers to make additional online purposes. You also can set up bundle and assembly products in your Erply account to create planter kits or herb sets. Some gardening stores have been offering creative options too, such as a paint your own planter kit. Sports stores Sporting events might be cancelled, but that doesn’t mean your customers won’t have a need for your merchandise in the future. Warm weather encourages at-home practice, even if full on competitions are off the table. Now is a great time to take advantage of sales and coupons to keep inventory moving in preparation for season reopenings. These can come bundled with online training classes that give customers tips and tricks for different sport techniques, stretches, etc. Online video game sporting alternatives, like NBA 2K and FIFA, can be used to keep your customers engaged with your brand. Try partnering with local schools or recreational leagues to form online brackets, then charge online entry fees for players looking to participate. Arts and crafts shops The arts have seen a huge boom during state-wide quarantines. From therapeutic activities to creating artwork that supports good causes, such as Healthcare Heros or Rainbow Hunt, there’s a place for craft shops in every home. You might also want to consider bundling items that can be used to create drive-by signage. Online classes or video tutorials are a popular indoor activity that you can sell to your customers through an online webshop. Maybe your shop hosted paint and sip nights. You can either take these to the web, or provide customers with resources and ideas to host their own. Apparel stores Did you know that the color red is the hardest color to capture on photo and video? As more and more people adjust to working from home, promotions and coupons can be used to highlight webcam-friendly clothing and accessories. If you want to take on a more hands-on response to covid-19, you can try to repurpose inventory items to create protective face masks. What’s more, you can offer online classes on how to transform different clothing items into face masks. All of the above can be done using a basic e-commerce platform! Beauty brands Wellness is a huge focus during these coronavirus times, which means you can attract new customers by offering different wellness-themed bundles and packages. You may want to set up subscription boxes using Erply’s recurring billing tools. Brainstorm creative ideas for your products, such as webcam beauty tips for women and men. Bonus points if you can partner with actual customers or a local influencer and work a creative social hashtag to build a sense of community. You can even use coupon codes to encourage more of these sales, and commission an influencer from right within Erply.

Read More
POS Retail

Optimizing Digital Marketplace with Unified Retail Management

Article | May 10, 2024

When you think of field research, you might think of an archeologist bent over a dig site investigating civilizations from the past, excavating the terrain and sifting out important artifacts. In marketing, field research is also about the study of the human experience and uncovering those important pieces of knowledge — but as they pertain to your business. Field research can give you insights into your customers' pain points, what they need to solve their problems, their thoughts on how your product helps or even what where they feel your services might be improved.

Read More
POS Solutions, POS Retail

Choosing the Right POS Software: Top 10 Tools Unveiled

Article | January 12, 2024

We all know that retail is moving online. E-commerce presents a great sales opportunity for retailers moving their brick-and-mortar shop to the web and brand new online businesses alike. However, it’s not enough to just create a webshop. The most successful retail webshops are optimized to reflect their products, brand, and customer interests. It’s an important part of the digital sales process.

Read More

How AI is changing the face of modern web design for retailers

Article | April 15, 2020

Consumers take just 50 milliseconds to decide whether your website is worth staying on. It's therefore important for websites to be of high-quality in order to make sales. For online retailers, items need to be presented in an enticing way that convinces customers to buy. Web design plays an important role in this. While a website needs to appeal aesthetically, it also needs to provide a simple user experience from landing on the page through to purchase.

Read More
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Spotlight

Bershka

Bershka was set up in 1998 as an innovative fashion retail concept that targets young fashion oriented customers. There are currently more than 1000 stores in over 70 markets.

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POS Retail

Leading Wireless Retail Platform Provider Real Time Technologies Continues Growth and Expansion With Acquisition of Your Ware Software

Real Time Technologies (RT²) | January 24, 2024

Real Time Technologies, Inc (RT²), the largest enterprise front-end software platform serving Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. wireless industry, announced today its acquisition of Your Ware Software, a provider of customized business intelligence, sales, and compensation reporting for the wireless retail postpaid channel. Trusted by tier-one telecom carriers to provide retail activation, point-of-sale (POS), payments, business intelligence, and inventory management solutions, RT²'s acquisition of Your Ware Software adds key capabilities to its burgeoning retail wireless store solutions, enabling further expansion into postpaid channels for customers. The purchase is expected to add access to another 4,000 postpaid locations for RT²'s industry-leading wireless retail platform, setting the company up for another banner year in 2024. "The acquisition of Your Ware significantly expands RT²'s presence in the postpaid retail environment and adds to our long-standing success as the leading enterprise POS and Payments provider in prepaid wireless channels," said Omar Azrag, CEO of RT². "The Your Ware team has similar DNA to RT² and brings a world-class level of service specializing in building and deploying customized solutions for the postpaid channel. We are thrilled to have them part of the RT2 family," says Ali Koumaiha, Founder & CPO of RT². "For 22 years, Your Ware Software has designed POS, inventory management, and commission-tracking software for authorized retailers representing tier-one U.S. telecom carriers. Our team of world-class developers and engineers are excited to join the RT² family and continue to serve our customers with the industry-leading products and services they've come to expect. This deal is a triumph for our employees and our customers," says Chris Jones, CEO of Your Ware Software. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal at this time, and it will remain confidential. In August of 2022, RT² acquired IAS, formerly Qpay from InComm Payments, specializing in customizable payment and technology solutions and the payment processor of choice for retailers, master agents and wireless carriers. RT² has since transformed and simplified the payment offering with an industry-first service model, much to the delight of their long-term customers. About Real Time Technologies (RT²) RT² offers the most flexible cutting-edge Retail Management Solutions that encompass POS, inventory management, payment services, frontline employee management & engagement, business intelligence, and digital automation tools for the wireless industry. RT² support Fortune 500 companies unify their customer experience and remove pain points across multiple retail touch points. Now serving over 14,000 retail locations across the US, Territories, and Canada. RT² prides itself on fostering a family culture and a dynamic work environment where team members are set up to make meaningful contributions across the organization. Learn more at www.rt2.com.

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POS Solutions

XY Retail Introduces Cutting-Edge Order Management System for Luxury Retailers

XY Retail | January 08, 2024

XY Retail, a leader in innovative retail solutions, today announces the launch of its latest product, an advanced Order Management System (OMS) that comes fully pre-integrated with the XY Point of Sale (POS) and Clienteling solutions. In response to evolving retailer needs, XY Retail has engineered a comprehensive OMS that not only streamlines order processing but also works seamlessly with the existing XY POS and Clienteling systems. This integrated approach marks a significant leap forward in providing retailers with a unified platform to enhance operational efficiency, customer engagement, and overall business performance. The XY Retail OMS offers: End-to-End Integration: The XY OMS is intricately woven into the fabric of the XY POS and Clienteling systems, fostering a holistic retail ecosystem. This end-to-end integration ensures a fluid and synchronized customer experience across all touchpoints. Effortless Order Processing: With a user-friendly interface, the OMS simplifies and accelerates order management, from initiation to fulfillment. Retailers can now seamlessly track and fulfill customer orders with precision. Real-Time Inventory Visibility: Leveraging the synergy with the XY POS, the OMS provides real-time visibility into inventory levels. This empowers retailers to optimize stock, minimize overstock or stockouts, and enhance overall inventory management. Clienteling Enhancement: The integrated OMS elevates the clienteling experience by consolidating customer information from POS transactions and order history. Sales associates can access a comprehensive view of customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history, enabling personalized and targeted engagement. Data-Driven Decision Making: Harnessing the power of interconnected systems, the XY Retail OMS enables data-driven decision-making. Retailers can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, inventory trends, and sales performance, facilitating strategic planning and business growth. "We're excited to introduce our integrated Order Management System, marking a significant step in advancing retail operations,” said Susan Jeffers, CEO of XY Retail. “By seamlessly merging order management with our POS and Clienteling systems, we provide retailers with a powerful tool to navigate the complexities of modern commerce efficiently and strategically. This integration underscores our commitment to delivering innovative solutions, enhancing operational efficiency, and empowering our clients to stay ahead in a dynamic industry." About XY Retail XY Retail is a trailblazer in the world of unified commerce solutions, revolutionizing the retail landscape with cutting-edge technology and innovation. Our microservices based, API-first, cloud-native platform seamlessly and vertically integrates mobile point of sale, order management, clienteling, and omnichannel capabilities, empowering global brands to deliver unparalleled customer experiences. With a commitment to excellence and a vision for the future of retail, XY Retail is at the forefront of shaping the next generation of innovative and dynamic commerce.

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POS Retail

GK Announces GK Engage, a Highly Personalized Loyalty Solution for Any Retail Touch Point Including Mobile Devices and Point-of-Sale

Business Wire | September 28, 2023

GK today announced its latest solution, GK Engage, a modern, comprehensive and AI-powered loyalty program for every omnichannel retail touch point. This solution empowers retailers to create highly contextualized and personalized outreach including messaging, discounts and rewards that improve customer lifetime value and enrich a retailer’s competitive differentiation. GK Engage was announced at GK’s first-ever Retail Innovation Summit for the Americas, which is taking place Sept. 25-26 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Attendees can view GK Engage, alongside other GK solutions, at the newly unveiled GK Customer Experience Center. GK is a world leader in point-of-sale (POS) technology and, as a result, its product team has talked with retailers who wanted more out of their loyalty systems. To fill this gap, GK developed GK Engage, a modern take on loyalty. The solution draws inspiration from two successful GK solutions, MCA, GK’s mobile loyalty program, and T+ Loyalty. These predecessor technologies have serviced more than one billion transactions per year for over six million registered users. Now, GK Engage customers will reap these benefits at scale using one comprehensive platform that works across a diverse range of online and in-store retail touch points. GK Engage provides retailers with real-time, AI-driven, personalized loyalty offers that surprise and delight customers. The complete solution creates loyalty tiers that automatically track all customer interactions and generate relevant campaigns to safeguard long-term retailer relationships and customer lifetime value. GK Engage can be integrated with merchandise master data and customer data to ensure all recommendations, promotions, coupons and more are beneficial to the individual customer, as well as the retailer’s current inventory availability and financial goals. What’s more, GK Engage is already integrated into GK’s OmniPOS solution across all touch points including traditional POS, self-checkout kiosks, mobile, and frictionless store technology like GK GO. “GK Engage was created for any retailer, regardless of where they are in their loyalty journey,” said Michael Jaszczyk, chief digital transformation officer, GK and CEO, GK Americas. “The solution is extremely flexible. For some retailers, GK Engage will serve as a complete solution, while others may integrate the solution into a CRM or an existing customer offer system. I look forward to presenting GK Engage alongside our other innovative solutions at the now unveiled GK Customer Experience Center.” Today and tomorrow, GK customers and partners from across the U.S., Latin America and Canada are gathering at GK’s US headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina to take part in the 2023 GK Retail Innovation Summit. In addition to hearing from renowned retail experts like Greg Buzek, founder and president, IHL Group, attendees can visit GK’s new Customer Experience Center. The center showcases GK technology and allows viewers to envision a modern, efficient and exceptional shopper experience across various key touch points including the point-of-sale, the fuel pump and the e-commerce site. At the Customer Experience Center, prospective retail customers can hear from solution experts who will help them to design the best solution deployment for their end-customers. The technology featured in the center includes GK Engage, GK OmniPOS, self check-out, GK Drive, GK GO, GK AIR (artificial intelligence for retail) and fraud prevention solutions from Fujitsu, which invested in GK as a strategic investor earlier this year. About GK GK breaks down the barriers to unified commerce with its open CLOUD4RETAIL platform and a broad portfolio based on it, like OmniPOS for point of sale, mobile POS, mobile customer engagement and a full range of store/back-office solutions. The company is a recognized leader in omnichannel retail, offering a single, global software platform for all retail formats and touch points. Ten of the Top 50 retailers worldwide rely on GK, and GK is the fastest growing global POS provider in new installations over the last three years. For more information, visit www.gk-software.com.

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POS Retail

Leading Wireless Retail Platform Provider Real Time Technologies Continues Growth and Expansion With Acquisition of Your Ware Software

Real Time Technologies (RT²) | January 24, 2024

Real Time Technologies, Inc (RT²), the largest enterprise front-end software platform serving Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. wireless industry, announced today its acquisition of Your Ware Software, a provider of customized business intelligence, sales, and compensation reporting for the wireless retail postpaid channel. Trusted by tier-one telecom carriers to provide retail activation, point-of-sale (POS), payments, business intelligence, and inventory management solutions, RT²'s acquisition of Your Ware Software adds key capabilities to its burgeoning retail wireless store solutions, enabling further expansion into postpaid channels for customers. The purchase is expected to add access to another 4,000 postpaid locations for RT²'s industry-leading wireless retail platform, setting the company up for another banner year in 2024. "The acquisition of Your Ware significantly expands RT²'s presence in the postpaid retail environment and adds to our long-standing success as the leading enterprise POS and Payments provider in prepaid wireless channels," said Omar Azrag, CEO of RT². "The Your Ware team has similar DNA to RT² and brings a world-class level of service specializing in building and deploying customized solutions for the postpaid channel. We are thrilled to have them part of the RT2 family," says Ali Koumaiha, Founder & CPO of RT². "For 22 years, Your Ware Software has designed POS, inventory management, and commission-tracking software for authorized retailers representing tier-one U.S. telecom carriers. Our team of world-class developers and engineers are excited to join the RT² family and continue to serve our customers with the industry-leading products and services they've come to expect. This deal is a triumph for our employees and our customers," says Chris Jones, CEO of Your Ware Software. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal at this time, and it will remain confidential. In August of 2022, RT² acquired IAS, formerly Qpay from InComm Payments, specializing in customizable payment and technology solutions and the payment processor of choice for retailers, master agents and wireless carriers. RT² has since transformed and simplified the payment offering with an industry-first service model, much to the delight of their long-term customers. About Real Time Technologies (RT²) RT² offers the most flexible cutting-edge Retail Management Solutions that encompass POS, inventory management, payment services, frontline employee management & engagement, business intelligence, and digital automation tools for the wireless industry. RT² support Fortune 500 companies unify their customer experience and remove pain points across multiple retail touch points. Now serving over 14,000 retail locations across the US, Territories, and Canada. RT² prides itself on fostering a family culture and a dynamic work environment where team members are set up to make meaningful contributions across the organization. Learn more at www.rt2.com.

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POS Solutions

XY Retail Introduces Cutting-Edge Order Management System for Luxury Retailers

XY Retail | January 08, 2024

XY Retail, a leader in innovative retail solutions, today announces the launch of its latest product, an advanced Order Management System (OMS) that comes fully pre-integrated with the XY Point of Sale (POS) and Clienteling solutions. In response to evolving retailer needs, XY Retail has engineered a comprehensive OMS that not only streamlines order processing but also works seamlessly with the existing XY POS and Clienteling systems. This integrated approach marks a significant leap forward in providing retailers with a unified platform to enhance operational efficiency, customer engagement, and overall business performance. The XY Retail OMS offers: End-to-End Integration: The XY OMS is intricately woven into the fabric of the XY POS and Clienteling systems, fostering a holistic retail ecosystem. This end-to-end integration ensures a fluid and synchronized customer experience across all touchpoints. Effortless Order Processing: With a user-friendly interface, the OMS simplifies and accelerates order management, from initiation to fulfillment. Retailers can now seamlessly track and fulfill customer orders with precision. Real-Time Inventory Visibility: Leveraging the synergy with the XY POS, the OMS provides real-time visibility into inventory levels. This empowers retailers to optimize stock, minimize overstock or stockouts, and enhance overall inventory management. Clienteling Enhancement: The integrated OMS elevates the clienteling experience by consolidating customer information from POS transactions and order history. Sales associates can access a comprehensive view of customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history, enabling personalized and targeted engagement. Data-Driven Decision Making: Harnessing the power of interconnected systems, the XY Retail OMS enables data-driven decision-making. Retailers can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, inventory trends, and sales performance, facilitating strategic planning and business growth. "We're excited to introduce our integrated Order Management System, marking a significant step in advancing retail operations,” said Susan Jeffers, CEO of XY Retail. “By seamlessly merging order management with our POS and Clienteling systems, we provide retailers with a powerful tool to navigate the complexities of modern commerce efficiently and strategically. This integration underscores our commitment to delivering innovative solutions, enhancing operational efficiency, and empowering our clients to stay ahead in a dynamic industry." About XY Retail XY Retail is a trailblazer in the world of unified commerce solutions, revolutionizing the retail landscape with cutting-edge technology and innovation. Our microservices based, API-first, cloud-native platform seamlessly and vertically integrates mobile point of sale, order management, clienteling, and omnichannel capabilities, empowering global brands to deliver unparalleled customer experiences. With a commitment to excellence and a vision for the future of retail, XY Retail is at the forefront of shaping the next generation of innovative and dynamic commerce.

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POS Retail

GK Announces GK Engage, a Highly Personalized Loyalty Solution for Any Retail Touch Point Including Mobile Devices and Point-of-Sale

Business Wire | September 28, 2023

GK today announced its latest solution, GK Engage, a modern, comprehensive and AI-powered loyalty program for every omnichannel retail touch point. This solution empowers retailers to create highly contextualized and personalized outreach including messaging, discounts and rewards that improve customer lifetime value and enrich a retailer’s competitive differentiation. GK Engage was announced at GK’s first-ever Retail Innovation Summit for the Americas, which is taking place Sept. 25-26 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Attendees can view GK Engage, alongside other GK solutions, at the newly unveiled GK Customer Experience Center. GK is a world leader in point-of-sale (POS) technology and, as a result, its product team has talked with retailers who wanted more out of their loyalty systems. To fill this gap, GK developed GK Engage, a modern take on loyalty. The solution draws inspiration from two successful GK solutions, MCA, GK’s mobile loyalty program, and T+ Loyalty. These predecessor technologies have serviced more than one billion transactions per year for over six million registered users. Now, GK Engage customers will reap these benefits at scale using one comprehensive platform that works across a diverse range of online and in-store retail touch points. GK Engage provides retailers with real-time, AI-driven, personalized loyalty offers that surprise and delight customers. The complete solution creates loyalty tiers that automatically track all customer interactions and generate relevant campaigns to safeguard long-term retailer relationships and customer lifetime value. GK Engage can be integrated with merchandise master data and customer data to ensure all recommendations, promotions, coupons and more are beneficial to the individual customer, as well as the retailer’s current inventory availability and financial goals. What’s more, GK Engage is already integrated into GK’s OmniPOS solution across all touch points including traditional POS, self-checkout kiosks, mobile, and frictionless store technology like GK GO. “GK Engage was created for any retailer, regardless of where they are in their loyalty journey,” said Michael Jaszczyk, chief digital transformation officer, GK and CEO, GK Americas. “The solution is extremely flexible. For some retailers, GK Engage will serve as a complete solution, while others may integrate the solution into a CRM or an existing customer offer system. I look forward to presenting GK Engage alongside our other innovative solutions at the now unveiled GK Customer Experience Center.” Today and tomorrow, GK customers and partners from across the U.S., Latin America and Canada are gathering at GK’s US headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina to take part in the 2023 GK Retail Innovation Summit. In addition to hearing from renowned retail experts like Greg Buzek, founder and president, IHL Group, attendees can visit GK’s new Customer Experience Center. The center showcases GK technology and allows viewers to envision a modern, efficient and exceptional shopper experience across various key touch points including the point-of-sale, the fuel pump and the e-commerce site. At the Customer Experience Center, prospective retail customers can hear from solution experts who will help them to design the best solution deployment for their end-customers. The technology featured in the center includes GK Engage, GK OmniPOS, self check-out, GK Drive, GK GO, GK AIR (artificial intelligence for retail) and fraud prevention solutions from Fujitsu, which invested in GK as a strategic investor earlier this year. About GK GK breaks down the barriers to unified commerce with its open CLOUD4RETAIL platform and a broad portfolio based on it, like OmniPOS for point of sale, mobile POS, mobile customer engagement and a full range of store/back-office solutions. The company is a recognized leader in omnichannel retail, offering a single, global software platform for all retail formats and touch points. Ten of the Top 50 retailers worldwide rely on GK, and GK is the fastest growing global POS provider in new installations over the last three years. For more information, visit www.gk-software.com.

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