Store Operations and Channels Solutions

Smarter store operations help retailers reduce costs so they can invest in activities that grow their business. A key area for growth is finding ways to be more competitive. By offering new ways to deliver increased services, retailers can stand out from the competition.

With the Store Operations and Channels solution, retailers can gain the competitive edge and improve profit margins. It all starts with a smarter retail system infrastructure that streamlines store operations and reduces risks and costs.

Opportunities to improve margins exist in fine tuning operations and cost reductions, such as:

• Improving the check-out process to prevent lost sales.
• Reducing loss from wastage.
• Containing IT expenses by streamlining assets on a single platform.
• Improving use of floor space to increase sales.

Smart store Rooms to Go

A powerful example of unveiling hidden opportunities to increase profits is furniture retailer Rooms to Go. By combining regional transactional databases into a single enterprise data warehouse, Rooms To Go identified buying patterns that were previously difficult to see. They increased sales by optimizing floor space based on customer buying habits. Additional profit-capture opportunities were reducing advertising costs through more targeted promotions and $120K in annual savings by eliminating the outsourcing of data analysis. Read the case study.

The Store and Channels retail solution contains integrated applications and projects in these essential retail areas. Select your highest priority projects and add others as you need them.

Store and Channels Planning and Performance
Make the right store development decisions to improve customer satisfaction and ROI. Sales and expense information across all channels gives you the total view of your retail operations. Use accurate performance measurements to tailor plans.

Retail Store Integration and Management
Manage information transfer to and from stores with integrated systems. Deploy a secure, robust environment that allows data to be PCI compliant.

POS and Self Service
Deploy point of sale (POS) and self-service pay stations with advanced payment options.

Loss Prevention
Digital surveillance systems throughout the store and fraud detection analysis prevents losses.

Online Customer Experience and Selling
True enterprise business integration of POS and e-commerce applications that scale as you add new channels. Add or replace an e-commerce platform for better performance and more sales.

Cross Channel Integration, Order Management, and Fulfillment
Implement cross-channel shopping processes, such as ordering online, purchase and pick up in store. Assure content integration to keep accurate data. Automate updates to online stores.

Promotion Planning and Execution
Increase sales and customer satisfaction by planning and synchronizing the rollout of promotions to store and online channels.

• Accelerate development of new e-commerce store fronts
• Easily transfer product information from master file to online store catalog
• Provide a seamless experience to the customer in the store, on the web and on the phone.
• Improve return on investments in inventory and floor space
• Streamline inventory tracking with mobile inventory management devices
• Integrate your databases and improve the quality of your data

Smarter retail success story - Multi-channel retailing

Staples needed to develop their online store in order to grow their business. Staples teamed with IBM to deploy a powerful online commerce platform that allowed Staples to roll out a series of groundbreaking new services. The new Staples.com handles a 30 percent increase in transaction volume and has a 60 percent increase in online conversions. Read the case study.

To learn more about how IBM Retail Industry solutions can help your business grow, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner.