BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - July 8, 2009) - Recent research reveals that the recession is
turning focus back towards store POS efficiencies and total cost of
ownership. Seventy-three percent (73%) of retailers rate themselves below,
or at best sub-par, on their current point-of-service or point-of-sale
(POS) capabilities, according to the Aberdeen Group report, "
POS to Profits: Reviving Best-in-Class Sales and
Service in Retail Stores." The research from
Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
(
NYSE:
HHS) details the business benefits derived from upgraded POS
performance and cost optimization.
According to Aberdeen data, as a means to augment POS performance with an
eye on costs, industry's top performing retailers are more than twice as
likely as all others to consider modular improvements, deployment, and
ongoing service costs as a key criteria for POS upgrades. Given the
expansive list of options to upgrade POS operations, such as data
management, help desk support, feedback management, rapid response, and
ongoing software management, it seems logical that top performing retailers
are keen to understand how these capability upgrades will benefit the
organization, both currently or in three, five, or ten years.
"Top performing retailers are establishing highly specific implementations
cost criteria plans, as well as short- and long-term benefit lifespan
analysis when managing the technology supplier selection process," comments
Sahir Anand, chief author and retail research director, Aberdeen. "Besides
rapid configuration and integration with other systems, one of the ways to
justify continued spend on POS is to convert it into a marketing tool that
increases customer traffic into stores."
Aberdeen has found that 66% of top performing retailers are focusing on the
POS as a marketing tool to justify the TCO behind the next phase of
technology improvements. To achieve this objective, Aberdeen has found that
these retailers are negotiating two major challenges. First, these
companies overcome the hurdle of developing an internal mandate and
agreement amongst teams involving store operations, marketing,
merchandising, and IT, so as to enable such improvements in a rapid manner.
Second, any modular improvement at the POS must guarantee secure
corresponding data management processes. Fortunately, the retail industry's
top companies are cognizant of optimum POS data access, extracting business
value and consumer insights from such data, and storage measures under
payment card industry data security standards (PCI-DSS) and other consumer
privacy guidelines.
"These challenges notwithstanding, converting POS into an effective
consumer marketing tool at an affordable cost that continues to provide a
sustained level of customer focus is a dream come true for any C-level
executive in retail," says Greg Belkin, co-author and research analyst,
Aberdeen.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: eSENSE Retail, K3 Retail, and Epicor. To obtain a
complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5890.
For additional access to complimentary
Retail Research,
please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-retail
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers
demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the
past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving
market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering
meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the
global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that
drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen or call (617) 723-7890, or to
learn more about
Harte-Hanks,
call (800) 456-9748.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Sahir Anand
Research Director
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5271
sahir.anand@aberdeen.com