STORES Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 82)

CONSIDER THIS / ARTS UPDATE Seeking Solutions? Start with ARTS BY RICHARD MADER In my January 2008 STORES column, I wrote: “So let’s talk standards and how they can benefit your retail business in what is shaping up to be a challenging year.” That has proven to be a huge understatement. Unless you work for Wal-Mart, BJ’s or a handful of other retailers, you’ll probably be walking the EXPO floor at the NRF Annual Convention in search of the ideas or applications you need to help you weather this economic storm. Many predict this recession could last well into 2009, or until consumers begin spending again. By visiting the ARTS Pavilion (Booth 1859) you can learn how to maximize your IT investRichard Mader is executive ments to implement necessary director of ARTS. business changes more quickly and with a lower total cost of ownership. Our sponsors have demonstrated a strong commitment to their customers by devoting extra time and resources to developing standards-based applications that offer a longer service life through insulation from technology changes, as well as the flexibility to quickly incorporate new business practices. Looking to make the correct decision on stock levels? Soft Solutions has a stock management solution that includes price management. ProfitBase offers data warehouse and business intelligence solutions that ensure accurate data by following the ARTS Data Warehouse Model. Escalate Retail has solutions that cover POS through inventory management, with the added incentive of Data Model flexibility. Want to increase sales through services and effective promotions? Axis will demonstrate how to do so by capturing customer store patterns through video analytics. Using the Axis video network, Bizerba will demonstrate the ability to analyze customer patterns and operator video identification, increasing the business value of the service process at the counter scale. ADC will host bar-coding scale and printer label data, including allergen and country of origin information, to that ensure customers are making informed food purchase decisions. Seeking swifter, smoother checkouts? Microsoft will demonstrate how you can create an optimum checkout experience by mixing and matching devices for convenience 82 STORES / JANUARY 2009 and speed using UnifiedPOS-based “POS for .Net as part of the “Windows-embedded POSReady 2009” operating system.” IBM takes efficient and accurate checkout to a whole new level by demonstrating how ARTS retail transaction interface (RTI) schema enables a single POS application to manage the customer purchases at in-store terminals, kiosks and on the web. This not only ensures consistent customer experience, but greatly reduces licensing and maintenance costs. Searching for an absolutely secure checkout? Magtek will demonstrate its secure reader, which validates that the card presented at POS is the original, valid card issued by the provider. As an added service at checkout, Third Solutions captures the sales receipt electronically so the retailer can effectively feed data repositories for analysis and provide the digital receipt to the customer for tax, return, warranty or other purposes. While the economic environment is tough today, there is no better time to invest in technology to give you that critical, competitive edge tomorrow Hoping to use SOA to achieve maximum agility and flexibility? ARTS has written the book on SOA with our SOA Blueprint for Retail and Best Practices Report; the new 1.2 release will be available for review in the ARTS Pavilion. The Blueprint documents the role of the enterprise service bus (ESB) as a vital component of SOA. If you want to learn more about ESB, come see Progress Software’s demo in the ARTS Pavilion. While you are there, you can also see an iPhone used to place orders and pay in a fast-food operation: The customer enters the store, signs on to the network, the menu is displayed and the order and purchase process are totally self-service. The ARTS Pavilion has information about all the latest trends in the fast-paced world of technology solutions and applications. While the economic environment is tough today, there is no better time to invest in technology to give you that critical, competitive edge tomorrow. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2009

STORES Magazine - Jauary 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Mechanical Marvel P&G Invests in Ocado Now I Remember What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Breaking the Monotony Multi-Channel Concept2Watch E-Commerce Analytics Category Management IT Systems In-Store Technology IT Systems Communications Website Strategy Communications SOA Energy Video Surveillance Employee Theft Online Fraud Industry Perspective Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword End Cap

STORES Magazine - January 2009

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