The EPOS Evolution: How Technology Enables Store Profitability

Read the scaremongering headlines about the death of the High Street, and you'd be forgiven for believing that all hope is lost. But beyond the brands falling out of favor are a brave band of retailers flying in the face of the media.

These organizations are investing in their physical channels and watching their bricks-and-mortar footprint grow when others are shutting stores to focus entirely on the digital side of their business. And one of the key differentiators between retailers fighting back versus throwing in the towel is the way they are using point of sale (POS) technology.

The Store Is Doing More, and More, and More

Go back a few years, and the POS terminal's job was simple: process transactions and take payments. There might have been the odd discount calculation beyond this, but as long as it was robust enough to stand up to daily use, store life was simple. Not anymore.

Today, retailers embrace true multi-channel driven electronic point of sale (EPOS) systems to deliver sophisticated insights and functionality to the store teams.

Store teams need to manage broad-ranging tasks—from accepting various payment methods to processing click and collect orders and returns from all channels. They need to personalize customer service, check stock availability, order out-of-stock items, provide detailed product information, and move flexibly around the customer—all within the space of a day.

Not all POS platforms can provide this rich functionality, and even fewer offer it with a great user experience. There needs to be seamless integration between the store, the retailer's ecommerce platform and back-office operations so that everyone is working from a single view of stock and a single view of the customer.

Making POS Technology the Center of a Multi-Channel Universe

In a climate where store interactions must be contextualized, many retailers investing in bricks-and-mortar choose Aptean Retail ERP systems.

Why is this technology gaining so much traction?

Firstly, it's a hosted solution. Which means users can draw on data from anywhere in the business and capture critical customer data and contact preferences to innovate customer service. Store colleagues can quickly and easily identify customers to offer a more personalized customer experience.

Secondly, the Aptean Retail ERP Elucid Edition platform has been designed for multi-channel retailers, supporting ecommerce strategies alongside bricks-and-mortar activity. Because our EPOS software is part of a multi-channel solution, we're able to generate a single view of the customer. This gives retailers powerful insights for tailoring services and increasing customer lifetime value.

Building Personalized Customer Experiences

Seamless, robust, connected and scalable. Our POS technology enables ambitious retailers to achieve excellence in each of their respective verticals, and it's all down to our holistic approach to in-store interactions.

Data capture capabilities are why fashion retailer Joe Browns selected Aptean's hosted EPOS platform for its store network. Having made its name in mail order and then ecommerce, Joe Browns is now entering the physical space, using Aptean Retail ERP technology across stores within the UK.

On a larger scale, Richer Sounds is using the Aptean platform across its 53 stores, giving colleagues full system access in-store so that they can fulfill any request as quickly and informatively as possible. The Aptean system is the center of its store infrastructure—empowering colleagues with an entire history of customer activity and the complete functionality required to attend to every customer's need.

A Platform for Growth

The Aptean POS software is one part of a more comprehensive multi-channel retail solution, which supports the brand-building process while helping customer-facing teams to access a greater depth of information and a wider range of services than ever before.

It's no longer good enough to have a POS system that works as a standalone piece of technology. The point of sale needs to integrate with every channel to deliver a relevant and exceptional customer experience.

Are you ready to discover how Aptean Retail ERP can help transform your multi-channel retail operations? Find out how, now.