Microsoft mobility solutions for retail

Retailers face relentless pressure to concurrently reduce costs and deliver excellent customer service. To stay competitive, companies must reduce non-selling time and improve the customer experience. By empowering store managers and sales associates with information and tools on the selling floor, they are better able to impact business and operational efficiencies—a real advantage at the point of purchase.

Mobility solutions are a key enabler for store employees and managers to achieve greater access to data, improve communication, and increase productivity. Microsoft–supported mobile solutions help make this possible through technology that provides fast access to pricing, inventory, and other data that can help the retailer rapidly respond to changing business needs.

How mobility helps retailers

Increased operational efficiency: Improve store manager and associate productivity through access to data while on the store floor. Tightly manage inventory levels and reduce shrinkage through increased visibility into sales data.

Better responsiveness to customers: Increase customer satisfaction by empowering sales associates with the right information to help customers make better decisions.

Real-time information access: Instantly access critical data (product information, customer preferences, real-time inventory, etc.). Coordinate with suppliers and distributors through increased access to real-time inventory tracking and supply chain management systems.

More up-sell and cross-sell opportunities: Provide sales associates with key data to make recommendations inline with customer interests and needs.

Increased connectivity and availability: Help employees stay connected and responsive with one another from virtually any location in the store. Help regional and local store managers stay connected to their district and corporate offices.

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Retail store systems

Greater mobility can help achieve competitive advantage for retailers through an enhanced customer experience and reliable access to the most current data. Technology helps make this possible through innovations in hardware such as mobile PCs and mobile devices and through flexible, integrated store systems that enable speedy access to pricing, inventory, merchandising and other critical data that can respond to changing business needs. The specific segments of retail store systems that are highly adaptable and readily available for mobile solutions include:

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Microsoft–supported mobile solutions in retail

Improve store management and operations

Store management and operations are the processes and systems involved in keeping retailers performing at peak levels at all times. Retailers are increasingly reliant on interconnected applications to realize increased operational efficiency and improved productivity.

Benefits

Microsoft supporting technology

Windows Mobile® 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack gives power to advanced and easy-to-use Smartphones.

Better manage the field

Better field management is critical for district/regional managers. They need to ensure that locations hit revenue targets, are staffed appropriately, provide good customer service, have appropriate inventory, and are operationally efficient. District/regional managers are also essential in understanding the subtleties of customer behavior for the region, and how that may differ from other stores.

Benefits

Microsoft supporting technology

Using Windows Mobile® devices, district/regional managers can stay informed remotely with regards to the operational statistics for a given location. This allows them to focus on training, coaching, and monitoring managers at the most troublesome locations, where they can have the biggest impact.

Mobile PCs allow store managers to view, share, and gain access to store KPIs and connect with suppliers and district offices remotely or from the store floor. Using Windows Tablet and Touch Technology, managers can complete forms electronically and view inventory directly from the sales floor.

Provide assisted selling techniques

Assisted selling empowers retail sales staff with the information necessary to meet a customer’s needs. Customers continue to inform themselves through Internet research and expect knowledgeable sales assistance and immediate answers to their questions.

Benefits

Microsoft supporting technology

Retailers can satisfy customer demand even when there are unexpected peaks in customer traffic. For example, using Windows Mobile®-based “point of sale” solutions, staff can reduce long lines and provide on-demand check out.

Windows Vista®-enabled mobile PCs give retailers the ability to collaborate, communicate, and retrieve information quickly on and off the sales floor. Using Windows Vista, a sales associate can view, find, and organize information on their mobile PC just as they would on a desktop—making it easy to manage, configure, and interpret query results.

Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 supports the communication between store employees while they are on the floor and mobile. Exchange Server 2007 is designed to help deliver greater security, availability, and reliability while offering mobile users access to email, voice mail, calendar, and fax.

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