Magazine - RIS News

Transcription

Magazine - RIS News

Epicor’s
Issue 1 2013
Inspired Retailer
Magazine
•The Principles of Growth
How an old business formula inspires new
opportunities for success
•charming charlie Leverages CRM
Accelerating growth through customer engagement
and loyalty rewards
•Build-A-Bear Workshop®
Enhancing the customer experience in newly
imagined stores
•Specialty Sports Venture
Building multiple brands with a unified approach
Table of
Contents
2
4
6
The Principles
of Growth
The Principles
of Growth
charming charlie
Leverages CRM
H ow a n old bu sin ess form u la is in spirin g
n ew opportu n ities for y ou r su ccess
Elevating the OmniChannel Experience
7
Build-A-Bear®
Workshop
Re-Imagines its Stores
8
Specialty Sports
Venture Gains
Vertical Lift
10
Retail Mobility: From
Convenient Solution
to Cultural Shift
12
Glenn’s Sporting
Goods Streamlines
Operations
14
Solution Spotlight:
Epicor Retail CRM 7.0
15
Epicor in the News:
Clients, Events and
Contacts
Acknowledgements
Epicor gratefully acknowledges RIS
News, Stores Magazine, charming
charlie, Build-A-Bear Workshop,
Specialty Sports Venture and Glenn’s
Sporting Goods for allowing us
to feature some of the material in
this issue of our Inspired Retailer
magazine, and RIS News for its
production.
2
By Ian Rawlins, Vice-President,
Marketing and Business Development, Epicor Retail
H
enry Luce, the publisher and founder of numerous influential magazines such as
Fortune, Time and Sports Illustrated, is quoted as having said: “Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will prove unprofitable to you.” More
than fifty years later, that idea remains a fundamental tenet of success, especially in
the context of customer relations. As a retailer, you know this all too well: unless you do everything possible to serve the interests of your customers, you will never advance your own.
At Epicor, this principle underpins everything we do. Since our inception almost 30 years
ago we have understood that sustainable growth for our company depends on our ability to
support sustainable growth for yours, and that the single most important factor in our success
is our ability to work with you effectively to meet your needs. Indeed, our core product mission
is to enable our retail customers to inspire their customers, to drive sales, loyalty, influence and
all the benefits that accrue.
Our belief in the power of partnership and its mutual rewards has led to the continual
expansion of our offerings and capabilities, both organically and through the acquisition of
leading complementary companies within our industry, including the former CRS Retail in 2005,
NSB in 2008, and Activant in 2011. It has propelled the evolution of excellence in our world-class
solutions and services for soft-goods, hard-goods and specialty retail operations—solutions that
let you keep in step with your customers and one step ahead of your competitors’ efforts to
lure them away.
Extending our Resources and Reach
Today, we are embarking on an exciting new phase of growth based on the same core strategy of developing our business to better help develop yours. We’re moving forward with a
multi-year program to further strengthen and extend our capabilities in new markets, and in
key solution areas focused on retail’s most pressing challenges and important opportunities:
omni-channel execution, advanced POS and enterprise cloud technology, as well as mobility
and data analytics.
Our globalization initiative will leverage the established trend toward international expansion by mid-sized and larger retailers, particularly in Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe
Middle East and Africa (EMEA). To this end, Epicor has established a new international business
development, sales, services and support unit to serve the requirements of retailers based and
operating in these key markets, and we will be partnering with top local resources to enrich our
D o n ’ t m i s s t h e n e x t i s s u e : w w w. e p i c o r . c o m / I n s p i r e dR e ta i l e r
capabilities. Our core solutions are ready for global deployment, and we are working to prepare the rest of our end-toend retail suite for availability worldwide.
With respect to omni-channel execution, we have announced a partnership with Magento to deliver a Cross-Commerce solution that bridges the gap between eCommerce
and other sales channels. The Magneto eCommerce platform
will provide a functionally rich, highly flexible online channel
integrated with Epicor Retail Merchandising and Enterprise
Selling to communicate with physical stores (POS), mobile devices, call centers, kiosks and social media, and improve engagement through personalized sales, targeted promotions,
recommendation engines and more.
Epicor is also fully committed to developing extensive
cloud-based architecture. To support best-in-class scalability,
we will leverage cloud-based technologies for POS and across
the Epicor Retail Enterprise product suite, incorporating SOA.
We will focus on cloud-based transaction logic to support a
unified enterprise transaction platform for centralized POS
and cross-channel transactions.
This initiative is also aligned with well-defined trends. According to an IBM study, 34% of mid-sized businesses had either implemented or were adopting cloud solutions in 2011,
and that figure was expected to double by 2014.1 Retail—
with its highly distributed environment involving hundreds
and sometimes thousands of physical locations, thousands
of distributed associates and often millions of consumers, all
needing access to up-to-date and integrated information and
transaction systems—is the ideal environment in which to
take advantage of a cloud infrastructure.
Similarly, our commitment to be the premiere solutions
provider for retail mobility and data analytics reflects well1.
known needs and the substantial investments we have already made in each area. We will be enhancing our mobile
solutions with additional platforms, form factors and functionality, while our BI solution will deliver added value with
expanded data sets, richer query tools, and accommodation
for unstructured data.
Investing in You
To realize this vision and achieve our strategic goals, we’re
investing millions of dollars to make certain we have the right
resources in place. In fiscal 2013 alone, Epicor is expanding its
retail development organization by more than 30%.
We also remain committed to sharing our ideas and best
practices for addressing the complex issues you face every day
in running your competitive retail business, and for making
the right decisions that will keep you growing strong. That’s
why we are pleased to continue offering this twice-yearly
magazine. In this issue, you’ll learn how charming charlie,
Build-A-Bear Workshop® and Specialty Sports Venture are
driving their businesses with advanced CRM, POS and Enterprise Selling, and ideas for optimizing your investments in
omni-channel and mobility. As always, I hope you find these
articles informative and helpful.
With everything we do, we aim to offer you more: more
ways to improve efficiencies across your operations, more solutions for the challenges you encounter, and more opportunities to delight and inspire your customers—so that we may
be a more profitable partner to you. After all, that win-win
approach has served Henry Luce’s businesses and countless
others very well over the years, as I trust it will serve yours.
I invite you to contact us at any time, at 1.800.992.9160,
retailinfo@epicor.com, or epicor.com/retail.
IBM Institute for Business Value, The power of cloud – Driving business model innovation
3
charming charlie Leverages CRM
How the award- w i nni ng fash i o n acc e s s o r i e s r e ta i l e r u s e s c u s t o me r e n g a g e me n t
and loyalt y rewards to dri ve gro w t h
A
4
ward-winning fashion jewelry and accessories
retailer charming charlie has been delighting
women of all ages since 2004. A winner of the
International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Hot Retailer of the Year Award, charming charlie has transformed the fashion industry by combining a jaw-dropping
selection of on-trend fashion jewelry and accessories, merchandised by color, with a stimulating in-store experience—
all of which has spurred dramatic growth. The company has
opened 242 stores in the United States and earned a 656th
ranking on Inc. Magazine’s List of Top 5,000 Fastest Growing
Businesses (2010).
To extend this success, charming charlie implemented a
comprehensive customer marketing and loyalty program using Epicor Retail CRM. After acquiring the solution in December 2009 and running its core functions, the company hired
Kim Lewis as CRM Director in July 2011 to fully leverage and
extend their capabilities. Drawing on her extensive CRM experience at one of the nation’s largest beauty supply companies, Lewis developed a go-forward plan based on clear ideas
about how charming charlie should use the Epicor Retail solution and what steps to take to achieve results.
A Journey to Retail Growth
“We really wanted to establish a customer journey,” said Lewis.
“The first step is to encourage consumers to visit our stores or
website and provide us with their e-mail addresses. From there,
we want to build their awareness of merchandise trends, new
stores, and offerings; to encourage them to shop more frequently; and to give us more insights into their preferences and
needs. Next, we want to target those customers with tailored
offers and reward them for their loyalty.”
To drive that journey from start to finish, charming charlie
chose to add a loyalty program component to their existing
CRM capabilities. After researching various technology partners and considering third-party solutions, Lewis recommended activating Epicor Retail Rewards Manager within the CRM
suite. The decision was based in part on the company’s experience with a number of other Epicor Retail solutions, offering
the opportunity to leverage a fully integrated CRM system.
“The more third parties you pull in, the more complexity
you add,” said Lewis. “One of the things that makes it easy
for us is that we have one system that does it all—with CRM,
loyalty and a full reporting suite—and one team and point of
contact. That’s a huge advantage.”
Improvements for the Business and its Customers
charming charlie used data collected using the Epicor CRM
tool to conduct ROI modeling, projections, testing and refinement, and to carefully analyze their customer data. This enabled them to align the program with customer and business
needs. “We already were collecting customer data; we just
needed to take that information to the next level by analyzing and segmenting it to uncover patterns,” said Lewis.
What resulted was a customized point-based program
that features easy-to-understand perks.
The rich analyses of customer data also improved charming charlie’s targeted marketing and communications. “Some
of the insights we gained have supported important decisions
for the business, such as our decision to send direct mailings
to select shoppers via direct mail with offers to drive incremental shopping,” Lewis said.
Better Communications, Rapid Success
The loyalty program pilot launched on October 25, 2012, in
23 stores across three districts. Excellent results were apparent from the start. Both employees and customers were more
engaged with the brand; customer opt-in to the marketing
programs was significantly higher, and incremental sales and
visits exceeded initial projections.
“In the last year, we have been using the CRM tool to
market to customers with specific characteristics,” Lewis said.
“One example is win-back communications for lapsed customers. We can quickly identify high-value customers who have
not shopped within a specific time-frame, easily export the
lists to our mailing partner, then analyze responses and learn
how many customers we were able to successfully reactivate.
“Epicor personnel did a great job of training us on the
tool,” added Lewis. “We are able to segment who to market
to, track campaign execution and show our success.”
Scaling Up and Stretching Out
Lewis’ current plans are to scale the loyalty program to all
stores and then to layer in more depth. “We want to make
it very easy for our customers to engage with us,” said Lewis.
“For example, we want to make it easier for customers to
check their points balance and tailor their communication
preferences. We also want to explore ways to reward customer engagement with our brand online. We are very active
through social media, with 570,000+ Facebook fans.”
Not surprisingly, Lewis says the response of senior management has been positive. “Everyone is on board and is proud of
our success. It’s clear that we are collecting more information
and enrolling more shoppers into the loyalty program.”
charming charlie’s CRM program will continue to reinforce
the customer-centered value proposition that has defined
and propelled the brand. According to Lewis, “How the rewards program evolves from here will ultimately depend on
growth and volume. But knowing that shoppers now have almost endless choices, our challenge is to make our experience
special for our customers and make them want to choose us.”
CHARMing charlie
C om pa n y D escri p t ion : charming charlie is a Houston, TX based retailer of women’s jewelry and accessories,
with 242 stores and 4,000 employees in 35 states.
B usi n ess C hal l e n ge: charming charlie had already
achieved success working with Epicor retail industry experts
and best-in-class retail technology. They wanted to leverage
the full potential of Epicor Retail CRM rather than working to integrate a third-party solution for their direct mail
campaign and loyalty rewards program.
S o l u t ion : charming charlie launched a comprehensive
customer engagement and loyalty rewards program using
Epicor Retail CRM, a robust software application designed
to drive sales and competitive strength by enabling effective targeted marketing, durable customer loyalty, and
advanced support for critical business processes.
B usi n ess B e n e f i t s
• Enriched customer engagement
• Improved understanding of customer behavior/
shopping habits
• More focused and effective marketing efforts resulting
in significant sales conversions
• Ability to leverage customer data to
make better business decisions
Ep i c o r Retai l CRM is
a comprehensive customer engagement and marketing solution that leverages customer data
and insights with sophisticated
tools to grow sales, increase loyalty,
and build more profitable, durable
customer relationships. CRM lets you understand your customers’ preferences and profiles, engage them personally and professionally, deliver
relevant offers, and provide meaningful rewards—all of
which inspires them to purchase more, promote your
brand, and keep them coming back.
Epicor Retail CRM supports multiple sales channels,
employs powerful analysis tools, and provides one
complete and consolidated view of the customer,
with integrated capabilities for customer analysis and
segmentation, campaign and loyalty points program
management, clienteling, plus real-time communications to point-of-sale (POS) or other sales channels.
Turn to page 14 to learn how our latest release, Epicor
Retail CRM 7.0, extends and enriches these capabilities
while simplifying CRM tasks for all retail personnel.
5
Elevating the
Omni-Channel Experience
W i th th e ri gh t system s, data a n d a p p r o a c h , c h a n n e l u n i f i c at i o n e n s u r e s
th at retai l ers and t h e i r c u s t o me r s b o t h c o me o u t o n t o p
C aro l i n a Devia Angarita, Direct or of Cross-C hannel and EC omm, Epicor Software C or poratio n
T
oday’s consumers expect a seamless, channel-agnostic shopping experience through which they
browse, compare, order and manage merchandise
on their own terms. As a result, today’s leading
retailers are leveraging technology that delivers that experience by enabling online channels and even their customers’ own devices to serve as fluid extensions of the store and
business as a whole. What can you do to achieve this level of
omni-channel performance with high ROI?
Order Management is Key
First and foremost, you must employ a cross-channel solution
with the capacity to break down the traditional silos between
your store and e-commerce environments.
Toward this end, order management functionality is perhaps most important. Your
solution should, at minimum, enable your
customers to transact in one channel or location and fulfill from another, e.g., to order
online and pick-up and return in any store.
Your cross-channel solution must also enable
your associates to quickly locate the customer’s desired merchandise and fulfill the order
from anywhere across the enterprise.
In-Store Support
6
Measure Performance
Advanced cross-channel order management must be supported by effective strategies for managing inventory and measuring performance. Toward this end, you need to consider:
• Gross Demand, measured against budget, to determine
total spending per merchandise category;
• Gross Margin Ratio, to ensure profit by category;
• Customer Returns Ratio, to help measure customer
satisfaction and define in-store vs. online assortments;
• Average Order Value and Price, to understand item
category trends and manage inventory levels;
• Selling Expense to Sale Ratio, to manage the cost of sales
per product category;
• SKU Velocity, which aids DC design as
well as order distribution and inventory
control; and
• Supply and Demand, so buyers and
allocators can understand which out-ofstock products are queried the most per
location.
One of the biggest
challenges is to
incorporate crosschannel as a culture, not
just a technique, and to
ensure that it becomes
deeply rooted in the
corporate DNA.
Profitably elevating the customer experience by unifying channels calls for removing impediments to
consistency and simplicity in all aspects of a transaction—virtually anything that could generate frustration in the minds
of your customers and lead them to walk or click away to your
competitors.
For example, your cross-channel solution should ideally be
supported by POS functionality that integrates your store and
online channels with consistent pricing, promotions, tax calculations and even loyalty rewards, so your customers can collect
and use them with any transaction. You’ll want to consider giving your store associates the power of wireless, enterprise-wide
connectivity so they can quickly go online to locate and order
items across channels. And to further extend this convenience,
you may also want to allow your customers to complete instore transactions with their own smartphones or tablets.
A Cultural Shift
Effectively navigating the shift from multichannel to unified channel-agnostic retailing takes more than just technology; it
also requires a managed shift in thinking
by agents and stakeholders across your
enterprise. In fact, one of the biggest challenges is to incorporate cross-channel as a culture, not just a technique, and to
ensure that it becomes deeply rooted in the corporate DNA.
That means focusing not just on how cross-channel is delivered but also squarely on what it is for: delivering a better
experience for your customers, aligned with their lifestyles,
technology, preferences and expectations. This thinking must
underpin the core business strategy and be championed by
the CEO, effectively communicated to associates at all levels,
and included in performance measurement.
Like most retailers, you are likely still moving toward a truly unified, omni-channel operation. A balanced effort based
on adopting the right technology and approach can accelerate this journey and deliver progressive, tangible benefits to
you and your customers with each step.
Creating Newly Imagined Stores
C o l l abo rati o n serves to e n h a n c e t h e c u s t o me r e x p e r i e n c e
B
uild-A-Bear Workshop® recently introduced
a unique interactive in-store concept that is
supported in part by three key Epicor Retail
solutions. The newly imagined store merges
the hands-on bear-making process with state-of-theart interactive technology to elevate their customers’
experience.
Epicor Retail Multi-Channel Transaction Adapter
(MCTA) enables data pertaining to Build-A-Bear Workshop
stuffed animals to be collected as Guests go through each
step of the process to personalize their furry friend. The solution supports the retail transactions that take place at different “stations” where Guests create their stuffed animals
and customize them by adding personality traits, clothing,
and accessories. Epicor Retail MCTA enables the full spectrum
of POS functions and logic to be shared across channels and
devices, to better manage transactions enterprise-wide.
Epicor Retail CRM equips Build-A-Bear Workshop to
build and manage loyalty programs, execute and manage
campaigns and promotions, analyze customer data and
transaction information across sales channels, segment and
manage lists, and analyze and measure the impact of CRM
efforts. Epicor CRM technology supports omni-channel CRM
initiatives at Build-A-Bear Workshop to deliver more seamless customer interactions. With real-time connectivity across
all sales channels, the solution helps Build-A-Bear Workshop
fully engage their customers based on the most current data.
The Epicor Retail Store solution supports Build-A-Bear
Workshop by streamlining point of sale transactions for an
improved customer experience. Upon checkout, the POS
system delivers a unique code on each printed receipt
for Bearville.com™, the Build-A-Bear Workshop virtual
world where Guests can redeem credits for virtual merchandise and bring their Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffed
animals to life online.
The new Build-A-Bear Workshop store design received
industry recognition from Retail TouchPoints, who named
them a winner in the 2012 Customer Engagement Awards.
The award honors retailers that have embraced customer engagement and implemented solutions and services that are
delighting customers. Build-A-Bear Workshop won the InStore Experience category for its use of technology to provide
a more personalized experience for shoppers in its stores.
“Since 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop has been inspired by
Guests to create unique experiences that translate into lifelong memories,” said Dave Finnegan, Build-A-Bear Workshop
Chief Information and Interactive Bear. “Now with today’s
increasingly tech-savvy kids, we are leveraging technology to
foster richer and more personal connections with our Guests in
our newly imagined stores.”
Commenting on the retailer’s success, Diane Cerulli, Director of Product Marketing, Epicor Software, said, “We’ve
had a deep and rich partnership with Build-A-Bear Workshop
for many years and were delighted to leverage Epicor retail
technology to create a truly inspiring store experience. Everyone at Epicor is extremely proud to see these innovative ideas
come to life in the newly designed Build-A-Bear Workshop
store to create a very unique Guest experience.”
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience.
There are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United
Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and South America. Founded in St. Louis in
1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop is the leader in interactive retail. Brands include make-your-own Major League Baseball® mascot in-stadium locations,
and Build-A-Dino® stores. Build-A-Bear Workshop extends its in-store interactive experience online with its award winning virtual world website at
bearville.com™. The company was named to the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for the fifth year in a row in 2013. Build-A-Bear
Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $380.9 million in fiscal 2012. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company’s
award-winning website at http://www.buildabear.com
7
l
For Specialty Sports Venture, the POS opens new doors
By Fred Minnick
I
8
f snow is gold for Specialty Sports Venture, customer
information is platinum. Owned by leading U.S.
mountain resort operator Vail Resorts, the conglomerate
encompasses more than 150 stores in three states under
several different store names, including Heavenly Sports,
Boulder Ski Deals, Beaver Creek and Bicycle Village.
The customer demographic skews toward vacationing
families earning $50,000 to $75,000 a year, with tickets
ranging from $99 to $1,000. With 1,000 full-time and 1,500
seasonal employees, Specialty Sports’ outfits consistently earn
customer service awards.
to keep pace. Now, Jobanputra has access to sales audit
functionality, credit settlement and what he’s most excited
about— a customer relationship management (CRM) solution.
One of the more unique aspects of Specialty Sports is its
ability to manage so many different stores with more than
400,000 SKUs system-wide. Kat Jobanputra, executive vice
president and COO, is quick to give credit to POS software
provider Epicor, saying he can operate each store individually
because of the technology.
“From a consumer perspective, it’s a great shopping
experience. On the backside, it’s all the same company, the
same inventory, the same POS system,” he says.
Specialty Sports Venture was growing at a rate in excess
of 10% annually, and its legacy POS system just wasn’t able
Mine that Database
CRM Love
Specialty Sports can track a specific customer by a barcode
through the Epicor solution. With so many different brands,
SSV has many different databases: Several brands enjoy
large, loyal customer bases, and have e-commerce sites
that can market to regional bricks-and-mortar customers.
Databases from Any Mountain and Colorado Ski could be
leveraged for SSV’s RentSkis.com, North America’s largest ski
rental reservation network, but under the old system those
databases could not be used for the popular website.
Vail Resorts can give Specialty Sports access to the largest
snow sports database in the world; this CRM database feature is
only now under way with the retailer’s new system. “We need
to make sure that we have a tie into that,” Jobanputra says,
“and obviously make those consumers our preferred customers
and continue to talk with them through our CRM database.”
The CRM data will also help in-store associates, he says,
as they can talk to customers about their favorite mountains.
“That’s a huge, powerful tool to know exactly what mountain
they’re skiing on, what preferences they have, and then we
can communicate with them on a regular basis.”
This helps in the fight against larger competitors. “This
is the beauty of the specialty side of the business: We have
more knowledgeable people than most of those big box
stores do,” Jobanputra says. “Big boxes certainly do a good
job and they have a niche out there certainly, but we are a
high-touch company when it comes to customer service.”
Epicor works with a “who’s who” list of retailers, offering
everything from streamlined order entry and order tracking
to mobile solutions.
Dave Burton, Epicor product director for CRM, says most
retailers want to use Epicor to leverage POS data for targeting
marketing communications, including text marketing, e-mail
marketing and direct mail marketing, which leads to an ROI
well into the millions of dollars.
“That’s really the key to driving business for any retailer,”
Burton says. “Many people are realizing the most valuable
“
“
From a consumer perspective, it’s a great shopping experience. On the backside,
it’s all the same company, the same inventory, the same POS system.
- Kat Jobanputra, Specialty Sports Venture
asset in their company is their customer database, and being
able to mine that and understand who their customers are
is what really allows them to increase those sales.” Burton
says the customer database of a typical Epicor retail client has
3.2 million names. Increasing revenue comes down to simple
math: If the average retailer can receive one more transaction
from each customer, that’s a lot of money, Burton says.
“Ironically, a lot of retailers know more about their
customers than they realize,” Burton says. “Marketing has
all the knowledge on their customers [but] it isn’t being
shared with the rest of the organization very well. Sometimes
marketing doesn’t even know what they have in their
database to mine it themselves.”
To help the likes of Specialty Sports achieve better sales,
Epicor attempts to improve visit frequency, transactions and
customer retention. “That’s why you see a lot of retailers
implementing things like loyalty programs and frequent
shopper programs, because those programs give you added
vehicles for communicating with customers and for setting up
reward structures that naturally change customer behavior
and increase shopping behavior,” Burton says.
As regards shopping behavior, Jobanputra says SSV knows
its customers will buy ski boots, but not every year. “So if you
bought a pair of ski boots X number of years ago, we will
now be able to mine that information and say, ‘OK. It’s time
for you to buy a new pair of ski boots,’ or ‘We just got a great
deal on size 9 Salomon,’” Jobanputra says.
Currently, Specialty Sports has the data, but not in all
the right spots. With the new Epicor system, the retailer can
properly mine customer information and use it to sell other
products. “If I can get one more transaction out of you, that’s
a huge” boost to SSV’s bottom line, he says.
Enterprise Selling
In addition to the CRM improvements, Jobanputra is eager
to use Epicor Retail Enterprise Selling, a cross-channel order
management solution that features a real-time inventory
locator. According to Epicor, the solution prevents customer
walk-outs, automates online orders with in-store pick-ups,
satisfies demand, eliminates phone calls to other stores
searching for inventory and provides analytical customer
demand predictions.
“It enables us to share inventory and to take care of
customers on the spot,” Jobanputra says. “Plus, it ties into
our e-commerce engine where we can ship merchandise to
the consumer.”
The retailer is still in the rollout phase, but Jobanputra
believes it will greatly improve distribution fulfillment while
giving Specialty Sports another opportunity to show off its
customer service. The Enterprise Selling system will allow
Specialty Sports to sell a sweatshirt to a customer already
decked out in skiing gear at a resort. “We can ship it to you,
but you can actually make that shopping experience on top
of the mountain,” he says.
Copyrighted © 2013 NRF Enterprises Inc. 100006:413BK. Reprinted with permission from Stores® Magazine, January 2013.
9
Retail Mobility:
From Convenient
Solution to Cultural Shift
No longer a novelty, mobile in-store solutions
deliver what your customers now expect
W
ith the proliferation of smartphones and
tablets, consumers now take mobile connectivity for granted: they routinely expect to
have instant access to information and anywhere, anytime interactivity. This technology-enabled change
represents more than a passing trend; it’s a permanent shift in
the way we live—at home, at work and in the mall.
Retail mobility aligns with this shift, and it is driving sales
in two fundamental ways that traditional store systems cannot. One is relational: In stores, your use of tablets tells the
new consumer “I speak your language; I’m part of your
world.” That’s a potent message, because we’re all more inclined to do business with people we relate to.
The other sales driver is practical: Used properly, tablets allow your shoppers and staff to locate, view and interact with
everything you offer, and to get answers to any questions and
complete transactions on the spot, without hassles or delays.
A Window on Your Enterprise
Mobility also aligns with the well-established shift to omnichannel shopping. Your customers want an easy and inspiring
experience with your staff and brand. They also want consistency across channels—the same products, pricing, promotions, tax calculations and loyalty rewards, plus the ability to
transact in one channel or location and fulfill their order from
another. Tablets can help you meet those expectations.
10
When integrated with a well-designed POS, in-store tablets can extend your customers’ view of your offerings to your
Web store and across your enterprise, present those offerings
on the same terms, and even leverage available cross-channel
order fulfillment capabilities.
For all these reasons, mobile solutions now merit serious
consideration as a valuable element in your retail environment and offering. Your customers will be more satisfied and
more inclined to move quickly from browsing to buying. At
the same time, tablets allow your staff to be more productive;
they will be able to spend more time selling and less time
running around.
Plan to Profit
As with any technology acquisition, your mobility deployment must proceed from a clearly defined set of objectives
and requirements, with a well-managed implementation
plan and measurable KPIs to track progress against goals and
ROI at each stage. A number of factors specific to mobility
must also be considered. These include:
• Infrastructure readiness: Evaluate your wireless infrastructure and the types and numbers of devices you will need
relative to your long-term objectives. Many earlier mobile
implementations that limited functionality and failed to adequately support customer interaction are now left gathering
dust. And if you introduce your devices separately and inte-
grate them on the back end, plan to avoid potential operational difficulties such as cash accounting, transaction auditing, local reporting and local inventory.
• Development issues: It’s important to pair your mobile
devices with the right POS software. If mobility requires the
addition of a technology stack, many costs can double overnight, especially when customizations are involved. You may
be able to justify these costs, but a POS system designed for
mobility, such as Epicor Retail Store, can be leveraged on mobile devices without having to be rewritten. This will also enhance your ability to execute quickly and avoid operational
difficulties.
• Device management: Tablet devices are attractive to
your customers, employees—and also to thieves. Physical
security is a major concern, so make sure you have policies
in place governing use, storage and user accountability. The
right usage policies will also help leverage the corporate infrastructure to manage automatic updates.
When integrated with a well-designed POS,
in-store tablets can extend your customers’
view of your offerings to your Web store
and across your enterprise, present those
offerings on the same terms, and even
leverage available cross-channel order
fulfillment capabilities.
• Peripherals: Mobile devices such as the iPod® and iPad®
require sleeves to permit credit card capture and additional
scanning. But as each new generation of device is released,
the form factors enabling these sleeves change, imposing
time and costs for updates. To manage this challenge, consider budgeting for and acquiring replacement devices up
front. Savings can also be realized if some of the existing POS
equipment can remain in use, such as fixed printers.
• PCI compliance: The PCI Standards Council has stated
that consumer-grade retail devices will only gain compliance
when used with sleeves that have hardware encryption built
in. Work with your IT staff to discuss options for working with
multiple encryption methodologies out in the field.
• Data security: Data should be served to the devices, not
stored on them. Without fixed cameras at a traditional POS, it
can be difficult to observe transaction violations and manage
security tags.
• In-store operations: With mobile devices, line management can be an issue; shoppers may “chase” associates with
mobile devices, creating multiple lines in the store instead of
one at the traditional POS. Peak periods may require some
mobile devices or traditional POS to remain available in one
location. WiFi interference, product and checkout manage-
Inspire Rich Customer
Engagement with Epicor
Retail Mobile Store
Epicor Retail Mobile Store empowers your associates to
engage shoppers with real-time information at the point of
contact, giving your customers a highly personalized shopping experience. With Mobile Store you can:
• Create and complete a transaction from anywhere—
the sales floor, dressing room, sidewalk, special
event, pop-up store, or kiosk—without making the
customer wait at a central POS
• Quickly look up inventory, prices and promotions
• Access customer preferences, loyalty information and
purchase history
• Leverage Epicor Retail Enterprise Selling to
save-the-sale and find out-of-stock items to be
delivered or picked up in another location
• Use Store Messaging to have products brought to
you—without ever having to leave the customer
• Email or print customer receipts on the spot
A Full-Function POS in the Palm of Your Hand
Epicor Retail Mobile Store is a fully functional Epicor Retail Store client using all the same point of sale features,
functions and business logic as our best-of-breed Point of
Sale—the market leader among soft-goods, hard-goods and
specialty retailers. There is no need to duplicate technologies or costs! The solution delivers information right to your
associates’ fingertips so they can answer any question and
streamline any transaction, to delight your customers and
increase sales.
For more information about Epicor Retail Mobile Store,
write to retailinfo@epicor.com
ment, check payments and network reliability also present
potential challenges to efficient in-store operations
• Training: In addition to learning and following proper
device management procedures, associates must be trained
to not just use the devices but to leverage them for rich customer engagement and efficient on-floor service.
All these issues can be managed, and none should be seen
as a deterrent to moving ahead. The forces driving mobility
are real and durable, and so too are the benefits—to your
customers and to you! So if there was once any doubt that
the potential value of mobile retail solutions could justify the
investment, those doubts can now be put to rest. With all that
mobility has to offer, can you imagine missing out?
11
Streamlines
Operations with Epicor Eagle
G
lenn’s Sporting Goods was founded in 1970 with
a staff of three. The goal was to provide the best
in athletic footwear and team goods in the TriState area (West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky).
Today, Glenn’s has more than tripled in size and has a staff of
more than 40 employees. With the company’s recent transition to a new business management software solution, they
are now equipped to provide a high level of customer service
that is unsurpassed in the sporting goods industry.
Genuine Interest in Business Solution Fit
“
Using Epicor as our business
management solution has been a
great timesaver, specifically in wholesale
and managerial operations. The fact
that Epicor is able to tailor the software
to our specific business needs, with
the ability to adapt and evolve as
our business grows, has beneficially
impacted Glenn’s operations.
“
Susie Agee, Manager, Glenn’s Sporting Goods
12
Glenn’s Sporting Goods operated on the SportsPak system
for approximately 20 years before making the switch to the
Epicor Eagle business management system. “Soon after we
were notified of SportsPak ceasing its support, we began
our search for a new system,” said Susie Agee, manager of
Glenn’s Sporting Goods. “We had researched numerous vendors and right before we made our final decision, we received
an Epicor mailer with a quote from Johnny Mac’s. Because of
our membership in Sports Inc., we were aware of their knowledgeable team sports industry reputation and immediately
thought we should check out Epicor. Business references are
very influential.”
One of Glenn’s primary deciding factors in choosing the
Eagle system, other than its efficiency, was the genuine interest of the Epicor team in how the business operates. “The Epicor staff we worked with was determined to make sure the
solution was the right fit for us,” said Agee. “We began doing
more and more business over the Internet such as working
with vendors and ordering. We also grew from one terminal that accessed the Internet to 18 work stations. The Epicor
team was very aware of our requirements for the new system,
and they delivered 100%.”
Customer Experience Comparable
to Big-Name Chains
Customer service has always been a top priority for Glenn’s
Sporting Goods and was a key factor in their selection of Epicor Eagle. “Our customers’ experience at the cash register has
greatly improved with the Epicor system,” said Agee. “Today
we have the most up-to-date technology when it comes to
checkout. Customers don’t have to watch us enter a string of
numbers into the register as they check out—we now simply
glenn’s sporting goods
scan each item and the items are automatically entered into
the system. They see us as modern as any sporting goods store
they would find in the mall, which gives us a competitive advantage we didn’t have before.
“Another great improvement for us and our customers is
that they can have their invoices or receipts e-mailed to them,
and they are assured that we have their records accurately
filed and available upon request,” Agee added.
C om pa n y D escri p t ion : Based in Huntington,
WV, Glenn’s Sporting Goods serves the Tri-State area of
West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky with a full line of
sports merchandise and team uniforms.
B usi n ess C hal l e n ge: The company needed an
integrated solution that would eliminate credit card errors,
reduce the process of manually reviewing receipts, and
streamline their business operations.
S o l u t ion : Glenn’s chose Epicor® Eagle® to meet these
key objectives.
Operations Improve with Less Error
Operating with the Eagle system, Glenn’s now has the ability
to better utilize their management staff’s time. “Using Epicor
as our business management solution has been a great timesaver, specifically in wholesale and managerial operations,”
said Agee. “The fact that Epicor is able to tailor the software to our specific business needs, with the ability to adapt
and evolve as our business grows, has beneficially impacted
Glenn’s operations.
“With our previous system we were entering a nine digit
UPC code, plus the color/size digits for each item that was
brought to checkout, as that system was not integrated with
the credit card system,” explained Agee. “We would take
the total of each purchase from the cash register, and then
run over to the credit card machine to manually type in the
sale amount. This process was a big hassle for our employees and wasted our customers’ time. Now with integrated
credit card processing there are no mistakes, the Epicor system has eliminated 100% of credit card errors that we were
B usi n ess B e n e f i t s :
• Improved inventory management of non-stock items
• Faster, more efficient checkout processes
• Eliminated 100% of credit card errors
• Enabled e-receipt option for customers
experiencing with our previous system. It is also much more
efficient,” she added.
“Another advantage is that all receipts and invoices are
stored electronically,” said Agee. “With our prior system we
had to go through hundreds of receipts every morning. Now
everything is filed automatically—we are no longer required
to keep any paper copies. That’s a huge improvement for
our business operation and saves us at least 30 minutes every
morning! We have customers call to request an invoice copy,
and we can easily e-mail it directly from the Epicor system.”
Epicor Eagle: The Integrated Solution for Today’s SMRs
Epicor Eagle is an integrated solution that empowers small- to medium-sized retailers with smart, fast, and mobile business management, as well as intuitive, customer-centric point-of-sale capabilities, enabling them to become more agile, strategic, and to
compete against “big box” stores. More than 5,000 hardware, lawn and garden, lumber, sporting goods, pharmacy, automotive
and specialty retailers currently depend on Eagle to run their businesses efficiently and drive profitability.
Eagle offers advanced technology architecture to deliver a higher degree of sophistication in features and functionality, support for enterprise mobility and streamlined checkouts for improved customer service, with access to real-time performance data
and streamlined inventory planning to support faster and more accurate decisions. Solution highlights include:
• Performance Manager™ for dynamic, real-time graphical views of business information via rich dashboards,
scorecards and reports.
• Inventory Planner™ to support advanced inventory management by synchronizing supply and demand for
reduced stockouts/overstocks and lower carrying costs.
• POS Touch™ that brings four powerful tools to the sales counter, including an intuitive touchscreen terminal, a compelling
consumer display, a biometric fingerprint reader for instantaneous log-in, and digital receipt functionality.
• POS and Mobile ManagerTM to streamline the shopping experience by bringing the register
to the customer on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android mobile devices.
For more information on Epicor Eagle, write to eagle@epicor.com or call (888) 463-4700.
13
Epicor Retail CRM 7.0
Our lat es t CRM rel ease del i vers enr i c h e d l o ya lt y a n d c u s t o me r e n g a g e me n t w i t h
advanced a uto m ati o n, new q uery to o l s , a n d o u t- o f - t h e - b o x , mu lt i d i v i s i o n a l s u p p o rt
W
ith Release 7.0, Epicor
Retail CRM has been
completely redesigned
to allow retailers to leverage customer data and loyalty program-generated content while simplifying CRM tasks for all personnel—from
the executive suite to the selling floor.
This newly revamped solution
features automated loyalty program
functionality to streamline processes
and reduce time and effort. As retailers set rules for different loyalty
program tiers, Epicor Retail CRM 7.0
automatically upgrades, downgrades,
terminates or renews membership
types. This allows for more flexibility in
loyalty program design, and supports
more timely and accurate membership
data as qualifications change in real
time. Additionally, it enables personnel to focus on more significant valueadded loyalty program tasks.
Our latest CRM offering also features new query tools to support improved target marketing. Based on a
new, graphical flow chart design, querying now includes step-by-step counts
of customers so users can see how each
criteria selected or identified affects list
counts. Designed for visual thinkers, the
tool is easy to understand and relate to,
and offers faster debugging of list cri-
teria if anticipated customer counts do
not materialize. Tasks that previously
required multiple queries can now be
achieved with a single request.
Epicor Retail CRM 7.0 has also been
enhanced to meet the needs of multidivision retailers, right out of the box.
The new solution provides a complete omni-channel and holistic view
of customers across brands, channels
and continents with no customization required. Information resides in
a single database to which access can
be limited as desired, allowing you to
isolate customer information for security purposes or integrate it across divisions or geographies. This single view
of the customer across divisions and
brands reduces the effort and time required to maintain multiple databases,
offers franchise markets exposure to
true CRM capabilities, and provides a
foundation for Epicor to support multitenant CRM.
“From a new user interface built
on an Epicor Retail SOA foundation
to an overall more modern look, feel
and robust new functionality on all
levels, Epicor Retail CRM 7.0 will truly
transform how retailers work with
and consider all things CRM,” said
Sarah Barron, Product Manager for
CRM, Epicor. “Multi-division capabili-
ties open up a whole new world of
possibilities to many retailers who currently operate without a holistic view
of customers across their brand family, while new query functionality and
loyalty automation will astound CRM
power users and make ramp-up easy
for ‘CRM newbies’.”
Who uses Epicor Retail CRM?
Epicor Retail CRM is the solution of
choice for more than 145 leading retail brands seeking to benefit from efficient customer engagement, target
marketing, and loyalty programs. One
of them is A.C. Moore, who implemented Epicor Retail CRM to gain a
360-degree view of its customers in all
channels.
“We understand investing in
today’s most intuitive and robust
technology allows our team to attain
a clear, consolidated view of our
customer base so we can better cater
to them through whichever channel
they prefer to shop,” said Dewey Goodrich, vice president of IT Operations
for A.C. Moore. “Epicor technology
provides the right tools to unveil one
‘version of the truth’ across all retail
systems, enabling us to understand
and connect with our customers.”
What else is new?
Other recent releases within the Epicor Retail end-to-end solutions suite include…
Epicor Retail Assortment Planning 5.1
Epicor Retail Assortment Planning simplifies the process of building ideal assortments in perfect step with your customers, locations, seasons and budgets. Our latest release adds multi-currency planning, the ability to import location clusters from an external source, plus a range of other enhancements.
Epicor Retail Web IM 5.0
Web IM, which offers Web-based access to the Inventory Management module of Epicor Retail Merchandising, is now available
for deployment on the Apple® iPad® and has been designed for greater upgrade flexibility.
Epicor Secure Data Manager 2.4
14
This solution consolidates payment application functions and streamlines the process of securing your retail data, via tokenization, to support PCI compliance. Enhancements in this Release 2.4 support advanced management of log files and PINPads.
For more information on these and any other Epicor Retail solutions, write to us at retailinfo@epicor.com.
New Clients, More Solutions… Epicor Cited as a
Point-of-Service Leader
We are proud to congratulate and thank the following retailers
for recently acquiring, upgrading or implementing Epicor Retail
solutions to enhance their business operations.
Get to Know Epicor
Epicor Software Corporation provides advanced solutions for
retailers seeking to streamline processes, integrate channels,
leverage intelligence and inspire customers, to maximize
profitability. We also provide industry-leading ERP solutions for
manufacturers, distributors and service companies.
Our end-to-end retail suite includes: Planning, Sourcing,
Merchandising, Store and Mobile Store, Enterprise Selling, CRM,
Sales Audit, LP, BI and Secure Data Manager solutions for softgoods, discount, specialty and general merchandise retailers,
plus integrated solutions for lumber, hardware, auto parts,
gardening and related hard-goods businesses. They are backed by
comprehensive retail hardware and professional services with 24/7
support.
Epicor Retail solutions incorporate decades of best practices
and an in-depth understanding of our clients’ varied and evolving
needs. Our solutions are used by hundreds of leading multichannel, chain and independent retailers, from Aéropostale,
Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance and Build-a-Bear Workshop, to
General Nutrition Centers, True Value and Under Armour.
Epicor employs more than 800 professionals in retail operations
and more than 4,500 company-wide from 60+ locations in North
America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Epicor Software Corporation
Worldwide Headquarters
4120 Dublin Boulevard
Dublin, CA 94568
Toll Free: +1.800.999.1809
Retail: +1.800.992.9160
Fax: +1.925.361.9999
Epicor has been positioned as a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave™:
Point-Of-Service, Q2 2012 report published February 7, 2013. The
report is designed to help application development and delivery
professionals select the right partner for their needs in implementing large-scale point-of-service systems. Forrester evaluated
10 significant POS vendors against 70 criteria grouped by current
offering, vendor strategy and market presence. Epicor was cited as
a leader, achieving the top rank for “market presence” with the
highest possible score for implementation scale, and the highest
score for architecture under the “current offering” criteria.
According to the report, “As might be expected given its experience in specialty retail implementations, Epicor has the most
impressive pickup and delivery functionality. The solution also offers multicountry and multi-language capabilities, superior linebusting, a wide choice of deployment options, and experience
with large-scale implementations.”
George Lawrie, vice president, principal analyst with Forrester,
and author of the report writes, “Orchestrating the retail brand
experience, from returning goods to picking up online orders,
means enabling consumers and store associates to exploit information sources ranging from context-sensitive messaging to price
comparison services to peer recommendations on social networks.
Forrester has found that the latest generation of point-of-service
solutions serenades the consumer by orchestrating store devices,
enterprise resources, and community services into a retail brand
symphony.”
Epicor will be sponsor, exhibitor or participant in the following
upcoming events. We look forward to meeting you there and
to discussing how we can help you become a more profitable,
inspired retailer.
Retail Asia Expo, June 4-6, Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Center, Hong Kong
NRF LP Conference and Expo, June 12-14, Booth
#1010, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA
CRMC, June 17-19, Hilton, Chicago IL
Australia Office
Level 12, 459 Collins Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Phone: +61 03 8625 1100
Fax: +61 03 8625 1111
Email: retailinfo@epicor.com
Contact us online: www.epicor.com/retail
retailinfo@epicor.com | twitter.com/Epicor_Retail | www.facebook.com/Epicor
To subscribe to Inspired Retailer Magazine,
visit www.epicor.com/inspiredretailer
RIS Retail Executive Summit, June 19-21,
Grand Del Mar, Del Mar CA
Future Stores 2013, July 9-11, Omni Dallas
Hotel Park West, Dallas TX
NRF Tech IT Leadership Summit, July 28-30,
Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, La Jolla CA
RIS Cross-Channel Retail Executive Summit,
Sept 25-28, Four Seasons, Dallas TX
Shop.org Annual Summit, Lakeside Center
at McCormick Place, Chicago IL
This document is for informational purposes only. It is believed to be accurate as of its date of publication, June, 2013. However, Epicor Software Corporation makes no guarantee, representations or warranties with regard to its contents. This magazine includes descriptions of product functionality that is not presently available. This magazine
also includes certain statements which may constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This magazine is not intended to
obligate Epicor or any other entity to such functionality, release dates, technology, initiatives and plans, but merely to inform the audience of Epicor’s current intentions. Epicor
is a registered trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. All other trademarks acknowledged. Copyright ©2013 Epicor Software Corporation.
15
Epicor asks...
What’s your retail inspiration?
Performance
inspires John
John R. Driven. Obsessive about
quality. Focused on success.
Epicor performs
with advanced retail solutions that:
•Enrich customer engagement
•Integrate channels, data, and processes
•Boost productivity and business intelligence
•Strengthen your enterprise and bottom line
Ask us how!
epicor.com/retail | 800.992.9160
Store/Mobile Store | Cross Channel | CRM/Clienteling | Audit | LP | Merchandising | Planning/Assortment Planning | Business Intelligence | Sourcing/PLM
Copyright © 2013 Epicor Software Corporation. Epicor, the Epicor logo, and Business Inspired are registered trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation or its affiliates in the United States and elsewhere.

Magazine - RIS News

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