Accenture and Microsoft Offer Technology Solutions For Smarter Retailing Initiative

These solutions are part of Microsofts Smarter Retailing Initiative, which is designed to help improve a customers in-store experience with information tailored to enhance purchasing decisions. Accenture worked with Microsoft to develop the strategy for the new Smarter Retailing initiative. In addition, Accenture developed a set of tools that will help retailers achieve the following: -- Increase sales and margin. Among the tools is a Shopping Cart Assistant that allows shoppers to scan and pay for items as they are selected, bypassing checkout lines. This technology, which runs on a Tablet PC using Windows XP Embedded, can help a retailer predict a customers shopping list and offer discounts and coupons tailored to the individual shopper. -- Increase overall manager and employee productivity, minimize out-of-stock items, and address other inventory challenges. A Store Manager Workbench gives managers instant access to information on inventory, employee schedules and sales data through a Tablet PC or personal digital assistant that leverages Microsoft Office System products, including Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Increasing the mobility of managers means they can be on the store floor helping employees and customers. -- Deploy solutions quickly. Through a set of architectural and design frameworks, retailers can reduce the time necessary to develop store-based technology solutions, diminish the complexity of store applications development projects and simplify application maintenance to lower costs. This framework was developed through Avanade, a company created by Accenture and Microsoft. Microsoft-based RFID -- or silent commerce -- applications embedded throughout the retailers operations, such as those at the dock door and on shelving units, can decrease inventory-handling errors by improving receiving, accuracy and speed while reducing labor expense. Microsofts Smarter Retailing Initiative flows from our belief that there are many opportunities for innovation in the retail industry today, but they primarily lie on the edges, where retailers interact with consumers, manage their supply chains or weave in new technologies, such as digital assistants and self-checkout terminals, said Brian Scott, general manager for the Retail & Hospitality Industry Solutions Group at Microsoft. Accenture and Microsoft will continue to develop joint solutions focused on customer insight and store operations to support the Smarter Retailing Initiative.