LakeWest Groups Annual POS Survey Reveals ROI Justification Key

LakeWest Group found that retailers continue to focus on enhancing customers shopping experiences by differentiating service offerings, while remaining focused on their overall return on investment (ROI). This year respondents identified their top priorities as increased customer flow-through, better customer information gathering, hardware replacement, improved store labor management, and seamless channel integration. Since customer expectations and satisfaction are increasingly dependent upon a seamless shopping experience across channels, retailers are placing heightened emphasis on multi-channel integration. More than one-third of the multi-channel retailers offer kiosks as tools for online shopping, product information, or employee support. To enhance the multi-channel shopping experience, over 70% of the retailers offer the use of stored value cards (SVC) across channels in addition to offering cross-channel returns processing. Better access to real-time inventory information across channels improves ROI and offers accurate product availability and special order capabilities. Inventory management tools used at the store level are often web-based and may be accessed by handheld wireless units. Currently, almost half of the respondents utilize RF handhelds for inventory functions with another 39% planning to implement RF handheld inventory functionality within two years. Applications assisting in the management of store employees, tasks, and payroll dollars also provide retailers with superior customer service. Nearly half of the respondents currently utilize automated labor scheduling tools and within two years, more than half of the retailers will be using store execution management tools. The foundation for the success of these applications lies in the infrastructure at the store level. One-third of the retailers will replace hardware and software in the next two years and nearly half of the retailers will upgrade their connectivity. Ultimately, this provides better service to maintain loyal customers and gain new customers, while also attaining an effective ROI.