The retail industry is becoming increasingly more complex, and retailers must be truly multi-channel in order to meet customer expectations and grow their business. The Aberdeen Group’s 2007 Benchmark report The 21st Century Retailer Managing Customers, Merchandise, and Data states that “an overwhelming 84% of retailers surveyed conduct sales in more than one channel.” Unfortunately, multi-channel retailers don’t have the technology they need to provide a seamless shopping experience across all channels. AIRS Multi-Channel POS from Alpha Bay gives retailers technology innovations that dramatically increase revenue by providing the customer channel transparency!

An important part of providing a great multi-channel customer experience is having the product available for the customer when and where they want it. However, the Aberdeen Group further reports that retailers lack integrated multi-channel inventory data. Traditionally, the three main retail channels—brick & mortar, web store, and call center—have been treated as three separate business entities with three separate databases and IT systems. AIRS Multi-Channel POS provides real-time, integrated inventory data across all retail channels. If an item is out-of-stock, customers are given the option of having the product delivered to their house, or they can choose to pick up the product in a nearby store at their convenience. This decreases out-of-stock loss of sales and increases customer satisfaction.

Maintaining an integrated customer profile across all channels is another way to increase customer satisfaction. Because AIRS Multi-Channel POS shares a single, common data warehouse, a customer’s account follows them from channel to channel in real-time. A customer that opens a loyalty card in a brick & mortar store can use the same loyalty account on the web store or with the call center. Purchases made in any channel are counted toward the customer’s loyalty account. Wish lists and gift registries are also easily accessible from the web store, call center, and brick & mortar stores. AIRS Multi-Channel POS provides retailers critical customer data that allows them to better target their customers and reward customers for their loyalty.

Another key factor to providing a great shopping experience is making it fast and simple for the customer. AIRS Multi-Channel POS has a completely customizable, single user interface that is standard across all channels, making it much easier and faster for employees to be trained. Employees can easily look up prices, search for products, and locate a customer’s account, all from their point-of-service terminal. This saves valuable time for customers and increases their overall satisfaction with their shopping experience.

AIRS Multi-Channel POS is a real-time retail system that increases retailers’ revenue by dramatically improving the customer experience. AIRS Multi-Channel POS includes:

• Loss prevention
• Combined order history
• Preferred mailings based on combined order history
• Cross-channel returns and exchanges
• Personalized offers
• Role-based security
• Real-time reporting
• Internationalization
• Up-selling/Cross-selling capabilities
• Like items/Related items
• Localized searches to locate product
• Wish lists and gift registries across all channels

The AIRS Multi-Channel POS application is a full-featured, easily customizable component of the full Alpha Bay retail product line, which includes AIRS applications such as Web Store, Catalog Order Management, Inventory Management, Business Intelligence, and more. For more information, call us at 801-838-7600.