 While other verticals continue to lure channel players, the retail sector" and specifically, the POS arena" remains an ever more attractive niche for VARs. Driving growth in equal measure: an increasing trend among VARs, ISVs (and, in some cases, vendors), to form strong partnerships that not only foster technology development, but render it possible to leverage otherwise unattainable business opportunities, and the introduction of new applications by vendors themselves.
"Increasingly, VARs and ISVs are realizing that partnerships are essential to moving forward in a competitive POS environment," says David Gosman, CEO of POS hardware and software provider pcAmerica. "From what we have observed, end-users are now gravitating towards companies that have formed alliances because they have no desire to look for multiple sources of hardware and software that works together."
Partnering with several different VARs permits pcAmerica to penetrate highly specialized markets. Among its most successful alliances is a long-standing relationship with Paso Robles, Calif.-based WineWare Software Corp., which resells POS hardware and provides proprietary software that facilitates the sale and shipment of wine by wineries.
"Prior to teaming up with pcAmerica, we had no POS, which made it tough to crack the market," states Jeff Weidler, WineWare's president. "That is no longer an issue."
Richard Rotbard, president of pcAmerica, says the benefits are just as tangible to his company from an ISV standpoint. "Over the years, we have come to rely on such resellers as WineWare, not only for the business they give us, but for the input we receive from them," Rotbard explains. "In many cases, WineWare has been very instrumental in helping us improve our products which, in turn, translate into more sales for both of our companies."
On some occasions, Rotbard and Gosman report, Weidler and his team have assisted pcAmerica's technical staff in tweaking the functionality of the vendor's offerings and ensuring that they reflect the needs of specific end users. Among the most notable enhancements executed in tandem with WineWare, according to the executives, was the addition of an interface between pcAmerica's Cash Register Express system and ShipCompliant, a third-party software program. "When it comes to shipping alcohol, there are certain regulations and laws to be followed that might be different from state to state," Rotbard notes. When wineries write up orders for alcoholic products to be shipped, the interface checks with Ship Compliant to ensure the order meets the regulations." The interface a strong selling point for Cash Register Express on the winery side, Rotbard adds. pcAmerica's plans for 2010 entail an increased focus on improvements to its reseller program; WineWare will be asked to contribute input.
Vendors Step It Up
Just as VAR-ISV partnerships are opening doors to new POS business and product development opportunities, so, too, are alliances between ISVs and vendors. "The end-result is a wider breadth of solutions channel players can use to maximize the potential of lucrative markets," asserts Mark Schmidt, director of strategic marketing, Honeywell.
Honeywell launched a multi-level ISV program in April of 2009. Its inception, Schmidt says, has led to the introduction of a "significant number" of very narrowly focused software offerings designed to run on products in the company's Honeywell Scanning & Mobility (HSM) line. Many applications are built on the Windows Mobile platform, which Schmidt says will continue to have positive implications for VARs because it will allow them to better-satisfy heightened demand for mobile POS solutions suitable for various verticals.
Entry-level participants in the program have access to Honeywell's online ISV Portal, which contains technical resources and training materials. Discounted demonstration units and complimentary listings on the HSM Web site are also part of the package. Signature ISV-level program participants can avail themselves of these resources, as well as of market development funds, dedicated sales/marketing assistance, and exposure to Honeywell channel partners at channel partner events. They are eligible to participate in the company's ISV Advisory Council and to receive exposure through full profiles of their businesses on the HSM Web site.
Similarly, end-user demand for specialized solutions is spurring NCR to lean more heavily on the ISVs and VARs with which it partners, states Brad Tracy, vice president, retail channel sales. "We can deliver the quality hardware piece, but the VARs have greater potential for stickiness with their customers when vertically appropriate solutions intended to run on that hardware come bundled inside," he says.
For example, one of NCR's ISV partners has configured a solution tailored to the petroleum sector. The solution enables fuel pumps to interface with NCR's ACS-IR (Advanced Checkout Solution-Independent Retailer) POS product. Additional promotion management and customer profiling capabilities are also part of the solution. Similarly, several dozen POS applications intended for use with NCR's RealPOS 70XRTPOS offering have recently been launched under the aegis of the vendor's ISV program. Among applications capable of running on the RealPOS 70XRT POS is In the Black, from Millenium Retail of Markham, Ontario, Canada. Designed for the general merchandise, multi-unit specialty store marketplace, the software supports an online, IP- based communications environment that allows transaction information to be "trickled up" to corporate headquarters in real time. It also touts integrated payment processing for credit, debit and gift cards.
NCR touts several programs designed to enhance solution partners' success with its POS offerings. Program components include a discount on the cost of new NCR hardware and marketing development funds for advertising, trade shows and other promotional activities. Solution partners can also access the NCR Retail Partner Lab and are eligible for up to 60 hours of support a year at that facility, whose staff provides technical consulting, test tools and assistance with debugging or diagnostics.
Next Up: New Twists
While collaborative efforts continue to deliver new POS technology to the retail sector, development continues beyond the boundaries of partnership to encompass next-generation twists on existing solutions. Notably, Honeywell is rolling out the Dolphin 6500 rugged mobile computer, whose enhanced data capture capabilities include 2D and linear barcode scanning, digital image capture, and intelligent signature capture. The device's ability to handle 2D barcodes renders it a good fit for VARs to promote to those retailers interested in leveraging emerging opportunities to market to consumers via cellular phones or hand-held devices. "Coupon offers may contain 2D barcodes with a considerable amount of information in them, and (merchants) will need the technology to handle the reading piece," Schmidt asserts.
Other features of the Dolphin 6500 encompass integrated 802.11b/g wireless connectivity for enterprise-wide access to critical data, as well as Bluetooth® connectivity for wireless connections to peripheral devices. A large color touch-screen display bolsters efficiencies by enabling users to see more of a given application on a single screen. VARS can specify multiple keypad options (28-key numeric and 52-key full alphanumeric) to meet specific application requirements and client preferences.
Elsewhere in the POS realm, Xsilva Systems (Montreal, Canada-based) has enhanced its LightSpeed Mac-based platform, which combines front-end POS with such back-office functions as inventory management, purchasing, order processing and reporting. Unlike its immediate predecessor, LightSpeed 2.0, LightSpeed 3.0 caters to multi-unit retailers with enterprise reporting and returns handling capabilities, as well as product and supplier database replication for synchronization of sales across the entire chain of stores. A new user interface has the look and feel of an iPhone, functioning in "line-item" mode as well as in "button" mode for drilldown into merchandise sub-categories at the point of sale, notes Dax Dasilva, Xsilva's founder and CEO.
Web Store, an add-on module for LightSpeed, has been upgraded as well. The module integrates directly with POS databases at users' brick-and-mortar stores. Merchandise presented for sale online comes directly from the POS databases, and orders placed in cyber-stores go directly into the databases. Customization to Web Store is possible; retailers with a repair component can check the status of repair jobs online, minimizing disruptions in their stores.
DaSilva says the Mac platform appeals largely to "lifestyle" merchants, such as high-tech electronics stores, wine shops, sporting goods retailers, and niche apparel boutiques. These operators appreciate its ease of use, along with reduced training costs that stem largely from employees' familiarity with Apple's iPhone, iPod and iTunes. However, he believes VARs can position it as a price-competitive option for any retailer with a desire to extend personal "Apple-centric" experiences to a business environment. Xsilva is seeking to establish relationships with channel partners and has put into place a dealer certification program that includes introductory "boot camps" for VARs as well as online training tools.
Combating Retail "Sweethearting"
Meanwhile, the industry is seeing the emergence of solutions designed to bolster loss prevention at the point of sale. The Checkout Vision System, developed by StopLift and currently being deployed primarily in high- volume retail environments with thin margins and supermarket-style checkout lanes (e.g., grocery and general merchandise stores), represents a case in point.
"The core function of this product is to detect instances of 'sweethearting,' where cashiers pretend to scan merchandise, but deliberately bypass the unit so as not to charge the customer"often a friend, family member or fellow employee" for the items," explains Malay Kundu, StopLift's CEO. "However, the system also reduces losses that result from intentional employee disregard" when an item doesn't scan and isn't manually rung up by a cashier, or isn't included in a transaction because the cashier was doing something else and didn't scan it." It also guards against basket-based loss that occurs when customers deliberately conceal items in carts or leave merchandise at the bottom of their carts either accidentally, or on purpose.
Kundu concedes that most retailers recognize the value of positioning surveillance cameras above each POS station, but have hesitated to do so, given the difficulty of justifying a return on investment. He believes VARs can overcome such objections by emphasizing that the software eliminates manual monitoring and review of images, thereby reducing labor expenditures as well as increasing the potential for repeat offenses and subsequent loss. StopLift has begun to cast a wider acceptance net by developing targeted applications to address the specific needs of retailers from different verticals, among them not only grocery and general merchandise, but specialty retail as well.
"A specialty retailer isn't going to see the same kind of sweethearting methods as a grocery store," says Kundu. "Resellers need to keep that in mind."
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