Group items tagged

As Kevin Thompson, director of application development for Lids Sports Group, told retail attendees of the recent Oracle Industry Connect conference, the retailer has implemented the Micros Locate inventory visibility solution to enable full inventory access at stores. "It's a customer service issue," said Thompson. "We don't want to disappoint customers." Lids uses Locate for order brokering, providing visibility of inventory to other stores and DCs both from the store as well as to customers using one of Lids' e-commerce sites. Store associates are equipped with tablets allowing them "endless aisle" inventory access, and out-of-stock items can be ordered for home shipment at the POS, either from a DC or a nearby store.

...According to "The Connected Consumer 2012: Evolving Behavior Patterns," an Oracle survey of more than 1,000 consumers, store associates make a big difference; 40 percent of respondents said a savvy store associate can impact their final product selection more than a website. As a result, says David Dorf, Oracle's senior director of technology strategy, "a lot of retailers need to invest in their store associates, and make sure they're armed with at least as much information about their products as can be found on the web."

"Oracle, of Redwood Shores, Calif., whose products are used by retailers in their back offices as well as on the shopping floor, said customers including Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ:DECK), maker of UGG and Teva shoes, has deployed Oracle Retail Platform in global operations as well as 70 stores to improve performance and analysis. Russia's M Video, a consumer electronics retailer, had deployed Oracle Commerce software to connect 280 stores in at least 120 cities. As well, it might tap other products, including Endeca and Oracle ATG Web Commerce in 280 stores in 120 Russian cities. Oracle already sells systems and services to the top 20 global retailers, including human resources software and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to compete with IBM, Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and others."

The chain Unicoop Florence - the largest cooperative in Italy, with a network of over 100 hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores in seven provinces - has chosen to rely on Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management with the aim to optimize the management of its stores and inventory, while improving the customer experience, and to unify all the various processes in a single solution and get more control over the goods in the shop.

Disney Store is using Oracle Retail Stores Solutions to better serve customers at its 330 stores in seven countries. OPN partner and systems integration company SkillNet helped to complete the global rollout of Oracle Retail Point of Sale in all 330 store

The multi-year, three-step project, which started 18 months ago, includes a move to a private cloud, better backend integration between online and brick and mortar stores to support in-store merchandise pickup, and larger in-store networking pipes that could, ultimately, be used to help guide shoppers to in-store deals.

"Oracle Commerce allows Stage Stores to deliver on its "commerce anywhere" promise by improving the customer experience across all devices, offering more personalized recommendations and delivering more effective product cross-sells and up-sells. Guided search capabilities help ensure consumers receive relevant and accurate search results and enables Stage Stores to highlight relevant products and promotions."

"Oracle Commerce allows Stage Stores to deliver on its "commerce anywhere" promise by improving the customer experience across all devices, offering more personalized recommendations and delivering more effective product cross-sells and up-sells. Guided search capabilities help ensure consumers receive relevant and accurate search results and enables Stage Stores to highlight relevant products and promotions."

At tech giant Oracle, Mike Webster, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Retail, says the biggest challenge facing retailers is breaking down existing siloed processes and data stores, as in information that is stored but not used day-to-day. "Customers look at online, mobile and in-store as essentially one thing - the brand they are interacting with," Webster says. "Retailers must align their business to meet this reality. Successful analytics initiatives require data from every part of the business that affects the customer experience. So it is not only online, mobile and in-store, but also supply chain and promotions."

In this January cover story, Stores looks at Disney's new international retail stores and how the retailer is using technology to create "the best 30 minutes of a child's day." Oracle Retail applications run key store operations.

Today, e-commerce - now based on a new software platform from Oracle Commerce - accounts for about 2 percent of the company's sales and is growing at about 40 percent per year. Stage Stores expects it to reach 5 percent to 7 percent of sales - equivalent to its competitors - in the near future. E-commerce also enables the company's Send program, based on NCR Retail Endless Aisle technology, which allows customers to have merchandise shipped directly to their homes from another store or distribution center if their size or color is not available in the store they are visiting.

STORES' annual predictions feature is the result of months spent absorbing and processing the insights of numerous retail experts. STORES wishes to acknowledge the individuals and organizations who generously shared their time and views on key topics... David Dorf and Michael Webster, Oracle; Gary Penn, QuikSilver; Michael Haydock, IBM; Brian Kilcourse, Retail Systems Research

Disney Stores' Ron Johnson, speaking at the Oracle Retail Cross-Talk user conference last week in Chicago, said the new POS has created stronger in-store links to Disney's e-commerce offerings, reduced losses due to mispricing and lowered IT costs with a more centralized operational structure. In addition to traffic and sales increases, benefits include higher guest conversion rates and improved margins.

Once the domain of highly trained corporate retail analysts, access to data and tools are being given to store managers to operate their store location better. Tobin Gilman of Oracle reports, "Store managers have not been traditionally trained to be analy

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," said Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia Group. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time."

"Our brands are committed to delivering an interactive, exciting and efficient shopping experience to all our customers around the world, no matter which channel they choose to use to visit us, from flagship stores to mobile devices," said Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia Group. "Global expansion is a key strategic focus for Arcadia, and to do this successfully, we need to make sure the best merchandise assortment is available in each store and channel. We expect Oracle to help us enhance our merchandising strategies to help ensure that we deliver the best possible customer promise every time."

Von Maur department stores has rolled out the Oracle Retail Merchandising System suite of applications to support same-store revenue growth, as well as expansion into new markets. With the Oracle Retail system supporting its e-commerce site and 26 stores, the retailer is able to respond more quickly to customer demand, maintain appropriate inventory levels, and increase sales by having the right products in the right location. "At Von Maur, it's about providing our customer with the best service possible, while simultaneously offering a unique mix of products," said Joy Place, vice president of merchandising for Von Maur.

As part of a larger initiative to upgrade the customer experience and localize offerings in its 640 stores nationwide, The Finish Line will roll out new Oracle Retail merchandising, planning, stores and CRM solutions. The athletic-goods retailer is leveraging Oracle's cloud computing services in the process

Saks is working hard to cater to shoppers who are buying both in the stores and online. During a conference call with investors, Saks CEO Steve Sadove talked about how important it is to merge its physical stores with its online business. The company is investing in an ambitious multi-year project with Oracle called "Project Evolution" that will help create a more seamless operation. By 2013, it expects to fulfill online orders from its Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

While there's been much focus on consumer mobile devices, there's also much to be gained from using mobile devices equipped to help run the business. This is especially true for retailers when critical, day-to-day decision-makers are in the field visiting stores. Imagine a district manager walking into a store with an iPad that provides current sales trends, inventory reports or labor productivity for that store, complete with exceptions highlighted and the ability to drill into details...

myToys.de, a leading German multichannel provider of goods for kids and young families, has selected Oracle® Retail Point-of-Service to provide a single platform for its growing store network. Berlin-based myToys.de offers over 100,000 products for maternity, childrenswear, toys, books, multimedia, school and other related segments through its German and European ecommerce and mail-order catalogue operations, and over the last five years has expanded its store network across Germany.

"To extend its "commerce anywhere" strategy, Stage Stores has implemented Oracle Commerce. The initiative, completed in less than six months, provided the retailer with a new e-commerce engine, along with guided search and recommendation solutions, all before the 2012 holiday shopping season kicked off."

"To extend its "commerce anywhere" strategy, Stage Stores has implemented Oracle Commerce. The initiative, completed in less than six months, provided the retailer with a new e-commerce engine, along with guided search and recommendation solutions, all before the 2012 holiday shopping season kicked off."