Building Automated Retail Networks

Because today's points of sale or points of service (POS) are key customer interaction channels, they need to support customer satisfaction, cost reductions, and cross sell / up-sell efforts. Given the sophistication and diversification of retail and service industries today, the term “POS” does not necessarily denote a certain physical place. A POS can be a simple retail or service shop, a check out counter in a department store, an automated teller machine or an automated vending machine, as well as the check out page of an online store. Selling goods and services through automated machines is an art of network management and has a history longer than a century.

POS networks are the face of many retail or service organizations, serving as the largest single channel through which organizations communicate with their customers. Because of the wide range of issues handled by today's POS networks, organizations must address more complex customer questions and issues than ever before.

To ensure that the customer interaction is maximized, retail or service organizations must be acquainted with their POS network by means of maximizing the customer, product, and service information at their disposal.

At this point, we can define "automated POS" as consisting of one location in which one or more machines are located. The combined nature of machines and the location defines an automated POS profile that interacts with external events and individual consumer preferences to create forecasting patterns.

Understanding the behavioral patterns of an automated POS is critical when building a network, as the highest cost item of a network operator will neither be the cost of money nor the operational costs through the network building phase.

Cost of building a functioning network includes:

• Wrong investments of machinery & cash or stock in non-performing locations
• Excessive patching of business and organizational model
• Time, prestige, and morale lost through iterative failures

To improve performance, organizations should be able to visualize their POS networks' pattern and reveal noteworthy information by processing integral, accurate, up-to-date data collected from the network. Better yet, they should be guided through all necessary steps, while giving shape to the network pattern to ensure the customer interaction is maximized.

There is no world without trial-and-error, but cutting growth costs and the learning curve short is possible through diligent management of your operational data.

Seda Demiray
Director, Operational Solutions