Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company - Insurer Innovation Award 2024
The World of Retail from the Other Side - POS & Retail Systems Overview
1. The world of the retailer from the other side –
Learning from working with POS systems
Capillary Technologies Inc.
San Francisco, CA, USA
2. About Capillary Technologies
Leader in Mobile & Social CRM Solutions,
Analytics & Campaign Management
Cloud platform drives 3-7% Increased Merchant Sales
via real time, personalized offers
“Instant” POS Integration with SKU data
Integrated Store, Online, Social, Mobile CRM
Currently Powering 10K+ Stores, 25M+ end consumers
in USA, UK, Middle East, Singapore, Africa and India
2 Hour POS Integration
Capillary Technologies 2
6. The Simplest Retailers
When the Owner is Selling
Products & Services <-> Payments No Inventory, No Accounting
Capillary Technologies 6
7. Real Businesses Need More
Than Just Invoicing
When the Owner is Not Selling
Accounting & Book-Keeping, Inventory Management, Taxes, Basic CRM,
Purchase & Sales Orders, Electronic Receipts, Pricing
Used to Run the Whole Business – Email / Sales Quotes / Social Networking
Capillary Technologies 7
8. Upgrading to Point of Sale
Placing Orders, Email, Reports for
Invoicing, Entering Inventory
HO, Playing Music, “Surfing the Net”
Data
Capillary Technologies 8
9. And It Gets More
Complex…
Marketing &
Financial Accounting
Communications
Online
Commerce
Engine
POS Head Office Module
Corporate Office E-Commerce
Entering Inventory
Data, Placing
POS Orders, Email,
POS System POS System Reports for HO,
System Playing Music,
“Surfing the Net”
Store Store Store
Capillary Technologies 9
10. The World of a Retailer
Till Till
Machine Machine
Other SAP / ERP System
Systems:
CRM, POS
Pricing, Connecto
Merchandi rs / Data POINT OF SALE
sing, Aggregat
Warehous ors
e, Supply
Chain etc.
Product Lifecycle Management
Master/Pricing Data Management
Store Front-End
Business Intelligence
Online Commerce Engine
Corporate Office E-Commerce
Capillary Technologies 10
11. The Division of Responsibilities
Daily Batch Trickle
POS
Connecto
SAP / ERP System rs / Data Leased
Aggregat Line/DSL/Dial-Up Single Till Stores
ors
Real-Time Trickle
Corporate Office Store
Capillary Technologies 11
12. The Division of Responsibilities
Till
Daily Batch Trickle
POS
Connecto
SAP / ERP System rs / Data Leased Store
Line/DSL/Dial-Up Till
Aggregat Server
ors
Real-Time Trickle
Till
Corporate Office Store
Capillary Technologies 12
13. The Division of Responsibilities
Thin
Client
Daily Batch Trickle
POS
Connecto
SAP / ERP System rs / Data Leased Store Thin
Line/DSL/Dial-Up
Aggregat Server Client
ors
Real-Time Trickle
Thin
Client
Corporate Office Store
Capillary Technologies 13
14. The Division of Responsibilities
Thin
Client
POS
Connecto Store
SAP / ERP System rs / Data Real-Time Thin
Aggregat Server Connectivity Client
ors
Challenges:
- Scalability of
Thin
Server
Client
- Tills can not be
programmed
- Locked Into
Corporate Office Web/Citrix Architecture Store
Capillary Technologies 14
15. An Example: Capillary’s
Integration
Till Till
CRM Cloud Back-End Machine Machine
Other
Systems SAP / ERP System
: POINT OF SALE
POS
Pricing,
Conne
Mercha
ctors /
ndising,
Data
Wareho
Aggreg
use,
Product Lifecycle Management ators
Supply
Chain
etc. CRM Server
Master Data Management
Store Front-End
Business Intelligence
Online Commerce Engine
Corporate Office E-Commerce
Capillary Technologies 15
16. Key Challenges in
Working with Retail POS
Systems
Flexibility &
Scalability
Configurability
Systems & Security &
Networking Compliance
Design
User
Experience for Support
Infrastructure
Retail
Capillary Technologies 16
17. User Experience
Can’t Slow down Education & Skill Churn & Geo-
the Checkout Level Distribution
Color Coded Repeated
User Interfaces Training Process
Multi-Lingual
Interfaces
Capillary Technologies 17
18. Systems & Networking
Most POS don’t have an API Typical POS
System Spec:
ARTS – Primarily on the Backend
256 MB RAM
128 Kbps
Connectivity
Manufacturers Lockup the OS, Intel Celeron /
Eg., IBM 4690 Pentium
Processor
Windows
2000/XP
Networking’s a Challenge
Dial-Up & Intermittent
Firewalls, Citrix and like Dial-Up in
Dubai
System Security
PCI Compliance Working in
Indian Villages
Capillary Technologies 18
19. Flexibility, Configurability &
Scalability Search 3M
Users on 128 MB
Marketing Folks are Creative RAM
Multitude of Campaign Types
Modifications on the Fly
Remote Configurations & Templatization
Eg., Capillary has over 600 configs only on POS Screen
DOS Based
Integration with any POS is critical POS at Largest
Department
Flexibility first, then scalability Store in SG
Division of work between POS / Server
Managed Degradation of Services under Intermittent Net
Division of Work on POS / Server
Capillary Technologies 19
20. Remote Infrastructure
Management
Used for Installation, Debugging, & Training
Larger Retailers may have
Remote Infrastructure
management systems, but
most rely on
Teamviewer/Webex/Remote
Desktop (or a combination)
Capillary Technologies 20
21. Successful Around the World
Lifestyle: Multi Brand Outlet: Food & Beverages:
Health & Wellness:
POS Systems:
Capillary Generates 5-7% Same Store Sales Growth in more than 10000 stores
Capillary Technologies 21