REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 1, 2012 – Retail
used to mean walking into a brick-and-mortar store, browsing the goods
and displays, and hearing the ding of the cash register upon checkout,
but things aren’t so simple anymore.
Microsoft can help.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail,
the new version of Microsoft’s end-to-end software solution for midsize
and enterprise retailers, launches in 25 countries today. Experience the virtual launch here.
The newest version of
Microsoft Dynamics is the ultimate control panel for a retailer to
easily automate, streamline, control, and adapt various aspects of their
business simultaneously, said Michael Griffiths, global director of
retail and distribution for Microsoft Dynamics.
“When
you look at what’s happening in the retail market, businesses have to
keep up with and adapt to fast-moving trends and ever-widening customer
expectations,” Griffiths said. “Our strength is that Microsoft Dynamics
offers a complete hub that provides not only core capabilities like
point of sale, inventory, supply chain, and financials, but also deep
integration with Microsoft’s full line of business applications such as
SharePoint, Visual Studio, and Excel.”
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Griffiths said this can help
retailers be true to the software’s name – more dynamic – in a number of
areas. Customers in 30 countries have adopted Microsoft Dynamics for
this reason, he said, including DAVIDsTEA, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro,
Sephora , Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Malabar Gold, Turisme de
Barcelona, Carol’s Daughter, Sally Beauty Supply, Ashley Furniture
Industries, and, of course, Microsoft stores.
Microsoft
is in a unique position, in that it’s the only major organization on
the planet that sells consumer products, that is a retailer, and that
offers a comprehensive line of products to help other businesses sell
their products and other retailers get their products to market,
Griffiths said.
“We have a lot of big
customers around the world who are using Dynamics to run their entire
business end-to-end,” Griffiths said. “Retail has become another
Microsoft success story. We’ve got a world-class retail experience in
our Microsoft stores, and now we have a world-class retail solution.”
That
can mean sales associates using tablet PCs rather than standing at a
fixed cash register to get more face time with customers. It can mean
offering promotions, discounts, or coupons targeted to social networks.
It can mean offering customers a seamless experience online and in
person.
“So how do you compete and build
loyalty with customers in a world where they have so many choices?
We’ve
got solutions that directly address that question along with a lot of
the trends that are driving retail,” Griffiths said. “Dynamics is about
being connected without compromise to the customer, and to reach them
how, when, and where they shop.”
Microsoft
Dynamics also helps retailers do heavy lifting on the business’s
back-end without having to do complicated coding. Want to add a new
retail location? Microsoft Dynamics lets users see their entire business
graphically, and even easily drag and drop graphics to create new store
locations in the system or to add new distribution channels.
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This has come in handy for one
early adopter, Mattress Firm. The largest mattress retailer in the U.S.,
Mattress Firm needed a solution that could accommodate its aggressive
expansion plans while also helping employees provide the best customer
service possible, said Patty Wade, the company’s chief information
officer and vice president of strategic planning.
“The
change of the retail environment from brick-and-mortar stores is
intense,” Wade said. “Being a retailer is now about more than being a
store. It’s about adapting to those changes, and talking to your
customers in different mediums, not just at the cash register.”
Wade
said many retailers – especially in the mattress and furniture
industries – piece together their IT business applications for things
such as sales, inventory, and distribution, and sometimes need even more
software to help integrate and manage all of those various
applications.
With more than 800 locations, 30
warehouses, a corporate headquarters in Houston, and a satellite
corporate office, it was crucial that Mattress Firm find a solution that
would help with consistency while growing and adapting along with the
company.
“We were looking for a platform that
would allow us to scale in the future, and that would accommodate our
business’s little nuances in inventory and scheduling,” Wade said. “We
wanted software that allowed us to take those nuances and couple them
with retail best practices that you don’t get from niche software. When
we looked at Microsoft Dynamics it really became apparent to us that it
was a tool with both flexibility and functionality.”
She said working with Microsoft has been a “breath of fresh air.”
“I’ve
worked with other big software companies on retail implementations and
small niche players as well. The niche players are always going to pay
attention to you, but the larger the company, the harder it is to get
their dedication to your project and your success,” Wade said. “We’ve
seen tremendous partnering from Microsoft not just in Dynamics but in
general. They’re really trying to listen to and react to us. It’s been
such a great experience.”
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