Streamlining Modern Retail Demands

The wave of modern retail is ushering in a stream of state-of-the-art shopping experiences. It’s a critical phase of transformation. Though at present, the stake of modern retail is 5 per cent of the whole retail pie in India, the report by Nielsen Company reveals that the sales of modern retail has outgrown traditional retail sales and attained the mark of 29.3 per cent in 2010. The traditional stores grew 6.2 per cent last year. The indication is clear that the Indian consumers have embraced modern retail. Rapid urbanisation, changes in shopping pattern, demographic dividend, and pro-active measures by government are the driving factors that actually have taken the Indian retail to a newer height.  According to the consultancy firm, Technopak, the organised retail segment in India is expected to grow by over three times during the next five years (from 2010) to reach a figure of US$ 80 billion. Overall, retail is in an upbeat mood with a plethora of international brands setting up their stores in India; large and mid-sized retailers are rolling out aggressive expansion plans; and wholesale market too is bustling with makeover activities as 100 per cent FDI is permitted in this sector, encouraging international big box retailers to pump in money. In this transitional process, technology has a bigger role to play as a catalyst to support and complement such an impressive growth gradient.

On the rising curve

Hewlett-Packard (HP) needs no introduction. Their excellent expertise in providing holistic IT solutions across the globe has earned the company the leading position in IT arena. Through the years of operations and driven by consistent innovation, HP has formed strategic alliances with industry leaders, and is helping organisations meet their businesses’ critical objectives. HP invents, engineers and delivers technology solutions that drive business value, create social value and improve the lives of customers.

With the burgeoning retail industry and emergence of new retail brands in every passing day, the competitive business strategies have made it imperative to invest in cutting edge technology to stay abreast of the modern retail trends. HP too, with its very active R&D division, has come up with an array of retail solutions that can equip any retail brand to cope with the rapidly changing demands of modern retail. Rajat Mehta, Country Head-Emerging Business Unit, PSG India, Hewlett-Packard India Sales Pvt Ltd, informs, “Globally, the retail segment generates $3.5 billion of HP’s total sales. HP, which has the second largest market share in IT for retail segment worldwide, offers Point of Sale (POS) platforms that are designed, manufactured and tested to meet the demands of the retail market. The new platforms that HP PSG (Personal System Group) consistently provides to its customers reinforce the company’s leadership position in India.” Presently, HP has 1200 retail points in over 150 cities and 600 resellers. It has pan-India presence in terms of office and service locations, major SI partners, outsourcing services, training and e-learning services, volume integration and manufacturing capabilities that cater to hundreds and thousands of enterprises, SMB customers and individual consumers.

The solutions designed to benefit retailers

In spite of considerable growth and huge potential, organised retail has a long way to go to attain the international standards. The sector itself is at nascent stage where the predominant presence of unorganised retailers has made retail consolidation difficult. However, the positive side is its vast untapped market of rural India. Besides, luxury retail is also seeing the opportunity in the vast young and aspirational population of India. The luxury retail segment is growing 25-30 per cent per annum. These emerging scopes and changing buying pattern of the Indian consumers are making technology an indispensable part of modern retail. The retail on expansion spree is making its way into tier II and III cities. Smaller towns are seeing much of retail developments. These retailers are receptive to technology to ease out critical business operations.

The retail demands are market specific. While large format retailers are looking for an end to end solution, which includes billing, CRM, reverse logistics, office productive, SMB retailers are looking for out of the box solutions which are easy to operate and easy to install. HP India is collaborating with various ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) to cater to these diverse retailer needs.

The HP retail portfolio is engineered to benefit Indian retailers through rich differentiated shopping experiences, reduced operational expenses, integrated store systems for seamless and robust operations, and in turn, getting loyal customers. HP’s solutions combine enhanced processing and functionality to meet the needs of even the most demanding retail environments. HP designs innovative products and solutions at competitive price points keeping in mind the needs of Indian retailers and current market dynamics.

The key differentiators that set apart HP’s POS solutions pertain to chassis construction, high-quality connectors, high endurance capacitors, robust power supplies, powerful and flexible connectivity, material recyclability, energy efficiency, adherence to RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) regulation, high thermal tolerance, and thorough tests under unfavourable and adverse circumstances.

HP understands the needs of retailers and is focused on providing POS systems that are reliable, durable and can operate under extreme conditions; HP calls this “retail hardening”. Rajat explains, “The focus of retail hardening starts with the materials and components selection for the POS platforms. HP selects materials such as the steel chassis and gold-plated connectors that will be able to withstand extended use and extreme temperatures. The company is conscious of the space limitations within a retail environment and therefore selects connectivity components that allow for flexibility, yet provide the power and security features needed in a retail setting.”

Retailers also need accessories for POS system to function flawlessly and hence HP today has come up with branded accessories including Cash Drawer, MSR, Bar Code Scanner, etc and each is backed by HP warranty and bundled support.

Rajat also informs that HP is mindful of the environment when selecting materials and components for the POS systems, and strives for the platforms to be built with materials and components that are greater than 90 per cent recyclable with less than 1 per cent that must go to landfills. This far exceeds the “Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipments” (WEEE) requirements. Retailers require long lifecycle products and hence HP’s offerings have five year lifecycle. These are bundled with various support levels, including 24X7 support packs.

The Entire Portfolio of HP RPOS Machine and Accessories for the Indian Market

• RP5000: Integrated POS machine, power all-in-one POS system which is appreciated for its sleek & elegance look, touch enabled, small footprint, ruggedised & water resistant, energy star 5.0 qualified, efficient & single cable power cable coming out of machine

                Segment where it fits: Cineplex, F&B, SPA, GYM, Hotel, where space is at a premium

• RP5800: Modular POS machine, powerful, oversized cooling, a flexible, scalable, support RAID, stable retail store platform, performance, stability & longevity you need to run your business, back office as well as within a kiosk enclosure

                Segment where it fits: Retail, Hypermarket, Supermarket, Hotel, etc

• RP3000: Modular POS machine, affordable, entry level terminal designed to meet your business challenges, compact form factor, efficient low powered Intel processor, a lockable front cover and no front ports for added data security, color-coded I/O ports
• ·Segment where it fits: Mom & pop shops, chemists, pastry shops, sweets shops, gift galleries, etc
• Accessories POS: Accessories for POS includes Monitor Touch / Non-Touch, Integration Tray, Thermal Printer, Barcode Reader, Magnetic Swipe Reader, Customer Display - Pole Display / Vacuum Florescent 10” Display. (HP has a complete range of POS accessories)
• HP PSG India is actively looking at partnerships with local software companies as they understand the need of the Indian companies, especially in SMR market. They will provide the differentiated solution with HP to the retail segment and hence lead to faster adoption. HP is working closely with these companies to make the next generation Cloud hosted retail solution a reality and hence drive value for customers.

Driving growth through strong channel partnership

HP’s channel ecosystem is the backbone of the company’s growth in India and supports HP to expand its customers across newer geographies, and strengthening the existing customer base. Each partner is considered valuable and HP has a successful long standing relationship with them. Several initiatives have been undertaken to strengthen relationship. For example, HP has a quarterly Partner Advisory Board (PAB) to discuss partners’ issues. HP India brings out a monthly newsletter to inform its partners about new products and developments. It also has a Partner Advisory Council (PAC) that lists down compliance rules for partners and other new channel-friendly programmes that the company plans to launch.

Elaborating on the role of channel partners, Rajat comments, “HP’s notion behind the existing distribution policy is that if the channel makes profit, the brand will always have potency in the market. HP’s partners contribute towards 50 per cent of its revenue growth.”

HP is focusing on partner specialisation wherein HP is actively recruiting solution partners across the country. These partners undergo complete training in sales and support. Additionally, HP is rolling out certificaition programmes which are mandatory for partners. Also, HP focuses on increasing its footprints in remote locations, such as B, C and D towns. Idea is to give retailers the same attention and total customer experience as in metros. In order to increase the presence and reach out to end customers, HP is participating in major retail events showcasing its end to end solutions. Recently, HP sponsored the RAI ReTECHCon 2011 and showcased the complete solutions including POS and Signage. HP has successfully implemented ‘a go to market’ strategy and maintains a certain amount of consistency and methodology to capture the market.

Applications to rule in future

Cloud computing (Public and Private) is becoming a key platform for its efficacy, and for retailers, it enables lowering down the cost of technology implementation significantly. The platform helps retailers to move from capex to opex model as the applications are hosted at public /private cloud and retailers move to subscription model without the need to invest in capex-based server and storage.

“HP is planning to leverage its position as a leading provider of cloud technology to develop a portfolio of cloud services from infrastructure to platform services. It has also initiated plans to develop and run the industry’s first open cloud marketplace that will combine a secure, scalable and trusted consumer app store, an enterprise application and services catalogue. HP also intends to build WebOS, its mobile operating system, into a leading connectivity platform. HP PSG India is an integral part of this overall HP strategy and the business will remain committed to getting innovation to market faster, in terms of products, services and solutions. Next phase of IT will see revolutionary applications on semantic web like Web 3.0. HP is also working towards this. Solutions for social networks and interactive signage are other latest trends in IT which will enhance better connectivity with customers. HP is coming up with such applications”, Rajat elucidates.

HP RPOS Retail Hardened

Tests performed on

• Exterior materials and components
• Internal systems
• Power and thermal variations
• Impacts and vibrations

Some of the important tests that are conducted are

• Cosmetic finish testing
• Corrosion inspection
• Connector contamination testing
• Power supply industrial testing
• Battery life test
• Fan reliability
• Hardware system compatibility and integration testing
• Interface stress testing
• Power measurements
• Lighting strike test
• Electrostatic discharge
• Radio frequency interface
• Storage thermals
• Extended burn in
• Impact test
• Drop test

Some of the key trends in the domain of IT applications

• Cloud computing - Keeping the cost factor in mind, more and more organisations are moving towards cloud platforms
• Software as a service - Cost constraints are making organisations move towards the pay as you use model
• Mobile and social CRM multi touchpoint - Organisations are looking towards maximising productivity through seamless communication among employees and other stake holders
• ERP applications - Since risk management is the name of the game for CIOs, to mitigate risk, executives are finally smartening up and are implementing knowledge management, enterprise social network portals and enterprise 2.0 for streamline processes and building a connected environment.

Perfection is the name of the game

India is a large country and the biggest challenge is to educate customers on various options available. On combating this problem, Rajat says, “The POS market is flooded with white box or assembled POS by unbranded system integrator, which fails to deliver the total experience and eventually leads to revenue loss for retailers.  HP is working on ecosystem approach to address this problem. It is actively partnering with specialised solution vendors so that a retailer gets end to end solution and not a solution that works piecemeal.”  The endeavour will go on by this trustworthy brand to offer the retailers the utmost benefits of IT. Perfection will always underline HP’s commitments.

To know more about

HP retail solutions email at in.contact@hp.com