Onus On Multifunctional Device Architecture That Enhances The Output Of The Retail Value Chain
Palo Alto, CA - Retail technology vendors are in a race to reposition themselves as solution partners to survive the intense competition in the retail market for point of sales (POS) systems, handheld terminals and tablet PCs. Bottom line growth is becoming increasingly dependent on retailers' ability to leverage technology for managing complexities in customer, profitability and operational issues.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.itservices.frost.com), World Quarterly Retail Systems Outlook on POS Systems, Handheld Terminals and Tablet PC Markets - Q4 2006, expects to facilitate understanding of the current and future market forces in retail. This will enable actionable strategic marketing initiatives for retail technology vendors as well as solution providers. Furthermore, granularity in terms of retail segmentation as well as retailer tiers within each retail segment is provided.
Those interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users and other industry participants with an overview of the World Quarterly Retail Systems Outlook on POS Systems, Handheld Terminals and Tablet PC Markets - Q4 2006, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at mireya.castilla@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, city, state, country and e-mail address. She will send an overview via e-mail upon receipt of the above information.
Retailers are responding to the challenges by partnering with solution vendors that have leveraged newer radio frequency identification (RFID), smart card, and Wi-Fi technologies. This partnership is also helping them to prepare legacy systems for convergence.
"Retailers are undergoing accelerated business innovation in achieving profitable differentiation," says Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Shyam Krishnan. "With rapidly increasing technology spending, retailers are seeking technology vendors that are willing to share rewards as well as risks - and equipping themselves to match the retailers' requirements is a challenge for the vendors."
To cope with the intense market pressures, both new and pure play vendors have broadened their portfolio to offer end-to-end solutions. Technology vendors are focused on providing the retail value chain with multifunctional device architectures capable of forward and backward integration.
"As retail stores are becoming the focal point of technology convergence, there is a need for a 'synchronous response retail enterprise'," explains Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Kavitha Karthikeyan.
Retailers that wish to stand out in the crowd are showing great interest in hand-held terminals that have evolved from its proven supply chain form factor to the real-time enabled mobile points-of-sale (MPOS), consumer, associate and manager productivity form factors.
Meanwhile, technologies that can enable data capture and access for improved decision making will remain growth drivers in developed and developing economies.
"POS replenishment in developed economies are driven by next-generation, forward and backward integration-capable POS systems," notes Krishnan. "However, self-checkout is likely to form a part of the POS replenishment budget." In developing economies, POS systems continue to offer growth opportunities.
In the in-store space, tablet PC adoption is likely to be sluggish due to cost issues and the lack of clarity in item-level RFID adoption.However, the uptake can be enhanced by streamlining the supply chain, increasing employee productivity, and improving customer-facing applications.
World Quarterly Retail Systems Outlook on POS Systems, Handheld Terminals and Tablet PC Markets - Q4 2006 is part of the Kiosks & Retail Systems Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: EFT terminals, kiosks, and point of sale systems.
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SOURCE: Retail technology vendors