Transforming the Customer Experience for a Legacy Retailer

Introduction

A national apparel retailer aimed to enhance its customer experience by providing a seamless, omnichannel experience through next-generation POS hardware, software, and infrastructure. They came to Kitestring to modernize their sales processes and streamline operations in a way that would provide more engaging and efficient services to customers.

Problem Statement

The company needs to stay competitive as it looks to the future, but its 20-year-old POS system keeps the business stuck in the past. The retailer’s challenges included:

• Outdated hardware keeps sales associates tied to registers without any mobile checkout capabilities.
• Limited integration between in-person and online checkout with a gap in payment processing as well as a disconnect between both customer databases. 
• Application process for store credit cards is slow and cumbersome, resulting in long waits as customers wait for approval before completing a transaction.

Solution

Kitestring designed a custom POS solution that improved the retail system’s hardware, software, and processes under a tight deadline. The company is now positioned to unify online and in-store sales and create a more dynamic experience for both sides of the transaction.

Methodology

Selection Study and Pilot Program

• Identify Store and User Needs: Solve against each use case a team member may encounter in a transaction through our jobs-to-be-done analysis.
• Real World Testing: Select solution and initiate a 16-week pilot program to verify its capabilities in the sales environment.

Design and Implementation

• Unlock Mobile Capabilities: Build a next-gen system that provides checkout services on the sales floor to reduce customer wait times.
• Flexible Checkout: Design innovative method for transactions started on mobile devices to be transferred to docking stations at fixed terminals
• Streamline Credit Process: Enable customers to be approved instantly and complete a store card purchase in the same transaction.
  

Integration and Optimization

• Rapid Deployment: Execute a production-ready proof of concept to in-store implementation within four months.
• Technical Collaboration: Work with the retailer’s team to integrate their enterprise services with POS software.

Key Results

• Reduced Costs: With Kitestring’s aid with selecting a solution partner and subsequent negotiations, the company saved 17% on hardware and support (about $6.2 million).
• Timely Deployment: Retailer met aggressive launch deadlines after two 16-week engagements with over 31 stores modernized with a Next Gen system.
• Mobile Efficiency: Introduction of mobile functionality enabled the retailer to better serve customers while a streamlined credit approval process better serves the company’s business goals.

Conclusion

Our work to streamline integration resulted in lower costs and a shorter implementation timeline, enabling the store to see benefits from modernization much faster. With Kitestring supplying documentation, continued education, and upskilling of the store’s team in agile processes, the company continues to pursue expanded goals for its retail system.

What can Kitestring do to usher in a new era for your business? Contact us and let’s build something great.