As Retail Becomes Hyper-competitive, Retail Technology Vendors Re-position Themselves as Solution Partners

Business Wire, Jan 19, 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c48844) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report: World Quarterly Retail Systems Outlook on POS Systems - Handheld Terminals and Tablet PC Markets - Q2 2005 to their offering.

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled World Quarterly Retail Systems Outlook on POS Systems, Handheld Terminals and Tablet PC Markets - 2Q 2005 should facilitate understanding of the current and future market forces in retail, into actionable strategic marketing initiatives for retail technology vendors as well as solution providers. Expansive unit shipment and revenue forecast analysis are presented for each geographic region-North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). Further, granularity in terms of retail segmentation as well as retailer tiers within each retail segment is incorporated.

Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

- Handheld terminals

- Tablet PCs

- POS systems

Market Overview

As Retail Becomes Hyper-competitive, Retail Technology Vendors Re-position Themselves as Solution Partners

In today's hyper-competitive retail environment, bottom line growth is increasingly depending on the retailers' ability to leverage technology for managing complexities in customer demand, profitability, and operational challenges. This has led to increased competition among retail technology vendors, with new entrants and pure-play vendors broadening their portfolio to offer end-to-end solutions. Point-of-sale (POS) replenishment in developed economies is driven by next-gen systems capable of forward and backward integration, according to the analyst of this study. However, self-checkout is likely to form a part of the POS replenishment budget.

The evolution of the hand held terminal from its proven supply chain form factor to the real time enabled MPOS, consumer, associate, and manager productivity form factors are driving uptake with innovative retailers. Enabling data capture and access for improved decision making is likely to continue influencing growth of retail systems in developed and developing economies.

Streamlining the Supply Chain and Focus on Providing Multifunctional Device Architectures Likely to Drive Market Growth

Streamlining the supply chain, improving employee productivity, and customer facing applications are strong drivers for Tablet PC adoption in retail. In the in-store space, tablet PC adoption is likely to be slow due to cost issues and lack of clarity in item level radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption. Retailers are undergoing accelerated business innovation to achieve profitable differentiation. With rapidly increasing technology spending, retailers are seeking technology vendors who are willing to collaborate in their risks as well as rewards.

Technology vendors in the POS, handheld terminals, and Tablet PC space are focused on providing multifunctional device architectures capable of forward and backward integration into the retail value chain, explains the analyst. By leveraging on newer RFID, smart card and Wi-Fi technologies, these vendors are partnering with retailers to address complexities in customer demand, profitability, and operational challenges. This approach of partnership between retailer and solution vendor is expected to provide the much needed growth driver over the long term.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c48844

Source: Frost & Sullivan