LakeWest Group's Annual POS Survey Reveals ROI Justification Key as Retailers Focus on Customer Service, Multi-Channel Integration, and Store Resource Management

LakeWest Group, the leading independent retail management consulting firm, recently completed its 6th Annual POS (Point-of-Sale) Benchmarking Survey of the Top 100 Specialty Retailers. LakeWest Group found that retailers continue to focus on enhancing customers' shopping experiences by differentiating service offerings, while remaining focused on their overall return on investment (ROI).

This year respondents identified their top priorities as increased customer flow-through, better customer information gathering, hardware replacement, improved store labor management, and seamless channel integration. "Customer service continues to be the key priority for retailers as they focus on gaining a better understanding of their customer, improving inventory management, and more effectively managing store personnel," said Robert Antall, CEO of LakeWest Group. "As retailers look to differentiate their offering, they are addressing areas such as channel integration, customer purchasing patterns across channels, and providing special order options to the customer."

Since customer expectations and satisfaction are increasingly dependent upon a seamless shopping experience across channels, retailers are placing heightened emphasis on multi-channel integration. More than one-third of the multi-channel retailers offer kiosks as tools for online shopping, product information, or employee support. To enhance the multi-channel shopping experience, over 70% of the retailers offer the use of stored value cards (SVC) across channels in addition to offering cross-channel returns processing.

Better access to real-time inventory information across channels improves ROI and offers accurate product availability and special order capabilities. Inventory management tools used at the store level are often web-based and may be accessed by handheld wireless units. Currently, almost half of the respondents utilize RF handhelds for inventory functions with another 39% planning to implement RF handheld inventory functionality within two years.

Applications assisting in the management of store employees, tasks, and payroll dollars also provide retailers with superior customer service. Nearly half of the respondents currently utilize automated labor scheduling tools and within two years, more than half of the retailers will be using store execution management tools.

The foundation for the success of these applications lies in the infrastructure at the store level. One-third of the retailers will replace hardware and software in the next two years and nearly half of the retailers will upgrade their connectivity. Ultimately, this provides better service to maintain loyal customers and gain new customers, while also attaining an effective ROI.

For the complete survey findings and analysis, contact Sunita Gupta at LakeWest Group, (216) 535-4000 extension 4011, or at sunita.gupta@lakewest.com.

Established in 1990, LakeWest Group is the premier independent management consulting firm dedicated exclusively to serving the retail and consumer products industry. With deep business knowledge and cross-functional skills, the firm delivers superior design and implementation of strategy, technology, and process solutions to help clients achieve their full business potential.

Contact: Sunita Gupta LakeWest Group 216-535-4000 sunita.gupta@lakewest.com