POS Bundle Helps VAR Win 150-Location Installation
This VAR expects a 30% increase in POS (point of sale) sales by offering customized bundled POS solutions.
RetailerInc is not a typical POS VAR. As a matter of fact, the company doesn’t seem typical in any way. For instance, when speaking to George Muchae, director of business development for RetailerInc, he talks little about the POS technology. Instead, he constantly refocuses on the business value that his company provides. It is that focus which has positioned RetailerInc as the POS service provider for many of the top retailers in the United States.
Currently, RetailerInc is completing a POS project for 150 franchise outlets for a brand-name recreational products company. Most people say that 80% of sales occur just by being there. Proving that point, Muchae discovered this opportunity by prospecting retailers at a new shopping center development in Columbus, OH. It seems Muchae happened upon the pilot location for the franchise. RetailerInc won the POS installation that consisted of POS hardware and custom software. Muchae says the customer considers the bundle to be a competitive advantage, so it is not willing to discuss the specific POS components. After completing the installation at the pilot location, RetailerInc secured the business for the balance of the locations.
The customer manufactures a highly customizable, built-to-order product. That customization starts with the ordering process. Muchae and his team codeveloped POS software specific to the customer’s build-to-order system requirements. That solution is patented and sold to the customer’s franchisees by RetailerInc. Taking the project a step further, RetailerInc worked with POS distributor BlueStar to develop a custom POS hardware bundle specific to this retailer. The end result was a complete POS system designed to provide the customer with the ability to complete the build-to-order process at the point of sale. The data from the POS transaction is then transmitted back to the customer’s headquarters to begin the product manufacturing process.
Bundled POS Systems Provide VARs A Competitive Advantage
There are many advantages to selling bundled POS solutions. At the top of that list is the reduced amount of VAR support required to install and maintain the POS bundles. Since the bundles are cookie-cutter in nature, installations can be standardized by the VAR and performed by the retailer.
Another plus for the VAR is the competitive advantage that POS bundles can provide. For instance, RetailerInc combines custom software applications with BlueStar POS bundles to provide specific solutions to vertical retail markets. A competitor may only offer standard POS components that are not integrated with the retailer’s software. In addition to those advantages, Muchae says RetailerInc also builds POS bundles to adapt to specific physical space requirements.
This is not the first time RetailerInc has offered bundled solutions. As a matter of fact, a review of www.justforretailers.com (RetailerInc’s e-commerce Web site) reveals the availability of bundles by manufacturer and bundles designed for specific vertical retail applications such as outdoor; needle arts; gifts; beer, wine, and liquor; and more. According to Muchae, “Vertical market POS bundles give us a competitive advantage in a very competitive market. Since POS market share is so hard to earn, a specific vertical bundled solution may be one thing we can offer to win the business.
“Two years ago, we sold a lot of individual POS software products, none of them as elaborate or complete as the bundled systems,” continues Muchae. “Now we can sell a complete hardware/software POS bundle that is easier for us to sell and is better for the customer.” The addition of bundled POS solutions helped RetailerInc grow POS sales by 30% last year — a number it expects to achieve again this year.