Ringing Up POS Profitability

adiant Systems, a supplier of POS and kiosk solutions, notched up some impressive systems sales numbers last year as it won new business in its target markets: the hospitality, petroleum and convenience store and entertainment industries.

Buoyed by a strong reseller channel for its POS and kiosk solutions, Alpharetta, Ga.-based Radiant grew its monthly unit sales 97 percent, to 3,500 in 2004 from 1,700 in 2003. Revenue over the same period jumped to $135 million from $94 million. In business since 1985, Radiant now has 850 employees and five offices in Atlanta; Dallas; Singapore; Melbourne, Australia; and Prague, the Czech Republic.

Radiant’s unit sales doubled largely due to the efforts of the dozens of solution providers it inherited when it bought Aloha Technologies, a provider of POS systems for the hospitality industry. “Aloha gave us more feet on the street, more people who can sell and support our products,” said John Heyman, Radiant president. “We now have about 100 big resellers that jointly employ 1,000 people.”

The acquisition significantly expanded Radiant’s base of resellers and moved it further ahead in terms of hardware and services, said Barry Wise, a Flower Mound, Texas, retail consultant for Epson America, a Radiant partner.

Heyman said other growth drivers were the company’s new generation of products and the extended international reach of its petroleum and convenience store retail division, particularly in Europe.

“Our major growth in hardware has come within the past two years with the introduction of our newest line of products—the 1500 series,” he said. “We now offer two touch-screen technologies—resistive and capacitive—which gives customers a choice.”

Heyman emphasized that Radiant has invested heavily in improving product reliability and innovation. “We used to focus on controlling costs, but in the last two years we’ve focused on creating products that help our customers grow revenue by increasing speed of service and customer throughput,” he said.

Radiant’s understanding of the retail marketplace and its commitment to it are second to none, Wise said. “Radiant has married traditional POS applications with back-office applications, and it supplies very innovative hardware,” he said.

Heyman’s plans for future growth include a continued focus on product innovation and greater penetration of international markets.

HERMAN MEHLING is a freelance writer based in San Anselmo, Calif.