VARs Ring Up POS Sales With Emerging Technologies

"We hear that [customers'] budgets are increasing anywhere from 3 [percent] to 8 percent. Of course, we heard that in 2003, but that was from analysts. This time we're hearing it from customers," said Paul Civils, vice president of the retail group of Agilysys, a solution provider and distributor in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. "Retailers have to figure out a way to get closer to their best customers. Therefore, a lot of retailers are looking at new application offerings," he said.

According to research firm Gartner, 50 percent of U.S. retailers are in the process of refreshing their current POS systems. Vendors and VARs are aiming to meet retailers' needs with new PC-based POS devices that take advantage of technologies such as mobility, wireless, touchscreens, Java, RFID and small form-factor systems.

Many of the technologies were on display at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention and Expo, held in New York earlier this month. New low-cost, PC-based systems that incorporate traditional cash-management functionality with the ability to manage inventory, payroll, employee attendance and online competitive research were highlighted at the show.

For example, the new MC50 enterprise digital assistant from Symbol Technologies allows stores to tie together back-end functionality such as inventory management and supply chain tracking with front-end connectivity including Internet access, e-mail, VoIP and telephony. The device is about the size of a PDA and runs software from Active Decisions. The MC50 gives users instant access to a wide variety of business information, said Verlin Youd, vice president of retail industry solutions at Symbol, Holtsville, N.Y.

VARs and vendors note that new products such as the MC50 make it easier for small retailers to upgrade their POS systems. Plus, the use of off-the-shelf parts in many new POS systems has led to cheaper prices, making it easier for retailers to adopt new POS technology.

"We've just come out of the NRF show, and the interest was very high for new POS [systems]," said Glen Tarsha, vice president of sales and marketing at ADS Retail, a POS solution provider in Upper Marlboro, Md. "Business is coming back, so [companies have] disposable dollars. Many [existing] systems are 15 to 16 years old. Businesses are prevented from doing things with these old systems that their competitors can do with new POS systems."

Distributors are backing up their new POS wares with new support and training programs.

ScanSource has been preparing its resellers for the POS explosion through programs such as Solution City, a set of tools that helps solution providers identify opportunities, gain knowledge in vertical markets and pair up with vendors, said Paul Constantine, vice president of solutions and services at the Greenville, S.C.-based distributor.

To help VARs new to the market, Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor Ingram Micro pairs them with established POS resellers it gained through its acquisition of POS vendor Nimax, said Justin Scopaz, director of vendor business management at Nimax, San Diego.

Tech Data is also expanding recruitment and training.

"We've seen existing IT VARs leverage their customer base to move into new markets. As we started to sell these specific [POS] products, they started coming to us more and more," said Karl Werner, director of the advanced technologies group at Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor Tech Data. "The opportunity is so large that even if there were VARs set up down the street from each other, it wouldn't oversaturate the market."