Market Heats Up As ScanSource, Microsoft Add Fuel To POS Fire

Greenville, S.C.-based ScanSource earlier this month unveiled a partnership with Microsoft to produce four specialized retail bundles targeted at specific vertical markets: beer/wine/ liquor, apparel, sporting goods and gifts. ScanSource believes the bundles, based on Microsoft's Retail Management System, will help its VARs more effectively sell into specialty small to midsize businesses and help end users more efficiently run those businesses.

ScanSource, however, believes there is still room for traditional cash register systems and will continue to sell and support them, said Buck Baker, senior vice president of merchandising at ScanSource.

Meanwhile, PC4, a Charlotte, N.C.-based distributor of POS hardware and PCs, last week appointed Jeffrey Jackson as its COO. Jackson, former chief marketing officer at Florence, Ky.-based POS distributor BlueStar, is tasked with accelerating PC4's growth in the POS space, including adding complementary product lines, expanding the company's inside sales force and making PC4 more visible and more competitive, according to a statement.

ScanSource and PC4 face formidable opponents in Ingram Micro, Santa Ana, Calif., which moved into the POS arena with its July acquisition of Nimax, a San Diego-based distributor specializing in POS solutions; and Tech Data, Clearwater, Fla., which recently formed a specialized business unit that focuses on POS.

Jeremy Adler, account manager at Agentek, a solution provider in Roswell, Ga., said his company became an Ingram Micro partner before the Nimax acquisition and since picked up the Nimax line with favorable results. "Nimax--Ingram Micro--does a great job of keeping us informed of new stuff coming down the pike and they will stock accordingly, based on our needs," he said.