Retail business is highly competitive. Businesses need to understand market trends, keep track of inventory, train staff, create merchandising displays, and in our highly technology driven world use social media to promote brands and track customer spending and loyalty. In order to create and maintain a successful business retailers need to incorporate a Point of Sale (POS) system.
A POS system helps retailers gather data that provides them with important information to make operational changes to meet, and even surpass, customer satisfaction. The more retailers know through the gathered data, the better they are able to support their customers needs and wants. The following story shows how a successful business takes its data and uses it to react to consumer trends and to sell more product.
Philips Lighting began in Singapore with one small outlet store. The need for quality lighting quickly allowed the business to expand to eight lighting stores in Singapore. However, the growth of the business did not stop here. In fact, Philips continually expanded its business geographically, selling to customers through distributors and business owners-operated branded stores. This distribution model is adopted throughout Asia pacific countries: Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, Korea, Vietnam, and Myanmar. To date, Philips Lighting has over 600 retail outlets.
However, due to the lack of direct contact with customers, the sales data is very much dependent on what the distributors’ and branded stores owners’ self-report. The problem with this is that it takes months to compile data from all different countries. By the time this is done, it is too late to process the data to make any informed decision on factory production schedule and supply chain planning. Furthermore, the non-standard product data added to the complexity in analysing product mix.
In order to solve this issue, Philips Lighting insisted on point of sales to be the default system to send sales data real-time to the HQ serverPOS system. This also helps them to obtain standardized product data through different channels. By doing so, the parent company is able to capture better data and obtain a more accurate picture of the lighting market trends and its stores inventories.
Additionally, the system has helped to facilitate better production and supply chain planning based on the sales data. Edgeworks EquipPOS system immediately sends sales data to the Head Office of Philips Lighting allowing management to examine data in real-time. From this data inventory purchases are made effectively to increase new and repeat business. By recognizing and buying in accordance to the data Philips Lighting is able to better serve their customers.
With a system like Edgeworks POS in place, alongside with its great product quality and customer service, Philips Lighting is now the #1 market leader in the Asia Pacific region.
