Integrate Multichannel
Data With POS Software
By upgrading its POS software, this
wine and liquor retailer is now able to send
targeted promotions to its multichannel customers.
Integrated Solutions for Retailers, April 2005
Written by Julie Ritzer Ross
Based in Scarsdale, NY, Zachys offers about 8,000 SKUs of wines and liquors from 1,500 to 2,000 producers. In terms of annual sales volume, it is one of the largest retailers of its kind in the United States. In addition to a brick-and-mortar store with 5,500 square feet of selling space, the retailer maintains thriving online and catalog sales divisions built up over the past few years. It also operates a successful 10-year-old wine auction business known for having garnered the largest amount of money ever paid for a single lot of wine.
Zachys' original DOS-based POS system was not flexible enough to facilitate the data-sharing necessary to effectively integrate in-store, Web site, and catalog sales. It also did not have the kinds of features Zachys needed to support the retailer's planned growth. In 2001, the retailer sought to replace this system with one that was more closely suited to its existing and future needs. "All told, we looked at dozens of different systems, with six making the final round," says Richard Anstett, Zachys' IS manager.
After reviewing the six finalists, Zachys chose the MerchantSoft POS System from Emporos Systems. "We are a Microsoft shop; we knew that by going with this particular package, we could leverage the flexibility of the Microsoft platform as well as its SQL server for scalability," Anstett reports. "We also liked the fact that the software could be configured to help us maximize wine and liquor sales in a unique, boutique operation such as ours." In particular, the solution enables Zachys to consolidate customer information from its multiple sales channels and make it available across the organization to streamline sales, marketing, and operational processes.
Currently, Zachys uses the software's POS module on six IBM SurePOS 500 POS terminals in the front of the store. Staff members access the system not only on the terminals, but also via Dell OptiPlex hardware installed in the back office. A Central Office module also resides on the latter.
Access To Purchase Histories Leads To Improved Customer Service, Increased Sales Anstett says the breadth of information maintained and made available by the software allows Zachys to operate with greater efficiency and to provide its customers with the highest possible level of service. For instance, sales clerks can access and amend customers' purchasing histories while serving them at the POS or on the telephone. This broadens opportunities for suggestive selling based on real knowledge of patrons' tastes, rather than on educated guesses.
Similarly, catalog orders may be input directly into the system as they are taken, and online orders feed directly from the Web site to the software without error-prone human intervention. Purchases are automatically checked against and deducted from inventory, enabling customers to learn right away whether a desired item is in stock and ensuring that vendor sources receive reorders in timely fashion.
With the system in place, Zachys' in-house IS staff can also build proprietary applications using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. Such applications are frequently used to drill down into customer purchasing data repositories. Information from the repositories is used to identify a particular segment of customers to whom targeted e-mail communications concerning new products and special offers can be sent. "For example," notes Anstett, "it's now very easy for us to identify patrons who are Italian wine aficionados and to send them targeted e-mails about promotions that would interest them. In the past, this would have been impossible."
To visit the Zachy website click here.
