MICROS-Retail: Product Developments, New Version Features and Recent Customer Implementations
I recently had an in-depth conversation with Chris Sarne the VP of Sales at MICROS-Retail – an industry leading order management software provider – about future releases, developments, offerings, implementations, etc. In a nutshell, here’s how the conversation went:
MICROS-Retail is continuing to further enhance their retail integration from Xstore Point of Sale System to the CWSerenade Order Management System. This now gives the prospective multichannel retailer a software suite that can handle web commerce (Fry or eOneCommerce), catalog and other direct marketing sales (CWSerenade), and retail store sales (Xstore) from one combined package offering that is supported with one database for all sales channels transactions and a single view of a customer’s purchases across these channels.
I believe that these offerings paired with MICROS-Retail’s Locate application will enable any sales associate to save a sale by being able to look up inventory availability across all sales channels as well as in the warehouse, capture where the available inventory is located, and have it shipped straight to the customer. What retailer wouldn’t be pleased to be able to say to the customer, “I am sorry we are out of that dress in your size but I can have it shipped directly to you or brought into the store from one of our other locations”? Now that is great customer service and will save the sale!
Interested in what is available to multichannel businesses right now in the way of functionality, I asked Chris if he could share what are some of the new features available in the V2.0 CWSerenade order management. Here’s what he had to say:
- RF functionality for put away, transfers, replenishment and returns. (Soon to be available in Version 2.5 will be additional functionality for receiving and physical inventory)
- Additional promotional offerings by category of merchandise, ability to capture multiple source codes at the order header level to assist with the determination of how this customer actually got to the website in addition to any source code that may have been generated by the website for shipping discount or other website promotion.
- Ability to assign specific pricing to a customer or a customer group
- Expanded quantity price matrix pricing levels and functionality
- Pack verification by carton with associated manifesting tracking number
NOTE: MICROS-Retail will be releasing Version 2.5 in November of this year.
I believe that all of these system functions that are currently available in CWSerenade Version 2.0 improves the overall customer shopping experience and are extremely valuable in improving the client’s brand image and their ability to service their customers.
Lastly, Chris and I talked about some of the most recent implementations for MICROS-Retail. I asked if we could list a few for this blog, and here they are:
- Costume SuperCenter – eOne Commerce and CWSerenade
- SmileMakers – eOne Commerce and CWSerenade
- Chelsea & Scott – CWSerenade
- Pendleton Woolen Mills – Fry
- Boston Proper – Fry
You can find more information about MICROS-Retail and their available applications (both order management software and point of sale) on their website, www.micros-retail.com, or you can contact Chris Sarne via email or call him at 610-565-3163.
Paul Sobota is a Vice President with F. Curtis Barry & Company, a multichannel operations and fulfillment consulting firm with expertise in multichannel systems, warehouse, call center, inventory, and benchmarking; Learn more online at: http://www.fcbco.com.
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