News

IBM Store Integration Framework links POS with kiosks, other wireless devices

September 6, 2004

Raleigh, NC -- Hudson's Bay Company (Hbc), Canada's largest department store retailer, is using IBM's Store Integration Framework as part of a new wireless, integrated replenishment and stockroom management system designed to ensure that popular products are always stocked on the shelves for customers rather than stored in the stockroom.

Working with its technology partners, including IBM, Hbc has developed the Listed Inventory Database (LID) application for its Zellers mass merchandise stores to establish a steady flow of timely sales and distribution data designed to keep stockroom inventory levels at a minimum and keep fast-selling products on the shelves. The result is increased sales and a reduction in out-of-stock items, as well as labor savings that can be allocated to having more sales associates on the selling floor to serve customers.

The IBM Store Integration Framework provides the architecture and technology tools to link a retailer's point-of-sale systems with new wireless devices such as kiosks, tablet computers, smart shopping carts and PDAs, and then link all of these to the rest of the retailer's systems across the entire store and into the supply chain.

With the new LID initiative at Zellers, hourly sales from POS, planogram capacity, sales event systems, and real-time visibility of incoming receipts automatically identify items when and where they are required. Sales associates will be directed to the exact fixture location to satisfy the store's replenishment needs.

Not only does LID do a better job of replenishing out-of-stock items, it is predictive about what is going to be out of stock. It links all of the information--from the POS to the supply chain--to know what is selling, what is in the storeroom and what is coming from the distribution center.