Storis Unveils NextGen Mobile POS

October 6, 2021  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

Retailers in all industries are investing in mobile solutions to meet customer expectations, unify selling channels, make product information more readily accessible, and expedite checkout times. As such, Storis’ NextGen CXM & Mobile POS holistically supports the shopping and buying phases of the guests’ experience. Sales associates can organically transition from Relationship Management in CXM to Order Creation in Mobile POS. Storis’ Mobile POS empowers sales associates to create a Sales Order and checkout a customer from any device on the showroom floor.

Broad River Retail was the first early adopter team to go live on Storis' NextGen CXM & Mobile POS platform. Charlie Malouf, president & CEO of Broad River Retail, comments on the experience, “Broad River Retail was enthusiastic about our milestone launch that took place on June 16. Storis’ NextGen Platform is the future of in-store customer experiences in home furnishings retail.

“We have a history of being an early adopter for Storis, including the company’s earlier mobile solutions and its Finance Queue, and we’re proud to have been a first mover for this important product launch. It is paramount to the essence of who we are at Broad River Retail that we align our brand alongside innovative, retail technology-driven experiences at every touchpoint in the process. It’s why Storis remains such a vitally important partner of ours," added Malouf.

CXM and Mobile POS both employ an all-new Shopping Cart that was re-imagined using modern application UX design and UI components formalized by Google's Material Design principles. The User Interface is easy-to-use and familiar to effectively onboard a retailer’s sales force. With seamless inventory integration, the associate can add the guest’s product selections to their Shopping Cart. Extensive inventory data available in Mobile POS includes detailed product descriptions, imagery, pricing, product alternatives, availability, and on-hand quantities.

To reflect the way today’s customer buys, the Shopping Cart is organized by Fulfillment Method. The associate can separate line items by delivery, customer pickup, various addresses, or fulfillment dates. The Shopping Cart refers to the retailer’s Storis inventory database. Each line item has its own Available to Promise (ATP) date while each unique Fulfillment Method displays a consolidated Available to Customer (ATC) date reflecting when all lines pertaining to that Fulfillment are available. As product availability continues to be a competitive advantage in the current market, the accessibility and ease of calculating this data in Mobile POS is imperative.

Discounting has also been re-imagined for efficiency. A “Discounting Action” in the Shopping Cart references a retailer’s promotional eligibility rules. This action returns all valid promotions on the Cart and which line items they apply to. Storis ensures all requirements and eligible combinations are properly applied to protect the margin of the Order.

As the customer provides buying signals, the transition to the buying phase is seamless. Within the Shopping Cart, the associate can narrow down final product selections. If any time has elapsed between the shopping and buying phases, Storis automatically re-validates product availability, pricing, and discount eligibility upon finalizing the Shopping Cart. The associate can seamlessly convert the Shopping Cart to a Sales Order with the use of Mobile POS. Since the associate has already collected the majority of the data needed, the time to check out the Sales Order greatly decreases.

Mobile POS breaks down the pricing components of an Order including merchandise subtotals, applicable sales tax, delivery fees, installation charges, promotional savings, and the grand total. Now, the associate can choose the actual Fulfillment Dates for each Fulfillment Method. Storis’ Logistical Scheduling Calendar presents feasible dates to choose from based on the retailer’s routing and capacity settings. Mobile POS’ Sales Orders will be automatically submitted to the Storis ERP as part of a seamless Unified Commerce experience. The Order Confirmation marks a successful transition. Retailers can choose to license integrated Payments with Shift4 to take a secure credit card deposit.

STORIS’ NextGen Product Manager, Mark Braun states, “Our NextGen initiative transforms the traditional retail showroom into a modern experience,” said Mark Braun, product manager, Storis  NextGen. “Storis designed and developed our NextGen Platform to deliver the solution our retail partners need to succeed in a 2021 retail environment and beyond. NextGen’s Product Vision is ‘to provide a solution that seamlessly supports retail wherever it happens and facilitate an organic, efficient and enjoyable customer experience; decreasing the time to transact and increasing customer engagement.’”

The company would like to thank both of its Early Adopters for the success of Mobile POS: Broad River Retail and Wichita Furniture. Their extensive field testing and design direction have helped shape the future of Storis’ NextGen Solution. Mobile POS is just getting started. An exciting product roadmap dictates the future of this solution with new functionality being delivered in an agile environment.