Revel Systems, a leading iPad Point of Sale management solution for brick-and-mortar retail, food businesses and more, today announced key findings as a result of an April 2016 commissioned study, Step Up The In-Person Experience, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Revel Systems about the current state of digital experiences for retailers and restaurants, challenges they face along the way and what technological issues prevent them from improving operations and creating a better customer experience.
Forrester surveyed 150 decision makers from both retail and restaurant industries with at least 25 locations in the U.S., revealing that customer and employee experience is a core focus for retailers and restaurateurs, proving that excellent experience is crucial for survival. The study states, “A whopping 93 percent agreed that it is important to infuse digital capabilities into physical locations to improve customer experience.” It goes on to state that 94 percent of retailers “see in-store digital capabilities as important not only for customer experience but also for store operations.”
“We commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct this study in order to gain a deeper understanding of our clients’ daily struggles and what is holding them back from building their dream business. We build our technology to suit the specialized needs of our clients,” says Lisa Falzone, co-founder and CEO of Revel Systems.
Point of Sale has evolved from legacy systems into a platform that integrates with third party services, showing that it goes far beyond the transaction process. Forrester developed a hypothesis, “that the use of an advanced point-of-service (POS) system—an evolution of the capabilities of traditional point-of-sale systems, often manifested in newer form factors and deployment models—that mimics systems of insight and systems of engagement will improve customer experience, empower employees, and increase the efficiency and performance of operations.”
Without sufficient POS integrations, retailers and restaurants risk loss of business. The study states, “Only 45 percent of retailers and 44 percent of restaurants, on average have a given back-end system integrated with their POS—severely restricting the functionality that frontline employees need to service customers and optimize operations.”
Modern POS systems collect customer data and insights that can be used to help grow businesses. Forrester says that, “ The vast majority of our survey respondents recognize this critical role of their POS, with 86 percent, 84 percent, and 83 percent telling us that the opportunity to collect new and expanded insights on customers, operations and product, respectively, had at least moderate influence on their decisions to implement their systems.”
“Revel’s enterprise platform is a great fit for our franchise system. At nearly 100 locations and growing, we have real-time access to analytical data that helps us make smarter decisions every day,” says Andrew Gamm, executive vice president of Pizza Patrón, a Revel Client.
The study further noted that cloud deployment is now being widely adopted for modern POS implementations, stating that, “56 percent of respondents told us they currently host their POS in the cloud, with an additional 37 percent planning to do so.” They go on to say that, “It’s no longer necessary to have a standalone POS that only interacts with a server in the store or restaurant—you must ensure speed, scalability, and service while minimizing the time and cost spend on maintenance.”
