The sporting goods retailer is equipping store associates with mobile devices featuring MICROS-Retail’s miStore mobile POS. Mobile is a growing part of the in-store experience because of how it can help retailers enhance shopping.  

“Fundamentally, mobile POS is about efficiency,” said Corey Gale, director of marketing for retail at MICROS, Columbia, MD. “There are other arguments you can make that it is slightly cheaper to go with a mobile POS and you are able to free up more room in the stores but for most retailers, it is about having a faster time out of the store, particularly during the holidays.

“It is also about having a better customer experience for a lot of retailers,” he said. “Because you can have a much higher touch customer service if you can walk around with a mobile POS and engage with customers.

“In Modell’s case, it is an extension of their existing POS. It is another register that they are able to take out onto the floor.”

Modell’s operates 150 sporting goods stores throughout the Northeast.

The proper tools
Mobile POS is about putting tools in the hands of store associates to help them develop a better relationship with customers.  

For example, store associates can help reduce the average time spent in a checkout line by processing transactions while customers are standing in line during busy periods.

Mobile POS can also enable store associates to engage with shoppers while they are in the aisle to help them with find what they need and to check-out without having to wait in line at the cash register.

Additionally, mobile POS can be used during special promotional events such as sidewalk sales or warehouse clearances without the need for retailers to set up conventional registers.

CRM integration
Mr. Gale reports that a lot of retailers are taking a similar approach to mobile POS as Modell’s and treating it as an extension of their existing POS.

However, he expects that over time retailers will begin to take advantage of the other capabilities offered by mobile POS, such as the ability to place orders online and to attach a CRM element so store associates can see what customers have purchased in the past.

“Two to three years ago, retailers just wanted iPads to be cool,” Mr. Gale said. “That has kind of played itself out because they are so ubiquitous now.

“Now it has to be solving a problem for the retailer,” he said. “The No. 1 problem is line busting – that’s the first focus.

“But particularly for retailers that have high touch customer service where they spend more time with shoppers and where the price point is a little higher, the next step of customer engagement is knowing everything they’ve ever bought and seeing all of that profile information on the device.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York