Supply chain software developer Manhattan Associates Inc. is teaming with printing and computing equipment provider HP Inc. to streamline point-of-sale (POS) operations for retailers, the companies said Monday.
The collaboration will help to simplify POS and mobile POS (mPOS) selection, integration, and operation, delivering more flexible customer engagement options for brick-and-mortar retailers, Atlanta-based Manhattan said.
The announcement will capitalize on the trend by many retailers to augment their traditional fixed registers with more affordable and flexible mPOS solutions, Manhattan said, citing a 2017 survey by Capterra that found 68 percent of stores use mPOS solutions in addition to their fixed POS systems.
Although the strategy can support more personalized customer communications on the shop floor, it also presents an information technology (IT) challenge, as businesses have to integrate and support a wider range of disparate applications.
To ease that challenge, Manhattan will also turn to its Manhattan Active Store Solution, the product it launched in May with a promise of blending all aspects of sales, service, fulfillment, and inventory into a unified experience for store associates. That system works by supporting a single platform across various operating systems and mobile devices, fusing customer engagement capabilities—like clienteling, selling, and service—with fulfillment capabilities such as in-store pickup and ship-from-store.
In turn, HP will deliver both fixed and mobile POS hardware and components that leverage the Microsoft Windows 10 platform to support discrete engagement configurations with a single, modularized hardware stack.
"The new Manhattan Active Store Solution gives retailers the flexibility they need to adapt to changing customer needs and to select hardware based on business, not technical, factors," Brian Kinsella, vice president of product management at Manhattan Associates, said in a release. "This expanded partnership with HP's best-in-class hardware represents our strategic commitment to helping our customers become more sophisticated in omnichannel execution and customer engagement."
