Toshiba & Microsoft Launch Omni-Channel Initiatives To Transform Retail
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
We’ve been watching the retail sector closely, particularly with the Retail Evolution Summit coming up in San Francisco in February, so it was interesting to see the announcement today at the National Retail Federation Annual Convention (Jan. 11-13, 2005) in New York, that Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions and Microsoft Corp. are launching a combined effort from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions and Microsoft Dynamics aimed to help retailers deliver leading customer experiences through new omni-channel customer engagements.
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This effort includes Toshiba delivering software and implementation services on the Dynamics platform as well as plans for the future global availability of a combined solution – TCxGravity powered by Microsoft Dynamics – specifically tailored to deliver omni-channel transformation on the customer’s terms, helping them provide seamless brand experiences to build lasting loyalty.
At #NRF15, both companies are showcasing their omni-channel technology capabilities and discussing the solutions coming in the near future at Toshiba booth 1543 and Microsoft booth 2803.
By combining TCxGravity powered by Microsoft Dynamics, the two companies believe that it ensures a path forward for both existing and new customers, including grocery, specialty, hypermarket and mass merchants, to leverage the Microsoft Dynamics platforms, with the assurance of industry-leading technology, migration options and investment protection.
“Retailers need to provide consumers with a consistent brand experience that harmonizes the best of what the digital and physical selling environments have to offer,” says Brian Kilcourse, managing partner, Retail Systems Research. “The further collaboration between Toshiba and Microsoft should enable an easier migration to just such an omni-channel selling environment.”
The announcement says that the size and capabilities of these companies make this initiative truly significant in the potential reach and impact it can have on retailers around the world. Toshiba is a major player in store systems software, hardware, and services, with industry-leading Point-of-Sale market share and over 1 million lanes installed across over 100 countries, while Microsoft is a major player in omni-channel platform technology with widely available end-to-end technology (localized for 36 markets and sold in over 50).
We also noticed that Toshiba is showcasing its its Ellumina digital signage line in Booth No. 1543 during the expo. Attendees are being given a sense of Ellumina’s primary retail applications through demonstrations of its two software platforms, Virtuoso and Experience Manager.
Toshiba’s Experience Manager is a completely customizable digital signage platform for managing networked interactive media experiences. By incorporating both live and preprogramed content in an engaging manner, it delivers targeted content by time, location, and demographic making it ideal for almost any retail environment.
Experience Manager’s cloud solution further allows for sophisticated planning, distribution and seamless management of digital content across an entire network of displays. Since it is capable of implementing live data, Experience Manager enables companies to quickly change or update information at a moment’s notice depending on the weather, available stock or any other real-time factor. To spotlight its capabilities for the retail market, Toshiba is demonstrating Experience Manager by simulating deli menu boards that feature daily lunch specials, regular menu pricing and sale items.
Virtuoso – featuring touch screen technology to accompany its interactive software capability – will also be on display at Retail’s Big Show. Tailored to heighten the consumer experience, Virtuoso presents information in a compelling manner to more effectively promote products and services. To demonstrate this functionality, NRF’s convention goers can check out an interactive recipe center in a mock grocery store setting. Virtuoso allows users to search for recipes, build a shopping list and either text, email or print a complete summary of their recipe instructions, shopping list, applicable coupons and store map.
Ideally suited for an audience of one or a few, Virtuoso brings new life to content and deepens user engagement by providing access to information in an intuitive format allowing them to explore and expand content, watch videos and more. Toshiba’s digital signage platform also serves as an appealing self-service touch screen portal to learn about various product and service offerings. (We saw and were impressed by Toshiba’s interactive capabilities when we saw LA Interactive unveiled at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in November. – Ed)
“We are excited about the opportunity to demonstrate Ellumina’s dynamic capabilities in front of such a wide array of many of the top retailers in the country,” says Bill Melo, Toshiba America Business Solutions chief marketing executive. “As a result of showcasing our Experience Manager and Virtuoso platforms at NRF’s Expo, retailers from across all markets will have the opportunity to see how dynamically Toshiba’s Ellumina line is capable of conveying their key marketing messages while helping improve their company’s overall revenue.”
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