A new product concept is serious about supporting sales with mobile devices: the mobile "Futura Sales Assistant" solution is not only being developed to bring online functionality to the stores but will also offer merchandise management features. "We are currently developing a virtual sales assistant for the sales floor in cooperation with one of our customers", says Vanjo Wandscher, CEO of Futura Retail Solution AG, based in Stelle near Hamburg.
The new Futura software will soon enable sales advisers in the store to view stock data from all shops and the central warehouse as well as the online offering in real-time on their tablets and order goods for the customer, Wandscher explains. Advising customers will be facilitated considerably by "guided selling": the Sales Assistant suggests items that are similar to the products the customer has already selected or can, for instance, recommended matching outfits in the fashion store. Futura's solution, Wandscher continues, will allow regular customers to be registered directly on the sales floor and support individual promotions and offers. The new software will also make it possible to integrate typical omni-channel features such as Click & Collect and Click & Reserve into the daily business activities on the floor.
Wandscher: "Our Sales Assistant will be more than a bridge between the brick and mortar store and the online offering of a company. We have designed it as a multi-functional mobile platform for merchandise management." Staff in the store will be able to order goods directly from the central warehouse using the integrated request function. And price changes defined at the headquarters will no longer need to be sent to the stores on paper; they will be communicated via the tablet solution in future. Wandscher: "The Sales Assistant will help us to digitise the processes in the store."
The new Futura software will soon enable sales advisers in the store to view stock data from all shops and the central warehouse as well as the online offering in real-time on their tablets and order goods for the customer, Wandscher explains. Advising customers will be facilitated considerably by "guided selling": the Sales Assistant suggests items that are similar to the products the customer has already selected or can, for instance, recommended matching outfits in the fashion store. Futura's solution, Wandscher continues, will allow regular customers to be registered directly on the sales floor and support individual promotions and offers. The new software will also make it possible to integrate typical omni-channel features such as Click & Collect and Click & Reserve into the daily business activities on the floor.
Wandscher: "Our Sales Assistant will be more than a bridge between the brick and mortar store and the online offering of a company. We have designed it as a multi-functional mobile platform for merchandise management." Staff in the store will be able to order goods directly from the central warehouse using the integrated request function. And price changes defined at the headquarters will no longer need to be sent to the stores on paper; they will be communicated via the tablet solution in future. Wandscher: "The Sales Assistant will help us to digitise the processes in the store."
