Although the 2011 Holiday Season was strong and IT spending for the year was even better, 2012 shows some storm clouds on the horizon with fuel price concerns, an election cycle, and a store that is being transformed by mobile. Those retailers that survived the downturn and grew through 2010/11 are now looking to expand their businesses, and they are planning to do so with new technologies like mobile tablets, innovative loyalty programs, cloud-based computing and virtualization. This very detailed study is the result of a joint effort with RIS News in which we interviewed retailers on their future store systems buying decisions. With responses from many of the top retailers in North America, we have produced the results in a detailed, but very easy to read study. With 44 charts and graphs, the data is broken down by retailer size, by retail segments, and by other criteria such as desire for real-time integration with other retail systems, the primary motivations for upgrading their store systems, and the desire for mobile solutions. This is the "meat-and-potatoes" part of the research IHL with RIS News entitled "Expanding Boundaries."

For years, customers have been asking for POS Shipments by vendor in a similar format that IDC reports PC Shipments. This is that product. The POS Terminal Shipments by Vendor product provides shipments and installed base on a quarterly and annual basis for vendors such as IBM, NCR, HP, Wincor-Nixdorf, Fujitsu, Dell, MICROS, Radiant, Digipos, and many others. It includes data on processors and operating systems historically and provides a forecast going forward. It is also the only review of the POS market that includes the PC on Cash Drawer (PCOCD) market with vendors like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and others.

Retail WorldView is IHL's IT Sizing model for the worldwide retail marketplace. With over 250 categories of hardware, software, services, and labor/overhead, Retail WorldView is the most comprehensive IT sizing model in the retail industry. Retail WorldView is available for purchase by region, segment or as a complete worldwide view. Whether you are vendor with an application in one area or you have a broad portfolio of products, Retail WorldView is designed to show you where the opportunities are today in each region worldwide and can be customized specifically for your company's needs looking forward. Forecasts for each for the next 3 years are also included.

Now with Sophia Predictive Analytics!
From Data to Insight, WISDOM for Retail. Named after the greek word for wisdom, Sophia is by far the most comprehensive source of not just data, but key wisdom for smart decisions in the retail industry. It is the only data service that links IT spend, to specific technology, to specific personnel, to specific financial results, tied together and backed by our advisory staff. Sophia provides insight into nearly 200 types of hardware/software/services and key personnel for over 2,800 retailers and restaurants.

Now with SPA by Sophia (Sophia Predictive Analytics), the system allows for benchmarking against competitors, identifying which retailers are leaders in specific technologies, their projected IT spending plans in key categories(like Business Intelligence/Analytics, Merchandising/Supply Chain, ERP, and Store Systems), and which technologies they are likely to purchase in the next 24 months. Your enterprise subscription allows everyone in your organization to create targeted mailing lists of key executives, do competitive analysis, look up market share and understand IT spend for an individual retailer or thousands of companies

While most organizations typically perform annual planning sessions, they usually fall short in building a well-designed and effective three year plan, enabling the correct sequencing and prioritization of multiple strategic technology investments. This lack of planning costs organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more in stops and starts. The Rapid Project Technology Roadmap will help your organization priortize the right projects in the right order to minimize these inefficiencies.

From the C-Level on down, retailers marvel at the success of the Apple Stores, how they use handheld devices for customer interaction and transactions. They want that same experience, the same throughput. Is there room for traditional POS? Do tablets make sense in your store environment? This study looks at the status of ruggedized tablets and traditional POS, as well as new tablets. We review the number of devices in the market by segment, with forecasts and the impact that tablets will have on the shipments of traditional POS devices. Finally we look at best practices and recommendations for retailers as they look to deploy the devices in their stores.

In this 51 page market study, we delve deep into the POS Software market for Softgoods retailers. We identify which software providers are leading the pack, what is their market share and what complementary systems their software has been installed within the industry.

In this 53 page market study, we delve deep into the POS Software market for Hardgoods Retailers. We identify which software providers are leading the pack, what is their market share and what complementary systems their software has been installed within the industry.

Transactions at Self-Service Kiosks are growing better than 10% per year in North America with transactions expected to grow past $1.1 Trillion per year through the devices by 2015. This study looks at arguably one of the more explosive yet most difficult areas to define in the IT sector - namely Self-Service Kiosks. Key to any review of Kiosks is a definition of what types of kiosks that are included. In this study we ventured beyond retail in the breadth of our discussion, but focused only on those devices where payment is currently or soon to be taken.

In total, Inventory Distortion costs retailers collectively nearly $800 Billion globally. Or put another way, same store sales could increase 9.2% if this problem was completely fixed. Building upon previous research from IHL, this research study looks at the true cost of Inventory Distortion (Out-of-Stocks and Overstocks) to retailers. Beyond just looking at empty shelves or the discount rack, this report brings clarity on the size of the problem that heretofore had been missing in the industry.

It is not only coupons and discounts that can drive traffic to retailers or brands, but rather an opportunity exists to create an emotional connection through publicly promoting charity as part of the sales process. This FREE study reviews the impact on consumer behavior of tying products or entire retail chains to a specific charitable cause. The bottom line, doing good is good business. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE STUDY HERE

With the North American region struggling for POS shipment growth in this economy, the strong growth in the Asia/Pacific region continues to be a highlight of the worldwide POS market. China and India continue to expand faster than other countries contracted and their swelling retail ranks will continue to drive growth in 2011 and beyond. Our Asia/Pacific POS Market Study has 48 figures in 96 pages in which we explore the market climate for POS terminals in the Asia/Pacific region. It includes shipment, installed base and trends analyses for POS in Japan, China, India, Australia/New Zealand, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Other Asia/Pacific countries.

After a dismal 2009 that saw POS shipments drop 12% and revenues drop over 15%, the North American POS Market grew 5.7% in 2010. But threats loom in the form of higher fuel prices and the emergence of mobile tablets being used for POS. This 115 page study focuses on the Retail POS market in North America for 2010-2015. It includes shipment, installed base and trends analyses of POS devices based on processor speed and operating system choice. The report is designed for use by POS Hardware and Software Providers, Maintenance Providers, Printer Manufacturers, EFT device vendors, Retailers and others who might have a vested interest in the North American Point-of-Sale Market.

IHL Group is interviewed with Picitup, a visual shopping engine tool, on the future of this emerging technology and on mobile commerce. This appeared on FoxNews live. An additional piece will be produced and rolled out to Fox International as well as US based Fox affiliates as part of the 2012 shopping season coverage. [ More ]

It's the end of the world as we know it...It's the end of the world as we know it....It's the end of the world as we know it and..I'm not sure how I feel. (Sorry R.E.M., you bailed before I did.) Yesterday's announcement of the Kindle Fire, Amazon's new multi-media tablet device priced at a low entry price of $199 just may be the ideal device for retail. Yes, certainly this ... [ More ]

The explosion in web-based workforce management systems provides the retailer with the opportunity to manage the entire process of budgeting, forecasting, scheduling, optimizing schedules, task management, time and attendance, and analytics much more holistically. However, the advertised strength of these systems requires two distinct qualities that retailers are often lacking: * Effe... [ More ]

It would seem obvious that retailers would want to utilize every tool available to gain insight into their business. Yet, that does not seem to be the case when it comes to Business Intelligence (BI) software. In fact, data pulled from IHL Group's Sophia Data Service indicates that only 23% of the North American retailers we profile have adopted a BI solution. This seemingly slow adoptio... [ More ]