TotalStore solution from IBM

The issues

Create a differentiated shopping experience

Staying ahead of the marketplace with ever-evolving technologies is vital to remaining competitive. The rapid deployment, management and support of a scalable store infrastructure are essential for the on demand, customer-facing business. The IBM TotalStore Solution is designed to embrace emerging technologies, including self-checkout, RFID, POS and personal shopping devices.

The benchmark

The competitive advantage

IBM can help you leverage existing investments in technology through optimization driven by the IBM Store Integration Framework. We're uniquely positioned to be a comprehensive solution provider, offering you:

• Broad expertise to address the global challenges of the consumer environment, across multiple channels, business processes, technologies and platforms.
• Prepackaged industry-specific solutions that can reduce deployment times and risk.
• Solutions that are compatible with all major hardware platforms and operating systems.
• Solutions built using open standards to support ease of integration and flexibility for future changes.
• An extensive network of IBM Business Partners to provide hands-on, local service and support.
• Financing options that spread upfront project costs to better align expenditure to business benefit.

The components

A modular, incremental solution

The IBM TotalStore Solution from IBM is designed to help you enhance the consumer experience, control costs and deliver comprehensive support services from strategy through implementation at a distributed outlet or store level. IBM offers a wide choice of hardware, software and services offerings that can be combined to help you deliver a differentiated shopping experience.

Emerging, store-based technologies will require new support structures and skill sets as well as continued support of existing technologies, including:

• Wide area/local area networks
• Advanced open POS
• RFID
• Self-checkout and personal shopping
• Electronic shelf labels
• Kiosk
• Wireless devices
• Customer shopping systems
• Portal-based solutions
  • Employee
  • Store managers workbench
  • Customer-guided selling

The implementation

IBM helps Virgin Megastore manage

The Virgin Megastore in New York City's Times Square needed differentiation to drive revenue growth. They wanted to enhance customers' shopping experience with a personalized, interactive and fun solution, with capabilities that included allowing tech-savvy customers to sample music and software before buying.

IBM developed a solution that included:

• 150 IBM Anyplace Kiosks in one location — providing instant information at allowing transaction choice, convenience and speed
• IBM ® xSeries™ servers
• IBM WebSphere® Business Integration
• IBM DB2® Everyplace Express Edition
• IBM WebSphere MQ
• IBM Global Business Services

The solution lays the groundwork for more features in the future, specifically a "guided selling" application that will help employees make product recommendations based on shoppers' music preferences and past purchases.

The cost of ownership

Maximize every dollar

The IBM TotalStore Solution from IBM can help lower your cost of ownership.

• IBM's solutions are built using open standards and are designed to complement, not to replace, your existing IT infrastructure.
• IBM offers a flexible, scalable portfolio of hardware and software offerings that allow you to access information wherever it resides, giving you the ability to extend investments in existing, multivendor applications and systems.
• IBM's solutions are built using proven best practices, helping reduce deployment time and risk.

This portfolio of offerings can help you contain the cost of enhancing, adapting and operating store systems, while protecting and extending the value of existing technologies.

Next steps

Questions about this solution? Contact an IBM Retail specialist.