Kathmandu cranks supply chain with Pronto

ADVENTURE equipment retailer Kathmandu has bought ERP software from Australian supply chain specialist Pronto Software as part of a major national and international expansion plan.

With more than 50 retail outlets throughout Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Kathmandu has aggressive plans under new shareholders Goldman Sachs JB Were and Quadrant to grow the company’s retail network to more than 80 stores in the next three years.

After a lengthy evaluation and review process, the company selected the Pronto-Xi to overhaul its point of sale and back office retail functions.

Kathmandu group information systems manager Bryan Moore said the company had outgrown its existing system, making it difficult to use the system to grow the company further.

“There were shortfalls in our CRM and promotions management, and combined with an overall lack of integration, it was time to consider an improved solution,” Moore said.

The new system, its real-time POS and inventory transaction processing would help the company to improve customer service while keeping alid on costs.

Moore said Pronto’s newly-added Alert Intelligence tools would be especially useful in managing costs.

“As we grow we’re adopting a ‘management by exception’ style, where we can be alerted to and manage specific business situations across the company in a timely manner,” Mr Moore said. “Alert Intelligence will definitely support this change.”

“For example, if there is a stock outage, we can be alerted to it straight away via an email with a hyperlink to the stock details. Alert Intelligence can also instantly notify staff as they serve a ‘Summit Club’ member whose next purchase qualifies them for a reward – which is the type of business and customer advantage that PRONTO-Xi can deliver,” he said.

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NZ payments firm pushes mobile payment market

THE global trend toward customers using their mobile phone to make purchase payments will continue to see strong growth, according to New Zealand mobile payment specialist GFG Group.

Newly-appointed GFG Group chief executive Grant Halverson, a former regional director for financial services giant Citibank, says the global payments market was still growing rapidly, although it had become more fragmented.

Halverson said GFG Group was well positioned to take a big chunk of the mobile payments sector, one of the fastest growing areas of the payments market.

GFG's software lets payments be made securely from mobile phone in the same way as a credit card or or EFTPOS card. The software was originally developed for a mobile phone company in the Philippines – Smart Communications – and is now being sold into other country markets.

Vodafone New Zealand acquired the software for its first entre into electronic mobile payments. The Vodafone Hotlink service lets its customers use their phone to top up prepaid or account balances directly from a their bank account.

The company has more recently made a multi-million dollar sale to a consortium of North American telecommunications companies, and it is in the process of negotiating sales with telco’s in the Middle East, India and other parts of Asia.

What makes the GFG Group software interesting is the way it has converged its breakthrough mobile technology with its established cards-based payment management software. The combination of the two in effect creates a virtual bank account operated by mobile phone.

The technology has created huge interest in the retail sector and among telco’s. And in the developing economies with not much of a fixed line phone network and low use of bank accounts, the system gives people access to the bank-level payments capabilities through thee phone.

“Having a Java-based Card product is critical because that means speed to market for new products,” Halverson said. “Likewise a proven mobile payments product is critical, because mobile payments is probably the largest single new growth opportunity in the global payments market – particularly outside the developed countries.”

“The paradox is that it’s really only a smaller player such as GFG which can be sufficiently fast moving and innovative and can be in the right place at the right time with the right products. And that’s key to why GFG is such an exciting opportunity,” he said.

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GS1 Australia offers free support services

PRODUCT numbering authority GS1 Australia is to offer a series of free support services to companies who are migrating to the new GS1net system which will be available from the end of August.

GS1 Australia says it is also making GS1 Professional Services consultants available at reduced fees to the hundreds of Coles and Metcash suppliers who synchronise their data today on EANnet.

Others in the EANnet community are examining resources and timelines to ensure they are fully GS1net operational before EANnet shuts down for good in March next year.

GS1 Australia will offer free support through their Client Services unit. This includes access for up to two supplier representatives to a GS1net group training session, a documented impact statement, gap analysis and data porting from EANnet to GS1net, a data validation service and a GS1net Ready Steps guide.

However, for current EANnet users who require additional and more focussed support, GS1 Australia has said that for a limited time and at a special price GS1 Professional Services consultants would fully execute the migration process for moving from EANnet to GS1net.

The GS1 Professional Services team has the system experience and the product-specific conversion tools to help everyone in the EANnet user community to migrate from EANnet to GS1net, with significant business benefits in terms of a speedier migration, cost avoidance and cost reduction.

GS1net contains many improvements and new features. GS1net users will find it faster and easier to manage than previous versions, both reducing the cost of ownership and maximising return on investment.

The most significant difference between the old EANnet and new GS1net is the seamless integration between it and the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN). This allows accurate data to be securely shared around the world between suppliers, wholesalers, logistics operators, retailers and other data recipients.

The new GS1net platform is also considerably easier to manage as it uses globally compliant standards that now bring Australian suppliers into global alignment.

GS1 Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing local businesses with assistance and support to implement global GS1 standards for supply chain efficiency.

The organisation will exhibit at CeBIT Australia at the Darling Harbour Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 1 to May 3, providing demonstrations of the new GS1net technology and advice on how to migrate from the present EANnet data synchronisation service.

GS1 Australia is one of more than one hundred GS1 organisation located in countries around the world. In November 2005, GS1 Australia joined the GDSN and put into place a migration plan for alignment to this global standard.

The next phase was for GS1 Australia to deploy a new platform, known as GS1net. This development work ensures that GS1net not only meets the requirements for participation in the GDSN, but also delivers all the item and pricing functionality that the Australian and New Zealand communities depend on today.

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Radio Shack lives a cautionary security tale

ONE of the world’s largest consumer electronic retailers Radio Shack has found itself living a corporate cautionary tale after falling foul of the law over its privacy and data security policies.

The company has found itself in court for exposing its customers to potential identity theft by dumping hard copy and computer media containing data that included addresses and credit card details into a dumpster behind one of its outlets.

The Texas Attorney General’s department was not impressed, accusing RadioShack of violating a new state law – called the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act – that makes it a legal requirement to both protect and properly dispose of customer information.

The latest lawsuit highlights the potential risk to retailers of legal sanction if they fail to adequately protect customer information.

Last week the US retailer conglomerate TJX reported that more than 40 million credit card numbers and customer details had been stolen by hackers over an 18 month period, exposing the company to regulatory action and lawsuits.

The AG’s complaint against RadioShack in Texas states the company had “failed to safeguard the information by shredding, erasing or other means, to make it unreadable or undecipherable before disposing of its business records.”

It says that thousands of customer records containing names, addresses, telephone numbers and other details had been found in rubbish outside one of RadioShack’s stores in the Texas city of Portland in March this year.

“Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.

“Texans expect their personal information to be protected. The Office of the Attorney General will take all necessary steps to ensure that consumers are protected from identity thieves,” he said.

The company has left itself open to a US$50,000 (A$61,333) fine for each violation – running its total potential penalty into the many millions.

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Privacy concerns over RFID plans

PRIVACY advocates have rejected a draft RFID Code of Practice for retailers issued by the barcode and product numbering association GS1, highlighting consumer concerns about the technology.

The Australian Privacy Foundation said the Code was “fundamentally flawed” because it did not protect consumers from RFID (radio frequency ID) technologies being used to track products after they pass the retail point of sale.

In a submission to GS1, the APF also expressed disappointment that GS1 had not taken the “next logical step” in registering the Code with the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, which would make it binding on signatories.

The APF submission welcomed the “timely and well-structured” GS1 initiative in seeking to create a Code of Practice. The foundation said it was particularly pleased that Code had defined the term ‘deactivation’ to mean that RFID tags could not be re-activated “in whole or in part.”

But it is highly critical of the Code putting the responsibility for ensuring deactivation on the consumer rather than the retailer.

“The draft Code of Practice is fundamentally flawed in its opt-out approach to de-activation at point of sale,” the Privacy Foundation submission said. “The default option should be that RFID tags are de-activated at the point of sale, unless the consumer expressly requests that the tag remains active.”

“We are also disappointed that the industry has not taken the next logical step of seeking registration of the Code by the Privacy Commissioner so that it becomes binding on signatories.

The AFP is also critical that the Code does not include the relationship between the retailer and the manufacturer in the way RFID can be used.

“While it is comforting for a consumer to know that the retailer from which a particular item was bought will not abuse the information that can be gathered, such a feeling may be one of false security should the tag be left active, and in the event that the manufacturer of the item or other third parties will be monitoring the tag,” the submission says.

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Big Brother now wants you to buy something

AUSTRALIAN researchers are developing intelligent in-store advertising systems that will tailor messages in real-time depending on the reaction of the shopper.

National ICT Australia scientists call the new system TABANAR, or Targeted Advertising based on Audience Natural Response, They say they can monitor the level of interest a shopper has in a particular advertising message, and change the message if advertising wanes.

The TABANAR system consists of a large-screen LCD-screen with a built-in camera to take live video footage of the shopper. NICTA says it has developed sophisticated algorithms than can examine the video and provide accurate data on people’s behaviour and movement.

The camera on the display monitors people who come within a few metres of the advertising display and analyses their response. Specifically, the system can tell if they look at the advertisment and the length of time they spend doing so.

“Under certain conditions, the software can even determine which areas of an advertisment have succeeded in attracting attention, providing valuable feedback to designers and advertisers on what types of messages and visual elements work,” NICTA said.

“Through the aggregation of a large number of responses, advertisers can build an accurate picture of how effective their display campaigns have been.”

The display on the system will continue to advertise a product while there is someone watching the screen. If the shopper turns their head away, the screen will go blank or start advertising something else – until its attracts the attention of someone else.

NICTA says the technology is to be trialled at an unspecified retail outlet in Sydney. It says any video data collected is destroyed immediately so that shoppers cannot be identified.

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Asset tracking system targets retailers

Retail technology specialist NCR has unveiled an asset tracking software system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) and other automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) technologies to help stores better manage point-of-sale equipment.

The company said its NCR Asset Visibility product is a foundation for a broad range of retail, logistics, warehouse and manufacturing applications.

Large retail chains can use the system to track and manage store assets such as end-cap displays, racks or bins, fixed or mobile point-of-sale hardware and shopping carts.

Or it can be used in combination with other software to track shopping carts as they move through a store can help retailers better understand consumer behavior and potentially increase revenue per customer.

“NCR Asset Visibility simplifies the infrastructure needed to enter, capture and cleanse data at the point of business activity,” NCR’s AIDC Solutions Group general manager Ken Hamlin said. “And it updates all relevant systems in real time.”

“Further, it gives organisations the flexibility to use the combination of technologies that best meets their requirements at a competitive cost, whether active or passive RFID, biometrics, bar codes, wireless LAN or cellular.”

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New video surveillance targets employees

US-BASED video surveillance and intelligence software specialist IntelliVid has begun trials of a newly developed developed intelligent point-of-sale video interface module that targets the problem of employee theft.

The IntelliVid system lets retailers instantly view and evaluate employees who are processing atypical transactions, like unusually large purchases or merchandise returns.

By revealing the circumstances of the transactions, IntelliVid’s video analysis capabilities then let the retailer to identify internal theft incidents and take appropriate action.

The system was developed in response to a growing internal theft problem identified in the US by a recent University of Florida study that found the problem, cost US retailers US$18 billion annually.

“With nearly half of all retail shrink being attributed to internal theft, retailers can now significantly improve their bottom line by implementing an intelligent video analysis solution that includes a point-of-sale interface,” said IntelliVid chief scientist Dr Christopher Buehler.

The company also recently announced version 2.0 of its flagship Video Investigator software, which supports the use of IP surveillance cameras.

Video Investigator transforms retailers’ existing video surveillance systems from passive recording devices into active theft prevention and store intelligence systems.

It also supports retailers’ increasing use of internet protocol (IP), cameras, which significantly reduce the complexity and costs of implementation over traditional analog cameras.

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