Rebel Sport recently upgraded its point of sale (POS) system, including POS hardware to an IBM SurePOS 500 system, 15-inch dual bulb touch screens, IBM SureMark thermal printers, and IBM backend server set-up resulting in significant improvements to its customer service.
Previously the company had a 15-year old DOS-based system, which the entire in-store POS-system, covering 64 stores, was based on. However, the ageing technology was hindering efficiency and implementation of other initiatives. Furthermore, communicating with the individual stores was cumbersome and the process of sales reporting required improvement.
After investigating the POS solutions marked, Rebel Sport chose a four-week pilot project with IBM which included IBM’s SurePOS 500 retail hardware and Magenta Retail’s Enabler POS software to run in five selected stores in NSW.
During the pilot project the advantages of this solution became obvious to Rebel Sport.
“For a start, the sheer efficiency of our new POS solution meant that we could cut the number of customer service lanes by 40,” says Mats Elversson, general manager IT for Rebel Sport.
“Furthermore, we have seen savings on maintenance, stationery and printing as well as onsite EFT processing costs. We have also been able to bring our gift card program in-house. From an IT perspective, this upgrade has been one of the best things ever to happen to Rebel Sport.”
Besides the SurePOS-system IBM also provided a server setup for EFT processing, which reassures Rebel Sport that if one server goes down another will immediately take over to prevent system downtime and consequently mean a potential loss in sales.