Consumer Goods Technology for the week of March 20, 2004

J. Crew Adds New Loss Prevention Measure from CRS Retail Systems

CRS Retail Systems announces that J. Crew Group has added on the Enhanced Reporting module to the CRS LossPrevention application, adding new ad hoc reporting capabilities for investigating suspicious transactions and activity taking place in the stores.

"CRS has taken an already valuable application and added even more powerful reporting capabilities needed by customers like J. Crew," said Paul Fusco, chief information officer at J. Crew. "With the addition of the business intelligence module based on MicroStrategy, CRS LossPrevention now has even greater flexibility and value to the business."

Italian Hypermarket Replaces Front-End Solution with NCR

Italian hypermarket Auchan-Gruppo Rinascente, part of the Rinascente Group, has signed an agreement worth more than US$6 million with NCR Corporation to replace the point-of-sale (POS) hardware and software currently installed throughout the chain's 38 stores. The new front-end solution includes NCR RealPOS 80c terminals, NCR RealScan 72 bioptic scanners and new electronic funds transfer PIN pads. Auchan-Gruppo Rinascente will also install four to eight NCR FastLane self-checkout lanes in all stores.

"We chose NCR as our sole IT supplier because we feel the company is the best store-automation partner available," says Marino Vignati, information technology manager for Auchan. "NCR FastLane is the most innovative and flexible self-checkout solution in the retail sector and is best suited for our needs."

Borders Group Enhances Efficiency with JDA

JDA Software Group announced that Borders Group, a global retailer of books, music and movies with annual sales of $3.7 billion, is looking to enhance efficiency by implementing several JDA Portfolio Strategic Merchandise Management solutions that it licensed in fourth quarter 2003. With more than 1,200 Borders and Waldenbooks stores worldwide, as well as approximately 900 seasonal kiosks, Borders Group will rely on JDA Seasonal Profiling by Intellect, Advanced Warehouse Replenishment by E3 and Advanced Store Replenishment by E3 to help the company's expert buyer team forecast demand, pinpoint the sales seasonality of titles, and also automate the store and warehouse replenishment process.

Borders Group's Fred Johnson, senior vice president and chief information officer, stated: "As we grow, our company is taking advantage of technologies, such as JDA's, to give our buyers a highly reliable tool to obtain and act on detailed title information. This will help our company have the right titles in the right quantities in the right stores."

Brown Shoe Company Selects ProfitLogic's Merchandise Optimization Solutions

Brown Shoe Company will use ProfitLogic's Merchandise Optimization solution in its Famous Footwear division. Famous Footwear, which sells brand-name fashion and athletic footwear for the entire family, has focused on improving the freshness of its assortments and operating on lower inventories.

"We look to Merchandise Optimization to help us better manage our product lifecycles and help provide optimal pricing strategies for our 900 stores," says Rick Ausick, Senior Vice President and Chief Merchandise Officer for Famous Footwear. "We chose ProfitLogic's solution because we believe it can give us greater understanding of the performance of our in-season merchandise and the ability to execute regional pricing. We were impressed with ProfitLogic's understanding of our business model as well as its track record of performing quick implementations."

SAP Extends CRM to Include Software Agents

SAP announces extensions to its customer relationship management software that increase the speed and expand the reach of analytics applications for users across the enterprise. Utilizing advances in SAP NetWeaver technology, mySAP CRM now provides users with automated software agents to apply real-time customer insight to everyday business processes in marketing, sales, service, channel management and interaction centers. The SAP CRM solution leverages a new high-speed search engine in SAP NetWeaver to transform customer segmentation from a day-long processing task to a matter of seconds. Companies can now gain faster and deeper insight into valuable enterprise-wide customer data to take quick action on fleeting business opportunities, increase campaign response rates and gain higher return on marketing investments.

Blue Martini Software Releases New Sales Optimization Tool

Blue Martini Software announces Blue Martini 6, a sales optimization system to proactively guide sales people, partners, and customers through sales interactions, resulting in higher revenues. With this release, companies selling directly to consumers can improve same-store sales and increase conversion rates by recommending to sales associates what to say at the point of sale, with the customer in front of them, as well as who to contact and what message to convey to get people back to the store. In addition, companies selling to businesses can use Blue Martini to improve deal closure rates by recommending to direct sales teams and channel partners what to sell, what messaging to use, and how best to configure, price, and quote solutions.

Casio Introduces the QT-5000 Touch Screen POS System

The QT-5000 is a ROM-based touch screen terminal that provides comprehensive hospitality features at an affordable price. The small footprint saves counter space, and the aesthetic design make the QT-5000 a stylish state of the art terminal. The QT-5000 offers a broad base of solutions directly targeting Quick Service, Table Service, Cafeteria, and Fast Casual environments.

The ROM-based technology of the QT-5000 provides cash register type stability and cost while allowing for PC type features and functions. The flash ROM eliminates the need for a hard drive and provides instant access to data stored in RAM memory.

The QT-5000 helps customers automate, manage, and control their business by offering extensive industry requested features, time critical reports, and security access to sensitive areas. The QT-5000 has been designed in a manner that simplifies operator usage and minimizes training times without compromising the inherent features.

Matrics Adds Read/Write Tags to Its Product Line

Matrics adds read/write functionality to its tag product line. The company has started supplying read/write tags in limited quantities and will ramp up production in the second quarter of 2004.

The introduction of read/write functionality addresses customer demand in response to highly publicized initiatives from leaders in the private sector like Wal-Mart and Target and in the government sector such as the Department of Defense (DoD). Wal-Mart's RFID specification provided to the supplier community classifies Matrics' read/write tags as Class 0+.

The read/write tag will complement Matrics' existing RFID solutions by allowing businesses to add information to the RFID tag as products and shipments move through the supply and logistics process. The company's read-only tag, well established in the industry, will continue to be marketed.