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ENHANCING RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
WITH THE iPad
COMPUTACENTER AND APPLE TOGETHER
COMPUTACENTER AND APPLE HELP HIGH
STREET OUTLETS SOURCE, DEPLOY AND
SUPPORT APPLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR A MORE...
COMPELLING
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
High street outlets are facing
unprecedented challenges.
Not only are customers tightening
their purse strings, they are
abandoning stores in favour of
the Internet – where a wealth of
information and choice is close at
hand and checkout queues simply
don’t exist.
Fail to provide your customers with
a more engaging in-store shopping
experience and they will abandon
your brand in favour of a richer,
more personalised, virtual shopping
experience.
This will not only impact sales and
revenues but also customer loyalty
and brand status, which will be vital for
achieving a head start when consumer
confidence returns.
Retailers must enrich and personalise
the customer experience if they are
going to engage customers and
successfully compete with online
counterparts.
THE RISE OF THE
CUSTOMER KIOSK
Interactive customer kiosks are a vital
component in the quest for delivering
a more dynamic high street shopping
experience. From accessing
in-depth product information to making
personalised purchases, self-service
kiosks provide an important and
immediate customer communication
and sales channel.
The interactive nature of the iPad
makes it an ideal device for use in
a self-service customer kiosk. Its
media-rich interface allows retailers
to enhance product information
with pictures, videos and interactive
features, all of which can be easily
accessed via the familiar touch-screen
interface.
As well as acting as a portal for product
information, iPad devices can be used
in a kiosk environment to:
Provide a bridge to a customer’s
personal mobile device to
capture information by text,
email or QR code
Allow customers to place an
order or call a sales assistant
Overcome store space
limitations by providing full
access to product catalogues
Enable customers to design and
personalise products.
3
EMPOWER STAFF TO DELIVER
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Computacenter helps organisations
identify and implement these and
other use cases for iPad in high
street outlets. Drawing on our
experience of Apple solutions and
the retail sector, we help businesses
make the right investment decisions
so they can maximise return from
new technologies.
For example, iPad devices are not
just a valuable tool for improving
the customer experience; they can
also increase operational efficiency.
Lightweight, self-contained and easy
to share, iPads are ideal for sales
assistants to use on the shop floor.
Empowered by easily accessible
customer and product data, sales
assistants can suggest further or
alternative products for customers to
buy, increasing basket size and
sales revenue.
Specialist applications for core
business processes – such as
stock-taking and merchandising – can
also be easily developed and installed.
As a result, hefty planogram books will
be replaced by environmentally-friendly,
custom-made, full-colour digital guides.
The role of the iPad can be extended
beyond the shop floor to warehouses,
logistic centres and back-office
functions through the use of
time-saving applications for inventory
management, expense approvals and
sales demonstration.
Organisations can evaluate different
deployment options at dedicated Apple
clinics hosted by Computacenter at
its Customer Experience Centre. The
facility includes a number of labs for
retailers to conduct proof of concept
exercises before implementing a
solution in a store environment.
4
COMPUTACENTER’S
PEDIGREE
We have more than 10 years
of experience in designing,
implementing and supporting
retail solutions
Our breadth of capabilities
means we can provide an
end-to-end service, from
procurement and configuration
to installation and maintenance
Our company boasts a
2,000-strong engineering
force that includes certified
field engineers
We have worked with Apple
for more than 30 years and
have two Apple approved
service centres
We are an Apple Authorised
Systems Integrator, Apple
Authorised Reseller and an
Apple Authorised Service
Provider
Many organisations have
started their Apple journey with
Computacenter’s help, including
Eversheds and Schroders.
MINIMISE DISRUPTION
MAXIMISE RETURN
Computacenter and Apple enable
organisations to take a practical and
unified approach to deploying the
iPad across their enterprise, which
reduces risk and cost.
Computacenter’s highly experienced
retail experts understand the pitfalls
and the opportunities of implementing
Apple solutions in a retail environment.
We can help you source, deploy
and manage your in-store Apple
technologies, and plan installations
around your business to minimise
disruption and downtime.
Drawing on our industrialised approach
and suite of repeatable best practice
processes, we can ensure technologies
are deployed on a consistent basis
across multiple branches and
geographies.
We can also ensure a consistent
experience post-deployment. With
more than 2,000 field engineers and
24-hour service centres in the UK,
Computacenter can deliver remote
and on-site support and maintenance
across your entire branch network.
Our processes ensure a rapid response
to all IT issues and also enable
continuous improvement to prevent
problems from reoccurring.
Many high street outlets have already
started to deploy iPad in their
stores, but concerns about wireless
connectivity, security, integration with
back-office systems and managing
devices remotely mean many retailers
are not taking full advantage of the
opportunities available.
Thanks to its broad expertise,
Computacenter can help audit, and,
if necessary, transform your underlying
infrastructure. As a result, you will
be able to ensure that Apple devices
and customer kiosks remain highly
available.
With Apple devices still a new arrival
on the corporate landscape, many IT
departments do not have the skills
that they need. Without the necessary
expertise, productivity gains may be
lost due to increased management
complexity and operational risk causing
downtime and disruption
to sales.
To maximise the potential of using
iPads, organisations also need to
evaluate whether their network and
storage systems are primed for an
increase in multi-media content before
implementing Apple technologies and
customer kiosks.
5
ENGAGE CUSTOMERS
BOOST SALES
By empowering staff and customers with information and
interactive applications, retailers will be able to increase
footfall and sales. Combining Apple’s best-of-breed
technologies with our expertise will enable you to:
Continuous
Improvement / Innovation
ENHANCE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Interactive devices add a new dimension to the high
street experience. Customers are more engaged,
which helps maximise their time in-store and their
purchases.
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
The iPad can be used across the business to
streamline processes and empower staff to be more
efficient, both on the shop floor and in back office.
Growth /
Business Change
Access to
Skilled Resources
£
Cost Reduction
Environmentally
Conscious
6
SIMPLIFY IN-STORE MANAGEMENT
As the iPad is easy to use, any member of staff can
start to use them without the need for training. Staff
profiles are easily switched so each employee can
access a device optimised for their role.
IMPROVE PROFITABILITY
iPads have the power to boost sales. By merging
digital commerce with physical retailing, and
allowing customers to browse existing websites
in-store on the iPad, you can showcase your full
catalogue of products and capture more sales.
REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT
Chunky customer catalogues and staff
merchandising guides can be replaced by digital
‘books’, which are easily browsed with the swipe of
a finger and navigated with hyperlinks.
PUT iPad AT THE FRONT LINE
OF YOUR BUSINESS
iPad devices can be used to:
tream video content
S
on-demand
Share product and company
information with customers
howcase products not
S
available in the store and
process customer orders
Provide customers with a better
understanding of products and
why they should buy them
apture customer contact
C
details for future marketing
Conduct customer satisfaction
and trends surveys
Enable customers to contact a
sales assistant
Provide sales assistants with
access to product and customer
data
Replace chunky tills with mobile
Point-of-Sale devices
ake stock control and
M
inventory simpler and smarter
AN IMPROVED
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
A major car manufacturer partnered with Computacenter to deploy iPads for 2,500 sales people. Using the devices enables
the sales force to be more mobile and respond faster to customer queries.
The devices also support a custom application that enables showroom customers to personalise car designs instantly.
These factors help improve the customer experience and secure more sales.
7
By combining feature-rich Apple
technologies with Computacenter’s
industrialised and integrated IT
services, organisations will be fully
equipped to support the contemporary
workforce of today and tomorrow.
To find out more about how
Computacenter and Apple can help
your business attract and retain more
customers with iPad solutions,
contact your Computacenter account
manager, or visit:
www.computacenter.com/apple
email: workplace@computacenter.com
Computacenter (UK) Ltd
Hatfield Avenue
Hatfield
Hertfordshire AL10 9TW
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1707 631000
F: +44 (0)1707 639966
e: enquiries@computacenter.com
w:computacenter.com
Computacenter is a leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services and solutions. From
desktop to datacenter, we help our customers minimise the cost and maximise the value of IT to their
businesses. We can advise organisations on IT strategy, implement the most appropriate technology,
optimise its performance, and manage elements of our customers’ infrastructure on their behalf.
Computacenter operates in the UK, Germany, France and the Benelux countries, as well as providing
transnational services across the globe.
© Computacenter 2014