NCR Corporation
Powering an Omnichannel Experience

“Physical stores are finished; long live online!” Considering the pace at which technology is transforming the retail industry, it won’t be long before drones deliver everything. The industry is breaking current barriers to redefine business models. But despite the rolling tide of ecommerce, 90 percent of retail shopping is still done in brick and mortar stores. The battle for the consumer’s wallet—and retail channel supremacy—is far from over. As the trends of shopping shift from e-commerce websites on to the smartphones, it has become imperative for the retailers to upgrade their IT systems and blend it with big data analytics to create a digital to physical shopping experience—an omni channel! A recent Forrester study uncovered that a staggering 94 percent of retailers have significant barriers to becoming an integrated omni-channel company. To support effective omni-channel retailing, traditional barriers must be torn down between in-store, online and mobile channels, replaced by complementary and integrated systems that deliver a converged experience.

This is where NCR Corporation [NYSE:NCR] comes in. To better address omni-channel requirements and help retailers position themselves for success by blending analytics into their IT systems, the firm provides an innovative commerce hub solution, NCR Retail ONE. The innovative commerce hub unites an open ecosystem of retail applications and data with an omni-channel software platform to help provide frictionless shopping experiences for consumers. NCR Retail ONE allows retailers to mix and match innovative applications from NCR, its partners, and third parties. “NCR is helping businesses evolve their legacy processes and effectively engage digital consumers at every touch-point in the consumer journey,” explains William Nuti, Chairman, CEO and President, NCR Corporation.

The ONE-stop Solution

Accelerating the shift from store-centric to consumer-centric experiences, NCR Retail ONE makes the most out of today’s retail touch points, while enabling the touch points of tomorrow. The solution can be deployed on the cloud, on-premise, or on a hybrid model. The commerce hub unleashes the potential for retailers and re-defines the shopping experience for consumers.

Retail ONE is powered by a flexible omni-channel platform that brings together an open ecosystem of applications, offering the interconnectivity retailers need to break the silos and obtain the power of turning complex data into actionable insights. The product connects to a continuously expanding selection of applications, ranging from clienteling to mobile—all developed by NCR, its partners, and third parties.

NCR Retail ONE commerce hub unleashes the potential for retailers and re-defines the shopping experience for consumers

Published, standardized, and stable interfaces provide a base level of interoperability across any application. With Retail ONE, a firm can leverage both existing and novel applications. With multiple deployment models to figure strategy, commerce hub can be merged seamlessly with online capabilities of an enterprise, optimizing its present and preparing for tomorrow.

Benefits of the new commerce hub include faster time to market and accelerated innovation by enabling true omni-commerce. Retail ONE handles complex volumes of data generated for retail businesses. “Increasingly, digitally-savvy and mobile-enabled consumers expect retailers to offer an integrated online and brick and mortar based shopping experience. NCR is one of the few vendors offering retailers with an omni-channel integration designed to help them maximize the value of their existing, legacy IT assets,” comments Miya Knights, Senior Research Analyst, IDC Retail Insights.

At the same time, NCR Retail ONE offers a cost-effective, gradual transition by integrating and leveraging hardware and software assets to increase the efficiency of retail operations. Retailers are able to choose applications from a portfolio that is customized to meet their unique business needs and provide the agility and adaptability that they demand. This approach to applications also reduces time to market as retailers deploy new services for their customers.

Retail ENCORed

To further enhance and extend their solution portfolio, the firm recently launched their new purpose-built solution, NCR ENCOR. The solution is a complete store management solution that delivers comprehensive point of sale, front office, and back office functionality for small-and medium-sized retailers that will be available through the NCR Interact Partner Program in North America.

Foreseeing the need in the small- to mid-sized market to develop an end-to-end, future-ready solution, NCR has added an innovative functionality and topped it off with an intuitive, modern user interface. The result is a single solution that addresses the current needs of independent grocers, protects their investment as those needs continue to evolve, and positions them to not react to, but lead unified commerce initiatives. Combined with NCR’s newest POS hardware solutions, RealPOS XR4 and XR8, retailers get best-in-class performance, power, security, and versatility in two of the smallest form factors available today.

The innovative, compact design of these two hardware platforms conserves valuable space while providing the connectivity, storage and configuration options that retailers need to meet today’s omni-channel demands.

Further, it is scalable to cover the needs from a single store to a whole enterprise solution set. For instance, a retailer can easily expand the functionality to include Connected Services, an enterprise reporting, electronic journal and cashier analysis solution and Connected Payments, a secure payment gateway designed to deliver data and transmission protection, from PIN pad to payment processor.

"NCR is helping businesses evolve their legacy processes and effectively engage digital consumers at every touch-point in the consumer journey"

In an implementation highlight, a large supermarket chain, which operates in 18 neighbourhood supermarkets and employing more than 4,000 associates, had to face the increasing challenges of payment security risks with the heightened requirements of the PCI data security standard. Following market research, the organization chose NCR to reduce payment footprint throughout its retail stores. Implemented as a SaaS (Software-as-a Service) solution, it was made easy for the supermarket chain to comply with evolving payment regulations, and to implement configurations and changes throughout its stores, POS systems and PIN pad devices–all in a centralized manner.

Setting the Modern Retail in motion

It was in 2015, that the retail giants marked a significant change in its retail strategy, as it looked to set up its business solutions to serve the future needs of the industry.

At the heart of NCR’s approach was the launch of its new Retail One commerce hub, which met the needs of retailers as the Internet of Things era unfolded and businesses demanded system connectivity. NCR continues to gain momentum for its strategy by growing the ecosystem with new applications and technology partners. NCR Retail ONE has many highly recognized and popular vendors working to integrate with its solution. NCR is leading transformational change across the entire retail ecosystem through its omni-channel software platform, channel integration & transformation and digital enablement. But two years down the line, what’s next for NCR Corporation? NCR will continue turning everyday interactions with businesses into exceptional experiences, by bringing efficiency, improving revenue and building customer loyalty for general merchandise, grocery and convenience stores. Nuti believes that the company can take advantage of its leadership position in the industry over newer entrants and take advantage of the expected widespread increase in connected devices and continued shift in consumer transaction preferences. By enabling retailers to give their customers an omni-channel experience NCR is embracing disruptive changes in globalization, digitization, consumerism, and technology.