Tactile Technologies, trusted by leading South African retailers for decades, has brought to market a powerful new retail bundle incorporating best-of-breed solutions with up to seven-year extended warranties, customisation options and a device management platform to deliver improved return on investment and enhanced business continuity.
Mauro Mercuri, founder and chairman at Tactile Technologies, says the new RESILIENT RETAIL 9 portfolio addresses key headaches faced by retailers and their service providers, such as securing new stock and spares quickly, sweating point-of-sale (POS) assets for as long as possible and simplifying the management of POS systems across a wide geographic footprint.
The bundled portfolio features a choice of top-quality products with local stock and spares availability, extended warranties of up to seven years, optional bundled insurance and a vendor-neutral device management platform.
Mercuri says the bundling of the solutions builds on Tactile Technologies’ experience of meeting the needs of leading tier one retailers over many years. “The retail segment is a top market for us, and we have earned the confidence of leading retailers such as Builders Warehouse, Cape Union Mart, Decofurn, Mr Price Group, Pepkor, Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Spar, often through our channel partners,” he says.
“In supporting these retail clients, we identified key challenges many retailers and their service providers face, namely long lead times because of low stock availability in-country, and a shortage of spare parts in-country. This presents a challenge for service partners when trying to meet their SLAs. We also found that retailers want to sweat their POS kit for as long as possible, yet the warranties generally in the market cover them for only three years.
“We have moved to help overcome these challenges and support channel partners and retailers with a carefully curated portfolio of products and services,” Mercuri says.
“This is a powerful offering we've worked on for the last nine months, using all the experience and knowledge we have, not only in our SA team but also in our team in Taiwan and China,” he says. “This is us tackling the retail market 200%.”
Top choices and extended warranties
Tactile Technologies’ RESILIENT RETAIL 9 portfolio offers a choice of best-of-breed international solutions, which can be configured and branded to meet retailers’ requirements.
Steven Baeyens, Director of Products and Projects, says: “We have put together a package consisting of a number of top brands and products to give customers a choice in functions, features and specs. This portfolio caters for all tech needs and budgets, with solutions that are robust and reliable enough to meet the demands of busy retailers.”
With optional warranty extensions of up to seven years, Tactile Technologies helps retailers maximise ROI on their POS investments. Baeyens notes: “Usually, retailers are offered three-year warranties, with some brands extending this to five; however, seven years is exceptional.”
Tactile Technologies’ RESILIENT RETAIL 9 also offers an optional all-in warranty and insurance bundle, covering both technical faults and losses due to theft and accidental damage due to issues like fire, lightning, explosion, forces of nature and water damage.
Stock on hand
Retailers need the assurance that local stock is available so they can roll-out new stores quickly. However, a lack of local stockholding can slow their roll-outs. Tactile Technologies has moved to assure local stockholding of new units and spare parts at its three offices across South Africa. Moreover, it also guarantees spare part availability for two years after a customer’s warranty expires.
Baeyens says: “For service providers, finding local stocks of spare parts is often an issue. Whether you have taken a three-, five- or seven-year warranty, we will ensure we have spare parts to support your fleet for a further two years, so retailers don't have to buy new units. This can mean up to nine years of peace of mind and continuity, so retailers can optimise their investment in these assets.
Tactile Technologies’ guaranteed consignment stock means channel partners and service providers can rest assured they will have access to the spare parts they need to deliver on their SLAs.
Offering further support to channel partners and service providers, Tactile Technologies offers free training on all RESILIENT RETAIL 9 technology.
Branding and customisation
Baeyens says selected products in the portfolio can be customised in three ways.
“With RESILIENT RETAIL 9, customers have more choice. We can customise the kit aesthetically, offering the product in the customer’s colour of choice, with their logo instead of the manufacturer’s logo. We are also able to adapt the power specs, customising the power supply to align with the customer's needs and challenges.
"We can also provide an integrated UPS on selected products. In addition, the I/O configuration and line up can be customised on selected products, configuring these as per customer's needs and positioning the I/O lineup to suit their installation and support requirements,” he says.
Simplified device management
Tactile Technologies also offers a licensed independent, generic device management platform to support the units in its RESILIENT RETAIL 9 portfolio, as well as any other POS kit.
Baeyens notes this overcomes challenges many retailers face in managing, maintaining and troubleshooting systems across South Africa.
He says: “Our device management platform helps streamline management for retailers who have branches across the country. Instead of having to send technicians to all corners of the country, service providers and retailers can harness our remote device management platform for preventative actions, maintenance, remote troubleshooting and monitoring.”
Tactile Technologies expects the RESILIENT RETAIL 9 portfolio to meet the needs and budgets of tier one, two and three retail chains, overcoming key challenges and helping them maximise their POS budgets.
“RESILIENT RETAIL 9 is an offering that has several USPs and we believe will find recognition and generate interest across the retail landscape in South Africa,” Baeyens concludes.
For further information, contact Monique Weber at monique@tactiletechnologies.com and/or Steven Baeyens at steven@tactiletechnologies.com.
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