ReStore for Retail aims to change the in-store shopping experience.
The Hilco-owned SaaS provider has launched a mobile-based visual merchandising and operations platform designed to give frontline store associates collaborative capabilities to improve the shopping experience and drive higher sales and profits.
ReStore for Retail is showcasing its SaaS platform at the Consensus Great Brands Show in New York on Wednesday.
“The technology empowers retail operations’ leaders and frontline teams to collaboratively and efficiently create, execute and optimize immersive experiences for customers while maintaining consistent store and brand standards,” the company said. “For retail executives, ReStore for Retail allows them to visually monitor the roll-out of campaigns, seasonal changeovers and standardized day-to-day store activities, like loss prevention, in real-time.”
Ian Fredericks, president of Hilco’s retail and consumer group, said with the new platform, retailers and brands “can deliver immersive in-store experiences for the shopper. It enables the local store associates and managers to improve the look and feel of each store, expand the breadth and depth of the inventory on the rack and highlight featured and feature sale products just as they are intended to be merchandised.”
Fredericks said when armed with ReStore for Retail, store associates and their managers can more actively engage in merchandising and branding and be equipped with real-time data and visuals to make better-informed decisions. They are also “better able to perform tasks more efficiently, freeing them to spend more time with customers to convert foot traffic into sales,” he said.
Developing the platform was conceived as industry experts at Hilco’s retail and consumer group identified challenges facing retailers regarding changing consumer demands. “Leveraging our extensive retail and consumer experience, we identified opportunities to dramatically improve customer and frontline employee experiences, which drives higher sales and profit,” Fredericks explained. “When retail leaders have the tech to collaborate with associates directly and transparently, they are empowered to execute more efficiently with a real sense of ownership and create a better customer experience. That’s when retail magic happens.”
The company said ReStore for Retail puts the primary focus back in stores “where retail and brand ‘ambassadors’ interact with customers many times per day by providing a unique retail in-store execution platform that’s proven over time to improve customer and retail/brand ambassador experiences while delivering measurable results.”
Fredericks said the capabilities featured in the platform were designed to reflect real-world experience combined with feedback from the company’s clients. Fredericks said the platform was built to “convert store traffic into profitable sales by creating exceptional merchandising consistency” and to “optimize day-to-day performance and enforce loss prevention and other retail best practices by creating user-friendly analytical solutions and dashboards.”
The platform also gives store-level retail and brand ambassadors “a voice” regarding merchandising, operations and other functions. The company said the platform was thoroughly tested in stores.
Lynsey Rae, head of Retail ANZ at JD Sports Fashion PLC, said the mobile platform “has been built specifically for retailers with active input from retail operations, management and sales teams who truly understand the current retail environment.”
Rae noted that the retailer’s associates “are happier and more engaged, retention is much improved, and our store performance numbers reflect that.”
