Retail News Update

IT giant IBM has launched the store integration framework, a middleware solution featuring security and customer management, to cater to the Indian retail industry. The store integration framework (SIF) has been developed by IBM India Industry Solutions lab to integrate retailer’s devices, applications and solutions.

The company said that the product includes its digital video surveillance (DVS), integrated multi-channel retailing (IMCR) and anyplace kiosk solutions. The DVS connects digital surveillance video with point of sales systems, inventory, customer and employee data to search and analyze store activity, view and record live action and trigger alerts to loss prevention staff when anomalies are detected.

The IMCR helps customers browse for goods in one channel, buy them from another channel and pick them up at a third channel, while the anyplace kiosk provides customers with timely and relevant information and can also be used for employee training. It also claimed that the solution would help retail companies reduce costs.

The company said that it is talking to major retailers to implement its solutions in their stores across the country.

In the Indian retail software market, IBM competes with vendors such as Pathfinder, which offers solutions to enterprises and SMBs in different retail verticals and SAP, which offers retail solutions for efficient expansion to multiple sales channels and reduction in operational waste.