Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Elder of Ziyon
The past week has seen one of this year’s biggest buyouts of an Israeli company by a large multinational: NCR, which makes checkout systems for retail, automated teller machines, and cash dispensers and the like, bought Israel-based Retalix, a provider of retail software and services, in a deal valued at about $650 million.
Starting slowly in Israel, where its retail point-of-sale (POS) software manages cash registers in nearly every Israeli supermarket and fast-food outlet, Retalix has slowly expanded and exported its offerings. In 2011, Retalix was ranked among the top four software vendors for grocery retailers and among the top 10 large software vendors to retailers by retail industry publications.
When stores used regular cash registers, they were able to tally totals, make change, and keep track of the income and expenses. The revolution led by Retalix, more than any other company, enables retailers to use the information that comes out of a POS system in so many different ways. For example, retailers can use the information gathered at the POS with a wide range of business intelligence tools — which products are hot, who’s buying what at which times of day, what promotions are having the biggest sales effect.
By linking sales data to a credit or loyalty card, retailers can implement programs that reward shoppers for buying and keep them coming back. And the POS information on what products were sold makes it easier for retailers to keep track of inventory, payments, and expenses. And all of the data is stored securely in the cloud, enabling administrators or management at other outlets of the chain to easily access it for their needs. According to industry analysts, Retalix is a world leader in deploying these software solutions. And NCR, primarily a hardware company, will now be able to offer some of the most advanced POS systems in the world.
(h/t Ishai)
