Aurora expands mobile point-of-sale trial

Aurora Fashions is expanding its trial of its mobile point of sale system, with 23 stores expected to have iPads by the time the Christmas peak hits. The company is running one of the retail industry’s first mobile point-of-sale trials in relatively high traffic stores, and it says it’s going well so far.

The retailer wants to test the devices during the busiest time of year and will look at rolling the system out across the UK if all goes well.

It started with one device in each store, with all four of its brands trying the technology, and has now rolled out eight to its new Oasis Argyll Street flagship store and three to the Argyll Street Warehouse store.

It plans to roll out devices to 11 high-traffic Karen Millen stores across the UK to see how they fare during Christmas trading, and two stores in Westfield Stratford have them too.

Strategic development director Ish Patel said staff are finding the iPads most useful for assisting the sales process, because it gives them access to more information on products and helps them improve customer experience. The devices can also be used as a point of sale terminal for card transactions when queues start to build.

“The real value is in delighting the customer and in advocacy,” he said. “It makes retail teams’ lives easier and makes the customer experience more enjoyable. This comes through ultimately in terms of sales.”

It shows how mobile point of sale terminals can be used for a whole range of things, not just taking payment, and it’s a big part of Aurora’s multichannel push. The company also introduced 90 minute delivery slots this year, with its stores acting as a UK-wide network of distribution points.

The mobile pos presents security challenges, Patel says – the company wants to give staff freedom to use the devices properly, but also needs to secure corporate systems, and getting the balance right is difficult. Working out how to manage the devices, including maintenance and charging, are the biggest problems so far for the Aurora teams. But as Patel says: “The answers can only come with trialling the devices in a live environment in high-volume periods.”