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NRF 2011: HP unveils its POS plans for EMEA
2011-02-22
Launched about one year ago in the EMEA region, the POS products from HP have not been yet really promoted by the Californian vendor. HP in fact waited for the hundredth edition of the NRF (National Retail Federation Big Show), recently held in New York, to unveil its EMEA POS strategy. In the US, HP is now on this market since 2004 and has a wide offer there, including digital signage products for example. On this market, HP works with ScanSource, Bluestar and Ingram Micro DC/POS. It has also built up an ISV partner program which aims to deliver more easily complete solutions to the market. This program is currently being adapted on the European market. Compared to its competitors, HP claims to be the only one to be able to fully equip the points of sales, from front-office to back-office : a good way for suppliers not to work with several vendors. In addition, it relies on the stability of its offer: each product has a 5-year delivery warranty, then 5 more years for spare parts: this warranty is appreciated on this market, as POS assets are kept and used a long time by the users.

Currently, HP is working in the EMEA region with Ingram DC/POS in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as well as Axiz and Pinnacle in South Africa. It is also about to unveil a partnership with German Jarltech for all countries where this distributor is working (Belux, DACH region (Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), France, the Netherlands, Poland, Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland and Sweden), Spain and the United Kingdom). HP has also chosen AV specialist Maverick as official distributor to introduce its digital signage offer in the United Kingdom. A move which may be duplicated in other countries in case of success.

Currently, HP's main focuses are France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is currently busy exploring the best distribution opportunities and adapting its products for each country, which will take some time before being fully implemented. As for digital signage products, they are currently distributed by some broadliners and Scala, which thus acts as the first EMEA, HP-labelised ISV. But those are not yet being actively promoted by HP, even if they drew a lot of attention on its NRF booth, thanks to a widespread use of touch technologies, which greatly improve the user experience.

Besides HP, NRF is the most important place in the world to discover new trends for POS equipment. And with over 20% of visitors from 82 countries (including almost 7% coming from EMEA countries), this event is now definitely not limited to the US anymore. Despite heavy snow conditions, most major European retailers (Auchan, Tesco, Metro, Ahold, etc.) were present, roaming to discover new ideas and technologies (often sold directly and therefore not distributed through distributors) to implement in their points of sale. Beside HP and its new digital signage display line (which now includes a digital signage media server), Intel has caught the attention of visitors with its Connected Concept Store. Several technologies were included in demos like adiVERSE (a virtual footwear wall), Digital Signage Endcap (based on the collection of anonymous visitor information to optimize marketing campaigns), Interactive Fashion Retail Experience (a virtual mannequin) or the IT Command Center, to minimise the energy consumption of use of POS devices. Microsoft has also made a big splash with Surface, which has been POS tailored by several ISV. The iPad has also been showcased as a useful POS tool terminal for numerous applications. The show also swarmed with smaller albeit useful innovations if imported into Europe, like an Intuit software which allows retailers to send by mail receipt to their customers: a convenient way to store and analyse them. As we can see on NRF, retail still has many ways to surprise its visitors.