As part of their enterprise partnership, IBM and Apple unveiled the IBM MobileFirst suite of apps for iOS. The apps bring IBM Big Data and analytics capabilities to iPhone and iPad users and are functional for numerous industries, including retail, telecommunications, government and financial markets.
The service includes the Store Associate Suite, which carries two new apps, Sales Assist and Pick & Pack. These apps are designed to enable enhanced engagement between customers and sales associates. They also allow sales associates to provide real-time product, inventory availability and location information to customers based on historical patterns and profile data.
Sales Assist enables sales associates to provide a personalized shopping experience and deliver customer engagement by utilizing real-time data and insight. It is designed to improve information to support cross-sell and upsell opportunities, thus increasing the basket size and revenue per transaction.
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Pick & Pack provides associates with the latest view of orders and inventory location throughout the store and manages order fulfillment of ship, hold or pick-up orders from store locations within target service levels. The app is designed to optimize the efficiency of the flow of orders by sequencing the items to be picked in the most logical order.
“Retailers must go beyond just deploying mobile devices and introduce a new breed of mobile applications that incorporate the operational and analytical components necessary to truly enable meaningful consumer and employee interactions,” said Jill Puleri, Global Retail Industry Leader at IBM Global Business Solutions. “IBM and Apple have created apps backed by Big Data and analytics that will power the next generation workforce of in-store sales associates to provide the best customer experiences and brand proposition.”
