Point of sale deal will transfer client base to next-generation systems, say new partners

Point of sale deal will transfer client base to next-generation systems, say new partners

Palmer and Harvey (P&H) have announced a long-term strategic partnership with UK retail services company, PCMS.

This partnership will transfer the management of the wholesaler's electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) clients (YP Electronics) to The PCMS Group plc, based in Coventry. P&H said it chose PCMS, not only because of its commitment to service excellence, but also their current product portfolio, which is a market-leading EPoS solution worldwide.

Chris Etherington, P&H chief executive said: “With the changing models within UK convenience, P&H sees the need for a next-generation EPoS solution that will offer convenience retailers significant benefits, including improved support and system monitoring, inherent disaster recovery, new store system functionality and integrated loss prevention reporting.”

Supporting convenience store needs

Over the last six months, P&H added that it has conducted a full review of the service convenience retailers are receiving and has recognised the benefits a larger, dedicated retail support provider can bring and have, therefore, signed a five-year support agreement with PCMS. PCMS’ emphasis will be on continuing to support the YP Electronics Sprint and Sinqua products. It said the focus will be on improved levels of service to customers, to ensure that incidents are handled as quickly and effectively as possible with increased call resolution rates.

PCMS already provides EPoS and retail services to convenience customers and also major High Street retailers in the UK such as the Co-op, Orange, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and recent addition, John Lewis Partnership. And PCMS convenience experience through working with major convenience brands in the UK, North and South America proved key. Its BeanStore EPoS system has also been integrated with the P&H supply chain and will form the foundation of P&H’s propositions to the changing models in the UK convenience market.

Improving support levels

Etherington added: “We are confident that this alliance will provide our customers with an improved level of service across call handling, incident logging and call updates. PCMS and P&H are working closely together on the transition of services, to ensure continuity of service with minimal disruption. All of the current processes to contact the support team remain in place. We are also very enthusiastic about the additional services that PCMS, with their size and retail client base, can bring to our convenience customers. The PCMS product BeanStore is already installed in a number of formats and market sectors that are becoming imperative in our markets.”

Richard Smith, managing director of PCMS, added: “We already take over 80,000 calls a month through our Coventry based helpdesk, supporting other people’s systems so we are looking forward to working with P&H customers and showing that we can add significant added value to the investment they have already made in technology.”