Great conclusions after Expo ANTAD 2013 in Guadalajara, México

Official Expo ANTAD 2013 logo

From 13th to 15th March, Openbravo and some of our mexican partners participated as exhibitors in the Expo ANTAD 2013, in Guadalajara, México, one of the biggest and most important retail events in the country and America.

Our conclusions can't be more positive. During the 3 days, we have confirmed the tremendous opportunity that Retail represents for Openbravo in México, in a moment where México's economy is growing fast, and companies with a strong growth and more complex operations, require a modern and affordable solution that ensures they are ready for the current and future industry challenges. Something we have already identified in the past, but again confirmed with some of our visitors, is the clear interest of big brick-and-mortar retailers seeking for a full web and mobile ready store solution, that integrates seamless with their current Tier 1 headquarters system. Most of these cases are SAP customers.

My colleague Óscar González, LATAM Channel responsible

Mobile was one of the hottest topics (in fact we were there presenting our support to smartphones), with most of visitors impressed by our support to smartphones and tablets, together with its full web capabilities, usability and flexibility. OnDemand  is also seen as a very interesting option.

Smartphone support

We had the opportunity to talk with a number of retailers from different sub-sectors, sharing their requirements and confirming the value that Openbravo for Retail can bring to them. From small or medium retailers, up to big ones like a supermarket chain with more than 150 locations.

During the third day, I conducted a conference in the Retail Tech zone, called "Loyalty : challenges and trends in the multichannel retail", very well received and nowadays representing a hot topic in the industry. It was not an Openbravo for Retail presentation, but a business presentation,  which demonstrates our interest to appear not only as retail software experts, but as true retail industry experts, which is fundamental to advise and support our customers in a fast changing industry like Retail.  We will publish it during the next days.

Myself, during the conference

During the conference, I had the opportunity to present our colaboration with AppCard, a company providing a mobile loyalty solution that is changing the way brick-and-mortar stores acquire and retain customers. Merchants can easily create personalized offers and know their customers with more than 90 cloud-based analytics and business-intelligence reports, accessible anytime, anywhere. Customers can easily search for stores and promotions, and redeem their rewards to get discounts in their favourite stores. This collaboration will provide a stronger solution for our customers.

AppCard mobile application

The interest for Openbravo in México is also demonstrated by our frequent presence in media. This time and during the Expo, we were invited by ANTAD Radio and interviewed by some local newspapers.

Óscar González in ANTAD Radio

All these are very positive signs that confirm our 2012 official results in México. We have tripled our software revenue and average deal size, where Retail accounts for a relevant percentage,  and a 70% growth of our partner network. Our new office in México D.F will help for sure to consolidate our presence there.

And after the Expo, some time for visiting the city during the weekend.  Quesadillas and Mariachis in Tlaquepaque! 

Quesadillas

Mariachis

Thanks Guadalajara : great business, food and fun ! 

See you soon!

Xavier Places

Openbravo's Reail Lead

Openbravo for Retail Update

The Retail industry is undergoing a profound transformation, pushed by technologies like E-Commerce, mobile devices and social networks that are revolutionizing the way people shop. Many retailers, both traditional stores as well as E Commerce companies,  are trying to respond to this new world and struggling with their legacy Retail management systems (traditionally showing a high degree of customization), which are too rigid to support these new needs.  Retailers looking to escape from their legacy systems face significant challenges around cost, time-to-market, flexibility and/or  lack of a complete functionality, which are delaying their decision, resulting in a big risk for their future growth.

The new Openbravo for Retail solution was designed to meet these challenges, and three months after its launch, the inputs from the market are very positive, as we confirmed at retail events in Hong Kong, Paris and Mexico.  Openbravo for Retail provides the required agility and affordability, along with an improved shopping experience, a key element to develop consumer-centric strategies, a key strategic challenge for retailers today. Big retailers visited us in these shows and confirmed their interest, seeking a solution able to improve their store and headquarters operations.

Full web capabilities, usability thanks to the use of mobile devices and On Demand are the most highlighted features by retailers who have showed interest in the solution. New pricing (simpler and more flexible) has also been very well received.

Openbravo on Demand is becoming one of the most important adoption drivers for retail. By providing the best of the SaaS and traditional deployment worlds, and benefiting from its Cloud nature, On Demand shows clear affinities with the Retail business:

• Highly distributed scenarios, e.g. multiple stores and mobile requirements

• Easy to integrate Web POS with existing back office through a single, secure web services based integration point in the cloud

• Seasonality aspects, along with the typical retail HR challenges (many part time employees or peak times require ability to cost-effectively scale up or down on demand)

• Quick up-and-running for new store openings (traditional stores, pop-up stores), due to back office being implemented as a managed cloud service

• IT staff reduction or time invested in higher value activities

• Big Data influence, being able to access to more powerful servers offering higher analytics capabilities at a lower cost

The number of customers is growing rapidly, and we anticipate accelerated growth during the next months. Back Office named users at USD 49/month (or 39 EUR) and POS terminals per USD25/month (or 19 EUR) are unbeatable prices.  Retail on Demand is a real trend that provides a big competitive advantage.

Openbravo for Retail helps also E-tailers. Many of them lack a proper back office system, which is required when they: 

• grow in the number of served orders,

• expand internationally,

• initiate a multi-channel strategy, or

• simply want to offer the best sales experience backed by quality and on-time information about stock, product characteristics, prices, etc.

E-tailers benefit directly from the Openbravo 3 advanced interoperability capabilities, which make it easy to integrate with existing commercial or custom made E-Commerce platforms, for example Magento, the world leader open source E-Commerce platform, for which an integration module already exists.

Additionally, we see traditional retailers increasingly recognizing the E-Commerce potential and initiating projects to implement a complete multichannel solution.  Many of these retailers are frustrated by the cost and complexity of their legacy systems, and are looking to modernize their operations--often starting at the store level. Deploying Openbravo for Retail's Web POS can be a natural first step, since it provides a single point of integration to an existing back office, with easy real-time integration through RESTful web services. 

From a product perspective, our Roadmap includes great new features that are improving the retail functionality in valuable ways and are helping to build our vision. Gift card support, Advanced Promotions and Discounts, and smart phones support are coming soon! 

Although not limited to Retail, the highly strategic Openbravo Mobile project will enable Openbravo 3 to be efficiently accessed from tablet and small-sized mobile touch devices. This will represent a huge improvement for Retail Managers (Store Managers, E-Commerce Managers, Franchise owners…) being able to access all back office information from everywhere with their smartphones. Updated information about  its possibilities and a technology overview are available.

From a training perspective, a new Openbravo for Retail functional training has been delivered, and is the first in a new series of Retail courses - a must for all of you who want to learn about the detailed functionality, or are selling and/or implementing Openbravo for Retail. 

Do you want to learn more about Openbravo for Retail ? :

• Try it!: test it online (Back Office and Web POS) or locally by asking for a Free Trial License

• Learn it!: check all our public Openbravo for Retail wiki materials (like User Guide or Configuration Guide) , and enroll in the Openbravo for Retail training.

If you are evaluating Openbravo for Retail for use in your company and have questions, please fill out our customer contact form or contact any of our official partners in your region.

If you are an IT company interested in becoming a partner or affiliate of Openbravo and develop a new business opportunity in the Retail industry, please fill out our partner form. We are looking for partners in several regions!

Stay all tuned and follow us in Planet, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedId!

Happy Retailing!

Kind Regards,

Xavier Places Cano

Retail Industry Champion