In-store tech continues to blur the line between physical and digital retail. The newest feature from retail management solution Celerant Technology will allow retailers to sell a virtually limitless assortment of products from in-store kiosks.
The endless aisle technology allows retailers to access an product offered by Celerant’s partner distributors. Whether they happen to be out of stock or they don’t even carry the product, if it’s in the catalog, they can make the sale via dropshipping.
Celerant’s Product Catalog debuted at the NRF Big Show and NSSF SHOT Show this year. The catalog allows retailers to search through millions of products in multiple departments by brand, product name or UPC simultaneously, and view the items available to import into their Celerant retail system.
The tool gives retailers the ability to sell products in stores without concern for assortment planning or freeing up inventory space. When a customer comes into a store looking for a product the retailer doesn’t carry, retail associates can use a kiosk or mobile device to access the Celerant Product Catalog, search for the brand and item, and import it into the point of sale database. From there, the retailer creates a special order for the item on the spot, allowing customers to have it shipped to their own homes or the store.
For retailers who already work with distributors that Celerant is partnered with, the process is even faster since the items are already imported into the POS. In the catalog interface, store associates can instantly view all of the products their distributors carry. After completing a sale in-store, the purchase order will then automatically go directly to the distributor who carries the product, who will drop-ship the item instantly.
The technology represents a shift towards inventory management that focuses on remote storage or direct-from-distributor orders completed through the cloud. “Our goal is to compile the largest and most diverse online catalog that the retail industry has ever seen,” said Ian Goldman, CEO of Celerant Technology.
The Celerant Product Catalog is available now in Celerant’s Stratus Enterprise and Cumulus Retail solutions. The newest version, 2.6.0, was released Feb. 6.