RIS is recognizing several retail software vendors for their advanced end-to-end suits of retail applications and ability to transform industry member’s businesses with technology.
The technology publication debuted its “RIS Software LeaderBoard ’17 Report,” which recognized the efforts of retail software vendors, including SAP, Manthan Systems and NGC Software.
RIS worked with an independent research firm to collect retailer evaluations that were used to provide vendors’ overall scores. Each vendor was evaluated based on three major categories—customer satisfaction, retail concentration and revenue factor.
Customer satisfaction scores were based on 10 criteria, including return on investment (ROI), total cost of ownership (TCO) and innovation, which were each worth five points for a total score of 50 points. For the retail concentration category, vendors were ranked based on their individual applications or software systems, each worth one point for a total score of 50 points. Additionally, a maximum of five points were granted to vendors based on total revenue plateaus.
Celerant, SAP and Manthan Systems rank top 20 vendors
RIS’s Software LeaderBoard Overall Top 20 list featured notable retail software vendors—with Celerant Technology topping off the list and achieving a total score of 96.3 points.
Celerant Technology received a 47.3 customer satisfaction score, a 46 retail concentration score and 2 points for revenue factor, due to its agile POS systems for retailers.
“Celerant is able to support us from an IT and strategic standpoint at POS, inventory management, and web/e-commerce initiatives. This has greatly helped us to grow our business, and allowed us to work with one company for all our software needs,” a retailer review noted.
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Out of the top 10 vendors, SAP placed fifth and Manthan Systems placed sixth. SAP earned one of the highest retail concentration scores—47 points, racked up 5 points for revenue factor and achieved a total score of 86.5 points. Close in ranking was Manthan Systems, which earned a total score of 86.2 points due to its high retail concentration score of 43 points. The report said these top 20 vendors shared a common advantage—end-to-end suites of retail applications that can digitize retailers’ supply chain operations efficiently.
[Read more about retail technology: Retailers Ramp Up In-Store Technology to Deliver on Digital Experiences]
Cegid Group, Celerant and SAP score for customer satisfaction
Top apparel software vendors included Celerant Technology, Cegid Group and SAP. Celerant Technology ranked number one on the list, with a total score of 94.2 points. Cegid Group, another notable retail software vendor, stole the second spot—earning a total score of 90 points thanks to its high customer satisfaction ranking of 44 points. SAP also placed fifth on the list, earning the highest retail concentration score of 47 points along with Mi9 Retail, and Oracle.
As an individual category, customer satisfaction revealed many hidden strengths of apparel-specific software retail vendors ranked by RIS. Evaluating each vendor by customer satisfaction demonstrated specifically where vendors were leading the pack—whether for quality of support, ROI, total cost of ownership, innovation or other customer satisfaction points that accelerated retailers last year.
Celerant Technology again took the top spot for RIS top apparel vendors in customer satisfaction—achieving an overall customer satisfaction score of 46.2 points. Jesta I.S. came in second place with a total customer satisfaction score of 44.9 points, while NGC Software ranked third with a total customer satisfaction score of 44.6 points.
Aptos, Manthan Systems and SAP rank as top for tier one retailers
RIS’s top vendors for tier one retailers featured many vendors, including Aptos, SAP and Manthan Systems.
Aptos topped the list, earning a total score of 87.3 points for its robust investment developments and POS solutions.
“Aptos is investing in new development that could be a real game changer for POS software,” said a retailer review. “It is completely redesigned from the bottom up, with time spent analyzing the pain points of existing customers in terms of the UI and workflow.”
SAP placed second on the list earning a total score of 85.5 points and achieving a top retail concentration score of 47 points, while Manthan Systems took the third spot with a total score of 84.6 points and a high customer satisfaction score of 38.6 points.