The AS Watson chain of health and beauty stores, part of Hutchison Whampoa's retail group, is planning a worldwide revamp of its sales computing system to boost operating efficiency.
The group will first deploy a new Windows XP-based point-of-sale (POS) platform at its branded stores across Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Financial details were not given.
Tel Aviv-based POS system supplier Retalix expects a similar plan to be pursued at AS Watson stores in Hong Kong, Macau, the mainland, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
Gert Vos, director for logistics and information systems at AS Watson in London, said the system, called StoreLine, would be deployed expeditiously because it 'fits with the operational requirements of the business'. He said an aggressive rollout is planned for next year, following the British deployment.
However, an AS Watson spokeswoman in Hong Kong noted that there were no plans to replace the existing POS infrastructure in Asia.
POS computer systems have replaced outdated cash registers in many retail environments worldwide. These have also become Web-enabled, allowing users to pursue remote training and operation, as well as track inventory across stores in various locations.