ICL Plc’s ICL Retail Systems in Dallas is teaming up with Amdahl Corp to enhance the systems and services it can offer retailers, and will use the Sparc-based ICL Goldrush Parallel Megaserver as the prime piece of hardware on which the systems will run. Separately it has decided to offer mixed ICL and IBM Corp hardware as well as all-ICL systems to its point-of-sale customers. Under the deal with half-sister Amdahl, ICL has created PrecisionRetailing, described as a strategy to improve retailers’ sales performance and increase profitability by capturing warehoused information and analysing data on consumer and product transactions. PrecisionRetailing includes consulting, hardware configuration, software customisation and project management, specialised applications and hardware. The applications use warehoused data to assist strategic planning of merchandise assortment at the store level, determine cross-selling relationships, improve customer loyalty and reach best customers through targeted advertising and promotions, ICL says, holding out the promise that retailers can thereby reduce inventory carrying costs and price mark-downs, and increase sales of those goods that produce the highest margins. It is pitched at supermarkets, speciality stores, department stores and hardware and home centre stores. It has installed a Goldrush server at PrecisionRetailing headquarters in Santa Clara, and offers data discovery on it as a bureau service. Meantime ICL Retail Systems plans to offer its general retail customers the option to buy IBM equipment in addition to ICL products and services, and claims to be the first retail systems manufacturer to sell the equipment of a competitor. The company says it completed its first sale of ICL software combined with IBM equipment last quarter at an initial pilot project in three Kansas City area Helzberg Diamonds stores.
