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09/12/2009 -
While payment processing itself can offer tremendous benefits to businesses, many companies are getting more creative with their merchant services and using payment processing infrastructure in other areas of business operations.For example, Macy's - a $25-billion, 800-location U.S. department store - has implemented a trial system in its Florida locations in which in-store POS terminals can access online databases, to integrate the store's ecommerce and in-store shopping experiences, StorefrontBacktalk.com reported.
This strategy can help increase sales by catering to customers that browse online and then purchase in-store, or vice versa.
Macy's representatives told StorefrontBacktalk.com that the success of the trial has led the company to launch the program in all of its stores by the end of next year.
"I think we have only begun to realize the potential of the multi-channel integration," Macy's CEO Karen Hoguet told the news website. "I think the potential that still is yet to be completely tapped is again integrating it more with the stores."
Another similar trend that has grown in popularity as of late is the use of payment processing infrastructure for customer loyalty and inventory management purposes, though merchants should be careful about the storage of sensitive customer information.
