Everything, everywhere, all at once – retailers today may relate to the title of the Oscar-winning film more than anything as they must be adept at customer service, strategizing, technology infrastructure, skilled workforce, and all of this on multiple platforms such as online, mobile, or in-store. There is no easy way of doing it without the right technology. That’s where Oracle XStore offers the perfect retail software omnichannel solution.

The latest Xstore version 22.0 is here with the best features. It is designed to help retailers manage their operations, including inventory management, order processing, point of sale (POS), customer service, and more.

How Aspire systems help

While the Oracle Retail Xstore Suite is an end-to-end solution, its implementation may need to be simplified and more manageable. This is where a solution partner like Aspire Systems comes in. As an Oracle Retail Gold Implementation Partner and Oracle Cloud Standard Platinum Partner, Aspire Systems possesses the expertise to provide comprehensive support throughout the entire process, from ideation and solutions to implementation and 24/7 support.

Before any upgrade, Aspire experts carefully review the retailer’s requirements. From planning when a system upgrade would optimize the business to drawing up a plan to launch the new system and customizing the upgrade features, retailers get tailor-made support exclusively for the business. Aspire’s varied industry experiences handling multiple versions of upgrades have made us a trusted ally when opting for cutting-edge oracle retail solutions.

5 reasons why the upgrade is worth it

The Xstore Retail Suite provides retailers with comprehensive tools to enhance their operations and customer experience. While Xstore POS is a leading solution within the suite that allows retailers to conduct transactions, access customer data, and manage inventory, Xstore Office Cloud Service (XOCS) helps retailers streamline their store operations, providing tools for pricing, promotions, and employee schedules, as well as reporting and analytics capabilities to provide insights into store performance.

1. Integration with advanced technology

As part of the upgrade, Oracle has introduced the game-changing XOCS, which uses Next Generation SaaS Architecture. This cloud-native, container-based architecture is more secure, highly scalable, and allows for better uptime and availability. Managing and monitoring over 100 physical stores from a centralized hub is easier and more secure.

The benefits include:

• Reduced downtime, resulting in improved availability.
• Improved scalability for both middle-tier and application-tier, making it more efficient.
• Higher overall throughput, providing faster processing times.
• Adoption of additional industry-standard tools, enhancing the service’s capabilities.
• Improved and simplified intra-Oracle Retail integration, making it easier to integrate with other systems.
• A centralized Oracle Retail Data Store (RDS) instance is available for easier reporting administration, allowing for easier data management.

2. Stronger security

The new and improved XOCS solution prioritizes security to protect against potential threats. Security is a critical aspect of the Oracle Retail Xstore POS solution. The user interface is designed to provide streamlined Xstore new functionality that securely guides retailers through configuration changes, data changes, and deployments. The solution offers granular security access, enabling a customized user experience at different access levels. The multiple support tools and alerts included in the solution also play a vital role in security. IT teams can proactively manage multiple installations, ensuring that they remain secure and free from vulnerabilities.

3. Improved user interface and usability

The new User Interface (UI) of Self-Checkout, Xstore, and XMobile are designed to improve usability and enhance the checkout experience for shoppers. This new UI has been optimized to ensure a streamlined checkout process, making it quicker and easier for customers to complete their purchases. However, for those retailers who prefer the classic Self-Checkout Mode, it will be available until it is eventually retired. This allows retailers to continue using the interface they are comfortable with while also exploring the new UI options available to them.

4. Efficient promotional engine

Managing promotions across different channels can be challenging and result in inconsistent offers. The Oracle Retail Promotion Engine is a novel addition to the customer engagement module that addresses this problem. It is a promotion execution service designed for omnichannel that operates headlessly. For instance, a retailer wants a 10% discount on all orders above $50. With the Oracle Retail Promotion Engine, you can create a single promotion rule for physical and online stores. This rule will automatically calculate the discount based on the customer’s purchase value, and the same discount will be reflected in the customer’s cart, regardless of where they’re shopping. By incorporating ORPE integration, the Xstore deal engine can be eliminated, granting retailers the capability to have a single source for calculating promotions.

5. Increased scalability with microservices

Xstore version 22 has designed microservices to handle specific tasks such as retrieval of data related to discounts, items, prices, taxes, and tenders. Using microservices in Xstore provides several benefits, such as increased flexibility, scalability, and resilience. By breaking down the system into smaller, more manageable components, retailers can easily add new features or capabilities to their POS system without disrupting it. Additionally, microservices can be scaled independently to meet the business’s demands, which helps improve performance and reduce downtime.

Apart from these advanced upgrades, the new version has added the Order Maintenance feature, which marks the order as “customer not picked up” when a specified number of days have passed. This flagging empowers store associates to cancel the order and return the items to inventory for resale, thus ensuring better inventory management.

Expert help at hand

Any upgrade impacts other systems, as any new feature means external interference and additional data. So, analysis is essential to check for present issues with the system, the need for customizations, and the plugging of any existing gaps in the system. Aspire Systems is a trusted partner looking out for a retailer’s interest, monitoring, flagging, and helping implement the smallest details required to ensure an enhanced customer experience. Aspire’s expertise in the retail industry and handling Xstore updates have helped our experts develop a framework that can be implemented within 10 to 16 weeks, depending on the size and number of customizations.

Stay ahead of the competition

A secure system, user-friendly UI, and the latest reporting technology allowing insightful business strategizing are among the best-in-class features to attract customers and push ROI. Compared with previous Xstore versions, the latest is a mile ahead when keeping up with market trends.

At a time when business agility is proving to be a turning point in retail success, companies must take advantage of the latest XStore improvements to stay and Aspire’s capabilities for a successful retail operation. Aspire’s experts use agile methodology, guaranteeing continuous and uninterrupted delivery. As a retailer, you can test out each deployment and prepare for upgrades and changes in processes simultaneously. The gradual easing allows store associates to equip themselves with innovations and be ready to dazzle customers. Enhance your customers’ shopping experience with the latest version of Xstore and unlock a world of advanced features and seamless functionality.