President & CEO,
Spencer Technologies
COVID-19 played a pivotal role in highlighting the much needed change in retail technology and hardware solutions. From antiquated point of sales (POS) hardware to the latest mobile POS systems, accommodating a multivariate sales’ format took over the retail industry when brands and businesses braved the first wave of pandemic. Spencer Technologies is one of the retail technology companies that is committed towards staying relevant with full service POS solutions that are unmatched for driving efficiency throughout the entire POS system journey. From proof of concept to installation to service, maintenance, help desk to end of life, the knowledge of POS systems impacts’ clients sustainability and cost-related decisions. Spencer’s POS hardware and its dedicated IT team ensure the systems are up and running 100 percent of the time!
On average, Spencer completes over 3,500 new store openings and hundreds of multi-site rollouts annually for its clients. 95 percent of Spencer’s business caters towards servicing clients across North America and Europe and has vested full focus on investments to support retail technology practices. Spencer uses the IFS FSM application, Which for the 6th time in a row has been named a Leader in the Gartner Quadrant Field Service Management report. FSM helps clients and employees keep track of all service delivery, sales, and asset management needs. Being device and software agnostic, Spencer is equipped to provide excellent support for all POS needs in the market.
The retail industry and its evolution over the years is ingrained in Spencer’s DNA. Since its inception in 1972, the company has garnered attention as the most uniquely positioned POS solution provider in the industry. Starting out with a stand cash register to electronic cash registers to modern day’s POS, the journey towards today’s mobile POS system is a big part of Spencer’s culture. Also, most of the services are performed by its own employees who are also trained to leverage third party consultations to deliver services during peak demands. “We have the best field technicians in the industry. Most of them have been working with Spencer for over three decades and leverage their unmatched experience to assist customers select relevant POS systems for their business,” says David Strickler, President and CEO, Spencer Technologies. About 450 employees operate across 30 countries making Spencer large enough to deliver to tier 1 retailers yet small enough to provide customized service in a personal way. But, Spencer is deeply committed to the success of each client.
In today’s digital climate, retailers need to include the latest tech approaches and practices that go beyond human touch, and elevate customers’ payment and sales experience. That includes implementing POS hardware(apps, kiosk,etc) with self-service options, mobile-optimized solution to assist customer checkout anytime, anywhere, tap to pay and BOPIS option (e-commerce integration). Spencer’s POS oversees a part of the overall retail value-chain, its expertise in lifecycle management helps provide a holistic view of the retail environment to identify blindspots to customer experience, sales and payment activities. That includes network connectivity, wifi coverage, PCI compliance, remote key injection, RFID, loss prevention and every process that has a direct or indirect impact on the shoppers’ experience! To iterate what Spencer’s expertise and offerings in POS stands for, Strickler further adds, “Our acumen helps identify the best technology, its source, pricing, method to stage and configure the hardware for plug and play implementation. Additionally, we overlook what is the best way to implement hardware onsite and the most effective method to maintain hardware with minimal disruption.”
Once, a customer of Spencer, a business that designs, sources and markets apparel products related to babies and young children in the U.S. needed a POS hardware and software to support 400 stores, across two brands, over a three (3) month period. They needed to upgrade to the latest POS hardware and software to stay compliant to the government regulations. The client’s awareness of Spencer’s services, including Certified Destruction drove them to approach, and upon further discovery and discussion, they concluded that the latter could provide a comprehensive solution to meet all objectives.
Spencer’s project management foundation is based on two aspects—communication and documentation. Both these aspects had a significant role in the above use case. With Spencer’s help, the client successfully upgraded their in-store platform with limited disruption to the stores. Spencer delivered a total quality solution, on time and recovered value from the customer’s old equipment. Spencer developed a solution that addressed each requirement for them and included project management to oversee all aspects of the rollout: Hardware Delivery, Software Implementation, Training and Documentation, Field Service Technicians, Resource Management, Schedule Management, and Certified Destruction of Replaced Equipment.
Spencer is always at the forefront with market leading technologies that support retailers and uses its Customer Experience Center as an innovation lab at the Medway HQ to test, showcase, and prove the latest retail technologies. “We have been fortunate enough to utilize this space to allow our customers to enhance their proof-of-concept strategy by leaning on Spencer to increase their time to success by using this space when space and resources are limited for them,” says Strickler. “We believe it is our responsibility to do our research on industry technology so we can present the facts to our customers, allowing them to make informed and confident decisions on their expansion in retail technology.“
