Fashion accessories retailer Radley commissions AURES to refresh point-of-sale hardware across its store estate

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Fashion accessories retailer Radley commissions AURES to refresh point-of-sale hardware across its store estate.

Radley, the British premium handbag and accessories brand, has retained EPoS manufacturer AURES Technologies to implement a complete refresh of point-of-sale technology across its store estate. New Sango touchscreen terminals and linked AURES ODP 333 thermal printers are being installed.

Radley, known worldwide for stylish handbags, purses and accessories conceived to last a lifetime and appeal to all ages, is working with AURES Technologies on a complete hardware refresh. Explains the retailer's Head of IT, Francis Rodrigues: "We have asked AURES to supply its Sango PC-based touchscreen terminal for rollout at sales points across our stores, together with its new ODP 333 thermal POS printer."

Radley has 30 UK stores plus scores of stockists nationwide including leading UK department stores John Lewis and House of Fraser and a growing International presence.

For some years, Radley has been deploying EPoS systems from its current supplier. States Francis Rodrigues: "We bought a full solution, hardware and software from them. However, we started to feel we were falling behind on the hardware side. The technology was legacy, not pioneering, and we felt we could get more advanced technology for our money."

Rodrigues describes how he came across AURES at a trade show. "We loved what we saw! As a number of our stores were undergoing refits, aesthetics were important to us. We didn't want our new stores having old kit. AURES' Sango terminal was unlike anything else we had seen. "

Radley took the decision to move its purchase of EPoS hardware to AURES. "The hardware refresh is now well underway and we have completed 12 stores so far including high-volume locations such as Bicester. The new kit is more reliable and looks great. It has a smaller footprint than our previous machines and can be colour coded – we've opted for white terminals to fit in with our white cash desks."

The IT team appreciate having more control over their hardware and the improvement in reliability. "We took the option to upgrade the hard drives to Solid State Drives (SSDs). With no moving parts, reliability goes up exponentially."

Radley also opted to install new POS receipt printers at the same time, taking advantage of the newly-launched AURES ODP 333 thermal printer.

Ergonomically designed to maximise valuable counter space, the cubic ODP 333 has a very small footprint (165mm x 135mm) and is only 105mm high. It is both silent and looks good. "We went for white printers to match the Sangos. They are neat and compact and everything blends in well."

Continues Francis Rodrigues: "We are working towards improved systems". The Sangos are powerful and are giving a better experience for staff in store, making it easier to transact. They're very impressed with them and the IT team are very impressed with them too."

"The project is already well advanced and we expect to complete it by August 15. Everything will be ready in time for our peak trading season. Our new AURES kit is far superior and we're already getting good value from it," he concludes.