British fashion and homeware retailer Matalan has decided to equip all its stores with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions’ Visual Store software platform. This marks the first implementation of the solution in the United Kingdom. Toshiba launched the software on the UK market last year.
Matalan began equipping its stores with Toshiba POS hardware in 2017, replacing the Digipos blade systems it had been using previously. The company operates more than 200 outlets and an online store in the United Kingdom. Matalan relies on the THG Ingenuity platform for its online business.
The retailer plans to pilot the Visual Store software, which will replace TP.net from Diebold Nixdorf, in late summer this year. The rollout is expected to be completed by spring 2026. At the same time, the company is upgrading a total of around 1,800 of its Toshiba store systems to the latest hardware generation. With the move, Matalan aims to make shopping faster and easier for customers as well as for employees and to integrate its sales channels more closely.
Updates without external service providers
The Visual Store platform is designed to better integrate sales channels and link up customer-related applications such as the loyalty programme and promotions. Everyday transactions such as loyalty redemptions, promotions or online order pick-ups should be handled more efficiently and flexibly, which gives store staff more control over how these services will be provided.
The new platform is designed to enable the retailer to implement new point-of-sale functions fast and independently. The provider promises that IT and retail teams will be able to make updates without support of external service providers. To this end, the solution provides self-enablement features, including tools for screen design, promotions and configuration management.
