Waitrosehas appointedInfosys Technologiesto develop a web
platform to support online and in-store sales.
Retailers are investing heavily in their e-commerce
capabilities, despite a fall in consumer spending.
Rob Collins, director of e-Commerce at Waitrose, said: "We see
this as a very exciting development for Waitrose as part of our
ambition to become a truly multi-channel business with a strong and
differentiated e-commerce business as one part of that. The new
website is a very
important part of our strategy in this regard.
The project involves developing software to integrate in-store
and web order systems, as well as Epos terminals. It is planned for
completion in 2011.
Retailers are attempting to exploit the growth in online sales
while they integrate in-store and online sales.
Online retailers are not waiting for the economic recovery
before investing in new technology, as confidence grows that the
sector will rebound faster than others.
Online sales have not been hit as hard by the economic slowdown
as high street sales. Despite the recession, the average monthly
increase this year of online sales is 15%, according to the latest
research from IMRG and Capgemini.
Research
carried out by Internet Retailer revealed that 72.4% of online
retailers will increase their spending on technology this year.
John Lewis, part of the same group as Waitrose, is also moving
to an integrated multi-channel model by
integrating its in-store and web order systems to create a single
view of customers to help it cross-sell products.