MONTREAL, P.Q. (January 18, 2010) - Gemmar Systems International (GSI) announces the introduction of Retail-1 SaaS thus making its powerful retail management software for specialty retailers available as a service. By offering GSI's Retail-1 retail management software as a service from GSI's hosting site, customers eliminate server software and hardware and the increasingly complex task of IT management.
 

"When you can combine our solid business foundation with our experience supporting remote hosting and real-time networks, offering Retail-1 as a service is a natural evolution for our company and our clients," said GSI President Peter Mitelman. Concurrently, GSI announced a strategic alliance with J.D. Associates based in Leominster, MA to market GSI's Retail-1 SaaS retail management solution to its customer base in the U.S. J.D. Associates, with its twenty-year track record providing retail technology solutions, serves over 500 retailers.

 "With GSI's Retail-1 Retail Management Software as a Service (SaaS), we can now offer the best of retail business intelligence and planning, to successful retailers who are not interested in becoming IT professionals. We are extremely excited about partnering with GSI on this ground-breaking offer," said Don Capman, President of J.D. Associates. Mr. Mitelman added, "We look forward to working with Don and his team, they are a well respected player in the U.S. and Retail-1will complement their current offering, specifically with mid to larger chains, which is where we shine."

 

Some of the major benefits are expected for customers transitioning from an "on premise" solution to the Retail-1 SaaS offering, according to Mitelman.

No Capital Costs / Eliminate IT Headaches
No servers, no licensing costs, no IT expertise required: With Retail-1 SaaS, IT headaches are eliminated. We understand our technology and the infrastructure required for the software to perform optimally," said Mitelman.

Faster and Better Return on Investment: "The impact of quick start-up should not be underestimated," he said. "Retail-1 SaaS deployments remove the waiting game for hardware, thereby allowing Retail-1 to come online more quickly and generate faster and greater returns.

Automatic Upgrade: Eliminate your resource drain for upgrades, updates or patches. With Retail-1 SaaS, you are always kept on the latest version of the software and benefit from all releases immediately," Mitelman said.

 

You Focus on Retail - We Focus on IT: "By eliminating the IT headaches and providing full featured retail management solutions, you can focus on maximizing your opportunities in today's challenging retail environment," remarked Mitelman.

 

Full-Featured Version: "Unlike our competitors, Retail-1 SaaS is not a 'cut down' version or 'subset' of GSI's Retail-1 offering. It is a full-featured software suite containing all the capabilities and features of the current version deployed to customers," said Ian Holland, Vice President of Development for GSI.

 

High Level of Scalability:
"As you grow your business with new store openings and expanded use of technology, you no longer face the issue of server upgrades. With Retail-1 SaaS, you simply extend services to more locations," Holland said.

 

No Long-Term "Lock-In": "With Retail-1 SaaS, you have flexibility to buy only what you need, when you need it. If you are not fully satisfied that we deliver as promised, you can disengage at anytime," said Mitelman. Retail-1SaaS is not a 'cut down' version of GSI's Retail-1offering. It is a full-featured set containing all the capabilities and features of the current version deployed to customers. The Retail-1 SaaS offering includes both head-office and store level capabilities.

"Our investment to implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) within the Retail-1 structure made the move to a service offering much easier," said Ian Holland, Vice President of Development for GSI. Retail-1 SaaS head office applications range from the Retail-1core merchandise management functions to the latest business intelligence application, Retail-1 Red Line, designed to more effectively manage markdowns. The store operations offerings include point-of-sale, store inventory, employee and sales operations as well as our latest web-based sales productivity

Enhancement: Retail-1 Store Watch. Gemmar Systems International (GSI) is the leading provider of enterprise retail management systems for small-to-medium specialty retailers in Canada. GSI offers a full line of robust software applications, guaranteed successful implementation and superior continuing customer service.

Visit the GSI website at www.gemmar.com. For more information contact GSI at 514-631-3336 or sales@gsi.ca. J.D. ASSOCIATES has been providing point-of-sale and inventory control solutions to retailers throughout North America since 1989. With over 500 clients in nearly 1,400 retail locations in North America, J.D. Associates is one of retail's largest providers of technology solutions in the United States. The firm offers a full range of hardware, software, and services to retailers. Visit the J.D. Associates website at www.jdapos.com. For more information contact J.D. Associates at 800-564-4488 or POSinfo@jdapos.com