Disney Store POS Rollout Boosts Sales 25% at Upgraded Sites

By Adam Blair
The rollout of a new point-of-sale system integrated with iPod Touch devices for store associates was the centerpiece of a major technology upgrade/remodeling initiative at 320 Disney Store locations. Customer traffic in the remodeled stores has increased 20% and sales have climbed 25%, according to Ron Johnson, director of technology for Disney Stores.

Implementation of the Oracle POS system began in June 2009 and was completed in 18 months. "We got the code from Oracle on June 1, 2009 and our store in Topanga Canyon, CA was the first to go live with it 108 days later," said Johnson. Disney upgraded 320 stores in North America and eight European countries; the company operates a total of 370 stores around the world. Skillnet served as the systems integrator for the project.

Johnson, speaking at the Oracle Retail Cross-Talk user conference last week in Chicago, said the new POS has created stronger in-store links to Disney's e-commerce offerings, reduced losses due to mispricing and lowered IT costs with a more centralized operational structure. In addition to traffic and sales increases, benefits include higher guest conversion rates and improved margins.

While the iPod Touch devices are used in all the retail stores, only store associates (or as Disney refers to them, cast members) in the North American locations can perform complete sales transactions. In other stores, the mobile devices serve as extensions of the fixed POS during busy times.

Since the rollout, Disney Stores has been looking at further system enhancements, including full-scale mobile POS; centralization of product returns and additional employee management elements, along with enhanced save-the-sale and endless aisle functionality. Johnson explained how Disney Stores differentiates between the two offerings: "Save-the-sale would be the ability to clearly identify the online availability of a different sized-version of a physical product that's in the Disney Store," Johnson explained. "Endless aisle provides the ability for a customer who says 'I'm interested in The Nightmare Before Christmas' to browse online for a range of products associated with that film."

For related content: Disney Store to Expand New Design to 25 More Locations in 2011

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