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Why is Retail 'Peak' even more important this year?

PMC Head of Service Delivery – Managed Services, Matthew McDonnell, shares his thoughts on why the 2021 Retail Peak period is especially important for retailers.

“The 2021 Retail Peak period is especially important as retailers attempt to regain ground lost to prolonged periods of closure due to Covid restrictions over the past 18 months. This year more than ever, the role of the managed services provider is to maintain an absolute focus on the performance of Support Services that are provided to retail customers pre-peak, during and post peak.

For some months, retailers have been gearing up to meet the anticipated increased demand over Black Friday and the Christmas period. Peak season can feel like organisational change and should be treated as such. Operational demands on retailers are materially different as they prepare to maximise revenue during the period.”

How has PMC helped our customers prepare for Peak?

“Early preparation has been key for all retailers to ensure support, systems, stock, staff and store layout are ready. Regular testing of back-end systems and functionalities has been another critical step in the preparation process. Volume performance tests have helped identify potential problem areas well in advance and provided time to correct any issues before demand spikes.

At PMC, we have worked with customers to understand what they have planned, how we support that and where we can add value. Key areas have included plans for specific events or large-scale promotions; validation of issue escalation paths; any change freeze periods during peak; testing of rarely-used kit and additional reporting requirements.

Any additional services that customers only require during Peak have also been tested to ensure resilience. This has been done through database Health-checks, implementation of our Standard Peak Uplift Service, which expands a current cover time and KPIs at Level 1 Support, or set-up of an overflow service for a clients’ internal L1 Helpdesk.”

Need help?

The POS market has been stagnant for several years with very few new entrants launching new products or attempting to enter. In the past, this has meant that when a retailer went to change POS, all POS vendors were invited to tender, and the retailer could make their choice from a wide selection. Over the years, POS has become the place where retailers have added functionality and features. Due to the requirement for a network and some decent computer power, the till or register was the only place tech could traditionally be deployed. The advent of more powerful handheld devices, such as phones, and tablets is changing this dramatically.

Nowadays some POS vendors are creating operating system-specific options, eg just iOS or just Android. For the retailer with a preference for a particular technology stack this can narrow down the choices. Two other factors are very noticeable with POS vendors:

There’s still time for retailers to ensure that all preparations are in place. The shared priority for service providers and retailers must be to maximise retail revenues and deliver the exceptional level of customer service that shoppers will be expecting over the next month or so. If you would like to speak with PMC about additional services available in response to the demands of Peak, please reach out to Matthew McDonnell via LinkedIn, or contact PMC on +44 (0)1235 521900.