{"id":90240,"date":"2025-07-16T11:38:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intellias.com\/?p=90240"},"modified":"2025-07-16T11:38:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:38:33","slug":"modernizing-a-point-of-sale-platform-democratizing-data-to-300-locations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intellias.com\/modernizing-point-of-sale-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Modernizing a Point of Sale Platform, Democratizing Data to 300+ Locations"},"content":{"rendered":"
When delays at the till began taking time away from City Plumbing\u2019s customer-first approach, the company decided they needed to upgrade its legacy point-of-sale (POS) retail system<\/a>. The till at City Plumbing includes Rocket Software\u2019s UniVerse platform<\/a>, which powers the company\u2019s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and has POS capabilities. Although UniVerse is considered a heritage tool, its core functions and vendor-agnostic integration capabilities make it an excellent starting point for building a scalable retail platform that\u2019s ready for the future. UniVerse also assists with stock fulfillment, order management, finance<\/a>, and other business functions.<\/p>\n Yet, City Plumbing faced limitations using UniVerse without modifications. Challenges included:<\/p>\n City Plumbing investigated a commercial product but decided they needed a custom solution. After searching for a software development company that could design the modern POS it needs, they chose Intellias because of our decades of successful retail experience. Within six months, an augmented development team delivered a POS pilot to 80% of City Plumbing\u2019s retail locations.<\/p>\n With a fresh, fast UI that connects to more data sources, the object data exchange platform running on AWS<\/a> immediately improved the user experience for customers and associates. The new POS empowered associates with integrated customer details, allowing them to provide more personalized service. Despite initial resistance from associates, the UI quickly became popular. It reduced the time for onboarding new users, cut hours of customer service time, and sped up financial transactions. City Plumbing also gained better insight into inventory and improved their quoting process.<\/p>\n Based in Crick, Northamptonshire, City Plumbing employs over 4,500 associates at 360 locations across nine different businesses throughout the UK and Ireland. Part of the Highbourne Group, the plumbing, heating, and bathroom retailer uses many digital technologies to offer expert advice and supply products to plumbing professionals and DIYers.<\/p>\n When City Plumbing contacted Intellias, the Windows-based PCs at their checkout counters ran UniVerse. Although UniVerse is a capable retail checkout system, City Plumbing determined that they were no longer able to support the company\u2019s growth and an increasing volume of eCommerce<\/a> sales. With 2,600 users, City Plumbing\u2019s system needs to serve 30,000 product views per minute and process up to 250 orders per minute, or about 5 million orders annually. Its B2B sales represent 95% of its revenue.<\/p>\n Associates used UniVerse to browse products and see usual prices. They could also look up customers and connect them to the right price in the system. However, the UniVerse system was not user-friendly, and the data was not unified. Payment processing could take minutes. Moreover, it took new associates six months to learn the POS system.<\/p>\n Over time, the usefulness of stored data also degraded. For example:<\/p>\n The POS also included two pieces of hardware for payment and order processing. A portable electronic device (PED) accepts credit card payments and PINs, while a pad collects signatures for proof of payment.<\/p>\n\n
Business challenge<\/h2>\n
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